Greetings Fellow Family History Sleuths,

This issue is short and sweet, but still includes a long overdue development in the case of Philip Reed, my latest grant (173 so far!), 20 of the 30 celebrities in this fall's Finding Your Roots and a link to help you discover how to get 30% off your Ancestry subscription if you belong to AARP (hint: wait until it's close to your renewal time to get the biggest bang for the buck). Now get out there and enjoy this long overdue, warm weather!

Happy sleuthing!

30 Celebrities for Fall "Finding Your Roots" on PBS

Finding Your Roots to return to PBS on Sept 23rd. 30 celebrities including Ben Affleck, Billie Jean King, Ken Burns, Anderson Cooper, Courtney B. Vance, Stephen King, Sally Field, Gloria Reuben, Rebecca Lobo, Carole King, Deepak Chopra, Ming Tsai, Angela Bassett, Valerie Jarrett, Aaron Sanchez, Derek Jeter, Tony Kushner, Nas, Tom Colicchio, Tina Fey, and Khandi Alexander. That's 3 Kings if you're keeping track!

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Memorial for Philip Reed, Slave Who Placed Statue of Freedom on the Capitol

Back in 2009, I wrote about Philip Reed (note: most spell his name Reid, but I use the Reed spelling because that's the way he spelled it), the one-time slave who was responsible for placing the Statue of Freedom on top of the U.S. Capitol. Though others had researched him before, no one had followed his life after that point.

I looked into his later years, and among other things, discovered where he was buried. Well, where he was buried the first time, the second time, and the third time. As I - with the help of my sister, Stacy - found out, Philip Reed was disinterred twice, and each time, taken a little further from his beloved Capitol.

I shared more of his story in chapter 15 of Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing, and Andrew Carroll wrote about him in the closing chapter of Here Is Where.

Recently a memorial was installed at National Harmony Memorial Park, his final resting place, and I for one, am glad to see Philip Reed finally getting at least this modest recognition.

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February 2014 Seton Shields Genealogy Grant Awarded

Carol Franks is on a personal mission to ensure that irreplaceable White County, Georgia documents are preserved. To this end, she creates digital copies of records found only in filing cabinets at the local library and will use her grant for an external hard drive with auto and cloud backup.

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Genealogy Round Up, May 5

Longest-separated twins find each other

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Genealogy Round Up, April 28

If you belong to AARP, you can save 30% on a World membership at Ancestry.com

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Genealogy Round Up, April 21

Congratulations to Randy Seaver! Genea-Musings is 8 Years Old

Calling All Farrells!

For anyone who's been interested in possibly snagging a copy of "Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing," there's a sample (including table of contents, foreword by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., and a chunk of the first chapter about my work with the Army) here.

This is an actual "news" story? The more you read, the stranger it gets. Murrysville woman claims she's Virgin Mary's cousin 65 times removed

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Genealogy Round Up, April 14

Cool Slideshow! Pining for the Past: Investing in Historic Renovations

National Geographic Concludes What Americans Will Look Like in 2050, and It's Beautiful

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Upcoming Events

After traveling around and speaking in 40 states and half a dozen countries since 2000, I decided to take a breather from the road to tend to some projects. That said, I'm sharing exceptions here. And by the way, you can see if I’ll be in your area any time by checking my Events Calendar.

• November 9, 2013 - Central Jersey Genealogical Club - 20th Anniversary - "Hey America, Your Roots Are Showing"

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