Hey there, I’m Elizabeth!
Welcome to the Family
Like you, I’ve got a lot going on. I’m a professional genealogist, a writer, and a speaker at family history conferences and events. I’m also a small business owner, wife, daughter, volunteer, friend, homeschool educator, and mom to a teenage daughter and two goofy dogs.
Since 1987, I have made it my goal to research, preserve, and protect my family’s stories.
As my family members passed away, they took their stories and memories with them. I knew I couldn’t just let them all be forgotten, so I became the historian, or the “heart,” of my family.
My mission is to make the past part of my present, and I’d like to help you do the same!
Member Of:
Professional Experience
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I Seek Dead People
Remember that movie with the creepy kid who looked up at Bruce Willis and whispered, “I see dead people?” Well, I see dead people, too.
I see them in the usual places, like cemeteries and funeral homes. But I also see them in lots of other places.
No, I’m not a medium. And I’m also not crazy.
I’m a genealogist.
If you aren’t sure what a genealogist is, let me tell you that I don’t work with rocks. And I’m not a doctor of lady parts.
What I am is a bounty hunter of the deceased. I find them, I unravel their secrets, and I tell their stories.
It would be more accurate to say that I SEEK dead people.
Things I Like
FavE COFFEE
Irish
FavE TV Show
Game of Thrones
FavE Food
Pizza
FavE Season
Summer
How I got started as a genealogist
I grew up in Orange County, California, back when there were actual orange trees growing there.
I graduated from the University of California, Irvine (ZOT!). I wanted to be a concert violinist, but that didn’t happen, so I eventually got a teaching credential. I taught first grade until I got married and Hubs and I moved to Santa Barbara County. Not long after, we had our first and only child. Hubs is an engineer at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Ok, so here’s how I got started in genealogy. For years, my paternal grandmother claimed she had ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, and she swore that we could join the Daughters of the American Revolution. (As a young girl, I had visions of fancy ladies in big hats sipping tea from expensive china cups… you know, what most people think DAR members do.)
Nana had no proof to back up her claim, so her daughter – my aunt – set out to find it. And one fateful August day in 1987, my aunt showed me my first pedigree chart. (As an only child from a small family, I couldn’t believe that I had so many cousins!)
And just like that, I was hooked.
Why do I seek dead people?
I believe that each and every one of us deserves to be remembered.
We’re only on this earth for a short time, and while we may not have been important in a grand or public sense, we’re all important to somebody, somewhere.
And after we’re gone, our descendants might come looking for us.
That’s where I come in.
You can die, but you can’t hide.
I SEEK dead people.