Coolidge Connections

With the recent return of the second season of White Lotus, a few friends have asked me if the actress Jennifer Coolidge is related to President Calvin Coolidge. While this was a kinship I had discovered years ago (back when she appeared in the American Pie movies..

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Truth in Oral Histories

Image courtesy of James Deeter

As a student of family history, I've learned that “old white guys” like me generally know next to nothing about African American ancestry. This isn’t to say that we can’t follow a census record, collect a newspaper clipping, or attempt..

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The Ancestry of Jalen Hurts

Regardless of the outcome of Super Bowl LVII, history will be made Sunday when two Black quarterbacks lead their teams for the first time in NFL history. This will be the first Super Bowl appearance for Jalen Hurts, but not for Patrick Mahomes, who has been to the big..

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Ancestry of Patrick Mahomes (Part II)

Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Two years ago, I wrote a post about some of the maternal ancestors of Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, using research I had begun the previous year after his team’s Super Bowl victory. The post followed some..

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The Armory: The Story Behind a Unique Boston Landmark

Armory of the First Corps of Cadets, 101 Arlington St, Boston, MA. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Situated in Boston’s Back Bay is a particularly unique and beautiful building known by a few different names. I know it as the Armory—to others, it’s the Castle at Park..

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Lodgers or Relatives? (Part II)

2011 photograph of St. Jean Baptiste Church in Lynn, Massachusetts.

In a recent post I examined the curious case of young “lodger” George Stepper, who was enumerated in the 1920 census in the home of Joshua and Mary (Craven) Harron in Revere, Massachusetts. As I..

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Uncovering a Lesser-Known Roosevelt Legacy

Photo postcard sent by Philip James Roosevelt, 1915. From the collections of the Theodore Roosevelt Association, recently digitized by American Ancestors/NEHGS.

Unlike the old-world monarchies of Europe, the United States has no hereditary titles. Even so, some..

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Rediscovering my Chinese Roots

My grandmother's passport.

This year, January 22 marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year, a holiday that is celebrated by millions of people from many Asian cultures around the world. The lunar calendar is based on the moon’s twelve phases, so the starting date..

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Trace Amounts

The U.S. Men’s team at the first FIFA World Cup in 1930, the only time the United States placed in the top four

When I was watching the recent World Cup, and the various countries playing, I found myself considering genealogical connections I have found within the..

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Lodgers or Relatives? (Part I)

Revere Beach Boulevard, Revere Beach, MA; from a c. 1910 postcard.

We frequently encounter “lodgers” or “boarders” living with our ancestral relations in 20-century U.S. census records. If you’re like me, you probably don’t pay much attention to them. However, as I..

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