In 2007, Eliza had no idea that her first visit to Ireland would be a major turning point in her life. Thanks to that trip, she became a genealogist, located dozens of Irish rellies, bought a renovated 1887 schoolhouse in her Coffey ancestors’ town, wrote several novels set in Ireland along with a nonfiction genealogy research book. Being able to combine her passion for writing and genealogy is a dream come true.
Her interest in genetic genealogy began in 2018 when she traced her Watson line back 6 generations from southwestern Wisconsin to Glasgow, Scotland, via immigration through Canada. Her father being a 4th-generation only child made research a challenge, so she had him take a Y-DNA test. Rather than helping her locate Watson relations in Scotland, the test revealed that her paternal line is descended from Richard Og de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, in Ireland. She has written a case study outlining her ongoing research attempting to trace her Burke lineage.
Eliza earned a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University and completed SLIG’s Fundamentals of Forensic Genealogy course and GRIP’s Beyond Fundamentals: Hands-on Forensic Genealogy. She works as a probate genealogist researching family trees to locate missing and unknown beneficiaries for estates.
