Ancestry Tests Produced Shocking Results. Should I Tell My Family? – Familiar but uncomfortable territory for genetic genealogists.

Doctored photographs create false memories of spectacular childhood events. –

Her bridal photos disappeared 30 years ago. A stranger just found them. – Can never get enough of this kind of reunion story!

Photo Credit: Michael Lamberty under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, January 31 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

No time to talk. Off on another genealogy adventure!

Top Image Credit: EpicTop10.com under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, November 29 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

He thought his parents’ wedding rings were lost forever. Then, he got a message. – Could read stories like this all day long.

So if I use this for my holiday greeting card to fellow genealogists, what should it say on the inside?

Sean Kirst: 75 years ago, life-or-death struggle overshadowed Buffalo high school game with 50,988 fans – Another moving story from my friend, Sean Kirst.

Longing to Belong Led Me to Genealogy – I had the opportunity to do something similar to this with a 96-year-old woman last week, and it’s very special. This tale is heartbreaking at times, but ultimately heartening.

The lack of pockets in women’s clothing has always been a pet peeve of mine, so it was a no-brainer that I was going to read this! And yeah, I’m one of those who enjoys one-topic history – salt, walls, disease, etc.

Top Photo Credit: Sean Biehle under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, November 15 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Video: Exclusive: How a Rare Portrait of an Enslaved Child Arrived at the Met – Unfortunately, I don’t seem to be able to get a free link for non-subscribers, but this video is so worth watching that I’m sharing it anyway. If you’re able to access it, please take a few minutes to watch this fascinating tale.

UPDATE: I’m learning on other platforms that most people *are* able to view this video, so I hope that applies to you!

Someone uploaded this fellow into one of the online trees I’m working on and I can’t stop seeing Josh Groban.

Northumberland coastal village creates one of the world’s largest family trees – Love this kind of local initiative. Reminds me of what a handful of us did with Osturňa, Slovakia some years back.

30 Million People Today Are Descendants of Passengers on the Mayflower – I don’t think this will be a surprise to most genealogists, but props to the writer for including pedigree collapse!

Top Photo Credit: NoName_13 under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, August 16 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Palmer veteran identified in remains from Korean War – Welcome home, Cpl. Gordon Dennis McCarthy. Honored to have researched your family. (2011)

Can you imagine living in the same house for 105 years? Elsie was born in her Huthwaite home And yes, it appears on the 1921 Census. Can you spot it? – Ah, this is charming!

Top Photo Credit: sarahhsia under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, August 2 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Is it just me or is it becoming harder and harder to tell whether someone’s died? And yes, I realize that must sound strange to non-genealogists.

The genealogist who unearthed a dark family secret: ‘Discovering I had a traitor for an ancestor has been a rollercoaster’ – Love this article about renowned genealogist Nick Barratt and his experience uncovering a rogue in his own family tree.

Woman’s reaction to finding out she’s turning 100 is so wholesome and relatable –

The post Genealogy Roundup, July 26 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

I guess my concern is the current state of AI where it still gets so much wrong, and yet, it’s easy not to notice if you don’t carefully consider the results it hands you.

Even before AI entered the arena, we were already at a stage where poor research often outshouts accurate – if only because so many copy others’ trees without looking at a single record or questioning any aspect – and I fear this will amplify that tendency.

I run into this all the time, but the experience that still stands out in my mind is discovering that everyone had one of Hillary Clinton’s grandparents wrong. That may sound trivial, but at the time, she was the most scrutinized woman, perhaps person, on the planet, and yet, no one had troubled to be sure. So fully a quarter of her story was wrong, as were many who thought they were related to her.

And we’re impatient, aren’t we? I don’t see people waiting until tried-and-tested genealogy AI tools arrive. We’ll all just jump on the first few that are released and touted.

This I can predict with confidence: The premise of one or more of the early tools will be to find your famous relatives in seconds, and should any of them be integrated with sites that host online trees, the error rate will soar to fresh, new levels. Few will know, and I doubt many will care.

The end game will be to market customized medications and other products (I’ll leave aside darker thoughts for now), and those involved will tell themselves that the mistakes will be rendered unimportant by sheer volume. And maybe they’ll be right.

I’ve been a genealogist most of my life so have celebrated and adopted, as well as weathered and tolerated, countless changes, but I’m bracing myself. This article – whoever or whatever wrote it – is correct to describe what’s coming as a revolution, and we’re already in it. Hold tight.

Discover Enslaved People in the Newspapers – Interesting approach! I hope other newspaper collections will borrow this idea.

Sudbury student graduates from same school 100 years apart from great-grandmother – Keeping it in the family!

Statue of Liberty Barbie

Stolen Irish skulls snatched from graveyard finally returned to Inishbofin island – I hope we see a lot more of this kind of thing going forward.

Photo Credit: Samuel Huron under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, July 19 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

We’re cousins but also genetically brothers due to this rare phenomenon – Fun with DNA! (h/t Dick Eastman)

Catholic News Archive Adds 14 More Years of the Catholic Standard & Times to Its Digital Collection – Good news for those researching American Catholics. (h/t Dick Eastman)

OK, whose great-grandfather is this?:

Dreaming Ancestors – This is taking me back to when I was a kid and wrote a story about why leaves turn colors. This AI story crafting tool is targeted to kids, but I wanted to try it out, so requested a tale about a genealogist whose ancestors appears in her dreams to help her solves crimes both past and present.

Top Photo Credit: Public Domain

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

Army base in Louisiana sheds Confederate name for a Black war hero – Pleased to have had a chance to speak about WWI hero, Henry Johnson.

Was just asked to share this in one of the genealogy groups I participate in and thought it was worth re-sharing here because somehow this frustrating myth never seems to go away!

Camryn and Milo Manheim to lead off premiere of new Jewish-themed genealogy TV series – Another genealogy TV series headed our way!

How to plan a genealogy trip to connect with your roots – Whoa, is this right? Ancestry’s (ProGenealogists) roots travel services start at $3,000/day?! Time for some of us to increase our rates, eh?

Top Photo Credit: Verne Becker under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, June 21 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Downton Shabby: One American’s Ultimate DIY Adventure Restoring His Family’s English Castle – If you’re like me and on the lookout for pleasant diversions in your reading, you might enjoy this one. A genealogical fantasy for most of us, but true for this fellow! That said, what a learning curve and commitment!

President Biden invited to visit Galway after discovery of family links – Did this at 1:20 a.m. my time, so fingers crossed I sound semi-coherent. President Biden is visiting Ireland this week, so there’s apt to be some chit-chat about his roots and Irish cousins.

How 27,000 bricks from Biden’s great-great-great grandfather helped build the cathedral where he’ll speak in Ireland next week: Deal made family $25K – before they sailed to the US to start new life – Hey, y’all, it’s that season again. Joe Biden is visiting Ireland this week so there’s going to be a lot out there about his Irish roots and cousins. Some of it has already mentioned my work, but I also expect a few discoveries I had nothing to do with. And this is one of them. Pretty cool.

Joe Biden invited to Galway after genealogist uncovers family ties to the county – This title is a little misleading in that I confirmed what then-potential family members suspected, but yes, he has Galway roots as well.

Cut from the Same Cloth: Joe Biden and Stephen Colbert Share More than Their Irish Heritage – My latest on Medium. Some parallels I’ve been struck by over the years.

Photo Credit: via Wikimedia Commons under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, April 12 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.