April 2025

On this day in 1662, Mary II, Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland, was born. Image: Mary II / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, CC0 Mary was born on April 30, 1662 at St. James’s Palace in London. She was the eldest daughter of James, Duke of York (the future King James II and VII) and his first wife, Anne Hyde. At the age of 15, she married her first cousin, William of Orange. Since… Read the full story

Happy birthday to Willie Nelson! Today the music icon turns 92. Image: Willie Nelson / Library of Congress Nelson was born on April 29, 1933 in Abbott, Texas to Ira Doyle Nelson and Myrle Marie Greenhaw. Raised by his grandparents in Arkansas, music was an important part of his upbringing. At the age of 6, his grandfather gifted him his first guitar and by 7, he had written his first song. During the 1960s, Nelson… Read the full story

On this day in 1926, author Harper Lee was born. Today Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of the mostly widely read books in the United States. Image: Harper Lee receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush / NARA She was born Nelle Harper Lee on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama to Amasa Coleman Lee, a lawyer, and Frances Cunningham Finch. The youngest of four children, Lee received… Read the full story

Are you a jazz fan? Today we celebrate legendary singer Ella Fitzgerald’s birthday! Image: Ella Fitzgerald / Library of Congress The “Queen of Jazz” was born in Newport News, Virginia on April 25, 1917 to William and Temperance Fitzgerald. At the age of 17, she made her singing debut at the famous Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. Her performance set her career in motion and onto a path of stardom. Her extraordinary vocal range… Read the full story

Happy 83rd birthday to Barbra Streisand! Image: Barbra Streisand / Library of Congress Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. With music running in her family, it was of no surprise that Streisand would also be a gifted singer. Her mother, Diana Ida Rosen, was a soprano singer when she was young before later becoming a school secretary. Her maternal grandparents emigrated from the Russian Empire, where her grandfather had been a… Read the full story

Today we remember playwright William Shakespeare, who died on this day in 1616. Considered one of the greatest writers of the English language, Shakespeare’s vast body of work has been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright in history. Image: William Shakespeare / Metropolitan Museum of Art, CC0 While the exact date of his birth is unknown, his baptism record states he was baptized on April 26, 1564 at… Read the full story

It’s not uncommon to let things slide as you are researching your family history. Sometimes you are on a roll and don’t take the time to clear a data conflict after a merge or research an inconsistency warning in the tree. You may say to yourself, “I’ll get to it later” and then before you know it, the work has piled up. With spring in the air, now is the perfect time to do a… Read the full story

Happy birthday to Jack Nicholson! Today the actor turns 88. Image: Jack Nicholson / Georges Biard, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) Nicholson was born on April 22, 1937 in Neptune, New Jersey. His biological mother was June Nicholson, although he spent the first 37 years of his life believing that she was his older sister. Only 17 years old and unmarried at the time, June’s parents agreed to raise Nicholson as their own child and… Read the full story

Today we highlight the profile of naturalist and advocate John Muir, who was instrumental in preserving the wilderness of the United States. Image: John Muir / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, CC0 Muir was born on April 21, 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland and immigrated with his family to the United States when he was eleven years old. The family settled in Wisconsin, where Muir developed a fascination and wonder for the natural world. Muir devoted much… Read the full story

As the British began their approach towards Lexington and Concord on the night of April 18, 1775, Patriots Paul Revere and William Dawes set out on horseback to warn the American colonists of the approaching British troops. Image: Paul Revere’s Ride / Wikimedia Commons The British had planned to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who were known to be hiding in Lexington, and confiscate supplies stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Revere and… Read the full story

Do you enjoy baseball? On this day in 1820, Alexander Cartwright, the “Father of Modern Baseball,” was born in New York City, New York.  Image: Alexander Cartwright / Hawaii State Archives, Wikimedia Commons Alexander Joy Cartwright, Jr. was the son of Alexander Cartwright, Sr., a merchant sea captain, and Esther Rebecca Burlock. A volunteer firefighter, Cartwright often played bat-and-ball games with other volunteers. He founded the Knickerbocker Base Ball Club in New York and is often credited with… Read the full story

Image: Wilbur Wright / Library of Congress Do you have any aviators in your family tree? On April 16, 1867, Wilbur Wright was born in Millville, Indiana. One half of the famous Wright Brothers, Wilbur and his brother Orville had shared a passion and curiosity for flight at a young age. Together they invented the world’s first successful airplane, making the first successful man-powered airplane flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. The… Read the full story

