Free Updates
Navigation
Categories
| March, 2010 (14) |
| February, 2010 (30) |
| January, 2010 (23) |
| December, 2009 (19) |
| November, 2009 (27) |
| October, 2009 (30) |
| September, 2009 (25) |
| August, 2009 (26) |
| July, 2009 (33) |
| June, 2009 (32) |
| May, 2009 (30) |
| April, 2009 (39) |
| March, 2009 (35) |
| February, 2009 (21) |
| January, 2009 (29) |
| December, 2008 (15) |
| November, 2008 (15) |
| October, 2008 (25) |
| September, 2008 (30) |
| August, 2008 (26) |
| July, 2008 (26) |
| June, 2008 (22) |
| May, 2008 (27) |
| April, 2008 (20) |
| March, 2008 (20) |
| February, 2008 (19) |
| January, 2008 (22) |
| December, 2007 (21) |
| November, 2007 (26) |
| October, 2007 (20) |
| September, 2007 (17) |
| August, 2007 (23) |
| July, 2007 (17) |
| June, 2007 (13) |
| May, 2007 (7) |
Search
Archives
| | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|
| 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 1 | 2 | 3 | | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
More Links
|
 Monday, March 08, 2010
Behind the Scenes of "WDYTYA?": Researching Sarah Jessica Parker's Roots
Posted by Diane
For those of you yearning to know more about how a small army of genealogists uncovered Sarah Jessica Parker’s Gold Rush and Salem Witch trial ancestry, shown Friday night in NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” premiere, Ancestry.com has provided a look at the behind-the-scenes research process.
I'll send you over to Geneabloggers, where Thomas MacEntee has posted it.
For even more details, see Kimberly Powell's About.com Genealogy post about a letter she found that mentions Parker’s ancestor John S. Hodge.
The show came in second in the ratings for the 8 p.m. time slot, with 6.85 million viewers—not bad for a Friday evening. If you missed "Who Do YouThink You Are?" you can watch on Hulu.
And set your DVR to record "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Tuesday, which promises to be a geneafest as Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Lisa Kudrow, Brooke Shields and Emmitt Smith talk about their family history finds for “Who Do You Think You Are?” Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. also will discuss his findings on the PBS series "Faces of America" and, it looks like from the video clip, touch on Gates’ July 2009 arrest for disorderly conduct (which occurred upon his return from filming Yo-yo Ma’s family story in China).
"Who Do You Think You Are?" | Celebrity Roots
Monday, March 08, 2010 3:49:48 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00) 
|
|
Saturday, March 06, 2010
'Who Do You Think You Are?" Episode One Recap
Posted by Diane
We’ll be doing quick recaps of every “Who Do You Think
You Are?” episode right here. So if you haven’t yet watched the Sarah Jessica
Parker episode and you don’t want to know, stop reading this second.
Here are some of my thoughts (and Facebook posts) while I watched:
Sarah Jessica Parker (SJP) and her brother are joking about
being related to a Mayflower passenger. I smell foreshadowing. SJP's father is Eastern-European Jewish, but she has lots of
questions about her mother’s side. Her mother born and raised in Cincinnati’s
German Community (just like my mom’s dad). SJP visits her mom and learns her
great-grandmother's last name was Hodge. SJP goes to Cincinnati's Clifton Public Library, about 10
minutes from where I am right now, meeting with genealogist Natalie Cottrill. (Read
more about her visit in this Cincinnati Enquirer article.)
SJP’s great-grandfather John Hodge is reported dead in
1849 in a newspaper article, but appears in the census in California the next
year. First Ancestry.com commercial.
Now she’s at the Museum Center, formerly Cincinnati’s Union Terminal train station (a great place to visit if you're ever in town), meeting with UCLA history professor Stephen Aron. Hodge invested $200 in a gold-prospecting company. He
left for California, leaving his wife (whom he may or may not have known was
pregnant). It’s neat to see SJP’s genuine excitement and curiosity. Now off to
California. I’m concerned viewers will think you actually have to
visit every place your ancestors lived in order to research. That might make it
even more fun and exciting, but it’s definitely not required! John Hodge did die after he arrived in California. Sad.
