Cecil B. DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. His best-known films are Cleopatra; Samson and Delilah; The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture; and The Ten Commandments, which was his last and most successful film. Cecil Blount DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts on August 12, 1881 to Henry Churchill and Matilda Beatrice de Mille. DeMille, but grew… Read the full story

Are you ready for Halloween? Check out some fun genealogy articles for some early treats! The Genealogy Sphere 10 Reasons to Join a Genealogy Society (Finding Our Ancestors blog) – The top ten reasons you should join a genealogy society Family Tradition: Did Lizzie Borden’s Ancestor Kill His Mother Too? (History.com) – An interesting article that looks into Lizzie Borden’s ancestor, Thomas Cornell, who was hanged in Rhode Island for the murder of his mother…. Read the full story

Do you have ancestors who became naturalized citizens? A great place to hunt for information are in the pages of your ancestor’s naturalization records. Information such as birth date, birth place, physical description, race, residence, relative’s names and birth dates, port of entry and even a picture can be found all in one place. Below is Albert Einstein‘s declaration of intention to become a citizen of the United States, submitted January 15, 1936. Read on… Read the full story

James Spader is an America actor best known for his roles in films such as Pretty in Pink; Less Than Zero; Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Crash; Stargate; and Secretary. His best known television roles are in The Practice as Alan Shore and its spin-off Boston Legal, for which he won three Emmy Awards, and in The Office as Robert California. He was born on February 7, 1960 in Boston, Massachusetts to Stoddard Greenwood “Todd” and Jean (Fraser) Spader, both… Read the full story

Did you have a great genealogy-filled weekend? Take care of those Monday blues with some great genealogy articles below! The Genealogy Sphere Will Humans Eventually All Look Like Brazilians? (Livescience.com) – Evolutionary biologists say humans will eventually homogenize and approach the appearance of mixed-race Brazilians New England’s Famous Witch-Hanging Judge (Radio Boston) – New England Historic Genealogy Society’s Jeremy Sewall talks about his ancestor, Judge Samuel Sewall, who presided over the Salem witch trials Study… Read the full story

Throughout history, people have been on the move. Now we can actually “see” our ancestors cross the ocean blue to North America or make the long voyage to Australia. A new video created by Whitehead Institute in collaboration with the genealogical website Geni.com shows the births of millions people, from the Middle Ages through the early 20th Century, as single dots on a black background. As time advances, those births define the coastlines and countries… Read the full story

Geni user Paul Hart recently shared a wonderful story with the Geni community. For years, he has been in possession of old photographs belonging to his grandmother’s foster family. After years of searching for the family’s descendants, he finally tracked them down to return these long lost family items. And along the way, he solved a mystery about his own grandmother’s whereabouts. Read the full story below: My grandmother (Fern) went into a foster home… Read the full story

Cokie Roberts is an American journalist and author. She is a contributing senior news analyst for National Public Radio as well as a regular round table analyst for the current This Week With George Stephanopoulos. She also works as a political commentator for ABC News, serving as an on-air analyst for the network. Roberts serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations such as the Kaiser Family Foundation. She is the author of the national… Read the full story

Check out some great genealogy articles from the past week! The Genealogy Sphere Finding the Birthplace of Your Immigrant Ancestor (About.com) – Kimberly Powell provides some great steps on where to get started on finding where your immigrant ancestors were born Others may claim stake in historic cemetery (Reporter Newspapers) – Locals fight a land owner’s plan to build a house on land containing a small historic cemetery 1940 census and Social Security (Examiner.com) – A… Read the full story

There’s been a lot of news lately surrounding Justin Bieber‘s ancestry. Well, it turns out Justin Bieber has even more celebrity relatives in his musically-gifted family tree. Thanks to Geni’s World Family Tree, you can easily find out  how he’s related to other celebrities, historical figures or even you! Check out a few of his famous relatives below. And the best part, you can actually see how they are related! We’ve posted many of Beyoncé Knowles celebrity… Read the full story