Katherine Bateman was born and grew up in Ashland, Kentucky and now lives in Oak Park, Illinois just outside of Chicago. She holds an undergraduate degree from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, and an MA and PhD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Throughout the seventies and early eighties she taught at Berea College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After thirteen years of teaching, she changed careers to become a research analyst and higher education specialist in the municipal bond industry. During that period she worked with the Securities and Exchange Commission and testified in front of Congress regarding government regulations of the municipal market. In 1997 she became the financial advisor to the Illinois Educational Facilities Authority, a position she held until 2003.

In 2001 she published The Young Investor to help young people understand the language of money and investing. In 2003 she founded the Teenvoice Education Foundation to involve young potential voters in politics. In 2004 she ran in the New Hampshire presidential primary on a platform of issues determined by teens through an interactive web site. During the primary she represented young voter’s issues at various New Hampshire campaign speaking venues.

Since that time she has concentrated on researching the history of colonial America and following the path her family took from Jamestown to the mountains of southwest Virginia and finally into Kentucky. Kentucky Clay: Eleven Generations of a Southern Dynasty, published in November 2008, is the result of that exploration.