Kenneth R Marks
Background
My name is Kenneth R Marks, and I currently reside in Sun City, Arizona. I am the Founder of the Ancestor Hunt.
I was born and educated in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have resided in Los Angeles, San Diego, Silicon Valley, Seattle, Northern Virginia, Saudi Arabia, and now Arizona.
Education
- California State University, East Bay
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Southern California
Bachelor of Science, Mathematics, 1968
Experience
My career was in Information Technology, starting with NCR in 1969; with the final 20 Years as a software executive with Boeing, Pearson, and NASA. I retired from the industry in 2004.
Personal Genealogy Research
In 2002, for a reason long forgotten, I joined ancestry.com as a “free subscriber”. Not driven by a passion to “know” my roots, but just interest, I began the search. It became clear to me that knowing the life stories of my ancestors was my primary focus. I rapidly became an obsessed Ancestor Hunter! Along the way, I discovered hundreds of techniques that helped me progress in this endeavor. It became my intent to share these techniques with others so that their journey would be less bumpy and hopefully just as rewarding as it has been for me.
Genealogy Career and The Ancestor Hunt
The Ancestor Hunt, founded in 2008, is focused on helping genealogy and family history researchers of all skill levels to achieve their goals, by providing links to free online genealogy collections, and search tips and techniques, largely via easy-to-understand Quick Reference Guides.
What started as 10,000 links to Free Online Newspaper Titles in 2012 has blossomed to over 275,000 in 24 distinct Genealogy Record Collection categories. 130 Genealogy Quick Reference Research Guides are also available on the website.
I am an expert in newspaper research. I learned early on that in order to discover my ancestors’ stories, I had to become adept at researching historical newspapers. I have been an evangelist for newspaper research and stories ever since.
Publications
I have authored 3 genealogy reference books, starting in November 2021:
- “Finding Your Ancestors For Free – Your Guide to the Best Online Archives, Collections, and Websites”. Available at Amazon
- “Learning More About Your Ancestors Online – Genealogy Guides for Newbies, Hobbyists, and Old Pros”. Available at Amazon
- “Finding Your Ancestors’ Obituaries: The Complete Genealogy Guide to Obituaries”. Available at Amazon
Webinars
Through the years I have presented many webinars on the subject of Newspaper Research to Genealogical and Historical Societies.
The latest is “How to Develop Online Newspaper Research Skills”
Social Media
Currently, I (and The Ancestor Hunt) have over 80,000 followers on a variety of social media platforms.
