Fortunately there are only two spelling options for our family name. And, though I don't have any nobility in my line (as in people who made the books by being wealthy, and/or had last names centuries ago) I do have a lot of clergy in my line and the monasteries were quite good at keeping track of who came and went so my dad was able to trace the line back all the way to when last names became obligatory under Napoleon's rule.

You are SO lucky!

My mother used to get one newsletter for the McCullough Family - there are 28 ways to spell McCullough!! In fact, the only name in my genealogy that doesn't have more than a few spellings seems to be Hunter. :(

No, this is the first I'm hearing hearing of it. I will check it out! Thank you!!:)

It's more archeology than genealogy, but oh, what wonders have been found! I may be a Pollyanna, but I like to think that this will help more people visualize the divide that once was so rampant.

I appreciate anything that will help!:)

Loved the Cindy Crawford episode. How lucky is she. Not lucky in the sense that she comes from the line of a great emperor, but from the line of people who were written about.
I truly believe everyone has greatness somewhere in their heritage, unfortunately not every great person was deemed important or worthy enough to be written about in centuries past. How different would history be is all the great stories were written down!

Just in case you haven't yet found it, NP, here's a link to an article on the Slave Dwelling Project: http://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle...QuJ/story.html

As you can see, it's in Boston, of all places!


I completely agree with you, Tulip86. There have been thousands of people with interesting lives who nobody will ever hear of. Or the lineage has just died out. That's why I've been writing down all of the stories of some of my ancestors - I'm the end of several lines. :(

I definitely agree with this.
My fiance has been working intermittently on doing his family tree, and we're pretty sure that he's related to this man. We can't seem to find much information on his family that isn't in German or Polish :\

Both keep great records, if you can find someone to translate. Did I hear once that you live in or around Chicago? There's a Copernicus Center in Jefferson Park that's supposed to be a great repository for all things Polish. I'm afraid that I don't know much about it.

And be aware that old German records are in a specific, archival German script. I have no idea why they did that, but it's a challenge to try to get even a fluent speaker to read them!

Loved the Jim Parsons episode. Again, what a connection, and many well known names mentioned!

Yep. Too bad they had the Honey Boo Boo countdown clock on the screen for the entire freaking episode. Supremely annoying!

Yes!

Jim Parsons episode was really nice but I'm disappointed the season is over so fast.

Yeaaaah!

From wiki
"Season 5 (2014)

TLC renewed the show on September 10, 2013. The season will include ten episodes.[5]"

Whooooooooo Hooooooo! New Season July 23rd! I just saw the commercial! http://www.thewrap.com/tlc-who-do-yo...premiere-date/