Presenter Profile: David McDonald

David McDonald, CG, first got "the bug" as an eighth-grader in Mr. Brady's social studies class at James Fenimore Cooper Junior High School, Buffalo Grove, Illinois. In the fall of 1977, assigned with the task of compiling a "family tree," Dave began asking questions of his grandmother and her sisters about their experiences in Oklahoma Territory in the first decade of the 1900s, learning that the family left the farm because the well went bad. Later, the family learned the water was polluted--with oil! The family who purchased their father's homestead struck oil on the lousy farmland soon after the family left the area. Later, questions to another grandaunt, his other grandmother's sister, produced two family genealogies published in the late '60s on those relatives. "I was hooked! To be able to learn so many things about my relatives in so short a time made me want to figure out more on the others, too," he noted.

His first job was in a little shop in his hometown in suburban Chicago. Genealogy Unlimited sold pedigree charts and family group sheets, how-to books, copied old photographs and offered classes in research methods. "This was long before personal computers. I was glad to have a job there," Dave said. He added, "I figured there were lots of little places like this, all over the country. How wrong I was!" For the next five years, most spring and autumn weekends found him in the store's van going to various genealogical conferences across the Midwest with Carol Schiffman, the store's owner. Carol frequently lectured at the seminars, and Dave would help run the booth. He noted that, "being exposed to speakers at locations large and small, and on a variety of topics, broadened my appreciation for genealogical methods and efforts. I had the good fortune to see how excellent teachers present their materials in interesting and compelling ways, and I've tried to emulate those best practices in my lectures and teaching."

Research has been an ongoing factor in Dave's life since the late 1970s. Working with a US Army-veteran cousin, who had served in England during World War II, he was able to relocate long-lost kin in Yorkshire, visiting the UK for the first time in 1995. "I really love the chance to visit in the UK," he commented, "as the time frames are so vastly different there. What seems 'old' here is barely noted in British minds. 'Modern' history begins about 1600 in their viewpoint!" With the assistance and in cooperation with those Yorkshire kin, Dave's English families have been extended to the 1500s and earlier, and now include at least two Anglican clergymen. Inasmuch as Dave is a Protestant minister in his non-genealogical endeavors, that's proved one of his favorite finds through the years.

Since 2007, Dave has been a member of the NGS Board of Directors. "Jack Brissee was dying and we had a good chat about both the work of the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society and NGS. He said he'd hoped I'd be willing to serve on the Board in his place," Dave said. "It's been an honor to serve out his term." In addition to service on the Board, Dave has been a proctor and writer for the the Society's Home Study course, and is a graduate of the course as well. "I had been doing genealogical research for more than 25 years when I took the American genealogy course. I only wish I had taken it earlier, as the materials are excellent," he noted.

During the NGS conference, Dave and his bow ties will be busy. He'll be lecturing on a favorite topic, church records and history, as well as transcontinental migration, British research and obsolete terms researchers may encounter in their work. In addition, he'll be the keynote speaker for the Friday evening banquet. "I'll be having some fun looking at British royalty, another of my favorite genealogical diversions," Dave noted. "I'm hopeful we can enjoy a little laughter together during Friday evening's gathering."