Julia A. Anderson first became curious about her ancestors when she was five years old. Her grandparents had gone on a trip to The Netherlands where her grandmother was born and returned with stories about people and places that sounded like a fairy tale. Her parents were also intent on discovering their heritage, which passion carried over to Julia. A road trip to see the places her grandfather grew up the following summer, followed by a family vacation to the Genealogy Library in Salt Lake City a couple of years later started her on a quest to uncover the missing pieces of her family puzzle. She was so excited about what she had learned, that when she was required to prepare a demonstration speech for her third-grade class, Julia demonstrated how to fill out a pedigree chart.
Julia began an undergraduate degree studying physics and mathematics in 1989, but eventually her love of history, research, and writing won her over and she changed her major to history with a family history emphasis. She graduated Cum Laude from Brigham Young University in History and University Honors in 1993. Her Honors Thesis, "A Mighty Woman in Zion: The Roles of Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond as an LDS Missionary Wife in Nineteenth-Century Hawaii," garnered recognition as the best undergraduate paper in Family History that year.
After raising eight children, Julia began to pursue her Accredited Genealogist® credential through the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) in the United States Gulf South Region (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida) completing her certification in 2016. In 2020, Julia returned to school to pursue a master's degree in history and adult education from Grand Canyon University, graduating Summa Cum Laude in 2021. In 2023, she earned the Accredited Genealogist Lecturer™ credential.
Since 2017, Julia has taught online classes in Genealogy research and accreditation for Salt Lake Community College. She also did contract research for Ancestry Pro Genealogists and Legacy Tree Genealogists from 2014 until 2021. From 2017-2023, she served two 3-year terms on the board of directors for the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). She currently works full-time as the manager of the United States and Canada team at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, Utah; is the Conference Chair for UGA; and is a commissioner on the board of ICAPGen.
In 2020, the concept of Anderson Genealogical Research was created, and the business became a Limited Liability Company in 2021. For the past five years, we have helped numerous clients break through brick walls, discover stories about their forefathers, and learn to become better researchers. We have organized reunions, created special presentations, formatted books, written academic reports and magazine articles, and crafted experiences for families to enjoy for years to come.
