Thomas W. Jones received an Award of Merit!

     Thomas W. Jones was honored with an Award of Merit for his contributions to the field of genealogy. Tom Jones works and plays full-time as a genealogical editor, educator, researcher, and writer. He has lectured at national genealogy conferences since 1996, co-edited the National Genealogical Society Quarterly since 2002, coordinated courses at genealogy institutes since 2006, and taught “Evidence Analysis and Documentation,” in Boston University’s genealogy certificate program. Tom also is the author of Mastering Genealogical Proof, a popular textbook on genealogical methods.

     An active genealogist since his teens, Tom's research encompasses records of most American states as well as France, Germany, Ireland, and Italy. He specializes; however, in Georgia, the Midwest, Northern Ireland, Upstate New York, and Virginia. Tom writes and speaks frequently on genealogical methods applicable across geographic areas and time periods.

     Although Tom retired as a SLIG Coordinator this year, the legacy and impact that he will leave behind is everlasting as evidenced by the impact he has had on his students through his teaching and writing. One of his students, Sara Cochran, provided a quote from Tom in this course: “You learn more from your mistakes than your successes. Therefore, those of you who were not successful in your homework, you should pat yourself on the back for learning more than the others."

     Tom has also inspired his students to create institute courses. As an example, in 2012 Angela McGhie, Harold Henderson, Christy Fillerup and Kimberly Powell took his Advanced Genealogical Methods course. They loved the homework assignments, which required they apply their knowledge to solve actual cases. After a full week of learning, they wanted more hands-on cases to test their skills. Out of this grew the Advanced Evidence Analysis Practicum course.

     Over his career, Tom has been honored with many, many awards, including the Silver Tray award from UGA as well as Fellow. His legacy will continue on genealogists through his editing and writing from the NGSQ, to Mastering Genealogical Proof and with the genealogical standards.

     Thank you, Tom for inspiring us!