Total Treecall – What are they thinking?!

Genealogy Classic: Getting the Most from Your Genealogy Trips to Europe – Another one of my Genealogy Classics articles. This one is about planning family research/reunion trips in Europe, and though it’s about 20 years old, almost all of it still applies!

Queen Victoria, her ‘secret love child’ and me – #genealogy (The article is more reasonable than the headline suggests.)

The post Genealogy Roundup, August 6 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

On This Day: US President Barack Obama arrives in Ireland for a visit – I’ve done a lot of digging into the Obamas’ roots over the years!

How Iceland’s Horses Learned to Type Emails – I love that they took the time to do this.

Heart – All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You (Official Music Video) – Whenever I hear this song, my genetic genealogy brain ponders how many “boys in the rain” are hearing from their previously unknown children now.

New ancestry archive allows Argentines to track ancestors’ arrival – New immigration database from Argentina. So many of us of Irish, Italian, Eastern European (Jewish & Slavic), etc. heritage have relatives who went to South America. Here’s a tool to help you find that missing great-granduncle!

Top Photo Credit: DPAA (Staff Sgt. Olenik seated left)

The post Genealogy Roundup, May 25 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Before Envelopes, People Protected Messages With Letterlocking – Learned a new word: letterlocking

‘I’ve been able to create the path that doesn’t exist’: Iowa City native merges public art, history – I feel as if my whole genealogical career has been a “path that doesn’t exist,” so can totally relate. Well done, Mica Lee Anders!

How many of my fellow genealogists have watched the French genealogy mystery series, Origines? (https://www.amazon.com/Origins/dp/B07M7LBDHC). It started out well, but then quickly deteriorated, but I will forever appreciate it for the character I refer to as the magic nun.

They Were Switched at Birth—and Didn’t Find Out for 50 Years – You know, there are more and more of these stories, but they still stun.

It’s always so strange to see something you discovered take flight on social media, and this one seems to do so on a periodic basic. I’ll add a comment with a better photo from the dedication ceremony back in 2014. And thanks to Roger Moffat for letting me know it was having another moment!

Photo Credit: John Hickey | The Buffalo News

The post Genealogy Roundup, February 23 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Barry Manilow Is a Limerick Man – Would you have guessed that Barry Manilow has roots in Limerick, Ireland?

MyHeritage to be Acquired by Leading Private Equity Firm Francisco Partners – So much happening in the genealogical corporate world these last few months. Now it’s MyHeritage’s turn.

Animate Your Ancestors: When the 21st Century Meets the 19th – Well, my day’s shot. By the way, this article also includes an animation of Barack Obama’s Irish 3rd great-grandfather, Fulmoth Kearney.

19 Crimes wine and app – I just realized why I’m more comfortable with ancestor animation than some others. I’ve been using a variation of it since 2017 with the 19 Crimes app. From what I can see, the mouth is the hardest bit to animate, so I wonder if and when the ability to put words into our ancestors’ mouths will arrive.

Photo Credit: Caroline Johnston under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, March 3 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

I’ve had the privilege of researching a number of Black heroes for the Army. This thread features five of them (this post and the first 4 comments), starting with Capt. Lawrence E. Dickson. Killed in 1944, he’s the first missing Tuskegee airman to be identified.

Name Game: Celebrities Have Nothing on the Rest of Us – “there were a whopping 2,323 people named Paris in the 1900 census, along with New Jersey Cannon, New Orleans Boice, Newark Berkowitz, Prague Sherman, Moscow Beard, Cairo Izard, Munich Miller, and Bombay Pasquale.”

Torchon Portrait de Famille – How’s this for a family portrait?

Philip Reed, The Enslaved Man Who Rescued Freedom – There’s been a lot of coverage over the last month or so about the horrific discovery of tombstones from Columbian Harmony Cemetery, an African American cemetery in DC, being found in the Potomac, and while notables from the cemetery are often mentioned, I haven’t seen any mention that Philip Reed, the once enslaved man responsible for placing the Statue of Freedom atop the U.S. Capitol, was also interred here. And that was *after* he had been moved from another cemetery.

Michelle Obama’s Jumper Roots: Proving Your Freedom Over and Over Again – Imagine that you’re free, but you have to keep proving it. That’s what happened to ancestors of Michelle Obama and countless others.

You know so many have been decluttering during COVID-time? Well, I did a bit of that as well and decided to have a quilt made from a bunch of my genealogy t-shirts, and I’m really tickled with the outcome. If you look closely, you’ll see DNA, companies I’ve been associated with, Ellis Island/Annie Moore, shout-outs to my Irish/Rusyn heritage (including several Osturňa reuions), and assorted genealogy commentary we can all relate to. What do y’all think?

The post Genealogy Roundup, February 24 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Best Babyhood Ever – So I wrote a thing for my big 6-0. Hope you’ll enjoy it.

Irish locals show their colours in Biden’s ancestral home – Another fun piece on Joe Biden’s Irish roots featuring his cousin, Laurita Blewitt.

Genealogy mask of the day #45: Sorry Can’t Genealogy

Genealogy mask of the day #46: Nuyorican

Genealogy mask of the day #47: Lotus – (Thai)

Photo Credit: Seth Anderson under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, October 14 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Michelle Obama’s Roots, Part 1 – This is a video of a PPT I put together about Michelle Obama’s roots in Aug 2009 – a couple of months before the New York Times featured my research on their front page. I’ve learned more since then, but this covers a lot of ground.

I researched her roots on my own time and dime out of respect and admiration for Michelle Obama, and I’m so glad I did. She has classic Great Migration heritage with ancestors from 11(!) southern states, so it’s interesting from that perspective as well.

Decided to give the MyHeritage colorization a whirl. I was wondering if it was deoldify and it is. So here’s a 1935 photo from Osturna, Slovakia – ancestral home of all the Smolenyaks in the world.

Top Photo Credit: Laurita Blewitt

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

Remains of Army private killed in World War II identified – Welcome home, Pfc. William Frank Delaney. Honored to have researched your family.

Hidden Link between Michelle Obama and Meghan Markle in Jonesboro, Georgia

Switched at Birth revealed 75 years later

Most American Adoptees Can’t Access Their Birth Certificates. That Could Be About to Change. – More hope for adoptees!

Home DNA-testing firm will let users block FBI access to their data – Very happy to hear of Family Tree DNA’s decision

Photo Credit: The U.S. Army under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, March 13 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Meghan Markle, Michelle Obama, trace families to Jonesboro – This Megan talks about THE Meghan. And Michelle!

Photo Credit: The U.S. Army under Creative Commons license

The post Genealogy Roundup, May 23 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.

Tips for Tracing Your Family Tree – Um, so my “Who Do You Think You Are?” book was supposedly the inspiration for the series Who Do You Think You Are?

#HeyJohnKelly: Trump Chief of Staff Takes Heat Over Assimilation Comments

Unclaimed but still remembered – I have worked with Lackawanna County, PA for over a decade to keep the number of unclaimed people to a minimum, but it’s lovely to see the way the exceptions are treated.

My great-grandfather had the awesome name of Yurko Sydorko. What’s the most amusing/unexpected name in *your* family tree?

Photo Credits: Chuck Kennedy/Public Domain (photo of Michelle Obama) and Northern Ireland Office/Creative Commons license (photo of Meghan Markle)

The post Genealogy Roundup, May 17 appeared first on Megan Smolenyak.