Curriculum Vitae

Education

Rice University, Houston, Texas
     Ph.D., Southern History, 2001
     M.A., Southern History, 1999

Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz, Austria
     Fulbright Scholar, 1994–1996

University of Arkansas at Little Rock
     B.A., summa cum laude, 1994
     Major: History; Minors: Arkansas Studies and German
     Donaghey Scholars (Honors) Program
 

Professional Experience

Akamai University's Program Director for the Bachelor of Arts in Genealogical Studies

2008–

Adjunct History Professor, UALR

2005–

Course 3 Coordinator and Lecturer
Research in the South, Samford University’s
Institute of Genealogical and Historical Research

2004–

Instructor, Rice University HUMA 102, Effective Writing

Fall 1997

Editorial Intern, Journal of Southern History

Fall 1996–Spring 1997
Spring 1998
Fall 1999–Spring 2000

Editorial Intern, Jefferson Davis Papers

Spring 1998
 

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Academic Professional Honors

Butler Center for Arkansas History Fellow

2007–2008

Booker Worthen Literary Prize for Communities of Kinship

2005

Fulbright Scholarship, Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz, Austria

1994–1995

Stolthz Plaque—Outstanding Senior Award (one of two senior awards)

1994

Phi Kappa Phi National Fellowship (declined)

1994

Booker Worthen Memorial Award (outstanding graduating history major)

1994

Phi Alpha Theta Paper Competition (UALR), 1st Place

1994, 1992

Who's Who among Students in American Universities and College

1993

The National Dean's List, 1992–93

1993

Powell History Scholarship, Honorary

1992

Best Family History, Local/County Journal, Arkansas Historical Assoc.

1992

Chancellor's & Dean's List

1990-1994

Donaghey Scholars Program

1990-1994

Who's Who in Genealogy and Heraldry

1990
 

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Language

German:
Excellent reading and speaking ability; studied German Philology/Linguistics, and translation (German-English) at Karl-Franzens Universität, Graz, Austria, October 1994–July 1996
 

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Presentations

Arkansas Genealogical Society, Fall Seminar, 19 October 2007
     “The Reality of Researching Your Indian Ancestry”
     “Racial Mixtures in the South”

Legacies & Lunch, Butler Center for Arkansas Studies; 3 October 2007
     “History Lost, History Found: The Search for Hardscramble”
     (Available on DVD and Little Rock Cable Access)

Federation of Genealogical Societies Annual Conference, Philadelphia, September 2008
     “Overlooked Census Data: Reading Those Orphan Columns”
     “Melungeons and Other Mixed Race Groups”
     (Upcoming; lectures accepted)

Angelina College Genealogy Conference, Lufkin, Texas; July 2007
     “The Formation of Kinship Groups in the South”
     “Kinship Theory: A Case Study”
     “Racial Mixtures in the South”
     “The Reality of Researching Your Indian Ancestry”

Institute for Genealogy and Historical Research, Samford University, Birmingham
Annually: 2004–
     “Kinship Theory for Genealogists”
     “Kinship Theory: A Case Study”
     “The Formation of Kinship Groups in the South”
     “The Reality of Researching Your Indian Ancestry”
     “Racial Mixtures in the South”

APG’s Professional Management Conference, Boston, August 2006
     “Kinship Theory for Genealogists”

Imperial Polk Genealogical Society Seminar, Lakeland, Florida, 10 March 2007
     “Kinship Theory for Genealogists”

Genealogy for You Seminar, Saline County Library, Benton, Arkansas, 12 March 2005
     “Kinship Theory for Genealogists”

Saline County History and Heritage Society, Benton, Arkansas, August 19, 2004
     “SCHHS: The Early Years”

Arkansas Historical Association Annual Meeting, Benton, Arkansas, April 2001
     "A Community of Kinship: Antebellum Planters and Economic Opportunity in Saline County, Arkansas"

Houston Area Southern Historians, October 4, 2000
     "Introduction: Communities of Kinship on the Cotton Frontier"

East Texas Historical Association, Fall Meeting, Nacogdoches, Texas, September 1999
     "Antebellum Planters: Communities of Kinship on the Cotton Frontier"

Galveston Historical Foundation Symposium, October 9, 1998
     "Finding Women: A Genealogical and Historical Task"
     "Getting the Most Out of Death Certificates"

Phi Alpha Theta Regional Conference, Memphis, Tennessee, 1992
     "Saracen and the Quapaw Indian Removal"

Arkansas Historical Association Annual Meeting, Hot Springs, Arkansas, April 1990      Session Moderator
 

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Book

Communities of Kinship: Antebellum Planters and the Settlement of the Cotton Frontier. University of Georgia Press, 2004.
 

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Dissertation Abstract

Communities of Kinship on the Cotton Frontier
Dissertation Advisor: John B. Boles

Historians have long recognized the importance of family in the antebellum South but have failed to articulate an interpretive framework for the systematic study of kinship in southern society. Moreover, they have allowed disdain for genealogy to obscure the effectiveness of genealogical methodology in such studies. This work (1) mines anthropological kinship theory to construct a workable theory of kinship for historians of the South, and (2) argues for the incorporation of genealogical methodology into standard methods of historical inquiry, in order (3) to establish the study of kinship as a category of analysis on a par with race, class, and gender in the antebellum South. We can apply yet another patina of understanding over topics including migration, settlement patterns, religion, politics, and economics by analyzing them vis-à-vis their relationship to kinship.
 

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Journal Publications

Book Review: Kinfolks Falling off the Family Tree: The Search for My Melungeon Ancestors, by Lisa Alther, Journal of Southern History, (forthcoming).

