I am a historian and a curator for Geni. I work on special projects focused on geographic and topical themes. (If you follow the Geni Blog, you've likely seen some of my work.) Some examples of projects I've worked on are Team USA Gymnasts, Seven Sisters Alumnae (MHC!), American College & University Founders, and New Religious Movement Founders. My current pet project/albatross is the project for people associated with "The Office." If I built a profile for you or a close relative and you have no clue who I am, odds are you have a notable relative -- ask me about it!

When I'm not working on special projects for Geni, I like to work on my own direct ancestors, who include:

• Oldest-of-the-old-stock New England Yankees
• Confederate Southerners who fought the above
• Pirates, refugees, and slaves of the Bahamas
• A Danish-German shyster who murdered his professor
• New England's first "wonder-working" historian
• America's first public school teacher
• One of the original Mormon pioneers
• A bunch of cranky old coots, including this guy

For you DNA geeks, my maternal haplogroup is U4c1. My father's Y-DNA is R1b1b2a1a2d3*, and his mother's mtDNA was H5a. Although I am predominantly European-American, my recent ancestry includes significant percentages of Yoruba, Mandinka, and Bantu on my maternal side, and undetermined Native American on my paternal. (My paternal grandfather was adopted.) Deeper DNA analysis narrows the Native American roots to Abenaki, Métis, and/or Mohawk.

According to my spit sample, I am 2.8% Neanderthal. Go me.