When I lived just outside of Boston, Mt. Auburn Cemetery was my favorite place to walk and explore. Among the thousands who are buried there are members of Boston’s esteemed Revere family. While Paul Revere is best known for his exploits during the American Revolution,..

The dubious quality of published genealogies and local histories is a common lament of genealogists. Some publications, of course, responsibly cite original documents such as land deeds, church records, and probates. Others supply neither footnotes nor bibliographies,..

Thanks in large part to the legacy he built during his lifetime, few people remain unaware of the importance of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to the Civil Rights Movement. His life and contributions are commemorated each year on the third Monday of January. Far fewer..

I remember my first time visiting Lexington and Concord as a child. Even at that time I knew some of the stories about my ancestors in the American Revolution. One was my maternal fourth great-grandfather Capt. Jonathan Poor (1737-1807) of Newbury, Essex,..

1897 map of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, Matthews-Northrup Company (via Wikimedia Commons)

One “employment perk” at American Ancestors is a complementary consultation with one of our genealogists, and every now and then I get paired with a colleague for such..

Mural in Oswego, Kansas, depicting the Osage village of White Hair circa 1841 (via Wikimedia Commons)

At the turn of the twentieth century, Mary True Randall set up a photography studio with a dark room in her father’s house opposite Pittsford, Vermont’s Village Green. For almost 20 years, her camera captured children in formal poses and at play, quaint scenes of rural..

1863 print depicting American artist Washington Allston

I have lived in Allston, a neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, for about three years. For most of that time, I never gave the area’s name much thought. I assumed that it was either the name of a town back in..

Touro Synagogue from Patriots Park (Photo by author)

You might know Newport, Rhode Island, for its plethora of beautiful and historic mansions, many of which overlook the Atlantic coast. Maybe you know that the city hosted the first U.S. Open Tournaments for both..