ABOUT ME
Introduction
J. H. (“Jay”) Fonkert, CG, is a Minnesota-based genealogy researcher, writer, and educator specializing in 19th-century Midwest genealogy. His passions are family migrations and historical geography.
His favorite research topics are the Fawkner and allied families of early Kentucky and Indiana, the Tidballs of Southwest England, and Dutch immigration to Illinois and Iowa. When time permits, he strays occasionally into Scandinavian and German research
He is Coordinator for the 2024 Midwest course for the GRIP Genealogy Institute, and he has previously taught in the SLIG Great Plains and Advanced Practicum courses. He has lectured at numerous regional and national conferences, and for local genealogical societies in several states.
Jay has been Editor of Minnesota Genealogist (now Generations) for 15 years. He has published five articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, as well as several dozen other research and teaching articles in NGS Magazine, APG Quarterly, Crossroads, Bluegrass Roots, Family Chronicle, The Septs, and Minnesota Genealogist. He is a two-time past president of the Minnesota Genealogical Society and a former director of the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Jay has studied at the Institute for Genealogical and Historical Research at Samford University, the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, the National Institute for Genealogical Research, and the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh. Jay received the 2009 Scholar Award from the American Society of Genealogists.
