Carol P. McCoy, Ph.D.

Dr. Carol P. McCoy, President of Find-Your-Roots and McCoy Consulting, has been tracing her family history for over 25 years.  She has been helping others discover their roots for the past seven years.

With each new case, Dr. McCoy learns more about researching families in different eras and areas.  Her focus is on tracing families in North America, particularly in the Northeast and in West Virginia.   She uses a variety of sources - online databases, traditional repositories, historical societies, visits to cemeteries, courthouses, town halls, registries of deeds, maps, and a wide network of personal contacts.

She enjoys solving mysteries, discovering solid evidence to prove relationships, finding new family members for people, collecting interesting details of ancestors' lives and creating a readable and interesting family history report for others.

Tracing her family and others' families has given Carol particular familiarity with researching the following geographic areas: West Virginia (especially in Tyler, Monongalia, and Marion Counties, New York (especially NYC and Suffolk County), Maine, Connecticut (especially New London), Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Canada (Maritime Provinces), New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

As a professional trainer she has spoken for audiences of over 300 people throughout the United States and in the U.K.  After many years of giving presentations and workshops on training, communication and leadership, she now offers workshops on genealogy and family history.  Her popular topics include Creative Strategies for Solving Genealogical Problems, Getting Started in Genealogy, Making the Most of the Census, Having Fun with Memorabilia and Photographs in Genealogy, Finding Your New England Ancestors - Sound Strategies for Genealogical Research and Where Do Your Talents and Passions Come From? What You can Learn from Your Ancestors.  In addition, she has taught several genealogy workshops at the Center for Continuing Education at the University of Southern Maine.

Dr. McCoy gave a well-received genealogical talk at the Maine Genealogical Society conference in 2007.  She has given talks for the Greater Portland Chapter of the MGS in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, the Limerick Maine Historical Society, the Falmouth Maine Historical Society, the D.A.R. sponsored conference in Winslow, Maine, and for other groups.

Carol was elected president of the Greater Portland Chapter of the Maine Genealogical Society in January 2008.  This MGS chapter meets monthly at the Church of Latter Day Saints in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

She is a member of the National Genealogical Society and a graduate of their core genealogy home study program.  Other memberships include New York Genealogical & Biographical Society, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Maine Historical Society, Maine Genealogical Society, Bennington (Vermont) Historical Society, Tyler County (West Virginia) Heritage and Historical Society, Marion County (West Virginia) Genealogy Club, Connecticut Society of Genealogists, New London (Connecticut) Historical Society, Rhode Island Historical Society, Rhode Island Genealogical Society and Jewishgen.org.

Education and Early Background

She grew up in Bronxville, NY and graduated from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut with an A.B. in psychology. She then attended graduate school at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey where she had a teaching scholarship in psychology. She received her M.S. degree and Ph.D. degree in psychology from Rutgers. Her master’s research was on the development of humor in children. Her doctoral thesis was on Early Childhood Recollections and Two Aspects of Lifestyle: Internal-External Locus of Control and Positive-Negative Worldview.

Graduate school taught her to appreciate the complexity of the human personality, to analyze data to support a theory, to write clearly about complex topics, and most importantly to stick with a project until it is finished! All of this learning has proven helpful in genealogical and family research

Professional Background

Her first full-time teaching job was social science chair person (really a one-person psychology department) at Misericordia Hospital School of Nursing in the Bronx, NY.  After that she worked as a management development consultant for Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City.  Having enjoyed the hustle and bustle of NYC for 15 years, she migrated north to more bucolic Maine in 1991.  Prior to starting her own genealogy business in 1999, Carol worked as a training director for UNUM in Portland, Maine.

She has written several books on training, is a life coach, and also conducts workshops on genealogy and on training.  She has also written several informal articles on genealogy.  A popular conference speaker, Carol has given many workshops on training and development, leadership and communication skills.

 

The Maine-Canada-Ireland Connection:  Seeking Rogers' Roots

Session 2: 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

An entertaining case study shows how we discovered the Canadian and Irish roots of the Rogers' family who lived in Brewer in 1850.  Learn how U.S. and Canadian census, land, probate, historical, and newspaper records as well as archival material, online sites and databases and internet contacts can bring a complex family to life.