I’ve always considered myself Latina, since both my parents were born in Colombia before immigrating to the United States in 1963. But I’ve also known, like many Latinos, that my extended family contains the ethnic diversity reflected throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. As I’ve begun thinking about the diversity that flows in my veins, Read More
Forget cloned dinosaurs — will the real tourist attraction of the future involve cloned celebrities? From literary giants to rock legends, celebrities’ locks are a sought-after commodity by certain types of collectors. In February 2016, a man paid $35,000 for a 4-inch lock of John Lennon’s hair, a keepsake of the Beatles’ frontman that a Read More
Election season continues to heat up. The field of candidates is narrowing, and before we know it, the presidential general election will be upon us. Regardless of where you fall along party lines, taking a look at the meaning of each of the current candidates’ names can give you a glimpse into their family’s origin Read More
Few men embody the crucible of Civil War history like Robert Smalls. Born a slave but fathered by a white man, Smalls commandeered a ship that he sailed to freedom from the heart of the Confederacy. Today, his descendants work to keep the memory of this remarkable Civil War hero alive. This is his amazing Read More
To learn more about your family history, the natural place to start is the most obvious marker of your family: your surname. And the natural place to learn about your surname is a free Last Name Meanings and Origins search on Ancestry. The origins and meaning of your last name can reveal a surprising amount Read More
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Old World and the New came together in the form of “Dollar Princesses,” a phenomenon that captivated the public’s attention then and still does today. A Dollar Princess referred to an American heiress, often from newly wealthy families, who married a title-rich but cash-poor British nobleman. Read More
The United States, as many like to point out, is a nation of immigrants. For people interested in learning more about their family history, a journey over an ocean or across a river can both pose a challenge when it comes to finding ancestors and provide a rewarding source of stories about overcoming adversity. The Read More
A death in the family can be tragic, but the passing of ancestors and distant relatives can also be a rich source of information for anyone trying to understand their family history and their own place in it. The Family Facts page on Ancestry gives you another helpful starting point for your search into your Read More
Growing up, Kyle Merker believed he was German. His parents told him he was German when they dressed him in children’s lederhosen for his Germanic dance performances, and they told him he was German when they fed him schnitzel. For 50 years, Merker believed his ancestors were German. So imagine his surprise when a genetic test Read More
With a vial of saliva and a little cutting-edge science, AncestryDNA can tell you if you’ve got any Irish heritage in your genes. And with a lot of cutting-edge science, researchers in December 2015 published a study telling the world where that Irish heritage first originated. By studying the 5,000-year-old remains of a female farmer Read More
