Jenifer Kahn Bakkala is a professional genealogist and author who specializes in a biographical narrative approach to family history. Her 2021 publication, The Maynard, North, and Deforest Families: A Story of Immigration, Industry, and Community, received the 2023 National Genealogical Society Award for Excellence in Genealogy and Family History. She is also co-author of Ancestral Lines of Iain W. F. Shepherd and Helen Waugh (Gray) Shepherd—Journeys in Time (2023), which won the same award in 2025. For ten years, Jenifer worked as a proofreader for the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s quarterly journal, The Register.

Jenifer has taught at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, where she was an instructor for “Bring ‘Em Back to Life: Writing the Stories of Our Ancestors” in the spring of 2024 and co-coordinator of the same course in 2025. She has spoken on narrative biography and family history at the Rhode Island Genealogical Society, the Massachusetts Genealogical Council, and the New England Regional Genealogical Consortium’s biennial conference. She was also a panelist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s online discussion, “Self-Publish Your Genealogy: A Panel Discussion with Authors.” Her article, “Bring It On: How to Manage (and Survive) a Big Project,” appeared in the APG Quarterly in December 2023.

A graduate of Connecticut College, Jenifer serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and chairs its Continuing Education Committee.