On this day in 1452, Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, inventor Leonardo da Vinci was born. A true Renaissance man, da Vinci is remembered as not only a gifted artist but a brilliant intellect whose ideas were ahead of his time. Image: Leonardo da Vinci / Library of Congress Da Vinci was born on April 15, 1452 in a farmhouse outside of the village of Anchiano in Tuscany, Italy. He was born out of wedlock to… Read the full story

On this day in 1866, American educator Anne Sullivan was born in Feeding Hills, Massachusetts. Sullivan is best remembered as the teacher and life-long campion of Helen Keller. Image: Helen Keller & Anne Sullivan / Library of Congress Born Johanna Mansfield Sullivan, Sullivan was the child of Irish immigrants who came to the United States during the Great Famine. At the age of 8, she contracted trachoma, which eventually made her nearly blind. In 1880,… Read the full story

On this day in 1869, Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland was born. Considered one of the most important artists in Norwegian history, Vigeland is perhaps best known for his creation of Vigeland Park in Oslo, Norway. The impressive art installation is the world’s largest sculpture park made by a single artist. Image: Gustav Vigeland / National Library of Norway, Flickr Vigeland was born Adolf Gustav Thorsen on April 11, 1869 in Mandal. Born to a family of… Read the full story

Today we celebrate what would have been actor Omar Sharif’s 93rd birthday! A Hollywood legend, Sharif was best known for his roles in Doctor Zhivago and Lawrence of Arabia. Image: Omar Sharif / Wikimedia Commons He was born Michel Demetri Chalhoub on April 10, 1932 in Alexandria, Egypt. After studying mathematics and physics at the University of Cairo, Sharif worked at his father’s precious wood business before leaving to study acting in London, England. In 1955, he converted to Islam… Read the full story

On this day in 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Image: Library of Congress During the first year of the war, Lee served as a senior military advisor to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. In 1882, he assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia and lead many battlefield victories. However, Lee’s defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg was a crushing blow to the Confederate. The… Read the full story

On this day in 1892, actress Mary Pickford was born. A pioneer of the American film industry, Pickford was one of the most popular actresses of the silent film era. Image: Mary Pickford / Library of Congress Pickford was born Gladys Louise Smith on April 8, 1892 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After the death of her father, Pickford’s mother began taking in boarders to earn extra money to support her young family. One of the… Read the full story

Do you enjoy reading poetry? On this day in 1770, English Romantic poet William Wordsworth was born in the Wordsworth House in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England. Image: William Wordsworth / National Library of Wales Although orphaned by the age of 13, Wordsworth’s parents encouraged his education. He wrote his first pieces of poetry while in grammar school and went on to study at Cambridge. Before his final semester, he went on a walking tour of Europe…. Read the full story

Today we remember poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou on what would have been her 97th birthday. The award-winning author published numerous books of poetry, essays, and autobiographies which dealt with themes of economic, racial, and sexual oppression. Image: Maya Angelou / Wikimedia Commons Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri to Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian Baxter, a nurse and card dealer. By the… Read the full story

Do you remember reading “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”? On April 3, 1783, author Washington Irving was born in New York City, New York. Image: Washing Irving / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution CC0 Irving was one of eleven children born William Irving, Sr. and Sarah Saunders. The family belonged to the city’s small, vibrant merchant class. Born just as the American Revolution came to its end, Irving’s mother named him after the hero of… Read the full story

Today we remember actor Val Kilmer, who passed away at the age of 65. Image: Val Kilmer / Georges Biard, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Kilmer was born on December 31, 1959 in Los Angeles, California to Gladys Ekstadt and Eugene Dorris Kilmer. He studied at the prestigious Juilliard School, where he was the youngest student at the time to be accepted in the school’s drama division. In 1984, Kilmer made his film debut in… Read the full story

On this day in 1932, actress Debbie Reynolds was born. Image: Debbie Reynolds / Wikimedia Commons She was born Mary Frances Reynolds on April 1, 1932 in El Paso, Texas. She was the second child of Maxine “Minnie” Harmon and Raymond Francis Reynolds, a carpenter for the Southern Pacific Railroad. A proud supporter of scouting, Reynolds was once a Girl Scout herself and a troop leader. After winning Miss Burbank at the age of 16,… Read the full story