Henry “Hap” Ponedel holds a B.A. in Biology and Zoology from Humboldt State University (1978). Working in construction and as a plumbing contractor for some 45 years, Hap became interested in genealogy and family history in 2003, joined the Jewish Genealogical Society of Willamette Valley Oregon in 2004 and currently serves as vice-president. In 2013 he became the translation coordinator and co-editor of the Telšiai Yizkor Book at jewishgen.org. Telšiai is one of the towns central to his genealogical study.

His work in mapping began in 2009 with a collection of historical maps of ancestral towns which compelled him to launch easteurotopo.org in 2012, a historical map website with Jewish content. In 2015 He received a grant from The Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture in New York to study Russian laws pertaining to anti-semitisim and to map border changes that resulted from some of the laws. He continues to update the map website adding new material and functionalities.

Hap also participates as Shabbat baal koreh at Temple Beth Israel in Eugene, Oregon, and at Temple Har Zion in Mount Holly New Jersey. He is husband and partner to Hazzan Dr. Evlyn Gould, University of Oregon Emerita, and father of Ben and Jesse Ponedel.