Tessa Keough is a genealogist in transition (read – this is not her day job but she wishes it was!). She takes advantage of 21st century technology to work on her own family history as well as engage in specialized projects. These projects include a one-place study of her grandfather’s native community of Plate Cove East, Newfoundland, and a one-name study of her Keough surname.
Seeing a need for an online users’ group for her favorite genealogy software, Tessa set up the Legacy Virtual Users’ Group Community on Google+. With three of her fellow genealogists, she co-hosts monthly hangouts-on-air presentations, provides tips, and moderates the member posts at the LVUG Community which boasts more than 900 members. For the past two years Tessa has served as the USA West Regional Representative for the Guild of One-Name Studies. In April 2014 she took on the post of USA National Representative for the Guild and serves as the Guild’s delegate member to the Federated Genealogical Society (FGS). She moderates the Guild’s Google+ Community and co-hosts the Guild’s North American monthly hangouts-on-air. Tessa blogs on her personal blogs, is a contributing blogger to Worldwide Genealogy, and is part of the 5-member interview team for the May I Introduce To You feature at Geneabloggers. Tessa is doing her best to spread the word about surname and location studies as a fascinating and fun way to connect to your larger family history story, your extended relatives, and your fellow genealogists.
In case you did not notice, Tessa is a huge fan of Google+ and YouTube and an even bigger fan of giving back to the genealogy and family history community. Her volunteer efforts landed her on Lisa Louise Cooke’s Social Media Mavericks: 40 to follow list in Family Tree Magazine’s March/April 2014 edition for TessaWatch (her YouTube channel with 120 short and not-so-short video tutorials).
