Genealogy Blog 

Family: we spend holidays wishing that we could avoid them, and then, for many Americans, the rest of our time trying to hunt them down. Genealogy is, depending on who you consult, either the fastest growing hobby in the U.S., the most popular pastime in the U.S., or just so hot right now.

Two new TV shows are banking on the last. In "Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.," the final episode of which airs this Wednesday on PBS, Gates turns Godlike while unveiling the genetic ties and secret heredity of, among others, Meryl Streep, Malcolm Gladwell, and Stephen Colbert. In a tense television smackdown, "Faces" will shortly be joined by the near-mimic British import "Who Do You Think You Are?," set to air on NBC starting March 5th, which promises to do the same for the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Spike Lee. The latter has also spawned an eponymous book, "Who Do You Think You Are: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History," written by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (cutely abbreviated on the dust jacket to Megan Smolenyak2) who describes herself as "Chief Genealogical Consultant".

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More about Michelle Obama by Megan Smolenyak:

Not long ago, I wrote about Michelle Obama's family in Henry County, Virginia and shared this document in which her Jumper ancestors indicated that they had been free before Emancipation. In the columns where others listed the names of their last owner, Peter and Dolly Jumper simply said "free."

While this certainly made the Jumpers a distinct minority, many aren't aware that approximately ten percent of African Americans were free prior to Emancipation. This is an important reality for anyone interested in African American genealogy because those of us living today had quite a few ancestors back in the 1860s. Depending on your age and assuming generations of roughly 25 years, you might have had approximately 16, 32 or 64 direct line forebears at the time (two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, etc.). And with so many branches in your family tree, there's a decent chance that at least one of them was free.

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President Obama's election was no doubt historic, but in a sense, the presence of Michelle Obama in the White House is even more remarkable. She, daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian (Shields) Robinson, are the first descendants of slaves to reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue as members of the first family.

Last year, I spent nine months researching Mrs. Obama's ancestry, and some of my findings were shared in the New York Times, including the tale of her great-great-grandfather, Dolphus Shields and his mother, Melvina McGruder.

"First Grandma" Marian's family lived in Chicago, so I don't know whether she ever met her Alabama-based great-grandfather Dolphus, but she would have been 12 years old when he passed away. I mention this because Dolphus was born into slavery, yet lived long enough to overlap the life of a White House-bound descendant.

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In "Sex and the City," Sarah Jessica Parker bewitched the Big Apple - and as it turns out, the "“Sex" siren may be descended from witches!

The New England Historic Genealogical Society researched SJP’s family tree for a new NBC show "“Who Do You Think You Are?" and discovered her family line "is connected to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692," a Society spokesman said.

Researcher Josh Taylor worked with Parker in Boston last year to trace her roots for the show that takes a peek into the family history of a number of famous faces.

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Rachel Mallon and Suzanne Hadley met 10 years ago when their 4-year-old sons played T-ball together. The mothers instantly bonded. Over the years, the boys and their subsequent siblings shared elementary school classes, celebrated birthdays together and played on the same sports teams. Hadley and Mallon remained dear friends, living mere blocks from each other in Manhattan Beach.

Recently, Mallon decided to re-explore her mother’s side. Since her mother died when Mallon was just 20, many questions were left unanswered. Mallon looked back over the letter her great aunt had sent her 30 years ago. Her great aunt had mentioned her daughter, Nancy, who had two daughters, Suzanne and Libby. After tracking down Nancy’s Wisconsin phone number, Mallon made the call on Jan. 4. Nancy called back that night.

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Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak has published some new amazing photographs of Annie Moore and she needs help to prove whether the picture is truly Annie and her brothers:

"About a month ago, I wrote about the recent discovery of photos of Annie Moore, the Irish teenager who was the first to arrive at Ellis Island when it opened on January 1, 1892. On December 29th of last year, the New York Times featured a photo of Annie that had been located by her great-granddaughter, Maureen Peterson. I was delighted that we could all finally see what this symbol of immigration -- and by extension, the American dream -- looked like. It was long overdue.

And now we come to the history mystery that I wrote about previously. Discovered by Annie's great-nephew, Michael Shulman, at the National Park Service's library at Ellis Island, this image appears to be Annie with her brothers on the day of their arrival at Ellis Island itself:

If that's true, this photo is historically significant. I would go as far as to call it iconic. But the question is whether the picture is truly Annie and her brothers.

So here's my plea. If you have expertise in facial recognition, architecture, the history of Ellis Island or the Barge Office that preceded it, or in any area that might contribute to the resolution of this mystery, please post comments here or email me, whether they support the claim or refute it. It was a virtual team of genealogists who restored Annie's place in history back in 2006, so I'm hoping that a similar crowd-sourcing approach will work again. Let's find the truth!"

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Genealogists said Friday that the Democratic president and the newly elected senator from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, are 10th cousins.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society said Obama's mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, and Brown's mother, Judith Ann Rugg, both descend from Richard Singletary of Haverhill, Mass.

He died in 1687 at the unheard-of, for the time, age of 102.

In 2008, the society discovered that Obama is related to seven prior presidents, including George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry S. Truman and James Madison. They also learned he was related to actor Brad Pitt.

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Van Morrison is facing a possible paternity test. Samantha Branch, a 42-year-old U.K. woman, is reportedly demanding a test to prove whether the singer is her father.

According to U.K. newspaper the Daily Mail, Branch's mother, Dee, was Morrison's road manager and allegedly lived with the singer in the mid-1960s. She died in 1967, four months after Samantha was born. No father was named on the birth certificate.

Late last year, there were reports that Van Morrison was the father of a new baby. However, Morrison denied that this was true, saying that the rumor was based on a hacking attack on his website.

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An extraordinary link between Scotland and a Native American Indian tribe is set to take centre stage at an International Clan gathering.

It is believed that up to a half of the Cherokee Nation could be descendants of Ludovick Grant, who was a laird's son from Creichie in Aberdeenshire.

A delegation from the tribe are planning a visit to the Clan Grant International Meeting this summer to discover the roots of their celebrated ancestor.

Ludovick Grant was captured while fighting for the Jacobite army in the battle of Preston in 1715 and was due to be hanged.

However, he escaped death and instead was transported to South Carolina, where he was an indentured servant.

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Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who supported Barack Obama during the presidential campaign, might be more than just an informal adviser to the president: He might also be his distant cousin, according to a new study of Mr. Obama’s family tree.

Mr. Buffett and Mr. Obama are seventh cousins, three times removed, and share a great-grandfather who owned slaves in Maryland.

The ancestor, Mareen Duvall, emigrated from France to Maryland as an indentured servant in the 1650s, the genealogists reported. By 1659, Mr. Duvall had purchased property in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, which he later named “Middle Plantation,” the report said.

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