Rebecca S. Martineau-McCarty is the great-great-granddaughter of James Henry Martineau. While attending Brigham Young University, she was women's director at the Tel Michal archaeological excavations near Tel Aviv, Israel. She also worked as a member of the excavation team restoring the 1607 James Fort in Virginia. She is a genealogist and family historian. She volunteers at the Regional Family History Center and the Utah State Prison. She and her husband, Paul McCarty, an adjunct professor in the BYU Psychology Department, chaired the Martineau journal publication project for the James Henry Martineau Family Organization.