Anne Roach

Anne Roach, AG, CGSM, current Director of Content Development for Inflection's Archives.com, 19 years of genealogical research experience, former ICAPGen Commissioner, Inaugural RootsTech Conference chair and developer, BA from Brigham Young University in History/Family History, Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy coordinator and instructor, Utah Library Association GenRT Chair and Vice-chair, FamilySearch International Reference Consultant, Community Manager and Content Strategist. Lecturer at various local and International conferences on family history and technology topics, including NGS, FGS, RootsTech, IAJGS conferences and the BYU Technology Workshop. Owned and operated a successful genealogy business for over ten years. Enjoys languages and has almost 20 years of experience transcribing and translating genealogical records in several languages including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew.

Articles by this author

• Making Sense of the Census: The U.S. Federal Population Census

Although I loved investigative research, the word "genealogy" made me cringe until I actually tried it. Once I tried it, I found that it was a great adventure, full of detective work and challenging puzzles that often could not be solved without great skill, discipline, and mastery.

The countless envelopes of henna-dyed hair samples that an ancestor kept to match her color year after year.

Ancestral searches are always an interesting puzzle to solve, irrespective of the fame of the client. I have never been more motivated to research the family of someone famous than someone who is not famous because there is no corner on the market of unique and interesting ancestors. We are each individuals, and have to make our own way in life. Whether our ancestors were famous or infamous does not define who we may become. It just might provide a little context on the soil in which we were initially planted.