Monday, May 28, is Memorial Day in the U.S. On this day, the country honors the men and women who have given their lives while serving in the U.S. military. Typically, the day is celebrated by visiting cemeteries, attending parades and family gatherings. Memorial Day was first introduced after the end of the Civil War. However, after the devastation of World War I, the day was expanded to encompass all American soldiers who have died in… Read the full story

This week Brad Pitt made an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in support of his new movie Killing Them Softly. The film was created in collaboration with writer/director Andrew Dominik, who worked with Brad in the film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. In the film, Brad played the American outlaw Jesse James. Did you know Brad Pitt and Jesse James are actually related? Jesse James is Brad Pitt’s 9th cousin twice removed!… Read the full story

English poet, illustrator, painter and translator, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was the son of émigré Italian scholar Gabriele Pasquale Giuseppe Rossetti and Frances Polidori. He was born in London, England and originally named Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti. Although his family and friends called him Gabriel, he put the name Dante first in honour of Dante Alighieri. Rosetti founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millai. His work influenced the European Symbolists… Read the full story

Here’s a wrap-up of the past week in genealogy: The Genealogy Sphere African-American’s roots revised (MSNBC) – African-American family researcher William Holland plans a family reunion to visit the location where his ancestors were once held as slaves Using OneNote to keep up with those ancestors (4yourfamilystory.com) – Caroline Pointer presents a great video tutorial on how to use OneNote in your genealogy research New Cousins! (Ancestorslivehere.com) – Blogger Leslie Ann discovers new cousins! Morenci… Read the full story

It was announced earlier this week that Britney Spears will be the latest celebrity judge to join The X Factor. The newly engaged Spears has been making a comeback lately. She was recently listed as No. 6 on Forbes’ 100 Most Powerful Celebrities and on May 20, she will compete for Top Dance Artist at the Billboard Music Awards. Let’s check out how she’s related to some of today’s top stars! It was originally rumored that Miley… Read the full story

May 17 is Norwegian Constitution Day or the National Day of Norway. The holiday is observed May 17 each year to commemorate the signing of the Norwegian constitution, which declared Norway to be an independent nation. Prior to independence, Norway had become entangled on the French side of the Napoleonic War. Following the defeat of Napoleon’s troops at the Battle of Leipzig and the Treaty of Kiel, the Crown Prince of Denmark-Norway, Christian Frederik, founded… Read the full story

We’re back from Cincinnati, Ohio where we attended the NGS 2012 Family History Conference. We met lots of Geni users and had a great time chatting with the other vendors. All week, people were abuzz about this year’s lectures. On Wednesday, our good friends at AncestorSync that their beta is now live. With AncestorSync you can seamlessly synchronize your Geni tree with your desktop software and back without the hassle of GEDCOMs. If you want… Read the full story

Polish novelist, Joseph Conrad was born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski on December 3, 1857 in Berdichev, Kiev Governorate (now Berdychiv, Ukraine). He was born into a highly patriotic, noble Polish family. His father, Apollo Korzeniowski, was a Polish poet, playwright, clandestine political activist and a translator of Alfred de Vigny and Victor Hugo from French and of Charles Dickens and Shakespeare from English. He encouraged his son to read widely in Polish and French. In 1861… Read the full story

We had a great time at the NGS 2012 Family History Conference last week! Were you in Cincinnati, Ohio for the genealogy conference? Here are some interesting articles from the world of genealogy that you may have missed! The Genealogy Sphere AncestorSync Beta 2012 (Tamura Jones) – Tamura Jones reviews AncestorSync beta Family Tree Talk: Piles and piles of paper (The Ionia Sentinel-Standard) – Jim Moses discusses sorting piles of documentation for his family history… Read the full story

Special thanks to Smadar Belkind Gerson of Past-Present-Future for this week’s blog post. Read on to hear her insightful thoughts about telling your own story and those of your relatives in their own words. I must admit, I was not excited about reading about Alzheimer’s, the theme of my last book club book, Still Alice by Lisa Genova. As the eight of us sat around the cozy dining room table, I learned that the apprehension… Read the full story