About

I’m Jeanie, and I love family history.

I’ve got a quintessentially American family history: I’m a 10th generation south-central Pennsylvanian with Pennsylvania Dutch, Scots Irish, Highland Scot, and English ancestors. I’m an Italian American with great-grandparents from Basilicata and Campania. I’m a descendant of free people of color from Virginia, the Carolinas, and New York. And so much more.

But I didn’t know much of the details until I began researching my family a decade ago, and I realized that every person has thousands of unique stories embedded in their very DNA. I can help you discover the incredible stories of your ancestors, too.

My undergraduate major in Philosophy at Swarthmore College trained me to construct and analyze the strength of complex arguments, an invaluable skill in my future career. My concentrations in Art History and Sociology encouraged me to explore the relationship between built environments and the cultural and artistic traditions of the people that inhabit them.

After college, I spent two years living in Rhode Island learning about architectural history before returning to my ‘native land’ of south-central Pennsylvania. Back home, I delved into this exploration and found that the landscape around me, which had seemed so ordinary before, was rich, alive, and full of stories. I found that I took great satisfaction from sharing these stories with others and forging personal connections between them and the past.

I am a Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh 2020 & 2021 alumna and a Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2023 alumna. I am currently “on the clock” in the process of completing my Certified Genealogist® application through the Board for the Certification of Genealogists. I am a member of the Association for Professional Genealogists and the National Genealogical Society.

I am a board member, researcher, and organizer for Pennsylvania Hallowed Grounds, which exists to identify, document, and preserve the burial grounds of USCT and historic African American communities throughout the state.