Directory of Members

LaBrenda served as a trustee and past president of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. She also served as the Registrar General for the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage lineage Society for  six years. Her research centers on African American families that survived slavery as well as methodology.

Her 2016 book, A Guide to Researching African American Ancestors in Laurens County, SC, and Selected Finding Aids, is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Xlibris.com. An e-book is also available. A 20 November 2016 review in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides a great overview of how the book can be useful to researchers in other SC counties and others states: "African-American research guide is a model for others". In 2021 she elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists at the annual meeting on 9 October 2021. Founded in 1940, AGS is an independent honorary society of the leading published scholars in the field of American genealogy, limited to fifty life-time members designated as Fellows (identified by the initials FASG).

n 2025, APG awarded LaBrenda the Kathleen W. Hinkley Professional Achievement Award that recognizes exemplary professional achievement in the genealogical field. In 2026 she was awarded the Utah Genealogical Association's (UGA) Fellow (FUGA) Award. 

Certified Genealogist ®

Certified Genealogical Lecturer®

Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists (FASG)

Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association (FUGA)

2026 Utah Genealogy Association’s 2026 Fellow (FUGA) Award

2025 Kathleen Hinckley Professional Achievement Award by the Association of Professional Genealogists

2024 Certificate of Appreciation for work on the Association of Professional Genealogists Code of Ethics Review Committee.

2020 Elizabeth Clark-Lewis Genealogy Award presented by the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society for original research in support of African American Genealogy.

2019 Recipient of the Utah Genealogical Association's Distinguished Service Award.

2018 International AAHGS Book Award in the Genealogy category for A Guide to Researching African American Ancestors in Laurens County, South Carolina

2017 Phillis Wheatley Literary Award from the Sons and Daughters of the United States Middle Passage for A Guide to Researching African American Ancestors in Laurens County, South Carolina

First Place, International Society of Family History Writers and Editors, 2013 Excellence-in-writing Competition, Category 5 (Unpublished Material by Published Authors); for the article "Searching for the Slave Owners of Isaac Garrett: Expanding Research Beyond Online Sources"

Primarily African American Families in Historical Slave States and Various Aspects of Methodology

See Upcoming and Past Engagements at https://www.labgarrettgenealogy.com/speaking/

She is available to present genealogical lectures on researching African-ancestored families from the historical slave South and methodology.

See recent and upcoming engagements at https://www.labgarrettgenealogy.com/speaking/