Welcome to Your Family History Project.com!

I am a family historian, a genealogist, and an attorney. I have a law degree from the University of Virginia, and I worked in government relations for 25 years. But now I’m pursuing my true calling — helping people to discover their family history.

I specialize in discovering the stories that are hidden in the records, and finding  a family’s tragedies and its “black sheep”. I can find the unknown divorces, the underage marriages, the bankruptcies, the early deaths of children and spouses, and other events that shaped the lives of your ancestors — which ultimately shaped the person who you are today. I will also put your ancestors’ lives into historical context. They didn’t live in a vacuum, their lives were impacted by the events occurring around them.

I have also recently become an expert in DNA analysis. I have used DNA to find the ancestral villages of ancestors who fled Ireland during the Great Famine. I have also used DNA to prove the lineage of a collateral relative of George Washington, and to prove and disprove many other lineages proposed by clients. In addition, I have found the birth parents of adoptees by analyzing their DNA matches coupled with traditional genealogical research.

I’ve got over 20 years of experience in genealogical research, and I work with records of all kinds, both on-line from across the globe, and in national and state archives and libraries, in courthouses, and in local libraries and historical centers. I specialize in Irish, German and English immigration, and in migration patterns within the United States. I live in Northern Virginia, within easy driving distance from the National Archives, the Library of Congress, the DAR Library and other research facilities in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. I also visit the Maryland Archives and research institutions in Baltimore and Richmond on a regular basis.

I am an acclaimed writer, and I can research your family history and/or conduct DNA analysis and present it in a report, a beautiful coffee-table-style book, a narrated slide show, a live and/or recorded presentation, or another project of your choosing. Any of these will bring your family history to life in a way that will be treasured by you and your family for generations to come!

View samples of my work, and contact me to discuss Your Family History Project!