Find-Your-Roots

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.

"Professional Profiles" by Roberta "Bobbi" King, "Life Student--Carol Prescott McCoy, Ph.D."

Carol McCoy was recently honored with a profile by Bobbi King in the December 2010 issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, published in the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, Vol. XXV, No. 4, Dec 2010, p. 175-176.
To read this article click here.

She will be pleased to help you research your family history. She can do the research and writing for you, teach you to do the research yourself, or speak to your organization about genealogy.

Focus of Her Research

Carol Tracing of Tombstone of Joseph McCoy Who Died 1 Nov 1877 Polly Archer Cemetery, Tyler County, West Virginia

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, NY)
• Maine
• Connecticut (especially New London)
• Massachusetts
• Rhode Island
• New Hampshire
• Vermont
• Canada (Maritime Provinces)
• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania

Genealogy Talks and Workshops

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.

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
• The Maine-Canada-Ireland Connection: Seeking Rogers’ Roots (A Case Study)
• Where Do Your Talents and Passions Come From? What You Can Learn from Your Ancestors
• She has taught several genealogy workshops at the Center for Continuing Education at University of South Maine.

Dr. McCoy has given genealogical talks for the Maine Genealogical Society (MGS) Conference in Bangor Maine, 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. Memberships
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 (NGS) 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 WV Genealogy Club
• Connecticut Society of Genealogists
• New London Connecticut Historical Society
• Rhode Island Historical Society
• Rhode Island Genealogical Society
• Jewishgen.org

Education and Early Background

Carol McCoy at the Genealogical Fair in Winslow, Maine June 2007 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 NY 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 2001 and her training consulting 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 written several informal articles on genealogy. A popular conference speaker, Carol has given many work shops on training and development, leadership and communication skills.