Episodes

Don't be alarmed, but I'm about to alarm you. A little. Well, I'm going to make you think a bit, anyway. Nothing will happen tomorrow, but it sounds like Ancestry's parent company, Permira Advisers LLP, is willing to take out a very risky loan in order to fund a move that would denude Ancestry of $900 million. Yikes. I learned this from an article in Bloomberg, which you can read for yourself and assess: Ancestry.com Owners Aim to Extract $900 Million Payout With Loan. I was fueled by concern an...

Don't be alarmed, but I'm about to alarm you. A little. Well, I'm going to make you think a bit, anyway. Nothing will happen tomorrow, but it sounds like Ancestry's parent company, Permira Advisers LLP, is willing to take out a very risky loan in order to fund a move that would denude Ancestry of $900 million. Yikes. I learned this from an article in Bloomberg, which you can read for yourself and assess: Ancestry.com Owners Aim to Extract $900 Million Payout With Loan. I was fueled by concern an...

Don't be alarmed, but I'm about to alarm you. A little. Well, I'm going to make you think a bit, anyway. Nothing will happen tomorrow, but it sounds like Ancestry's parent company, Permira Advisers LLP, is willing to take out a very risky loan in order to fund a move that would denude Ancestry of $900 million. Yikes. I learned this from an article in Bloomberg, which you can read for yourself and assess: Ancestry.com Owners Aim to Extract $900 Million Payout With Loan. I was fueled by concern an...

So, have you been wondering where the heck I've been? In 2018 I was publishing weekly, yet I seem to have dropped off the podcasting Earth in 2019. I'm here to give you the reasons why, in hopes that we can hang together as I repair and resume work on the podcast. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast provider, at https://apple.co/2MLZW4H, at facebook.com/AncestorsAliveGenealogy, or at Thumbtack.com. Hire me for American genealogical research, teaching, and forensic genealogy at a...

So, have you been wondering where the heck I've been? In 2018 I was publishing weekly, yet I seem to have dropped off the podcasting Earth in 2019. I'm here to give you the reasons why, in hopes that we can hang together as I repair and resume work on the podcast. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast provider, at https://apple.co/2MLZW4H, at facebook.com/AncestorsAliveGenealogy, or at Thumbtack.com. Hire me for American genealogical research, teaching, and forensic genealogy at a...

So, have you been wondering where the heck I've been? In 2018 I was publishing weekly, yet I seem to have dropped off the podcasting Earth in 2019. I'm here to give you the reasons why, in hopes that we can hang together as I repair and resume work on the podcast. Please rate and review the podcast on your podcast provider, at https://apple.co/2MLZW4H, at facebook.com/AncestorsAliveGenealogy, or at Thumbtack.com. Hire me for American genealogical research, teaching, and forensic genealogy at a...

Today we have a new Patron, and new law in New York that will shake up the ENTIRE GENEALOGY WORLD - even outside the United States - the Weprin-Montgomery Law. Oh, and we have two brilliant cake recipes. One is from an Army wife friend of my grandmother's in the 1940s or 1950s, but the other is genuinely the oldest recipe I've been able to find in my family's trove.if you If you like apple cake or chocolate cake (or both), you are in the right place. Get ready to take notes, because these are fa...

Today we have a new Patron, and new law in New York that will shake up the ENTIRE GENEALOGY WORLD - even outside the United States - the Weprin-Montgomery Law. Oh, and we have two brilliant cake recipes. One is from an Army wife friend of my grandmother's in the 1940s or 1950s, but the other is genuinely the oldest recipe I've been able to find in my family's trove.if you If you like apple cake or chocolate cake (or both), you are in the right place. Get ready to take notes, because these are fa...

Today we have a new Patron, and new law in New York that will shake up the ENTIRE GENEALOGY WORLD - even outside the United States - the Weprin-Montgomery Law. Oh, and we have two brilliant cake recipes. One is from an Army wife friend of my grandmother's in the 1940s or 1950s, but the other is genuinely the oldest recipe I've been able to find in my family's trove.if you If you like apple cake or chocolate cake (or both), you are in the right place. Get ready to take notes, because these are fa...

No, seriously, get out of your head, Whenever you hit a brick wall, a Jeffrey, a Jeffreytina, one of Ancestry's infamous hang-ups, someone who's a 125cM match on AncestryDNA but who won't build a tree (but asks YOU to do it for him/her), or the documents start swimming before your eyes, it's time to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER and get out of your head and into your body. Or, at least, get into a different part of your head. This episode discusses some of the ways that I step back in order to get...

No, seriously, get out of your head, Whenever you hit a brick wall, a Jeffrey, a Jeffreytina, one of Ancestry's infamous hang-ups, someone who's a 125cM match on AncestryDNA but who won't build a tree (but asks YOU to do it for him/her), or the documents start swimming before your eyes, it's time to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER and get out of your head and into your body. Or, at least, get into a different part of your head. This episode discusses some of the ways that I step back in order to get...