Book Review: The Source, National Genealogical Society Quarterly, (forthcoming)

Book Review: Pleasant Hill, Alabama, during the Antebellum Years, 1813–1865: The History and Genealogy of a Dallas County Town, by Michael Vaughn Sims, Alabama Review, Vol. 59, No. 4 (October 2006): 302–303.

“Melungeons: A Study in Racial Complexity—A Review Essay,” The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 102, No. 2 (Spring 2004): 207–223.

Book Review: Tracing Your Alabama Past: For Genealogists and Others a Detailed Guide to Alabama Resources, by Robert Scott Davis (2003), Alabama Review: A Quarterly Journal of Alabama History, Vol. 57, No. 3 (July 2004): 234–235.

Book Review: The Settlers of Lovely County and Miller County, Arkansas Territory, 1820—1830, by Melinda Blanchard Crawford and Don L. Crawford (2002), National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 92, No. 2 (June 2004): 156.

Book Note: Malindy’s Freedom: The Story of a Slave Family, by Mildred Johnson and Theresa Delsoin, The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 72, No. 4 (November 2003): 1005.

"Allen Martin Cemetery, Pulaski County, Arkansas: The Discovery of an Old Abandoned Graveyard," Arkansas Family Historian, Vol. 41, No. 2 (June 2003): 73–78. [Note: article severely mutilated by incompetent editor.]

Book Review: "Oh, For a Touch of the Vanished Hand": Discovering a Southern Family and the Civil War, by Dana M. Mangham (2000), Journal of Southern History, Vol. 69, No. 1 (Feb. 2003): 185–186.

Book Review: All Our Relations: Blood Ties and Emotional Bonds among the Early South Carolina Gentry, by Lorri Glover (2000), Journal of Southern History, Vol. 68, No. 4 (Nov. 2002): 924–925.

Book Review: The Cultural Analysis of Kinship: The Legacy of David M. Schneider, edited by Richard Feinberg and Martin Ottenheimer (2001), Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 99, No. 4 (Autumn 2001): 434–435.

“Antebellum Planters: Communities of Kinship on the Cotton Frontier," East Texas Historical Quarterly (2001).

“Major Ezra Owen,” Arkansas Biography (Fayetteville, AR: University of Arkansas Press, 2000), pp. 214–215.

“Charles Anthony Caldwell: Pioneer on the Urban Frontier,” Pulaski County Historical Review 42 (Winter 94): 91–99.

"Billing the Client," Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly 8 (Dec 1993): 87–89.

“Saracen and the Quapaw Indian Removal,” The Jefferson County Historical Quarterly 21 (Dec 1993): 4–22.

Book Review: Territorial Ambition by Dr. S. Charles Bolton, Professional Genealogists of Arkansas Newsletter VI (Sept. 1993): 3.

"Settlement Patterns in Early Saline County, Arkansas," Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Vol. LII (Summer 1993): 107–128.

Book Review: Colonial Arkansas by Morris S. Arnold, National Genealogical Society Quarterly 80 (Dec 1992): 304.

"Excerpts from the 1881 Acts of Arkansas," The Arkansas Family Historian XXX (Sept 1992): 101–103.

"The Owen Family: Building on Politics in Early Arkansas," The Saline VII (June 1992): 73–93.

"Business or Pleasure?" Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly VII (March 1992): 16; reprinted from Professional Genealogists of Arkansas Newsletter V (Nov 1991): 9.

"Lynch Family Genealogy," The Arkansas Family Historian XXIX (Dec 1991): 165–169.

"Alien Registrations," The Saline VI (June 1991): 83–87.

"Nelson Wright: Southern Claims Commission File," The Saline VI (June 1991): 88–96.
 

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Family History/Genealogy Credentials

Samford University’s IGHR, 2004– :
     Coordinator Course 3: Research in the South

Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
     Advisory Board (2003– )
     Butler Center 2007 Research Fellow

Saline County (Arkansas) History and Heritage Society
     Founding, Charter, and Life Member
     Treasurer (1986–1991)
     Editor The Saline (1986–1990)

Arkansas Genealogical Society (Life Member)
     Board of Directors (1988–1995) (2006– )
     Vice-President (1989–1990)
     Program Chair 1990 Fall Seminar
     President (1991–1992)

Association of Professional Genealogists
     Member: 1990–

National Genealogical Society:
     Member

Professional Genealogists of Arkansas
     Co-Founder (1988)
     Newsletter Co-Editor (1988–1992)

Graduate of Samford University's Institute of Genealogy and Historical Research, 1989:
     Course V–Genealogy as a Profession

Lecturer and Speaker on genealogical methodology
     Varied Workshops and Seminars

Sole Proprietor, Saline Research
     Professional Genealogical and Historical Researcher (1986–1992)

Guest Speaker
     Arkansas Small Business Development Seminar (1992)
     Various civic clubs, e.g. Rotary Clubs, DAR, AARP
     Youth Services Center (1994)

Volunteer, Arkansas History Commission (State Archives), (1988–1989)
 

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Genealogical Publications

Author/Compiler, published by Saline Research (Alexander, Arkansas):

Samuel Wade Young: His Life and Descendants (1989)

1850 Saline County, Arkansas Census (1988)

The Scott Family of Saline County, Arkansas (1988)

Pleasant Grove Families: Reflections of A Church, A Cemetery, A Community of the Past (1987; 1995)

1840 Saline County, Arkansas Census (1987)

1890 Saline County, Arkansas Taxpayers (1986)

The Family History of Eula Mae Miller Fisher (1986)

Co-author (with Desmond Walls Allen), published by Research Associates (Conway, AR):

Beginner's Guide to Family History Research (1990, 1991, 1993, and 1997)

How to Get the Most Out of Death Certificates (1991)

How to Become a Professional Genealogist (1991)

Social Security Applications: A Genealogical Resource (1989, 1991)

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