SJP says it's “extraordinary” to think your ancestor was part of such
a profound event in history. That’s what I love about genealogy. Now Josh Taylor from the New England Historic
Genealogical Society is telling her about John Hodge’s family. 1849 to 1635 in
15 seconds flat. Now we’re on to the Massachusetts Historical Society. (You
can read more about the MHS visit here.)
SJP is looking at an online index and
sees the word “warrant” by her ancestor’s last name. Cut to commercial! I love the little review after every commercial
break. SJP’s ancestor Esther Elwell was arrested for performing
witchcraft against her neighbor, Mary Fitch, causing Fitch to die. SJP is so surprised,
she’s stammering.
Another commercial break! Whew! SJP’s relative was arrested near the end of the trials, and ended up never having to go to court. She lived
to age 82.
I feel like there should be a disclosure telling us how
many hours and how many people all this research took. But, I really enjoyed watching someone else enjoy the process of genealogy. It was fun watching along with my Facebook genealogy friends. I think the show told a great story, introduced us to (or reacquainted us with) historical events, and got across how meaningful family history research can be. Update: For more details on how the research into SJP's ancestry was done, see our March 8 post.
"Who Do You Think You Are?" | Celebrity Roots
Saturday, March 06, 2010 2:20:21 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Friday, January 29, 2010 Friday, January 15, 2010
Can Genealogy Save NBC?
Posted by Diane
The genealogy-reality series we’ve all been waiting for, "Who Do You Think You Are?" (WDYTYA), will help plug the gaps in NBC’s prime-time lineup after the poorly performing "Jay Leno Show" ends Feb. 12.
The new series premieres Friday, March 5, from 8 to 9 p.m. ET (the Winter Olympics airs Feb. 12 to 29).
According to NBC's announcement, WDYTYA will conclude by April 30, when "Friday Night Lights" returns early to take the spot.
WDYTYA is an adaption of the hit British show of the same name. NBC’s version will feature actors Matthew Broderick, Lisa Kudrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon and Brooke Shields, producer Spike Lee, and football legend Emmitt Smith.
I got a chance to see a trailer last week while visiting Ancestry.com—which has a big stake as a partner in the series—and it looks like it could be good: poignant, suspenseful, historical, and filled with lovely scenery from the US and abroad.
There’s also celebrity appeal (though it’d be nice and perhaps even more powerful and surprising to see how average Joes off the street have great stories in their pasts).
Many professional genealogists had a hand in the series. At last Saturday's Ancestry.com-sponsored dinner, speaker and New England Historic and Genealogical Society researcher Josh Taylor recounted portions of his on-screen conversation with Sarah Jessica Parker (she later named her new twin girls after ancestors). Ancestry.com chief genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak has written a how-to book based in part on her WDYTYA work. A companion website will reveal more behind-the-scenes genealogical research.
Will the show be a success? For NBC to consider more episodes, it’ll have to attract viewers who aren’t already into family history and history in general. Many genealogists are hoping that’ll translate into a tree-tracing mania similar to the one after the “Roots” miniseries aired in 1977.
Some, I think, also look forward to the popular validation that genealogy is a perfectly acceptable and interesting way to pass time.
"Who Do You Think You Are?" | Ancestry.com | Celebrity Roots | Genealogy Industry
Friday, January 15, 2010 3:50:24 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Wednesday, January 06, 2010
Series Explores "What Made America?" Through Genealogy
Posted by Diane
Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr., whose "African-American Lives" series have been popular on PBS, is working on another genealogy documentary series to air in February and March.
"Faces of America" uses genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 11 famous Americans, using their ancestors’ experiences to draw a picture of American history.
"The many stories [Gates] uncovers—of displacement and homecoming, of material success and dispossession, of assimilation and discrimination—illuminate the American experience," states PBS' announcement.
Four episodes look progressively further back in history. They cover America’s complicated relationship with new immigrants in the 20th century, the “Century of Immigration” and industrialization from the 1820s to 1924 (the year quotas sharply curtailed US immigration), the early settlement of the New World, and how DNA evidence links us to early geographical origins.
