As the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Student Genealogy Grant program celebrates it’s seventh anniversary, it’s great to look back at previous recipients to see where they are now, and how genealogy impacts their lives. Past awardees A.C. Ivory and Paul Woodbury are now busy professional genealogists working in Salt Lake City.
A.C. Ivory, Professional Genealogist
A.C. Ivory, 2012 Grant Recipient, is in his seventh year with AncestryProGenealogists, and was recently promoted to Product Manager. A.C. writes:
I keep busy working with researchers and developers to create tools for our employees to conduct research for our clients.
I met up with A.C. In January when I was in Salt Lake City for the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy and learned about some of the exciting tech tools he builds for ProGen researchers. He is a popular conference speaker on topics related to using the Mac and technology for genealogy research and analysis.
Paul Woodbury, Professional Genealogist
Paul Woodbury, 2014 Grant Awardee, continues to work with LegacyTree Genealogists, professional genealogists and research services in Salt Lake City as a Senior Researcher specializing in DNA analysis. Paul sent a Dear Photograph style image showing a French civil registration office almost one hundred years ago and the doorway today as a background for Paul and his wife Robin. He adds:
I am working full-time at Legacy Tree Genealogists as a Senior researcher and I love my job. I get to work on extremely interesting research cases everyday. One day I will be researching 19th century adoptions in South Africa and Denmark, the next I am helping donor-conceived individuals identify their shared bio-father. One day I am researching a dynasty of French master glassblowers in France, Germany, Spain and Mexico and the next I am researching colonial generals in Honduras and politicians embezzling millions from the British government. One day I am searching Swedish records for shared ancestors between genetic relatives and the next I am doing the same thing in Britain. Some days feel like a soap opera and I have come to conclude that reality is stranger than fiction.
This last summer, I went to France to do some of my own research (vacation time means I get to research my own family) While there we photographed 3000 documents which should keep me bust for the next several years. We also visited the house where my fourth great grandmother died in 1859. The owner was a little surprised to find some Americans out in the middle of the French countryside coming for a visit. She indicated that she had inherited the home from her father and that it has been in the family for generations. She called up her 86-year old aunt and we arranged a visit to talk about family history. Through some searching we discovered that we were second cousins three times removed. Our French family was thrilled to finally hear about the fate of their relatives who went to America in the 1870’s and they were especially pleased to see our photos and stories and discover that their relatives lived in the wild-west as cattle ranchers: “C’est vrai ‘western’!”
As for the future, I am pursuing my masters degree in instructional design and educational technology, my wife and I are expecting our first baby in July and we just moved into our new home. Life is wonderful and we are excited for the future.
Paul’s double-take photo is similar to the photos I made a few years ago when we returned to our wedding church on our anniversary, “Dear Photograph: 35th Wedding Anniversary Edition.” Look for Paul at the SCGS Genealogy Jamboree and DNA Day where he will be presenting on DNA and participating in the NextGen Panel Discussion with Melanie Frick and other members of the NextGen Genealogy Network.
Application Deadline April 15
Do you know a young genealogist? Please share the news that the Suzanne Winsor Freeman Memorial Student Genealogy Grant Committee and the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree are pleased to invite applications for the 2017 Student Grant and Jamboree Scholarship. Student genealogists between the ages of 18 and 23 are eligible to apply for the $500 cash award and full registration scholarship to the 2017 SCGS Jamboree to be held in Burbank, California June 9-11, 2017. Deadline for applications is April 15, 2017.
