You might have resisted the pull until now, but admit it. You're starting to develop a hankering to look into your roots, aren't you? Maybe it was that episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" that made you ponder about your own Italian great-grandfather, maybe it was your son's...

This is the third in a series about the ancestry of the First Lady. The previous segments can be found here:

Michelle Obama's Ancestors: The Great Migration (part 2)

Among the half million African Americans who moved to Chicago...

This is the fourth in a series about the sailors who lost their lives on the historic USS Monitor, which was launched and lost 150 years ago in 1862. History buffs and mystery lovers may enjoy the previous articles:

USS Monitor: Could William Bryan Be One of the...

She's not even a week old, so the newborn daughter of Beyoncé and Jay-Z doesn't have a past yet -- except in the genealogical sense. But with Louisiana roots on both sides of her family, this latest in utero superstar has a lot of history in the Bayou State. With...

For genealogy buffs and those who just can't get enough of celebrities, there's plenty of cause to celebrate in 2012 as there will be four solid months of famous roots on air. Barring any schedule adjustments, the heritage of one to three celebrities will be explored every week from Feb....

Jan. 1 has long been regarded as a day of fresh beginnings, and never was that more appropriate than 120 years ago in 1892 when Ellis Island first opened its doors to hopefuls from around the world. First down the gangplank was an Irish teenager named Annie Moore...

I've written in the past about Thomas Costello, an Irish-born soldier who emigrated to America, lost his life serving his adopted country in World War I, and was finally laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in 2010. It took some sleuthing, but I was eventually able to...

If there were tombstones for ships, the one for the USS Monitor would read: January 30, 1862 - December 31, 1862. So it's fast approaching the 150th anniversary of its active service. Many genealogists are Civil War buffs, and I'm no exception, but as a genealogist, I'm especially interested in...

We are rapidly approaching the 150th anniversary of the short life of the USS Monitor, the revolutionary ironclad that fascinated our Civil War era ancestors and continues to captivate many today. Launched in Brooklyn on January 30, 1862 and lost in a storm off Cape Hatteras on December 31st of...

125 years ago on October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was formally unveiled and dedicated. In spite of wet and foggy weather, roughly a million people -- or approximately one in every 60 residents of America at the time -- were on hand to watch President Cleveland accept this...

Last week, Josh Groban made a guest appearance on The Office as Walter Bernard, Jr., the younger and apparently more successful brother of Ed Helms's Andy Bernard. As a genealogist, seeing him with this television family naturally made me curious about his real life family, so I decided to take...

As a genealogist, I'm on the receiving end of lots of inquiries from journalists. Usually they're wondering about the roots of this or that famous person, but recently, Laura Ryder, an Irish reporter I interviewed with about tracing Barack Obama's roots to her corner of the world in County Offaly,...

A few weeks ago, I invited readers to send their orphan heirlooms home. By this, I mean returning family treasures to descendants of their original owners. Especially in today's hyper-mobile world, it's amazing how many of us wind up with other people's photos and memorabilia, and even though...

This has been a peculiar week in the world of genealogy, ushering in unexpected changes in three online, family history destinations. I'm not going to get into the modifications at Geni.com since I spend most of my time mining content-heavy (as opposed to tree-heavy) websites. Uploaded family trees...

About a decade ago, I accidentally launched into a sub-hobby of genealogy -- one I refer to as orphan heirloom rescues. The idea is to return items to descendants of their original owners. I discovered that our stuff has an amazing ability to wander, and not surprisingly, it often winds...

According to a just released 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll, 78% of Americans are somewhat or very curious about their ancestry, and more than a third (34%) have already researched their heritage. Not surprisingly, television executives have noticed the soaring popularity of genealogy and responded with celebrity roots shows...

Though they rarely use the g-word, I've noticed a trend in recent years of books with a genealogical bent, and you probably won't be surprised to hear that I wouldn't object if this pattern were to become even more pronounced. I'm constantly telling anyone who will listen that there's no...