Jonathan D. Shea

Jonathan D. Shea is a native of New Britain, Connecticut.  He has two decades
of experience teaching languages at the college level and served on the faculty of Central Connecticut State University,
Tunxis Community College and Trinity College before joining the faculty of Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He was previously employed by the New Britain School System in the Office of Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language. His academic preparation in the field of languages and linguistics has been enriched by living experience in Europe and study at the Universidad de Madrid in Spain, St Petersburg State University in Russia and the Uniwersytet Jagiellonski in Poland.

In addition to being a foreign language educator, Prof. Shea is a trained archivist and professional genealogist with specialization in Eastern Europe and Ireland and frequently lectures and presents workshops nationwide on the topics of document translation and other linguistic issues, immigration history and European archival resources. He is the founding President of the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, Inc.  He serves as translator for the society and is the long-time editor of its journal, Pathways and Passages. 

His recent publications include the two volume series In Their Words: A Genealogist’s Translation Guide, volume 1 Polish, volume 2 Russian. In addition to the languages he teaches, Spanish, Polish and Russian, Prof. Shea also speaks Italian and French and has reading knowledge of Portuguese, Belarusian and Ukrainian.

 The founding President of the Polish Genealogical Society of Connecticut and the Northeast, Inc., he now serves as its Reference Archivist and translator, and as the long-time editor of its journal, Pathways & Passages. He has over 20 years of experience in the field of genealogical research, researching his own family (with roots in the former provinces of Lomza and Grodno, Poland, and Counties Offaly and Mayo, Ireland) and others. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has recognized him as an Accredited Genealogist in the field of Polish research; he has on-site personal research experience in archives in the U.S., Canada, Poland, Lithuania, Ireland, Wales, England and is involved in cemetery projects and transcription of geographical data from Polish-American parish registers

As the photo at right shows, however, he does not exactly fit the stereotype of the absent-minded professor.

He does, however, offer numerous research services, the details of which can be seen by clicking here.