Karen R. Ellsworth is a native Rhode Islander and a life-long student of history. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism at Boston University and a juris doctor degree at Suffolk University School of Law, where she was a member of the law review. She was a reporter at the Providence Journal for eleven years, chief of staff to Joseph R. Paolino during his first year as Mayor of Providence, legal counsel to R.I. House Committee on Municipal Government for four years, and legal counsel to the R.I. Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture for two years. She was an assistant solicitor in South Kingstown for nine years, and has been Town Solicitor in Richmond for fourteen years.
In her spare time, Karen is a genealogist who has published in Rhode Island Roots, the journal of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society. Her ancestors include Roger Williams, Samuel Gorton, and Elder Thomas Burlingame, as well as a handful of Revolutionary War veterans, a number of semi-literate farmers, and a Scottish immigrant who worked as an iron dresser in the Brown and Sharpe foundry.
Gardening is another of her hobbies. She enjoys planting things in her yard for the deer to eat.
She is a long-time member of the Board of Trustees of the Peace Dale Museum of Art and Culture, for which she produces a semi-annual newsletter. She lives in Matunuck.