The ancestral origins of the show's "cast” span the globe. Gates researches the family trees of poet Elizabeth Alexander (she composed and read the poem at President Obama’s inauguration), chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, writer Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, film director Mike Nichols, Queen Noor of Jordan, actresses Eva Longoria Parker and Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.
The series airs 8 to 9 pm Wednesdays from Feb. 10 to March 3, but you can catch a few glimpses now:
See more "Faces of America" clips on PBS’ YouTube channel.
Celebrity Roots | Genealogy Events | Genetic Genealogy | Social History
Wednesday, January 06, 2010 7:01:43 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Friday, October 16, 2009
Genealogy News Corral: October 12-16
Posted by Diane
Here are some of the news items we've rounded up this week:
- I read an interesting post on the Archives Next blog about NARA’s record digitization agreements with firms such as Footnote and Ancestry.com. The blogger outlines possible good, bad and ugly outcomes when NARA is finally legally able to post online the record images obtained through contracts with third parties.
- Pedigree database subscription site OneGreatFamily ($59.95 per year) plans to improve its search function by installing the Perfect Search Database Search Appliance from Perfect Search Corp.
Each week, OneGreatFamily makes more than 18.8 trillion comparisons of
names, dates and other details in members’ family trees, says CEO Alan
Eaton. The new search tool should increase searching capability,
improve indexing, and to deliver results faster.
- The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) has added several genealogical journals to its online subscription ($75 per year): Besides its own New England Historical and Genealogical Register, they are The American Genealogist, The Connecticut Nutmegger, New Netherland Connections and The Virginia Genealogist.
- Also from NEHGS: Fellow actors, Boston natives, best buddies and People magazine sexiest men alive Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are 10th cousins once removed. Their common ancestor is William Knowlton of Ipswich, Mass., a bricklayer who died in 1655. Read the full story in the Boston Herald.
Family Tree Magazine Plus members can read our article about Matt Damon’s roots—including his link to Ralph Waldo Emerson—here.
Celebrity Roots | Genealogy societies | Genealogy Web Sites | Libraries and Archives
Friday, October 16, 2009 7:49:28 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Allen County Library Digitizes Abe Lincoln's Life
Posted by Diane
Staff at one of genealogy’s best-known libraries are digitizing some extra-special records.
Last December, the Indiana State Museum and the Allen County (Ind.) Public Library—whose Genealogy Center is the largest public library genealogy collection in the United States—got word they’d receive the 230,000-piece collection of Fort Wayne’s Lincoln Museum. That museum closed in June, 2008.
Abraham Lincoln lived with his family in Perry (now Spencer) County, Ind., from 1816 to 1830. (The home site is a national memorial.)
The Indiana organizations were selected to receive the collection over a formidable-sounding coalition consisting of the Library of Congress, National Museum of American History, Ford’s Theatre and President Lincoln’s Cottage.
The Allen County library's on-site digital capability helped keep the collection in Fort Wayne, according to a News Sentinel article.
The library will house manuscripts, books, photographs, maps, pamphlets and periodicals from the collection, including genealogical materials on the Lincoln and Hanks (Abraham Lincoln's maternal line) families and Mary Todd Lincoln's “insanity file” (in 1875, she was briefly committed to an asylum). More than 20,000 items will be digitized.
You can view 75 images from the collection on the Allen County library's web site. Library staff also also will dig up historical research so online searchers can get the story behind each item.
Artifacts, such as Lincoln’s wallet and the chair in which he posed for many photos, are at the Indiana State Museum. You'll see some displayed in two Lincoln exhibits to open next year on Feb. 12 (Lincoln’s birthday).
Think you're related to Lincoln or another US first family? Check out our list of books on presidential genealogy.
Celebrity Roots | Libraries and Archives | Social History
Wednesday, October 14, 2009 7:12:46 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
Friday, October 09, 2009
Michelle Obama's Slave Ancestry Video
Posted by Allison
As we reported earlier, our friend and professional genealogist Megan Smolenyak appeared on CBS' Early Show this morning to talk about Michelle Obama's slave ancestry.
