James M. Beidler, former Interim Executive Director for the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, is the author of four commercially published genealogy books as well as writing “Roots & Branches,” an award-winning weekly blog / newspaper column on genealogy. He is also a columnist for German Life magazine and is editor emeritus of Der Kurier, the quarterly journal of the Mid-Atlantic Germanic Society.
He was co-chair for the International German Genealogy Partnership’s successful virtual conference in 2021 and was a research-reports editor for Legacy Tree Genealogists from 2018 to 2021 (and remains an Affiliate with LTG). Since May 2020, he has been a regular on the “Genealogy Quick Start” television program hosted by Shamele Jordon.
Beidler was also Executive Director for GSP from 1999 to 2003. He was the President of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors from 2010 to 2012 and served as national co-chair for the 2008 Federation of Genealogical Societies conference in Philadelphia.
Beidler is also frequent contributor to other periodicals ranging from scholarly journals such as The Pennsylvania Genealogical Magazine to popular-interest magazines such as Family Tree Magazine. He also wrote the chapter on genealogy for Pennsylvania: A History of the Commonwealth, published jointly by the Penn State Press and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
As a lecturer, he was a part of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council’s acclaimed Commonwealth Speakers program from 2002 to 2009, and has been a presenter at numerous conferences. In addition to being a member of numerous genealogical, historical, and lineage societies, Beidler also has sat on Pennsylvania’s State Historic Records Advisory Board as well as the selection committee for the Pennsylvania Digital Newspaper Project.
He is an Enrolled Agent tax preparer and owner of James M. Beidler Tax Concierge LLC and previously was a copy editor for 15 years for The Patriot-News newspaper in Harrisburg, PA.
Beidler was born in Reading, PA, and raised in nearby Berks County, where he currently resides. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hofstra University in Long Island, NY, with a BA in Political Science in 1982.