No, seriously, get out of your head, Whenever you hit a brick wall, a Jeffrey, a Jeffreytina, one of Ancestry's infamous hang-ups, someone who's a 125cM match on AncestryDNA but who won't build a tree (but asks YOU to do it for him/her), or the documents start swimming before your eyes, it's time to STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER and get out of your head and into your body. Or, at least, get into a different part of your head. This episode discusses some of the ways that I step back in order to get...

While I truly enjoy meeting my ancestors, I have learned that the greatest joy in genealogy and family history work is the live people I meet and get to know. Melanie McComb is one of those people. I met her first on Twitter, and she taught me by example how to encounter and engage in the world of Genie Twitter. I took on her ways, and now I'm more comfortable there than in any other online platform! I've also found hundreds of friends there, and I feel comfortable asking and answering questions...

While I truly enjoy meeting my ancestors, I have learned that the greatest joy in genealogy and family history work is the live people I meet and get to know. Melanie McComb is one of those people. I met her first on Twitter, and she taught me by example how to encounter and engage in the world of Genie Twitter. I took on her ways, and now I'm more comfortable there than in any other online platform! I've also found hundreds of friends there, and I feel comfortable asking and answering questions...

While I truly enjoy meeting my ancestors, I have learned that the greatest joy in genealogy and family history work is the live people I meet and get to know. Melanie McComb is one of those people. I met her first on Twitter, and she taught me by example how to encounter and engage in the world of Genie Twitter. I took on her ways, and now I'm more comfortable there than in any other online platform! I've also found hundreds of friends there, and I feel comfortable asking and answering questions...

Did you ever take Home Economics in school? In the 1950s, only girls and women did, all the way through college. My mother ended up taking Home Economics at the University of Hawaii because she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up leaving college, becoming a stewardess, meeting my dad, and having a family. But first, she learned this recipe in class. Enjoy the first Family Cookbook episode of 2019 and have some muffins soon. Please rate and review the podcast on your pod...

Did you ever take Home Economics in school? In the 1950s, only girls and women did, all the way through college. My mother ended up taking Home Economics at the University of Hawaii because she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up leaving college, becoming a stewardess, meeting my dad, and having a family. But first, she learned this recipe in class. Enjoy the first Family Cookbook episode of 2019 and have some muffins soon. Please rate and review the podcast on your pod...

Did you ever take Home Economics in school? In the 1950s, only girls and women did, all the way through college. My mother ended up taking Home Economics at the University of Hawaii because she was trying to figure out what she wanted to do. She ended up leaving college, becoming a stewardess, meeting my dad, and having a family. But first, she learned this recipe in class. Enjoy the first Family Cookbook episode of 2019 and have some muffins soon. Please rate and review the podcast on your pod...

If you are a fan of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you are on Genie Twitter, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you have been to, or seen talks from, SLIG or RootsTech, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. And if you're one of the many people who've bought The Family Tree Toolkit, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. But if you don't, this interview is a great chance to get to know her - she's an author, a researcher, a speaker, and a TV host. She's also very funny and candid....

If you are a fan of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you are on Genie Twitter, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you have been to, or seen talks from, SLIG or RootsTech, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. And if you're one of the many people who've bought The Family Tree Toolkit, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. But if you don't, this interview is a great chance to get to know her - she's an author, a researcher, a speaker, and a TV host. She's also very funny and candid....

If you are a fan of PBS' Genealogy Roadshow, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you are on Genie Twitter, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. If you have been to, or seen talks from, SLIG or RootsTech, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. And if you're one of the many people who've bought The Family Tree Toolkit, you know who Kenyatta Berry is. But if you don't, this interview is a great chance to get to know her - she's an author, a researcher, a speaker, and a TV host. She's also very funny and candid....

Wow, was this weekend big! Correcting one set of errors about my grand-aunt led me to find an absolutely horrific story about her, her husband, and her children. I'm telling it to you in all its gory glory, ruminating a bit on how my great-grandparents were responsible for parts of it, and drawing what genealogical lessons and morals I can from it and passing those on to you. Honestly, it's the worst story I've ever run across in my tree, involving orphan's asylums, mental hospitals, untimely an...

Wow, was this weekend big! Correcting one set of errors about my grand-aunt led me to find an absolutely horrific story about her, her husband, and her children. I'm telling it to you in all its gory glory, ruminating a bit on how my great-grandparents were responsible for parts of it, and drawing what genealogical lessons and morals I can from it and passing those on to you. Honestly, it's the worst story I've ever run across in my tree, involving orphan's asylums, mental hospitals, untimely an...

Wow, was this weekend big! Correcting one set of errors about my grand-aunt led me to find an absolutely horrific story about her, her husband, and her children. I'm telling it to you in all its gory glory, ruminating a bit on how my great-grandparents were responsible for parts of it, and drawing what genealogical lessons and morals I can from it and passing those on to you. Honestly, it's the worst story I've ever run across in my tree, involving orphan's asylums, mental hospitals, untimely an...