JKB Genealogy offers genealogy and research services with an emphasis on a memorial, storied approach to family history, specializing in family-friendly reports backed by solid research. Projects completed have focused on New England, New York, New Jersey, the American mid-west, Scotland, and England.
Jenifer Kahn Bakkala began her career editing newspaper obituaries and has been telling the story of people’s lives ever since. A professional genealogist and a freelance writer, she is a graduate of Connecticut College.
Jenifer is the author of The Maynard, North, and DeForest Families: A Story of Immigration, Industry, and Community, which won the National Genealogical Society’s Award for Excellence in 2023, and the co-author of Ancestral Lines of Iain W. F. Shepherd and Helen Waugh (Gray) Shepherd, which won the same award in 2025.
Jenifer sits on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Genealogists and is past-president of its New England Chapter. She is also a member of the New England Historic and Genealogical Society, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, the National Genealogical Society, and the Genealogical Society of New Jersey.
JKB Genealogy 