Deborah Sweaney

Deborah Sweaney lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Farther away from her roots in Missouri than she might like, but the Pennsylvania hills carry a familiarity reminiscent of the Ozarks.

She moved to Washington D.C. just after college to intern for Missouri Representative Jerry Litton, and Washington remained her home for the next thirty years. She worked for multiple government agencies including an internship with the planning organization for the Nixon Presidential Library, the White House Office of Records Management, and finally with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). She and her husband left Washington, D.C. for Carlisle, PA. in 2006. In her words, "After 9/11 the security in the city was so overwhelming, it no longer seemed like fun to be there."

Her interest in family history extends beyond the personal. In 2010 she established her own company, Ancestry Searches, which specializes in on-line searches to unlock the treasures, or solve the mysteries of any family's past. She has worked with several families to write their family histories and inspires people to explore their own unique heritage. She is a member of several professional associations dedicated to the study of history and is on the governing body of First Presbyterian of Carlisle, a 275-year old historic church where she developed an oral history program for the congregation. In addition, she is a former adjunct instructor at Messiah College, the University of the District of Columbia, and Marymount University in Arlington, Va., and has been a consultant for National History Day.