James Beidler

James M. Beidler writes “Roots & Branches” (www.roots-branches.com). an award-winning weekly newspaper column on genealogy and is a research-reports editor for Legacy Tree Genealogists. He is also a columnist for German Life magazine.

He was President of the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors from 2010 to 2012, and is the former Executive Director for the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. He served as national co-chairman 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 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.

He sits on the selection committee for the Pennsylvania Newspaper Project and Pennsylvania’s State Historic Records Advisory Board. He is an Enrolled Agent tax preparer 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.