Family Lines & Stories

Genealogy Research & Historian

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You are here: Home / About

About

Patti Headshot

Patti Gillespie, B.A., M.S.

Genealogist & Personal Historian

Owner, Family Lines & Stories

Specialty Wise County, Texas and U.S. Research

Over 30 years experience

My research experience involves:


  • Ferreting out the documents in Wise County, Texas
  • Charming recalcitrant keepers of the records
  • Practicing public patience with patrons and public servants
  • Expressing gratitude in the moment and later
  • Communicating briefly and effectively when asking for help
  • Donating the compilation my original, document-oriented research to various local repositories
  • Research trips to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Montana, New Jersey, West Virginia, California and Texas
  • Birth, death & marriage records, court records, cemetery records, burial & funeral home records, newspapers, military and naturalization records
  • Researching, preparing, and documenting an African American genealogical record back to 1860
  • Researching, preparing, and documenting a genealogical record that included a strong maternal Southern line from Texas back to Georgia and a paternal line from Illinois to Prussia
  • Researching, preparing, and documenting a genealogical record that took him back to Germany
  • Researching, preparing, and documenting back to Scotland in the early 1700s
  • Providing dates, places, and documentation to those I run across in family trees who lack what I have been blessed to find.
  • RAOGK searches for local marriage certificates, taking trips to cemeteries for photos, and searching local sources for others
  • Wise County Historical Society searches for those who wrote in with research questions

Organizations/Leadership:

  • National Genealogical Society Conference 2020, Appointed Chairman of Activities
  • Assistant to Kelvin Meyers, Texas Institute of Genealogical Research (TIGR)
  • President, APG Lonestar Chapter
  • Secretary, Texas State Genealogy Society
  • Wise County Genealogical Society (WCGS), Founding Member, President, 2013-2020
  • Chairman of Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)
  • Virtual Professional Management Conference (VPMC), 2015
  • Wise County Historical Society, Secretary, 2013-2016
  • Board Member of the Wise County Historical Commission, 2013-2020
  • Instructor: Genealogical Research 101 (a six-week lecture and hands-on course designed to instruct beginners in research and documentation.
  • Selected Participant in the National Archives at Fort Worth Citizen Archivist Program

Education:

University of North Texas
Master’s Degree, Secondary Education and Instruction
1992 – 1994

University of North Texas
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), English Language and Literature/Letters

Publications:

Gillespie, Patti, Just Watch Me: Memories of Shirley Alice Harthen Hienton Zedeker, self-Published, 2016.

Gillespie, Patti and Nina Clorene Rowland, John Jasper Pinkney Davis, 1842-1925: Today’s Descendants, Self-published, 2019.

Gillespie, Robert, “A Lost Journal Found – A Miner’s Life in Scotland and the United States,” Fife Family History Society Journal, a series of articles based on the journal of Robert Gillespie, 2009-2010.

Rowland, Nina Clorene, Baptist Davis to Me: 50 Years of Research, edited and compiled by Patti Gillespie, self-published, 2017.

Accommodations:

Accolades:

  • Selected to work on the NGS Conference 2020
  • Selected to assist Kelvin Meyers with Texas Institute of Genealogy Research, 2017-Present
  • Selected, served on SLIG committee, 2017-2018
  • Chosen as a Citizen Archivist for the Fort Worth National Archives and Research Administration (NARA). May 2016.
  • Winner of Jimmy Parker Scholarship to attend Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy 2015.

Speaking Events for 2018-2019:

  • RootsTech, Salt Lake City, UT
  • BYU Family History & Genealogy Conference, Provo, UT
  • Kerrville Genealogical Society Seminar, Kerrville, TX
  • North Texas Genealogical Association Seminar, Wichita Falls, TX
  • Texas State Genealogical Society Family History Conference, 2018, San Antonio, TX
  • GenealogyKC Conference, Kansas City, MO
  • Dallas Genealogical Society, Dallas, TX
  • Arlington Library, Arlington, TX
  • Tyler Genealogical Society, Tyler, TX (2)
  • Robson Ranch, Denton, TX (3)
  • Emily Fowler Library, Denton, TX (2)
  • Denton Genealogical Society, Denton, TX (3)
  • Rockwall Genealogical Society, Rockwall, TX
  • Wise County Nurses Association, Decatur, TX
  • Wise County Genealogical Society, Decatur, TX (2)
  • TX Lock-In Webinar
  • Panelist for North Texas Society Summit
  • Family History Conference, Denton, TX
  • Gainesville Genealogical Society, Gainesville, TX
  • Grapevine Library, Grapevine, TX
  • Granbury Friends, Granbury, TX
  • Lake Kiowa Genealogy Group, Lake Kiowa, TX
  • Denison Genealogical Society, Denison, TX
  • Grand Prairie Genealogical Society, Grand Prairie, TX
  • Waxahachie Gen Society, Waxahachie, TX
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Welcome to Family Lines and Stories

Family Lines and Stories is my way of helping to find and tell your family stories—whether it is through professional ancestral research, oral interview, publishing the information, blogging, or fun and instructional presentation. Searching and finding our ancestors and placing them in context with historical events of the nation or even the world is an exhilarating adventure! Let’s find and tell your family story together.

Learn More

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Contact

Patti Gillespie, B.A., M.S.

Genealogist
940-328-2104
FamLStories@gmail.com

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