Prince Charles is related to the Transylvanian Prince of Wallachia, Vlad III. This ancestor is also known as “Vlad the Impaler”, or “Dracula”. This relationship could be part of what is motivating Prince Charles to have an interest in saving Transylvania’s forests. If you go far enough back into the family tree of a European monarch, you are likely to find some interesting connections. Centuries ago, it wasn’t unusual for royalty to marry someone who was, essentially, a cousin. Given this fact, you could probably do an entertaining genealogical exercise and attempt to find out exactly how many royal people … Continue reading →

Genealogy is a hobby that involves putting a lot of small clues together in order to solve mysteries about the connection between one ancestor and another. At times, the truth can be even stranger than anything found in fiction. Genealogists from Ancestry.com have discovered that Robert Pattinson really is related to “Dracula”. Robert Pattinson played Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” series of movies. The movies are based on a series of books written by Stephenie Meyer that are, in short, a supernatural romance series written for teens. Both the books and the movies have been incredibly popular. I would assume … Continue reading →

It seems as though vampires are everywhere you look these days, from the Twilight craze to many other vampire themed books, television shows, and movies. Amidst all of this fascination with vampires and the debate over whether true vampires exist, there is a bit of historical information which adds to the mystery. Folklorist Michael E. Bell believes that those of us with ancestors from New England may have a rather scary skeleton in some of our closets. He has suggested that in some places such as Rhode Island and New Hampshire, people dug up their deceased ancestors in a desperate … Continue reading →