Greetings Fellow Family History Sleuths,

It's funny how topics you researched years ago can suddenly become relevant again, and that happened recently - sadly, as a result of the loss of Queen Elizabeth. When she passed away, the media worked every angle including wondering who would be king or queen of America today if George Washington had been king instead of president. Well, it just so happens I had dug into this, so my research and the accompanying article resurfaced. Fingers crossed you'll enjoy it because I still remember what a challenging genealogical ride it was!

Along with GW, this issue also features Flat Stanley, Annie Moore, Lilly E. Gray, Cpl. Clark Ellis Worline, and others. I hope you're able to take advantage of the sweater weather we're having to curl up with your favorite warm beverage and learn a bit more about these folks and other genealogical happenings.

Stay toasty!

King of America

(With thanks to Jennifer Utley of Ancestry.com for both the prompt to research this as well as this fun companion illustration for the resulting article.)

Every once in a while, I encounter a challenge that makes my brain hurt. Trying to identify the king or queen of America was one such case. Yes, I’m aware that there’s no monarchy in the U.S., but in the genealogical realm, that’s just a technicality.

History buffs will recall that George Washington was once encouraged to assume the crown. Responding to Col. Lewis Nicola, a Frenchman who had served on the American side and raised the suggestion, Washington retorted, “Let me conjure for you, then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for yourself or for posterity, or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind and never communicate, as from yourself or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature.” In short, he wasn’t keen on the idea.

Even so, for those who like to play with historical what-ifs, this is a biggie. Who would be king or queen of America today if Washington had become king?

The Request

I was innocent of the nuances of royal succession and words like “agnatic” until a week or so ago, but that was before the request came. If George Washington had become king, would it be possible to determine who would sit on the American throne today? Well, I could certainly give it a try. So started my education.

I started my mission with a quick scouting of online lineages. Not surprisingly, there are countless family trees across the Internet that sport George Washington. If he’s any sort of relative of yours, you’re naturally going to make sure he’s included, even if the connection is exceedingly distant. So I swiftly found numerous trees. What became apparent almost as quickly is that there’s no truly comprehensive Washington genealogy online.

I realized that this would be an issue since I would likely have to explore multiple branches of the family tree to identify – and almost more importantly, eliminate – potential monarch candidates. But before venturing further into the Washington forest, I decided that I needed to address my ignorance of the rules of royal succession.

Click here to continue reading.

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Genealogy Roundup, October 19

Photo Credit: Arseni Mourzenko under Creative Commons license

Story of first immigrant to Ellis Island brought to life in musical show by her Narraghmore cousin – Well, my name is apparently now "Meghan Smolnyk," but this is still cool! And BTW, I think this is now the third play about Annie Moore of Ellis Island. 🗽 Sending thanks to my friend Tim McCoy for helping me make contact with Annie's Irish cousins! 🙌

ResearchBuzz Search Gizmos – All of you who have been enjoying Tara Calishain's Research Buzz search tools will be delighted to learn that she's created a fresh website to house them. And better yet, she continues to add to them! I saw a few genealogists over on Twitter giddy over what they had been able to find!

Flat Stanley Does His Roots – Fun visit to the past when I made a video of Flat Stanley doing his roots for one of my nephews. How many of you did the same when he visited you??

Genealogist finds Annie Moore's living relatives – Irish Central seems to be revisiting some of my favorite Irish-related discoveries of late! ☘️🗽

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Genealogy Roundup, October 12

Photo Credit: Mike Mozart under Creative Commons license

3 people describe the shock of discovering through at-home DNA tests that they were a different race than they'd thought – The rest of the world is discovering what genealogists have long known.

‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ Reboot In Limbo At NBC After One Season – déjà vu, eh?

‘Proof I was there’: every Japanese American incarcerated in second world war finally named

Oh wow! How getting more awe can improve your life – and even make you a nicer person – “We recently interviewed 320,500 people from 26 countries about what brings them awe – and no one mentioned their smartphone.”

For those who got a kick out of the exact-DOB-for-babies enumerator I mentioned in the graphic above, here are a few of his entries. Looking for a few to snag for this, I realized that he also carefully numbered twins 1 & 2 (and that included twins up to the age of 32). I suspect he actually troubled to ask which was born first. 🥰

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Genealogy Roundup, October 5

Photo Credit: The Well, created with the John Templeton Foundation, via YouTube

Mindfulness isn’t the only powerful mental state – Nostalgia is good for us!

National Archives NextGen Catalog – Ooh, liking this preview of the NextGen National Archives Catalog!

Ireland launches tracing service for adoption, birth, and medical records

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Genealogy Roundup, September 28

Victim of the Beast Gravestone – OK, which genealogist can tell us more about this "victim of the beast 666"???

Soldier Accounted For From Korean War (Worline, C.) – Welcome home, Cpl. Clark Ellis Worline. Honored to have researched your family.

P.S. Researched this soldier's case back in early 2001, so especially pleased he has finally come home.

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