The name for this page, Across the Rolling Prairie, is a reference to Kassie Nelson’s graduate thesis and her continuing research into the lives of those that travelled through the rolling prairie by wagon and steamboat during the 19th century. The Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder fostered her love of history from a young age and helped spark her interest in family histor
y by the age of 13. Kassie is an independent scholar and professional genealogist based out of the Greater Omaha area in Nebraska. She received her Masters of Arts in History from the University of Nebraska at Kearney in December of 2013. Kassie’s ground-breaking thesis, We Are Now in Indian Territory: Men and Women’s Views of Indians along the Overland Trail, explored the complex and at times divergent manners in which the different genders viewed Indians while they migrated west along the trail system. She is currently writing an article based upon on her thesis. Kassie’s current primary research projects are “The Prince of the Upper Missouri: Captain James McGarry” and “Steamboats North: The Life of John Christie Barr.” The lives of those who worked about steamboats have long been neglected by historians. An in-depth biography about a steamboat captain of the Upper Missouri has not been published in over 100 years. For her Captain McGarry project, Kassie received the Independent Research and Creative Works Award from the Charles Redd Center. Her research was recently featured in the Great Falls Tribune. At the 2016 Missouri Valley History Conference, Kassie presented a paper about Captain McGarry for which she received the University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Outstanding Alumni Paper Award. She will present a paper about Captain Barr at the 2017 Missouri Valley History Conference (MVHC). In addition to presenting papers at the MVHC, Kassie has given genealogy presentations at the Sarpy County Museum and the 2015 Nebraska State Genealogy Conference (NSGS). She has also had several articles published in the NSGS newsletter. Kassie enjoys supporting genealogy and history focused organizations. She served as the historian for the Pi Nu Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta for the 2014-2015 term. She also previously served as Vice-President of Outreach for the NextGen Genealogy Network, an organization she established, and served as President of the Association of Professional Genealogists’ Great Plains Chapter. More recently, she founded the Rogue Genealogist and Independent Historians Network. She is also a member of the Nebraska State Genealogical Society and Association of Professional Genealogists. For more information, please email [email protected].
