User:Tadorsett

Todd Andrew Dorsett

Todd Andrew Dorsett was born December 27, 1959, at Waynesboro, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Waynesboro Area Senior High School with the Class of 1978. In 1982 he obtained the Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science cum laude from Mount Saint Mary's University, and in 1986 he received the Juris Doctor degree from Wake Forest University School of Law.

Historian

He is a lifelong student of the history of the Antietam country of Franklin county, Pennsylvania, and Washington county, Maryland. Consequently, from 1979 until 1998 he served on the board of directors of what in 1980 became the Waynesboro Historical Society, and served as its vice-president and editor for a number of years. T. A. Dorsett also served as president of that organization during its most active, prosperous, and influential period. During the nineteen-eighties he sat on the board of directors of Kittochtinny Historical Society (since renamed "Franklin County Historical Society—Kittochtinny") and edited two volumes of its Papers Read Before the Society. On June 20, 2006, he and two others founded Antietam Historical Association, which he serves as vice-president, genealogist, and editor.

Genealogist

Since 1971 he has performed genealogical research on hundreds of families in the United States and the United Kingdom. This work has brought him the greatest notice. In 1983 he founded the genealogical quarterly Antietam Ancestors and edited its first seven volumes. Later, with three others, he founded the Conococheague Genealogical Society, which the Waynesboro Historical Society quickly absorbed in order to consolidate the historical organizations of the immediate vicinity.

Writer

Among T. A. Dorsett's historical and biographical works are—

• "South Mountain Resorts on the Mason-Dixon Line" (1975) for Cracker Barrel;
• Waynesboro: Bicentennial History (1976);
• "Up and Down Main Street";
• "Waynesboro and Vicinity At Rest";
• "Mischief in Old Waynesboro";
• "Potters of Waynesboro: Emphasis on the Bell Family" (1983);
• Antietam Ancestors (Ed., 1983-1999);
• "Waynesboro and Washington Township" (1984) for the official bicentennial history of Franklin County;
• "Up and Down Third Street in the Not So Long Ago";
• "Literary Lights of Waynesboro";
• Remembering Martha Ellen Beckner on the Eightieth Anniversary of her Birth (1996);
• Celebrating Seventy-Five Years of Florence Beckner Dorsett (1997);
• Alma Mater (1999), the history of the former Waynesboro Senior High School/East Junior High School;
• "The Houses of Applebutter Hill" (2010), which is being serialized in The Lowdown, the newsletter of Little Antietam Creek, Inc.;
• The Rivulet (2010- ), the newsletter of Antietam Historical Association;
• Waynesboro During the Civil War (Ed., 2011);
• Waynesboro As We Knew It (2012);

and numerous other articles and addresses.

Recognition

On May 24, 2010, Antietam Historical Association named T. A. Dorsett its first B. M. Nead Fellow "in recognition of significant contributions in the field of Antietam History." The B. M. Nead Fellowship is a lifetime award named for Benjamin Matthias Nead (1847-1923), a prolific Pennsylvania historian who was born in Franklin county and wrote several works pertaining to the Antietam country.

T. A. Dorsett is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, by virtue of descent from Windsor Pearce, one of the original justices of Randolph county, North Carolina.

Other Pursuits

In addition to his historical and genealogical work, T. A. Dorsett practised law (1987-1999), served an apprenticeship in the hospitality industry (2000-2005), and as managing member of Thaw Group, LLC (2006- ), consults with small businesses regarding efficient administration and facilities management. He has also, throughout his active life, staged special events including dinner meetings, symposia, concerts, conferences, tours, receptions, teas, garden fests, and ceremonial dinners.