THE SOCIAL GENEALOGIST
Hi, I'm Mike Quackenbush
Family Historian • Social Genealogist • Storyteller
I explore the lives, communities, and experiences of the people who came before us. Through genealogy, social history, and ancestral travel, I help bring family history to life beyond names and dates.
Explore Social GenealogyWHY FAMILY HISTORY MATTERS
“Families that share stories, stories about parents and grandparents, about triumphs and failures, provide powerful models for children. Children understand who they are in the world not only through their individual experience, but through the filters of family stories that provide a sense of identity through historical time.”
Fivush, Duke & Bohanek, Emory University (2010)
Family history is about more than discovering names, dates, and relationships. It helps us understand where we come from, the communities our ancestors belonged to, and the experiences that shaped their lives.
Research has shown that people who know their family stories often develop a stronger sense of identity, belonging, and resilience. Through genealogy, we connect ourselves to a larger story that stretches across generations.
MY APPROACH
Beyond names, dates, and family trees.
I approach genealogy as the study of people in context. Records can tell us who our ancestors were, but the deeper work is understanding the lives they lived, the communities they belonged to, and the historical forces that shaped their choices.
People
Every ancestor was more than a name in a tree. I look for the relationships, occupations, beliefs, losses, ambitions, and everyday experiences that made them human.
Places
Family history is rooted in place. Villages, farms, streets, churches, cemeteries, ports, and neighbourhoods all help explain how people lived and where they belonged.
Context
History shaped every generation. Migration, war, religion, poverty, work, law, disease, opportunity, and social change all influenced the choices our ancestors could make.
RESEARCH AROUND THE WORLD
Family history is rarely confined to one place.
My research has followed families across countries, borders, oceans, and generations. These places represent records, communities, migrations, and ancestral stories I have explored.
Home, migration, settlement, and family records.
Parish, census, civil registration, military, and local history records.
Townlands, parish records, land records, migration, and family reconstruction.
Research experience across Europe, North America, Oceania, Africa, and Asia.
THE JOURNEY
The Binder That Started It All
When I was nine years old, a large family history binder arrived from my Great-Aunt. Inside were photographs, stories, family trees, and generations of research. I was fascinated.
But what captured my imagination most were the unanswered questions. Some dates seemed unclear. Some relationships did not quite make sense. I found myself wondering not only whether the information was correct, but what the real stories behind it might have been.
Growing up in rural Bruce County, Ontario, I had little access to archives or major research libraries. The internet became my gateway into family history. As an only child with relatives spread across Canada and the United Kingdom, genealogy also gave me something deeper: a connection to a much larger family story.
For me, genealogy has never been just about discovering who our ancestors were. It has always been about understanding what it meant to be them.
MEMBERSHIPS & AFFILIATIONS
Part of the wider family history community.
These organizations reflect my continued connection to genealogical research, education, collaboration, and community.
FEATURED PROJECTS
Stories, families, and places I continue to explore.
These projects reflect the heart of my research: following people across records, places, communities, and generations.
Flight Sergeant John Allen Howell
RCAF service, North Africa, family memory, and the human story behind wartime records.
The Lemon Family
Tracing family, place, migration, and memory across southwest England and beyond.
The Quackenbush Family
Exploring Dutch colonial roots, migration, settlement, and generations of family history.
RECOGNITION & INSPIRATION
Milestones and ideas that continue to shape my journey.
Canada's Top 10 "Rockstar" Genealogists
Recognized by Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connections, 14 September 2016.
View the complete list →"Our job is to remember what our ancestors chose to forget."
— Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Host, Finding Your Roots on PBS
EXPLORE THE STORIES
Family history is not only about the past. It is about connection.
MikeQuackenbush.com is a living collection of family histories, research guides, ancestral journeys, and stories that explore the people behind the records.