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Halloween Costumes That Reflect American Heritage

Genealogists might be able to rattle off a list of the countries that their ancestors came from before they immigrated to America. An interesting Halloween costume could come from the traditional outfits that are from those parts of your heritage. What if you don’t know where your ancestors came from? In that case, you could choose a Halloween costume that reflects your American heritage. One American Halloween costume idea that immediately comes to mind is Uncle Sam. Most people don’t realize that the iconic Uncle Sam, (who wants YOU to join the United States Army), was inspired by an actual … Continue reading →

Tracing The Roots of Your Old House

If you live in an older home, chances are that you may wonder who built it and when, and who has lived there in the years since it was built. Old houses have a lot of character and many have very interesting stories to tell. There are a few ways that you can set about to discover the history of your old house. Of course, the first thing that my inner attorney would do is to go straight to the land records to look at the chain of title for the property. Depending upon where you live, the deeds that … Continue reading →

Halloween Costumes Inspired by Your Ancestors

What are you going to be for Halloween this year? If you don’t know the answer to that question, you might want to look to your ancestors for inspiration. Genealogists who know their heritage can turn to their family tree in order to decide on a meaningful costume to wear this Halloween. It is going to take some planning in order to create a costume that reflects your heritage, or that resembles one of your ancestors. You may want to start now on creating your costume, so that you can get all the details just right. If you don’t want … Continue reading →

This Halloween, Why Not Dress Up As Your Ancestors?

Okay, so I know that it is a little bit last minute to be discussing Halloween costumes. I also know that as many of us as there are that already have our kids’ costumes in hand, there are still plenty of us that are looking for a great last-minute idea because the kids have either not decided what they want to dress up as yet or have decided that the costume that they had you buy a while ago is not what they want to wear this coming Sunday. Perhaps you have just been invited to a Halloween party and … Continue reading →

Native American Celebrities Who Weren’t

I did a blog recently in Green Living about litter and mentioned Iron Eyes Cody. He was the Native American featured in a famous anti-litter commercial of the ‘60s. Or was he? (This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1923 and 1963 and although there may or may not have been a copyright notice, the copyright was not renewed.) As it turns out, old Iron Eyes heritage was questionable. Although his career was built on playing Native American roles and he supported Native American causes off camera, some believe Cody was … Continue reading →

Ancestry.com Celebrates Fifteen Years

Many of us are familiar with the concept of a “Sweet Sixteen” party, which is usually a bigger deal than a young woman’s other birthday parties. Those of you that are familiar with Hispanic culture may celebrate a similar occasion, except that for the Quinceañera, it takes place on her fifteenth birthday. Genealogists have a reason to celebrate right now, because online genealogy giant Ancestry.com is celebrating its fifteenth birthday. There will be no fancy cake or party dress for the web site, and the folks at Ancestry.com will not be opening any presents. They are giving away gifts instead. … Continue reading →