Genealogy

Michelle Obama's Ancestors: LaVaughn Johnson

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 02.08.2012 | Celebrity

Of Michelle's grandparents, LaVaughn Johnson was the most like her. A native Chicagoan, she was an early product of the mixing effect of the Great Migration with parents of radically different histories.

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Lisa Kudrow Wonders 'Who Do You Think You Are'

Posted 02.04.2012 | Fifty

Read More: Video, Family Trees, Lisa Kudrow Show, Who Do You Think You Are?, Who Do You Think You Are, Today Show, Celebrities Family Trees, Celebrities Genealogy, Family Tree, Genealogy, Lisa Kudrow, Fifty News

Who do you think you are? That's the question that Lisa Kudrow has been helping celebrities answer with her show of the same name on tracing genealogy...

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Michelle Obama's Ancestors: The Great Migration

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 02.01.2012 | Celebrity

Read More: Civil Rights Movement, Flotus, Michelle Obama, Heritage, Underground Railroad, Civil Rights, History, Jim Crow, Chicago Defender, Ancestors, Chicago, Ancestry, Roots, Genealogy, African Americans, Great Migration, Celebrity News

This is the second in a series about the ancestry of the First Lady. The introduction can be found here: Michelle Obama's Ancestors: Chicago Beginni...

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Michelle Obama's Ancestors: Chicago Beginnings

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 01.30.2012 | Celebrity

Read More: White House, Michelle Obama, Heritage, Multicultural, Marian Robinson, Grandparents, LaVaughn Johnson, Ancestors, First Lady, Ancestry, Chicago, Roots, Fraser Robinson, Genealogy, Family History, Great Migration, Celebrity News

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama's presence in the White House is historic. A hundred years from now, scholars and school children will still be stud...

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Mormon Baptism Of Dead Could Become Campaign Issue For Romney

HuffingtonPost.com | Andrea Stone | Posted 01.29.2012 | Politics

Mitt Romney's problem with evangelical Christian voters has been well documented. But as the Republican presidential nomination fight heats up in ...

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Men of the USS Monitor: Daniel Moore, African American Sailor and Hero

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 01.24.2012 | Culture

Read More: Dna, History, Newspapers, Civil War Sesquicentennial, Military, Civil War, Slavery, Daniel Moore, Forensics, Slidepollajax, Genetics, Genealogy, Navy, USS Monitor, African Americans, Culture News

Daniel Moore was one of the 16 sailors who went down with the USS Monitor. A former slave from Virginia, he enlisted in the Navy but would sadly have little time to enjoy his freedom before sacrificing his life in the service of his country.

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A Peek into Blue Ivy Carter's Past

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 01.12.2012 | Celebrity

Read More: French, Louisiana, Beyonce, Creole, Celebrity Kids, Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Cajun, Ancestry, Genealogy, Jay-Z, Barry Manilow, Ireland, Blue Ivy Carter, Family History, Acadian, Celebrity News

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.

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Four Months of Celebrity Roots on Air in 2012

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 01.09.2012 | TV

Read More: Pbs, Dna, Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are?, Six Degrees, Genealogy, Lisa Kudrow, Henry Louis Gates, Family History, Nbc, Celebrities, TV News

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.

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120 Years Ago: Ellis Island Opens Doors and Welcomes Annie Moore of Ireland

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 12.29.2011 | Culture

Read More: History, Manhattan, Cork, Annie Moore, Slidepollajax, Immigration, Genealogy, Ireland, Students, New York City, Ellis Island, Culture News

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.

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Men of the USS Monitor: County Galway, Ireland is Home to Another American Hero

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 12.13.2011 | Culture

Read More: Dna, History, Military, Civil War Sesquicentennial, Civil War, Galway, Forensics, Ireland, Genetics, Genealogy, Navy, Irish, USS Monitor, Culture News

Thomas Joice (who sometimes went by Joyce) was one of the 16 men who went down with the USS Monitor on Dec. 31, 1862. Some years ago, I researched him for a documentary and have continued to look into his past from time to time.

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USS Monitor: Could William Bryan Be One of the Skeletons in the Turret?

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 01.09.2012 | Culture

Read More: Ironclad, Dna, Isotopes, History, Civil War Sesquicentennial, Bbc, Army, Military, Civil War, Science, Civil War Anniversary, Genealogy, Genetics, Navy, USS Monitor, Uss Monitor Turret, Culture News

Launched in Brooklyn on January 30, 1862 and lost in a storm off Cape Hatteras on December 31st of the same year, its legacy has far outlasted its duration.

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10 Things You Didn't Know About Josh Groban's Family Tree

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 12.18.2011 | Celebrity

Read More: Norway, Juilliard School, Mayflower, Heritage, Jewish, Ed Helms, The Office, Genealogy, Yiddish, Music, Josh Groban, Family History, Ukraine, Celebrity News

If you were to Google your way around the Internet, you'd probably be left with the impression that Josh is half-Jewish (from Russia and Poland) and half-Norwegian, and you wouldn't be too far off. He's actually 5/8 Jewish and 1/8 Norwegian.

