Mark A. Wentling, MLS, CG - Ancestor Introductions, LLC

25/10/2024

A little genealogical amusement for your Friday, stumbled upon at the Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Southern District Registry of Deeds in Cambridge

24/10/2024

Looking forward to anchoring the Forensic Genealogy discussion during tonight’s Career Idea Exchange virtual meeting of Association of Professional Genealogists members!

Welcome to the Association of Professional Genealogists Find a GenealogistFind a pro to help you achieve your research goalsBecome a ProfessionalDiscover your path to becoming a professional genealogistJoinGrow your business with APG membershipRecent News Announcing the APG Fellowship October 1, 202...

23/10/2024

Conducting vital records research for a client at Dighton, Massachusetts, Town Hall today. The town clerk’s counter is made from wood taken from an old home that once stood nearby.

27/09/2024

Conducting probate research in Newport, Rhode Island, today for a Massachusetts quiet title case. In a genealogical investigation for a case like this, it’s important to check for a will to see who received an interest in the property — it wasn’t always a family member! In this case, the person’s will showed interest was divided between dozens of friends, co-workers, universities, and churches.

05/08/2024

I am excited and honored to be elected as a trustee of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. I look forward to helping the board carry out its mission to foster public trust in genealogical work by promoting strong standards and ethics and by recognizing those who follow them in their work.

The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) congratulates three returning and two newly elected trustees for their election to terms beginning in October 2024. The BCG board is composed of fifteen (15) trustees. All hold the Certified Genealogist® credential, and all serve without compensatio...

01/04/2024

I was pleased to recently co-author the white paper "Certification and Standards in the Practice of Forensic Genetic Genealogy" with my colleagues Barbara Jean Mathews, CG Emeritus, FASG, LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, JD, LL.M., CG, CGL, FASG, and Melinde Lutz Byrne, CG, FASG, FNGS, outlining the The Board for Certification of Genealogists (R)' position regarding the practice of genetic genealogy to aid law enforcement.

23/02/2024

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants has just released it’s first-ever comprehensive print index to its “silver books” series. The series documents known descendants of Mayflower passengers down to the fifth generation. This three-volume set is a welcome addition to my bookshelf, and is already saving me time on client cases!

15/11/2023

I am honored to be re-elected to the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists. Thank you! APG promotes professional growth and standards for genealogists through education, networking and advocacy. I encourage all professionals - seasoned or aspiring! - to consider membership and participation in this vital organization.

31/10/2023

"the Court will conduct an in camera review of all the IGG information in the possession, custody, or control of the State, including the FBI, to determine precisely what needs to be disclosed and what does not need to be disclosed"

*THIS* is why I teach students that it is essential for forensic genetic genealogists to follow the recognized industry standards for conducting genealogical investigations.

The Genealogy Standards set forth by the Board for Certification of Genealogists are the genealogy field's most-widely respected and only set of comprehensive standards for ensuring beginning-to-end due diligence and excellence in research and in documenting findings and conclusions. Following them is a sign of credible work.

A forensic genetic genealogist cannot always know in advance when their work will be scrutinized by the court -- best to prepare from the start!

29/10/2023

Yesterday I joined my colleagues in NEAPG New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists for our annual meeting, hosted by the Mayflower Society at the historic Mayflower House in downtown Plymouth. Here’s a photo I took from the cupola of Plymouth Harbor. Look closely….can you spot the ship Mayflower II?

27/10/2023

Thank you to Todd M. Hirsch, Director of Programs and Partnerships, for the New York Genealogical & Biographical Society for having me as an Expert Consultant this week for three days on-site at the New York State Library and New York State Archives helping attendees with their genealogical research. I was joined by my capable colleagues Jenny Rizzo Irwin, CG, of Generations Revealed, LLC, Amanda E. Perrine of Covered Bridge Genealogical Services and Michelle Dowd Torosian of Torosian Genealogy, LLC

(Group photo credit: Michelle Dowd Torosian)

08/10/2023

I’m happy and honored that my in-depth study reconstructing the family of Joseph Brownell (1699-ca.1773), a Quaker of Dartmouth, Massachusetts, and Little Compton, Rhode Island, is now published in the latest issue of the Mayflower Descendant.

Various published sources, including the General Society of Mayflower Descendants “silver book” on Mayflower passenger Francis Cooke’s descendants, plus Doherty’s Settlers of the Beekman Patent, and others, contained conflicting accounts of Joseph’s wives and children. In this article I resolved the conflicts and proved Joseph married five women and had eight children by the first three.

In the absence of vital records for many family events, the study relies heavily on Quaker meeting minutes, land records and probate records to solve the problem.

Read the article, with kind permission of the publisher, on my website at https://ancestorintroductions.com/mayflower/

13/07/2023

I recently was honored to talk with Kenyatta D. Berry for episode 53 of her podcast "Conversations with Kenyatta." Some of you may recognize Kenyatta from her work as co-host of PBS' "Genealogy Roadshow" television series.

In addition to talking about how I started my genealogy career, we also discussed genealogy as a profession, as an emerging academic discipline, and its relationship to other areas of study.

Listen or download for free here, or anywhere you like to access podcasts! Enjoy!

This week on Conversations with Kenyatta, Kenyatta D. Berry, host of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow and author of The Family Tree Toolkit is joined by certified genealogist and professor Mark A. Wentling.The two discuss forensic genealogy, genealogy grad...

09/02/2023

Thank you to the Dartmouth Historical and Arts Society in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, for its generous, surprise gift of these two new volumes of its transcriptions of the minutes of the Dartmouth Monthly Meeting of Quakers! The minutes are also now freely available on its website at https://www.dartmouthhas.org/index.html

These minutes were an indispensible source for my work proving the five wives and eight children of Joseph Brownell, a one-time member of the Meeting. You can view my webinar showing these records and how they helped me solve the case over at Legacy Family Tree Webinars at https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/five-wives-a-feather-bed-using-indirect-and-negative-evidence-to-resolve-conflicting-claims/

19/09/2022

In the September 2022 issue of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, I review the new book "John Grow of Ipswich, Massachusetts and Some of His Descendants: A Middle-Class Family in Social and Economic Context from the 17th Century to the Present," written by historian and genealogist Michael Grow. It's a fascinating study in how socioeconomic analysis can fill the gaps in a family's story that the records genealogists usually rely on don't cover. Log in or subscribe to read my take!

National Genealogical Quarterly (NGSQ) is a scholarly journal that publishes material concerning all US regions and all ethnic groups. It includes compiled genealogies, case studies, essays on new methodology and little-known resources, critical review of current books, and previously unpublished so...

19/09/2022

I'm pleased to be teaching this week at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy with my colleagues.

17/08/2022

An article in The New Yorker that I worked on with author Adam Entous for five months as the Boston-area genealogist and research consultant appears in the 22 August 2022 issue. Happy to see it released!

Relatively little has been known about the President’s father, whose story reveals a family’s fraught relationship with money, class, and alcohol.

18/05/2022

Thank you to everyone who attended my case study presentation last night at Legacy Tree Webinars, sponsored by the Board for Certification of Genealogists! I am honored by all of your positive comments!

In case you missed it, you can watch the recording for free for the next seven days. After that, subscribers can rewatch it any time.

Genealogical scholars make conflicting claims about the number of wives, and the number and mothers of the children, of Joseph Brownell, a Mayflower descendant of...