Megan Smolenyak

POLITICAL GENEALOGY America’s highest ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, recently made his presence known with his inaugural address in this role, a poetic A to Z inventory of values that inspires or schools, depending…

By now, just about everyone knows how proud Joe Biden is of his Irish heritage. I began researching his roots even before he became Vice President and wrote about his 5/8 Irish ancestry in 2013. That same year, I had the opportunity to meet him when…

POLITICAL GENEALOGY Ireland loves to claim her own, so President Biden — who’s conspicuously proud of his 5/8 Irish ancestry — is a source of pride for many in the land of his ancestors. I first explored his heritage before he became Vice President,…

POLITICAL GENEALOGY Over the years, my sleuthing has resulted in some curious outcomes, but few were as unexpected as the time I traced Barack Obama’s roots to the village of Moneygall in Ireland. At the time I did the research, I had no notion that…

As both a genealogist and TRMS viewer, I suppose it was inevitable that I would peek into Rachel Maddow’s past, and now seems a fitting time to share a potpourri of gleanings since the g-word — genealogy — keeps popping up in political news, mostly…

Damn, Jonesboro, Georgia! What’s in your water? I used to be impressed with the sprawling and highly intertwined French-Canadian family tree that leads to all those one-name women — Hillary, Madonna, Celine, Alanis, and Angelina, among others. But…

Until a few years ago, Jon Stewart came into our living rooms four nights a week to both educate and entertain us. Now he uses his celebrity sparingly to support select causes such as keeping our commitments to and 9/11 first responders, but…

Some years ago, when Michelle Obama was a freshly minted First Lady, I spent eight months delving into her roots. One story unearthed by my research was featured on the front page of The New York Times, but there’s much more to be found in the other…

Welcome to the world of retro reality. And meet my 3rd great-grandmother, Ellen (Nelligan) Murphy, who was born in Ireland in 1832. MyHeritage announced its Deep Nostalgia tool which allows you to animate photos (also available as an app). It doesn’t…

Luisa would have preferred to never leave home. Her husband had gone to the U.S. about a dozen yearsearlier, and she and their children had managed to live on the remittances he sent back, but things were tougher since their only son had joined her…

When Irish America requested that I research and write a piece on Hillary Rodham Clinton’s heritage (pages 50-52), I was concerned. Why? Because delving into the ancestral past of celebrities has become something of a sub-hobby in the world of…

Fellow roots-enthusiasts know that when you research a family tree — even when it’s not your own — there are always one or two ancestors who call the loudest, and in this instance, it was Adelia. This is what I’ve been able to unearth of her…

I first researched incoming President Biden’s genealogy about a dozen years ago focusing on his 5/8 Irish heritage. Not surprisingly, there’s been a recent surge of interest in his heritage, particularly from people overseas hoping to claim him as a…

ve always said that there’s no such thing as a boring family tree, and Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway’s ancestral past is a case in point. I hadn’t intended to research her family history, but then a few weeks ago, the top White House advisor made…

In an appearance on The View to promote one of her books, Ann Coulter reiterated her well-known anti-immigrant stance. Guest host Ana Navarro responded, saying, “Let me point out that you’re sitting at this table next to two immigrants … What is your…

Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida recently made his debut on the national stage when he attempted to hijack the first House Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence in eight years to push the discredited notion that immigration is at the heart of…

How does this keep happening? I’ve researched thousands of family trees, and ones involving documented immigration irregularities are relatively rare. And yet, when digging into the past of anti-immigration politicians and activists, it’s a recurring…

As spokeswoman for the NRA, Dana (Eaton) Loesch has become a master of its special brand of upside down logic. Eschewing degrees of subtlety, she goes directly for the 180. In her world, Trump and the NRA are victims, journalists are a threat, and…

Way back in 2012, I was intrigued when a young politician, San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro,was selected to deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. As often happens with genealogists, curiosity got the better of me and I took…

Honor Her Memory by Welcoming Today’s Refugees Megan Smolenyak 4 hours ago·3 min read Map of the life and death of Giuseppina Jachia (Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names of Yad Vashem displayed via Google Maps) Many are aware of the hateful…