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Hello!  I’m your host, Scott Phillips.  Owner and Chief Research Officer for Onward To Our Past® Genealogy Services, LLC.

My area of expertise is as a Genealogical Historian.  If you ask “What is a Genealogical Historian?”, I would not be the least bit surprised!  It’s a genealogist who places an almost equal emphasis on the history of the times, society, culture, and locations of the ancestors being studied.  This results in a broader presentation and understanding than traditional genealogy.  It is an approach I enjoy and employ for both my clients and myself.

My goal here is to provide an informative and educational website and blog on family history, genealogy, history, culture, and family all with a good dose of fun to go along with it.  You will find that my areas of expertise (and we feature Knowledge Hubs for each) are genealogy and history in Bohemia (aka Czech Republic and Czechoslovakia at times), Italy, Cornwall, immigration to the United States of America, especially focused on the Midwestern core of the country, and for fun food and family recipes along with the heritage of food in our lives.

Having traced my personal family tree well into the 1400’s, I take personal pride and enjoyment in family history and am a strict proponent of documentation and ‘doing it right’!

My blog, Onward To Our Past® has been chosen for inclusion in the ACI Scholarly Blog Index, which is an editorially selected and curated index of scholarly social media, as well as one of the best genealogy blogs by GenealogyBank.com.

I am a regular contributing author to Huffington Post, United Kingdom and the e-publications of FindMyPast.co.uk and GenealogyBank.com.  Additionally I have been published by the National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library, Internet Genealogy Magazine, Czech Slavnosti newspaper, Family Chronicle Magazine, the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International, National Genealogical Society, Ohio Genealogical Society, The Bridge magazine, published in Prague, Czech Republic, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Minnesota Genealogical Society, Greater Cleveland Genealogical Society, MyHeritage.com, GenealogyBank.com, Archives.com, Czechmatediary.com, and SaveEllisIsland.com among others.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT:  I am NOT a paid shill for anyone on my website nor on my Facebook page!  No individual, no company, etc. gives me anything to write my blog.  I don’t get free subscriptions, free access, or sponsorship fees  to write my blog as is the case with some bloggerss, their blogs, and newsletters.  That means you get THE TRUTH here as I see it.  No slick PR, no BS from someone to whom I am financially beholden.  No mentions of a company simply because I take their money.  Nope, just the truth in genealogy and family history as I see it.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU READ AND BELIEVE IN GENEALOGY!  Seek out the independent and honest writers and bloggers for information and insight that can often be the most valuable.  There is more and more misleading marketing out there by the day in genealogy.

I look forward to having you here as part of our community.  Be sure to click the ‘Follow This Blog’ button and keep up-to-date with us!

Let’s have some fun as we go Onward To Our Past®