FGS Announces New Board Appointments

Kirk Woosley Patton and McKelden Smith Named Directors

19 July 2013 – Austin, TX. The Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) announces the recent appointment of Kirk Woosley Patton and McKelden Smith to its Board of Directors.

• Kirk Woosley Patton of Fincastle Ancestry Research is a Kentucky native, born and reared in the horse farm country of the state’s central region. He is descended from at least seven generations of Kentuckians, who migrated to the Bluegrass State in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Kirk is an attorney, having graduated from the University Of Kentucky College Of Law in 1993. Prior to law school, he earned his bachelor’s degree studying Kentucky and early United States history and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa for his undergraduate work. Kirk practiced law in his native state for eighteen years before moving to Colorado in 2011, at which time he combined his love for history and the law to become a professional genealogist. Kirk currently is chair of the FGS Bylaws Committee and is president of the Castle Rock Colorado Genealogical Society. He is an active member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and its chapters in Kentucky and Colorado. Kirk is also a member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild and the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors.

• McKelden Smith became president of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 2009. He is a director of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New York; a trustee of Boscobel Restoration, Inc. in Garrison, New York; a director of the New Canaan (CT) Preservation Alliance; and founding member of the New Canaan Shred Dogs. McKelden is the author of Great Estates of the Hudson River Valley (1998), Matisse & Chagall at the Union Church of Pocantico Hills (1999) and the forthcoming William & Sarah McKelden, Immigrants from County Monaghan, Ireland and Five Generations of their Descendants. McKelden has a BA from Williams College and an MBA from Columbia University. His business background includes advertising, marketing, and museum management.

D. Joshua Taylor, President of FGS states, “The Federation brings together so many talented individuals . . . I am delighted to have Kirk and McKelden join the FGS Board.”