Genealogy Blog 

Two distant white relatives of U.S. first lady Michelle Obama say they are proud to be a part of her heritage and hope someday to meet her.

Debbie Shields, who has blonde hair and blue eyes, looks nothing like the first lady but they share a common lineage -- Shield's great, great grandfather is Obama's great, great, great grandfather, the television program "Inside Edition" reported Monday.

Obama's great, great, great grandmother was a slave named Melvinia, who was 6 years old when she was sent to live on a 200-acre farm in Rex, Ga. At age 15, Melvinia became pregnant by a white man presumed to be Charles Marion Shields.

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More than 400 years after her ancestors left for the Americas, "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria Parker can expect a joyous welcome when she visits the remote northern Spain village that bears her name.

The village of Longoria, home to around 60 people whose average age is 70, lies in the green hills of the Asturias region.

Eva Longoria Parker plans to visit next month to retrace her roots back to the place which her ancestors are believed to have left in 1603 to try their luck in the Americas.

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Here's a quick genealogy of the victims of the 1692 Salem Witch Hunt.

Bishop, Bridget (Playfer) (Wasselbee) (Oliver) (-1692). Daughter of __ Playfer. Married 1660 Samuel Wasselbee (d. 1665); m2. 1666 Thomas Oliver; m3. before 1680 Edward Bishop (d. 1705). Salem, MA. Hanged 10 June 1692.

Burroughs, Rev. George (c1650-1692). Son of Nathaniel and Rebecca (Stiles) Burroughs. Harvard College, class of 1670. Minister at Salem Village 1680-1683; minister in Wells, Maine, in 1692. Married, first, Hannah Fisher (1653-1681); m2. Sarah Ruck (d. 1689/90); m3. Mary (--). Wells, Maine. Hanged 19 August 1692.

Carrier, Martha (Allen) (-1692). Daughter of Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen. Married 1674 Thomas Carrier alias Morgan (d. 1735). Andover/Billerica, MA. Hanged 19 August 1692.

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The details of the Alfie star's family history are revealed in the 1911 Census, which is being published online for the first time.

The 36-year-old, who stars as Dr Watson in the forthcoming Sherlock Holmes film, is the great-grandson of William Law, who is recorded in 1911 as a master baker. He lived with his wife, five children and two servants in a nine-bedroom house in Brixton, south London.

Meanwhile, the true extent of Guy Ritchie's background is revealed on the website findmypast.com. The 41-year-old ex of Madonna is the great-great grandson of retired Major-General Edward McLaughlin and his wife Annie.

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A new book has confirmed what his legion of Irish fans have always suspected – Bruce Springsteen is one of our own.

Despite his surname which is of Dutch extraction, Springsteen has Irish ancestry through his paternal grandmother Martha O’Hagan. She married Springsteen’s grandfather Antony Springsteen in 1899.

Her grandmother in turn was Ann Garrity who came from outside Mullingar. She crossed the Atlantic for the Promised Land of the US in 1852.

Further back Springsteen has Farrell, McNicholas, Sullivan, O’Hagan and McCann ancestry.

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Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone has Breton blood coursing through those bulging veins.

His mother, Jackie Stallone, has been in Brest researching the family history of the Rambo and Rocky actor. The 86-year-old was trying to get details of her mother – who she thought was born in Brest - and grandfather, who was said to have been the mayor.

However, when municipal employees checked their records they discovered Louis-Victor Clérec had not been the mayor of Brest but only a clerk in the mairie. They did manage to confirm that both he and Stallone’s grandmother, Jeanne Clérec, were born in Brest.

Stallone joins a list of famous Bretons – and even Finistériens – alongside Madonna, whose family were from Ploujean, and Céline Dion, who has Ploudiry family connections.

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Revelations have emerged recently from the research of Megan Smolenyak, a genealogist, and from reporting by Rachel L. Swarns and Jodi Kantor of The New York Times.

View the family tree - You can help to complete the family tree!

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Chief Family Historian for Ancestry Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak got the assignment of a lifetime when it was discovered in 2007 that future President of the U.S. Barack Obama had Irish roots. Smolenyak's job? To find out where in Ireland Obama's family came from.

They had established that Obama was part Irish, and that his third great-grandfather on his mother's side, Fulmoth Kearney, is his most recent connection to the Emerald Isle.

Naturally, the Irish wanted to know more. Not since John F. Kennedy had the Irish been so excited to learn about a U.S. president's Irish heritage.

Smolenyak's first task in tracing Obama's precise link to Ireland was finding Fulmoth Kearney on the U.S. census and back-tracking his journey to the States. Luckily for the historian, Obama's relative's name was fairly unique, compared to say, a "Patrick Kelly."

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Read also:
Barack Obama's Irish Ancestors Reformed 19th Century Health Care
'Lost Tomb of Obama' Found In Ireland
Researchers Say Obama Has German Roots
Barack Obama's Ancestor Left 12 Pence in Will

Two million people are now recognised as being descendants of the Chinese philosopher Confucius, more than tripling the number in the last count.

The announcement was made as the fifth update to Confucius' family tree was unveiled on the 2,560th anniversary of his birth, say Chinese state media.

Last updated in 1937, the book lists all 83 generations of descendents.

For the first time women, ethnic minorities and descendants living overseas have been included.

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