Introduction

Oh, no!

Not another genealogy blog!

And who is this person, anyway?

My name is Karen LeSueur Packard Rhodes. That's the whole megilla. And I call this blog Karen About Genealogy because I love puns. Get used to it.

"Okay, so who the heck are you?" I hear you thinking that.

I'm one of these people who has had the ability, talent, necessity, whatever it is, to reinvent myself about every five to ten years, as circumstances have dictated. I have been a librarian (Master's degree from Florida State University, 1970), done secretarial work, been a registered nurse, served as enlisted and officer in the U.S. Coast Guard, and now I'm a genealogist. At one time, to help my husband support the family, I even said, "You want fries with that?" One does what one must do.

So, genealogically speaking, I'm pretty interesting! Let's hope my blog will be, too.

"Okay," you say -- "but what are your genealogical credentials?"

I completed the non-degree program of study devised by the National Institute for Genealogical Studies, which is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The courses are administered by the Professional Learning Centre, Faculty for Information Studies, University of Toronto. I live in Florida, so that was one heckuva commute!

Sorry. I'm pulling your leg. The courses are all online. I completed this course of study "with distinction," meaning I maintained an A average.

I am a member of the Southern Genealogist's Exchange Society in Jacksonville, Florida, for which I serve as historian. One area in which I seem to be headed as a genealogist is as a speaker. I have spoken at SGES meetings, at a seminar sponsored by the Jacksonville Public Library, at a meeting of the Amelia Island Genealogical Society, and this July I will be speaking at the Genealogical Seminar at the national meeting of the Sons of the American Revolution.

I am also a writer. I've been working on a book concerning the colonial, territorial, and state censuses of Florida. The manuscript is in the hands of my editor at McFarland & Company of Jefferson, North Carolina, a publisher specializing in reference books.

In these blogs, I will be all over the map -- literally, sometimes -- about genealogy. Sometimes I'll be talking about genealogy in general, about recent developments. Sometimes I'll talk about my own family history, usually to illustrate a point. I'll be talking about black sheep and brick walls and quirks of the censuses and whatever comes to mind that I hope will interest readers.

And if I bore you, say so! I'll try to pick up the pace.

That's the introduction. I hope you'll stick around for the meat of the matter.