All posts by David Allen Lambert

History repeats

The Boston Red Sox in 1916. Courtesy of Wikipedia.org

Between 1919 and 2003, a Boston loss in the fall classic of the World Series was, sadly, a familiar occurrence. In the decades before 1919, things were different. The Boston Americans rallied to beat the..

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A family affair

Workshop of Hans Holbein the Younger, Queen Jane Seymour (1508?-1537). A great-granddaughter of Sir Philip Wentworth and Mary Clifford, she was the third wife of King Henry VIII. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

One of the features of the recently-announced engagement..

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Remembering Rosella

Since childhood I have loved flea markets and genealogy. As a genealogist, I have often discovered the lost treasures of other families and purchased them. When I was about twelve years old, I attended a barn sale near Campton, New Hampshire. As the adult collectors..

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ICYMI: A question of identity

With A. J. Jacobs at the Global Family Reunion in early June 2015.

[Editor’s note: This blog post originally appeared in Vita Brevis on 29 June 2015.]

Over the years I have had the chance to discuss the subject of ethnicity (and identity) with avid genealogists and..

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Remember the ladies

Courtesy of Findagrave.com

Over the years I have had the honor of corresponding with veterans from the Spanish-American War, World War I, and World War II. But I must admit that corresponding and talking with some of the last widows of the Civil War was a highlight..

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Re-enacting history

A modern tintype

I have questioned published history my whole life, and have sought out the stories from the documents or in some cases the source. I was the obnoxious eight-year-old kid who went to Plimouth Plantation and posed my questions to the re-enactor John..

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Some super-centenarians

Little girls playing, ca. 1900. Image courtesy of Wikimedia.org

Susannah Mushatt Jones, who died in Brooklyn, New York on 12 May 2016 at the advanced age of 116 years and 311 days, was (at her death) the oldest verified living person in the world. Susannah was born..

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A final resting place

In the virtual world of genealogy, one can easily go to www.findagrave.com or www.billiongraves.com and record a gravestone – or simply pay respects to an ancestor’s gravestone. This technology has made it possible for countless genealogists to virtually visit or..

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"Over there"

John George Lea (1876-1953)

Next week I will be attending the Who Do You Think You Are? Live conference in Birmingham, England, where it is expected that more than 12,000 participants will be in attendance. The mustering of such a large body of genealogists and..

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"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!"

Virginia O'Hanlon (1889-1971)

As a child I always looked forward to the Christmas season: a time for family and friends, Christmas tree decorating, and candle light services at my church in Stoughton, Massachusetts. At the end of 1979, when I was ten years old, I..

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