ROOTS & BRANCHES

It’s likely the case that pretty much any field of endeavor looks more complicated when you analyze it more closely, whether it’s something done strictly as a profession like medicine—or something like genealogy, whose practitioners span a gamut from hobbyist to researcher-for-hire. I recall one instance some dozen years ago when I was in the …

You’re just going to have to pardon the “humble brag,” or at least I hope you will. That’s because it turns out my fourth commercially published book, The Family Tree Historical Atlas of Germany, is proving to be quite a hit. My first book, The Family Tree German Genealogy Guide, came about because former Family …

Since Kutztown University in Berks County, Pennsylvania, is about as a close to the true geographic center of the so-called “PA Dutch” culture, it’s no wonder that the university became home to the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center some years ago. And in addition to that center’s many other activities, it began biennial get-togethers more …

I’ve mentioned—well, more than just mentioned, sometimes!—Lebanon County expatriate and Florida resident Ken Weaver in the “Roots & Branches” column before because he has a knack of bringing questions to the fore that would benefit other readers. This exchange began innocently enough, with Weaver asking: “Are there lists of passengers who entered through the port …

For a video advertisement that runs 30 seconds, the reviews from the “Twitterverse” were lengthy and seem to be unanimous: Ancestry’s Canadian subsidiary laid an enormous egg in putting out an ad titled “Inseparable” showing an antebellum interracial couple planning to flee north. Because … well, that’s what I’m trying to figure out, realizing at …