Rockstar genealogists are those who give "must attend" presentations at family history conferences or as webinars. Who, when you see a new family history article or publication by that person, makes it a must buy. Who you hang on their every word on a blog, podcast or newsgroup, or follow avidly on Facebook or Twitter?
Anyone on the list who would prefer not to be ranked please let me know at johndreid at gmail dot com. Your name will appear, so voters will understand it isn't an omission, with an indication that any votes will not be tabulated.
Here's advice for those wanting to make additional nominations. Each year nominations are received for local genealogy heroes who don't gather very many votes. Feel free to nominate them, just be aware that only those with an international or national profile are likely to make the final rankings. Frivolous nominations will be rejected at my sole discretion. It's a good idea to ensure you nomination can be found through a Google search using the name and the word genealogy.
Lisa Alzo
Lesley Anderson
Jen Baldwin
Jill Ball
Nick Barratt
Kyle Betit
Claire Bettag
Blaine Bettinger
Warren Bittner
Paul Blake
Katherine Borges
Diane Boumenot
Jana Sloan Broglin
Ruth Burkholder
Peter Calver
Paul Carter
Pauleen Cass
Colin Chapman
Shannon Christmas
Else Churchill
Kristin Cleage
John Philip Colletta
Audrey Collins
Lisa Louise Cooke
Kitty Cooper
Crista Cowen
Schelly Talalay Dardashti
Jackie Depelle
Gail Dever
Richard M Doherty
William Dollarhide
Brian Donovan
Marie Dougan
Bruce Durie
Dick Eastman
Valerie S. Elkins
Roberta Estes
Kerry Farmer
Janet Few
Colleen Fitzpatrick
Fiona Fitzsimons
Michael Gandy
Heather Garnsey
Maurice Gleeson
Chris Goopy
Julie Goucher
Jan Gow
Kirsty Gray
Bennett Greenspan
John Grenham
Diane Haddad
Michael Hait
John Hanson
Alison Hare
Celia Heritage
Jean Wilcox Hibben
Shauna Hicks
Kathryn Lake Hogan
Yvette Hoitink
Daniel Horowitz
Cyndi Ingle
Sherry Irvine
Tim Janzen
Hank Z. Jones
Paul Jones
Tamura Jones
Thomas W. Jones
Debbie Kennett
Tessa Keough
Turi King
Taneya Koonce
Rosemary Kopittke
Michael D. Lacopo
Peggy Lauritzen
Michael J. Leclerc
J. Mark Lowe
Dan Lynch
Thomas MacEntee
Jane MacNamara
David McDonald
Kenneth D Mccrea
Ken McKinlay
Leland Meitzler
Brenda Dougall Merriman
Elizabeth Shown Mills
Paul Milner
CeCe Moore
Susan Moore
George G. Morgan
Stephen P. Morse
Janice Nickerson
Dianne Seale Nolin
Maria Northcote
Dave Obee
Denise Olson
Israel Pickholtz
Gena Philibert Ortega
Chris Paton
Marian Pierre-Louis
Chris Pomery
Elissa Scalise Powell
Kimberly Powell
Laura Prescott
Marian Press
Rebecca Probert
Tony Proctor
Terrence Punch
Geoff Rasmussen
Linda Reid
David Rencher
Pat Richley-Erickson
Christine Rose
William Roulston
Judy G. Russell
Claire Santry
Lynne Sanders-Braithwaite
Gary Schroder
Lorine McGinnis Schulze
George K. Schweitzer
Craig Scott
Randy Seaver
Jayne Shrimpton
Joseph Shumway
Drew Smith
Helen V Smith
Marian L. Smith
Megan Smolenyak
Steven C. Smyrl
Louise St. Denis
Roy Stockdill
Paula Stuart-Warren
Geoff Swinfield
Loretto (Lou) Szucs
James Tanner
Jane Taubman
D. Joshua Taylor
Kerryn Taylor
Maureen Taylor
Alona Tester
James F.S. Thomson
John Titford
Alec Tritton
Helen Tovey
Judy Webster
Sharn White
Kirsty Wilkinson
Curt B. Witcher
Russ Worthington
Glenn Wright
Christine Woodcock
You've got my favourites already on your list. I'm glad to see Glenn Wright on it. Cheers,
ReplyDeleteBT
Please can I nominate Helen V Smith http://helenvsmithresearch.blogspot.co.uk/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteGreat to see Helen on the list, I would also nominate her,
ReplyDeletealong with Alona Tester...http://www.lonetester.com/
Kerryn Taylor http://ancestorchaser.blogspot.com.au/
Lynne Sanders-Braithwaite https://nellibell49.wordpress.com/
Thank you for adding my nominations... and thank you also, for listing my name again.
ReplyDeleteKirsty Wilkinson, myainfolk.com
ReplyDeleteI would add Peggy Lauritzen to that list. She is funny and a great educator!
ReplyDeleteI mean no disrespect to the list in my suggestion. I'd like to see the addition of a risng star category. There are some new stars that are overlooked because they are new or are newer on the scene. .. Valerie Elkins comes to mind. Many in this list truly are rock star stays while others stars don't shine as brightly and won't grasp the mega status the moniker suggests. Again I mean no disrespect and only offer this suggestion.
ReplyDeleteDevon: Thanks for the rising star suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI nominate Kenneth D Mccrea author of the Pennsylvania Land Application books. I have always been fascinated by land records but have a poor back ground of knowledge in them. I not only have a couple of Dr Mccrea's books and enjoy his web site http://reamstown.org/al/ but I have always gotten a prompt reply via email whenever I have asked a question. I have never met him but he has always been helpful and kind to me.
ReplyDeleteThere are many great presenters that are not known globally r who have specialist topics so often don't make it onto these lists or don't "rank" well if they do make it to the list. But on looking at this list one thing genealogists can be sure is that if they want to enhance their genealogy knowledge there are many excellent rpesenters who are pleased to share their knowledge.
ReplyDeleteSome of my favorites are already on the list. I also nominate Israel Pickholtz.
ReplyDeleteI nominate Marian L. Smith, former historian at USCIS. Her knowledge of immigration to the U.S. is unsurpassed.
ReplyDeleteMost of my favorite writers and speakers ale already on the list, but I would like to see William Dollarhide and Lou Szucs added to the list.
ReplyDeleteI would like to nominate George K. Schweitzer.
ReplyDeleteI know I am too late for nominations, but if I hadn't had so much going on, I would have thought to nominate a couple of people. I'll put them here so others can check them out, and hopefully I'll remember them for next year.
ReplyDeleteJack Hodges at the Facebook Group "The Conservatory" tirelessly seeks out publications and websites of UK records and adds to the group page files for everyone to access. He also helps with UK research.
Jacques Gagné of Genealogy Ensemble blog writes about his research and freely helps those researching in Quebec.