In 1914, Woman’s Great-Great-Grandparents Purchased a Home. 112 Years Later, She Spends $380,000 to Move It to Her Property – Well, this is an unexpected way to merge family histories!

Adopted St. Louis man discovers his biological father is a Grammy-winning artist – One of the happiest adoption reunion stories I’ve heard.

Photo Credits: University of Michigan SEAS under Creative Commons license

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Library Treasures Stored on Synthetic DNA – Our worlds collide.

Meet one of the most genealogically documented families in America – I’m happy for this family, but on balance, I prefer being from an under-researched family rather than one of these with a fire-hose of information. So many sources! So much data! Yes, it takes effort to ferret out every little detail in my family, but I’d rather that than being overwhelmed. But maybe I’m an exception. Your thoughts?

Photo by Sorin Basangeac on Unsplash

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The Quest for Annie Moore of Ellis Island – If you’re heading off on vacation soon, I’ve heard that my book about Annie Moore of Ellis Island makes great reading for planes or beaches (hint, hint )

The “Kafkaesque” process of getting public records from a post-DOGE government. – It’s not your imagination. Genealogists aren’t the only ones struggling to get records that used to be fairly easy to obtain from the federal government.

Photo by Peter Herrmann on Unsplash

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How an unsolved 1971 homicide led to a surprise DNA connection – This happens a fair bit with my Army cases as well – when you almost accidentally reunite family members along the way.

Searching for Sisters: A Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States – If your family has ever included any nuns (or even if you happen to be Catholic), you’re going to want to snag this book ASAP for your sleuthing purposes!

Top photo: screenshot from John Mills Lecture at the Stanley-Whitman House in Farmington, CT

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Photo by little plant on Unsplash

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Top photo: Aisne-Marne Cemetery caretaker and me as a youngster

The post Genealogy Roundup, January 28 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

‘The hidden engine room’: how amateur historians are powering genealogical research – A salute to dedicated genealogists who create resources for all of us!

Christmas on Ellis Island.

Marriage and the Maiden Name – Interesting discussion

Photo by Roman Kraft on Unsplash

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Betty White, now 96 years old, graced us all with her presence at the Emmys. Mischievous and beautiful as ever, she was honored for her remarkable eight-decade career in show business which includes classic series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Golden Girls.

But it was one of her more recent shows — Hot in Cleveland — that puts me most in mind of her own life. In it,White played a wisecracking, Midwest caretaker of a house a trio of Los Angelistas landed in upon impulsively fleeing their California lives. An Illinois native, White moved to Los Angeles while still a child, so this series was a version of her life in reverse.

Though born in Chicago in 1922, Betty Marion White was already residing in a neighborhood ensconced between Melrose Avenue and Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles by the time of the 1930 census. Her father, Horace L. White, a WWI vet and electrical supplies salesman, seems to have been doing fairly well in spite of the nascent Great Depression, as the family owned their home and — perhaps more importantly for Betty’s future career — a radio.

That only-child Betty was close to her parents, Horace and Tess, can be seen in this 1954 California Voter Registration in which the then 32-year-old Democrat shared the same address as her Republican parents. This same year she had a self-titled show on NBC and was voted honorary mayor of Hollywood.

(Ancestry)

Both Horace and Tess were raised in Chicago with a single sibling and Canadian-born mothers (thank you, Canada, for sharing yet another comedic talent with your Southern neighbor). Both also had immigrant fathers, meaning that all four of White’s grandparents were born outside of America, but the specifics are surprising.

It turns out that the ethnic brew that created Betty White is one-quarter Danish, one-quarter Greek, one-quarter Canadian, one-eighth Welsh and one-eighth English. Her Canadian portion sports branches that meander back not only through Canada, but also New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts to the early days of the United States, and eventually back to England, so in fairness, her English percentage should be rounded up a bit.

Perhaps what’s most striking is the Danish-Greek combination. Her Danish grandfather, Christopher White, came to America as a young man and bounced around Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois working as a salesman dealing in everything from hats to rubber. It’s possible that his wife Ettie was the quasi-namesake for Betty.

White’s other grandfather, Greek-born Nicholas Cachikis, also came here as a young man and worked as a salesman, but of one item — ice cream. For decades, he sold ice cream off a wagon, but it was apparently a hand-to-mouth existence as he was sadly buried in a potter’s field when he passed away.

So Betty White will always be Hot in Cleveland and a host of other places, but it’s Chicago, Denmark, Greece, Canada, England and Wales that should be hot to claim her.

Originally published on Medium on September 18, 2018

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He thought his father abandoned him. Then he took a DNA test. – Lovely to see a welcome genetic #genealogy outcome.

The Rise of the ‘Club-Sandwich Generation’ – So now we’ve got the “club sandwich” generation thanks to the proliferation of living great-grandparents!

Photo by Chris Kofoed on Unsplash

The post Genealogy Roundup, July 9 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Pioneering project releases more lost Irish records spanning 700 years – More hidden gems for researchers focused on Ireland!

The Questions We Don’t Ask Our Families but Should – From 2022, but always relevant!

Photo Credit: Tom Gill under Creative Commons license

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