ROOTS & BRANCHES

As regular readers undoubtedly have realized, there are times when your “Roots & Branches” columnist comes up with some definitive answers to the great genealogical questions of the day. Or at least thinks he does. But then there are other times that what’s offered by the column is far more modest. This is one of …

In courtrooms across the country, they call it the “CSI effect,” after the popular “Crime Scene Investigation” franchise of TV shows that create the impression that for every crime there is scads of forensic evidence waiting to be analyzed by cutting-edge scientific tools. In the family history world, it’s the “DNA effect” and it shows …

“Roots & Branches” rarely wades into political waters and, actually, even though the column will mention some folks in government, it’s merely for example and not meant as political. When Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson called African-Americans brought in bondage to North America “immigrants” with hopes and dreams. Now, technically, “immigrant” is defined …

Just about any time to you want to find an appropriately cynical quote about something that has gone awry, the late H.L. Mencken will come to your rescue. In the case of what genealogists call the Social Security Death Index (but to its producer, the Social Security Administration, is known as the “Death Master File,” …