Though perhaps not unique among slave descendants, the stories Smolenyak uncovered about Obama's ancestors Melvinia and Delphus are certainly interesting. Here's the video of the CBS interview:
African-American roots | Celebrity Roots
Friday, October 09, 2009 4:40:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Genealogist Finds Michelle Obama's Slave Ancestor
Posted by Grace
Family Tree Magazine contributor Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak and The New York Times have uncovered documents revealing first lady Michelle Obama's great-great-great-grandmother, a slave named Melvinia. Through probate records, photographs and local histories, the sleuths have pieced together a picture of the life of Melvinia, who labored on farms in Georgia and South Carolina, and her first son, Dolphus—Obama's great-great-grandfather—who became a carpenter and owned his own business in Birmingham, Ala.
The story is absolutely fascinating. You can learn more about it in The New York Times, in ABC's news report, and make sure you watch the below video from Roots Television.
|
|
Friday, August 21, 2009
Genealogy News Corral: August 17-21
Posted by Diane
We rounded up these items for this week's news corral:
- FamilySearch and Svensk Arkivinformation (part of the National Archives of Sweden) are starting a huge project to create a free online index to 418 million names in Swedish parish registers of births, christenings, marriages and burials. Volunteers will index registers from the start of recordkeeping (between 1608 and 1686, depending on the parish) through 1860.
- Heritage Travel, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, is launching a free online travel community called Gozaic with several “circles” for those interested in history-related travel. Those include Civil War Buffs, Abraham Lincoln, Family Heritage Travel, Journeys into Hidden America and others. Visit the pre-launch site to learn more.
- On a celebrity baby blog this week, actor/producer Lisa Kudrow describes her next project as “a genealogy series in which we take stars to their ancestral landmarks ... different countries and places where they see documents and they see homes or buildings or things that have to do with their family.” (Scroll to the bottom of the post to see the full statement.)
Maybe the postponed US version of “Who Do You Think You Are?” will see the light of our TV screens. (Last we heard, it didn’t make NBC’s fall lineup, but might show up as a mid-season replacement.)
Celebrity Roots | FamilySearch | Genealogy Events | International Genealogy
Friday, August 21, 2009 5:13:47 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
Monday, May 04, 2009
US "Who Do You Think You Are?" Will Premiere This Fall (Unless It Won't)
Posted by Diane
NBC's genealogy-reality TV series "Who Do You Think You Are?" will now premiere this fall, according to Genealogy Gems blogger and podcast host Lisa Louise Cooke. Reports about the show surfaced last year (we covered it in the September 2008 Family Tree Magazine). Genealogists were thrilled when it was finally scheduled to begin in April, but the premiere was postponed. Let's hope this new date sticks. The US version of "Who Do You Think You Are?", hosted by Lisa Kudrow of "Friends" fame, is based on Britain's successful show of the same name, which traces celebrities' family trees. NBC's Web site for the show also says the network has partnered with Ancestry.com to produce a microsite where users can start their own family trees and learn more about the featured celebrities' trees.
Celebrity Roots
Monday, May 04, 2009 9:38:29 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
"Who Do You Think You Are?" Moves Again
Posted by Diane
Celebrity Roots
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 1:30:39 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Logging Lincoln's Life
Posted by Diane
A plethora of parties are planned to honor the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth Feb. 12. (That’s also the 82nd anniversary of my grandma’s birth and the ninth anniversary of my nephew’s birth, so I’ll have to divvy up my celebrating.) - Go to the Lincoln Bicentennial Web site to find local observances, get facts on the 16th president’s life and download the text of his speeches and letters.
- Historical records site Footnote is showcasing its Abraham Lincoln "person page" with a timeline, stories and digitized photos and articles (including a reward poster seeking assassin John Wilkes Booth and accomplices John H. Surrat and David C. Harold).
Rumors persist that Thomas Lincoln wasn’t Abraham’s biological father. They’re addressed in Lincoln Legends: Myths, Hoaxes and Confabulations Associated With Our Greatest President by Edward Steers Jr. (University Press of Kentucky), available for preview through Google Books. Link to it from our Google library.
