Nicky Smith, AG®

ProGen Member Overview

Genealogy is never complete! There are always more ancestors to chase!

Nicky Smith is an Accredited Genealogist Professional® in the US Great Lakes Region. She is the owner of Chasing Your Tale Genealogy and specializes in land and tax records. She happily digests deed books like candy!

She currently serves as the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists (ICAPGen) Testing Chair where she oversees the exam process and shepherds candidates' exams through the rating process. She works closely with the Testing Development Committee to refine the testing process.

Nicky has volunteered at the Brigham Young University Family History Library (BYU FHL) for almost ten years. She currently serves on the BYU FHL Training Committee, providing short video tutorials and other educational opportunities for volunteers and staff.

In her time at the BYU FHL, she has consulted with approximately 2,000 patrons exposing her to a wide variety of regions, brick walls, and methodology needs. Her talent to quickly assess the problem and skill level of the patron allows her to create doable research plans to help the patron successfully progress toward their genealogical goal.

As her interest and skill in genealogy have become well-known within her extended family, Nicky has become the de facto family archivist. She is currently the guardian of over 50 years of journals and diaries from various ancestors as well as scrapbooks, photo albums, 35mm film, slides, negatives, certificates, autograph books, personal papers, and so much more!

Nicky’s current personal research focuses on the closely interwoven communities in Northeastern Arkansas--particularly six generations of her husband’s Smith surname and other allied families.