Josiah Schmidt

Josiah is a PhD candidate in the History Department at Washington University in St. Louis. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Wright State University, a Bachelor's degree from Southern New Hampshire University, and a Master's in History from Washington University in St. Louis. Josiah has received German language training from the Goethe Institut in Goettingen, Germany, and in early modern paleography from the University of Warwick. Working with his primary advisor, Prof. Christine Johnson, Josiah studies early modern Europeans (especially Germans) and colonial Americans. He specializes in environmental history, Alltagsgeschichte (the history of everyday life), and the usage of DNA analysis and genetic genealogy in tracing movements of humans.

Josiah's dissertation is tentatively titled, "Entangled Landscapes: German Peasants and Colonial Americans in Networks of Ecology and Economy, 1600-1800". He is currently conducting research that examines the biological, ecological, and economic ties and influences between people in colonial North America and peasants in German states like Hessen-Kassel, Sachsen-Eisenach, and Westphalen.