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Hunting Down My 'Auld Country' Scottish Roots

Peter Mandel | Posted 12.06.2011 | Travel

Read More: Oatmeal, ScotlandsPeople Centre, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Scotland, Aberdeenshire, Genealogy, Bennachie Mountain, Family History, Inverurie, Travel News

One bird calls and calls. Then stops. It's silent when we get to a granite cottage. Ivy covers its walls and row after row of potted flowers guard its door. Marigolds. Just what my grandparents grew.

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Seeds of a Trans-Atlantic Reunion

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 12.03.2011 | Culture

Read More: Google, Census, Newspapers, Quebec, Obituaries, Family Tree, Ireland, Genealogy, United States, Irish, Family History, Canada, Barack Obama, Ellis Island, Culture News

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 pe...

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Orphan Heirloom Rescue: 1870 Diary of an Irish Immigrant

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 11.01.2011 | Books

Read More: Genealogy, Antiques, Family History, Diary, Personal History, Heirlooms, Immigrants, Antiques Detective, Irish Immigrants, Books News

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 ow...

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Google News Archive and Footnote.com: A Strange Week or Sign of Things to Come?

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 10.21.2011 | Technology

Read More: Google, Newspapers, Military, Digital, Archives, Family Tree, Genealogy, Technology, Family History, Technology News

This has been a peculiar week in the world of genealogy, ushering in unexpected changes in three online, family history destinations.

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An Ancestral Revolution

Cheryl Wills | Posted 10.17.2011 | Black Voices

Read More: ancestry.com, History, African-Atlantic Genealogical Society, Genealogy, Heritage, Ancestry, Black Voices News

Genealogy may seem like an innocuous hobby, but in this age of smartphones and e-Readers, more and more families are anxious to download two very basic and sometimes profound answers: Who am I and where did I come from?

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Send Your Orphan Heirlooms Home

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 10.09.2011 | Entertainment

Read More: Photos, History, Inheritance, Detective, Genealogy, Immigrants, Irish, Family History, Stuff, Heirloom, Diary, Entertainment News

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.

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6 Degrees of Separation: Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon Are Cousins

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 09.17.2011 | Entertainment

Kyra Sedgwick describes the discovery that she and her husband Kevin Bacon are 10th cousins once-removed as "a little upsetting," but it shouldn't be. Here's why.

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Crossing The Seas To Make A Legacy

Dr. Caroline Cicero | Posted 09.07.2011 | Religion

Read More: Frank Cicero, Chicago, James Birren, Immigrants, Ellis Island, Guided Autobiography, Waldensian, Italian Protestants, Immigration, Genealogy, Italian Americans, Religion News

Thanks to my bold immigrant ancestors and the legacies they left behind, I have had the freedom to choose whom to marry as well as where to worship and how to raise my children.

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Summer Genealogy Reads

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 08.29.2011 | Books

Read More: Dorothy Wickenden, History, Netsuke, Medieval, Ian Mortimerm Colorado, Jewish, England, Books, The West, Genealogy, Pioneer, Family History, Edmund De Waal, Books News

I'm constantly telling anyone who will listen that there's no such thing as a boring family, and many writers are discovering that their own families are a surprisingly rich source of material.

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Parentless Parents: Remembering Your Dad on Father's Day

Allison Gilbert | Posted 08.19.2011 | Women

Read More: Quilt, Crafts, Grief Tips, Grief, Parentless Parents, Dealing With Grief, Arts, Motherhood, Genealogy, Quilting, Father's Day, Loss, Sewing, Fathers Day 2011, Family, Women News

Father's Day can be particularly challenging if you've lost your dad. I'm a mom of two young children, and my father passed away when my son, our oldest, was just 18-months-old.

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Willow Tree: The Roots of Pink and Carey Hart's Baby Girl

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 08.14.2011 | Entertainment

Read More: Italy, Pink, Germany, Motocross, Baby, Lithuania, Jersey City, Family Tree, P!Nk, Music, Jewish, California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Willow Sage Hart, Poland, Russia, Genealogy, Philadelphia, Ireland, Carey Hart, Family History, Atlantic City, Entertainment News

I couldn't help but think that Pink's baby Willow was waltzing into this world with a powerful gene pool. So I decided to look into it.

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Irish American Barack Obama Heartily Welcomed Home

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 07.30.2011 | Politics

Read More: Dublin, Yes We Can, Tourism, Enda Kenny, Moneygall, Ireland, Genealogy, Irish, Family History, Barack Obama, Politics News

Ireland recently extended the warmest of welcomes to President Obama whose ancestor departed 161 years ago.

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What Kind of Name Is Boreanaz?

Megan Smolenyak | Posted 07.16.2011 | Entertainment

Read More: Slovakia, Bones, Emily Deschanel, Heritage, Books, Fbi, Italy, Slovenia, New York, Colorado, Television, David Boreanaz, Pennsylvania, Ancestry, Forensics, Mysteries, Genealogy, Sicily, Fox, Family History, Kathy Reichs, Celebrities, Entertainment News

What of Boreanaz? Well, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone of Italian heritage who tracks to more extreme edges of the country.

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