Category Archives: Current-events

Finding a Genealogical Big Sister

Caitlin Clark. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

There are two things I truly enjoy in this life: researching family history, and watching my granddaughters grow up. The best is when I can combine both at once.

I've been fortunate—in addition to their love for..

Continue reading

Find Out How Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are Distantly Related

Photo of Taylor Swift by Cosmopolitan UK; photo of Travis Kelce by Erik Drost. Via Wikimedia Commons.

The Kansas City Chiefs are going to the Super Bowl again soon, as they have three times out of the last four years. Their appearances in 2021 and 2023 prompted two..

Continue reading

A Murdaugh Mayflower Mystery

This post is a collaboration between myself and Vita-Brevis contributor Jeff Record , as we were both watching Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal on Netflix, as well as news coverage of the recent murder trial of Alex Murdaugh . Jeff alerted me to a possible Mayflower

Continue reading

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..

Continue reading

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..

Continue reading

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..

Continue reading

Governors of Massachusetts

Massachusetts made history with the recent victory of state Attorney General Maura Healey as our next governor, becoming both the first elected female governor in the bay state and the first openly lesbian governor in the United States.1 When Healey became the nominee..

Continue reading