Biography -- Don Rightmyer



Don Rightmyer is the editor of Kentucky Ancestors, the Kentucky Historical Society's quarterly Kentucky family history and genealogy publication. He previously served as a Reference Librarian in the Kentucky Historical Society's Research Library at the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History in Frankfort, Kentucky. Prior to that he was the Reference Librarian at the Boyle County Public Library in Danville, Kentucky.


His email address is drightmyer@yahoo.com

Don Rightmyer is currently completing a book-length history on the Civil War in Kentucky. The working title for the history is: Twixt North and South: The Civil War in Kentucky. This website and the sister site (Guide to Genealogical Research for Kentucky Civil War Ancestors) are based largely on research done for this book and his nearly 40 years of Civil War research and reading.

Mr. Rightmyer was one of the featured speakers for the Civil War Preservation Trust's 2005 Teachers Institute held in Lexington, Kentucky. His presentation was entitled, "Civil War Resources for Kentucky Teachers" and covered a wide range of materials (books, articles, Internet websites) on the Civil War in Kentucky and the war in general. He has also spoken to the Boyle County Genealogical Society on the topic of his upcoming Civil War history of Kentucky and was the featured speaker at the 2004/2005 Perryville re-enactments -- speaking on the topic "The 1862 Campaign in Kentucky".

Mr. Rightmyer holds a degree in military history from the U.S. Air Force Academy and did graduate studies in American history at the University of Kentucky. He has served as the U.S. Army Infantry School's primary reviewer of Civil War books since 1979 and has had nearly 500 reviews published in that time.

Don is also doing extensive research on a variety of other Civil War and Kentucky Civil War-related topics. He's planning to do a narrative history of the Kentucky Civil War units -- both North and South -- to tell the story of what Kentucky men did during the war. He welcomes any questions or correspondence you wish to send to him by mail or email.