Phyllis Zumwalt, based near Austin, Texas, has been involved in genealogy research since her teenage years. Her primary mission is to spark an interest in genealogy to help others discover the joy in uncovering details about their ancestors, where they lived, their occupations, and more, in the quest to solving family mysteries. 

Phyllis earned a B.B.A. in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas in Austin in 1985 and a MSc (Distinction) in Genealogical, Paleographical and Heraldic Studies from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, in 2022. Her career in Information Technology, ending at IBM in 2018, prepared her for working globally with talented teams solving customer requests. She is a member of several genealogy associations including Austin Genealogical Society, Williamson County Genealogical Society, and the Texas State Genealogical Society as well as two associations in the UK; Dumfries, and Galloway Family History Society (Scotland) and Register of Qualified Genealogists.

Phyllis’ interests include:– WW1 records, particularly focused on the Texas Army National Guard units, researching at the Texas Military Force Museum at Camp Mabry, Austin, Texas.– Texas Land Grants for Americans settling in the northern province in Coahuila and Texas in the latter 1820s through 1830; research of these pioneers and plotting the land grants to historical county maps.– Historical online college yearbooks, particularly those in Texas and the USA.– Migrations from the United Kingdom to Texas in the 1800s. In a recent study, evidence was found for an ironworkers union in the Black Country area of England which voted to financially support members interested in emigration to Texas, due to unemployment and overproduction issues.– House histories, both locally and in locales visited (Scotland and England).

She has taught genealogy workshop sessions for the Lifetime Learning Institute in Austin, with another semester scheduled for Fall 2022. She also shares genealogy topics for the Family Programs of the Southwest Association of Wood Turners, and an AustinGenSIG meeting. She shares her knowledge and expertise through individual consulting and her website at https://shapingyourfamilytree.com/.