GeneaQuest 2022 Speakers

Tina Beaird

Tina Beaird, owner of Tamarack Genealogy and genealogy/local history librarian at a Chicago area library, lectures nationally on military research, Scottish records and archival preservation. She has served as 1st vice president of the Illinois State Genealogical Society and member of the Illinois State Historical Records Advisory Board.

Harold Henderson

Harold Henderson (librarytraveler@gmail.com) has been a professional writer since 1979 and a professional genealogist since 2009. He has lectured and taught nationally and published more than 100 genealogy articles and six book-length family histories, with several hopefully in process... but at any given time he would probably rather be reading a grantor index. A few peer-reviewed publications:

• “A Stitch in Time: Female Descendants of Polly Holmes (1805-1829) of Madison County,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 148, 2017
  
• “Fannie Fern Crandall and Her Three-Timing Darling Husband,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly, March 2018
  
• “Sheriff’s Daughter Weds Confidence Man,” Chicago Genealogist, Spring 2019
  
• “Ackersons Across America,” New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, vol. 152, 2021
  

Candace Marx

Candace Marx is the owner of Timeless Treasure Genealogy. She earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University, is an alumnus of the ProGen Study Program, and completed the Excelsior College Genetic Genealogy course. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Chicago Area Chapter, and is past president of the Illinois State Genealogical Society, currently serving as 2nd vice president.

She studied fine arts at Northern Illinois University, and offers portrait art and custom shadowboxes to family history clients. She has written several articles for the ISGS Quarterly, and is a winner of the 2019 American Society of Genealogists Scholar Award for her family narrative, “A Luxembourger Family Comes to America: The Wagner Family of Aurora, Illinois.” She especially enjoys researching Luxembourger ancestors and others who settled in the Fox Valley area.

Mary Roddy

Mary Kircher Roddy, Certified Genealogist, is also a Certified Public Accountant. She lectures in Washington State and across the U.S., and is a regular presenter for LegacyFamilyTree Webinars.  She has written for Internet Genealogy, NGS Magazine, FGS Forum, Family Chronicle  and The National Genealogical Society Quarterly and numerous society publications.  

Mary served as Treasurer for the Association of Professional Genealogists.  She is currently a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists.  She has been a crafter and quilter nearly her entire life. You can read more about her at MKR Genealogy – www.mkrgenealogy.com.

Joshua Taylor

D. Joshua Taylor, MA, MLS, is a nationally known and recognized speaker and author on genealogy and family history. Passionate about the diverse and dynamic field of genealogy, Joshua is the president of the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society (NYG&B). He is also a coordinator for courses at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh.

He holds an MLS (Archival Management) and an MA (History) from Simmons College and has been a featured genealogist on Who Do You Think You Are and can be seen taking America through their past as a host on the popular PBS series Genealogy Roadshow.

Michelle Wilson

Michelle Bray Wilson has been active in the genealogy community for more than a dozen years. She speaks throughout the Midwest, most frequently on genetic genealogy, French Canada, ancient ancestry and creating family history books. Michelle has been a featured speaker for conferences at Chicago Public Library, DuPage County and Lake County Genealogy Societies.

She has written three family history books. She has solved numerous genetic genealogy cases and spoke about one for Illinois State Genealogy Society annual conference in 2020. Michelle is a former CAGGNI president and currently leads its DNA special interest group.

Curt Witcher

Curt Witcher is the Director of Special Collections at the Allen County Public Library, managing the widely acclaimed Genealogy Center as well as the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection of Abraham Lincoln related research materials. Curt is a former president of both the Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Genealogical Society and the founding president of the Indiana Genealogical Society.

He has penned many hundreds of articles on topics of interest to family historians, librarians and archivists, and has presented lectures to historical and genealogical groups across the country and beyond. Curt currently serves on the Indiana State Historical Records Advisory Board, the board of the Friends of the Indiana State Archives, and on the executive committee of the Friends of the Lincoln Collection of Indiana’s Board of Directors.

For more information

• GeneaQuest on Facebook – Look for the latest news about GeneaQuest 2022 on this Facebook page.
• Press Kit – Information on this page will assist societies, genealogy groups, libraries and others that are looking to include details about the conference in their calendars, newsletters and the like.