You may be a cousin and not know it—supposedly, Abraham Lincoln kept quiet about his family because he believed his mother was born out of wedlock. No one's found records to prove or disprove his suspicions. But maybe he didn't have to worry so much: the fact we're celebrating 200 years later shows actions speak louder than ancestry.
Celebrity Roots | Social History
Wednesday, February 04, 2009 8:48:09 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Genealogy Reality Show Set for April Premiere
Posted by Diane
Celebrity Roots
Thursday, January 29, 2009 1:46:59 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Monday, January 19, 2009
Climbing Down Santa's Tree
Posted by Grace
 Cryptozoologists (people who study animals whose existence has not been proven) have traced the evolution of Santa Claus back to his ur-grandfather, Wildman. Santa Claus belongs to the Winterman branch of the family; Reindeer come from the Myth branch; Snow Queens and Elves are two branches of the Folklore crew. Click here to see the whole family tree.
Celebrity Roots | Genealogy fun
Monday, January 19, 2009 6:14:25 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Monday, December 29, 2008
In Case You're Wondering (Genealogy FAQs)
Posted by Diane
At Family Tree Magazine, we hear many of the same family tree-related questions over and over. I thought I’d answer a few of them here. You’ll find even more FAQs (and the answers) on our Web site. Q. How am I related to … [insert description of relative]? A. It depends who’s the most-recent shared ancestor between you and the relative in question, and how many generations lie between each of you and that ancestor. Find an explanation here and a chart to help you figure it all out here. Q. We’ve always heard we’re related to [fill in the famous name—John Brown, Daniel Boone and Abraham Lincoln are common ones]. How do we know for sure? A. Lots of families have stories like this, and they’re not all true. To find out about yours, carefully research your family tree using reliable sources. You’ll also need to find the family tree of the person you might be related to ( link to several famous trees here) and compare the trees to find people common to both. Q. Why can't I find my ancestor on the Ellis Island Web site?
A. Ellis Island, open from 1892 through 1924, was the busiest US port of immigration, but it wasn't the only one. Cities all along the coasts received immigrants, including Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Galveston, San Francisco and others. Your ancestor may have arrived at one of these ports, or before Ellis Island opened, or overland from Canada or Mexico. See a list of ports and existing records for each on the National Archives Web site. Q. My daughter learned she and her fiancé share an ancestor. Can they still marry?
A. It’s common for spouses to share an ancestor somewhere back
in time—in fact, all states allow marriage between second or
more-distant cousins. See a summary of state laws governing cousin marriages at the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Celebrity Roots | immigration records | Research Tips
Monday, December 29, 2008 3:48:05 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
|
|
Monday, September 10, 2007
Famillion Touts Celebrity Connections
Posted by Diane
Another free genealogy social networking site called Famillion has been in the news. It’s headquartered in Israel (as is MyHeritage, which recently purchased Pearl Street Software). Famillion, which has family tree building capabilities, photo albums and profile pages, says its Tree Merging Technology will locate overlaps in trees and suggest relationships (this sounds similar to the SmartMatching feature in Pearl Street’s languishing GenCircles pedigree database). Famillion also just announced a GEDCOM upload to ease the job of entering family information. The site looks slick and its “connect the world” tagline is noble, but the webmasters seem drawn to hyperbole. The About window says “You might… find connections to the world's Albert Einsteins, Madonnas and Bill Gates. You may find yourself chatting with Angelina Jolie.” Somehow I think Angie’s a little too busy with Brad, Maddox, Zahara, Shiloh and Pax to chat me up online. That claim and the celebrity photos on the home page smack of a too-obvious attempt to capitalize on America’s Hollywood obsession. The same could be said of MyHeritage and its celebrity lookalike photo search, though that site redeems itself with downloadable genealogy software and a search engine. On the plus side, maybe non-genies will come to these sites looking for celebrity connections and get hooked on exploring their own mere-mortal family histories. Meanwhile, we’ll research celebrity roots if we think they commingle with our own, but we’re too busy climbing brick walls to be genealogical paparazzi.
Celebrity Roots | Genealogy Web Sites
Monday, September 10, 2007 3:42:11 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)
|
|
|