Bio

Arlene H. Eakle, Ph.D., is the president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. and a professional genealogist since 1962. She holds both MA and Ph.D. in English History (University of Utah) and an Associate degree in Nursing (Weber State University). She has completed post-graduate computer, web design and ecommerce courses (Bridgerland Applied Technical Center) and attended the Newberry Library (Chicago) Community and Local History course. She also attended the Dan Kennedy Ultimate Marketing Boot Camp and is a member of his Marketing Inner Circle.

She is an expert in tracing ancestors from the Southern States including the Appalachian Triangle-southwest Virginia, northeast North Carolina, southeast Kentucky and east Tennessee. Her research for Scots-Irish and Native American pedigrees from this Triangle, although difficult to document, is especially successful. She is experienced in New York research, tracing ancestors from New England and New Jersey across New York into Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tennessee. And she is skilled in researching English, Scottish, Irish and Swiss German ancestors.

Dr. Eakle was one of the founders and original trustees of the Association of Professional Genealogists serving as president, 1980-1982, and as editor of the APG Newsletter and Green Sheet, 1982-1985. She edited the only periodical for genealogy teachers, Teaching Genealogy, 1988-1989. She currently edits four serials: Research News, Immigration Digest, Virginia Genealogy Notebooks and Researching Your Roots in New York (with Linda E. Brinkerhoff).

A prolific writer with more than 90 titles, she was general editor, with Johni Cerny, of the award winning The Source: Guidebook for American Genealogy (1984), and author of three chapters - “Census Records,” “Court and Probate Records,” and “Tracking Immigrant Origins.” The American Library Association recognized The Source as one of the Ten Best Reference Works of 1984. She is the author of “Court and Probate Records,” The Source, revised edition (1997). She co-authored the national best-seller Family History for Fun and Profit: The Genealogy Research Process and Genealogy in Land Records with Linda E. Brinkerhoff and Ancestry’s Guide to Research, with Johni Cerny.