You’ve seen a family tree. I untangle it.

Welcome! I’m Vanessa Wood, a professional genealogist and First Prize winner of the 2026 Missoula Public Library Family History Writing Contest. I specialize in resolving mistaken identities and correcting long-standing errors in family stories. I study old handwriting and documents, and piece together the neighborhoods people lived in, to separate fact from folklore. I enjoy uncovering the lives of people who did not make it into history books. I have 25+ articles published in journals including the NGS Quarterly, Tennessee Genealogical Society, Maryland Genealogical Society, and California Genealogical Society, and I’m the author of Pryor Wives, Board in Venice, and The Kinship Papers.

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Genealogical Research Certificate
Daughters of the American Revolution
Member National Genealogical Society
Tennessee Genealogical Society
Association of Professional Genealogists

Now available on Amazon.com

Pryor Wives by Vanessa Wood - Front book cover
Pryor Wives — twelve stories of women who married into Pryor families across early America.
Available on Amazon
cover of the Kinship Papers volume 1, with medallion showing volume 2 available in early 2027
The Kinship Papers, Vol. 1 — a compilation of eight genealogical articles spanning identity puzzles across the early American frontier.
Available on Amazon

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