By now, just about everyone knows how proud Joe Biden is of his Irish heritage. I began researching his roots even before he became Vice President and wrote about his 5/8 Irish ancestry in 2013. That same year, I had the opportunity to meet him when he was inducted into the Irish America Hall of Fame, and since then, as is typical of his welcoming nature, he’s invited me to his St. Patrick’s Day events perhaps half a dozen times. Sure, he knows all the world leaders, but Joe has no problem mixing it up with “average Joes” like me.

So many of us know about his Blewitt and Finnegan roots in Counties Mayo and Louth, respectively — especially since his 2016 visit to meet his Irish cousins — but what about the other 3/8ths, the non-Irish portion of his family tree? …

This is an updated version of an article that was first published in the May/June 2009 issue of Ancestry (pages 54–56), which has become freshly relevant for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is recent events at the U.S. Capitol.¹

In January 2009, a man who had vanished into the mists of history made a brief reappearance with the historic inauguration of Barack Obama. The man was Philip Reid, and if you google his name along with Obama’s, you’ll find dozens of articles that share the little-known history of Reid, the formerly enslaved individual who made it possible to erect the statue of Freedom that remains on the top of the Capitol dome today. The year was 1863 and Reid had only gained his freedom (by virtue of the D.C. …

Annie Moore and Arne Pettersen were Ellis Island’s bookends. An Irish teenager, Annie was the first to arrive when the immigration processing center opened its doors on January 1, 1892. 62 years later on November 12, 1954, Norwegian seaman Arne would be the last to depart. Both experienced a fleeting moment of fame before falling through the cracks of history for decades to come.

I first researched incoming President Biden’s genealogy about a dozen years ago focusing on his 5/8 Irish heritage. Not surprisingly, there’s been a recent surge of interest in his heritage, particularly from people overseas hoping to claim him as a cousin or at least as having roots in their neck of the woods.

As often happens, more attention has been given to the surname branch of his family tree, so it’s not unexpected that three locations are already calling dibs on his Biden ancestry: Westbourne in Sussex, England, the Houghton-Wyton outskirts of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, England, and Nagpur, India (after a first generation in Chennai, formerly known as Madras). …

As the rest of the world commemorates what would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday, I celebrate my 60th. More or less confined at home. Not the circumstances I would have chosen, but just about all of us are apt to have pandemic-impaired birthdays, so no complaints. Still, a milestone like this makes one reflect, and the lack of distraction makes it even easier than usual to overthink, so I’ve been in mulling mode for a spell.

As a professional genealogist who’s spent the last few decades telling other people’s stories, I’ve decided that while I’ll continue doing so, it’s time to share some of my own. That may sound very ho-hum in a selfie-obsessed world, but it’s not a decision I reached lightly. Even as I type these words, the military-raised, Irish Catholic school girl in me is still harrumphing and wagging her finger for daring to place myself center stage. But 6–0. Tick tock. 217,000 extra deaths. TICK. …

Fellow roots-enthusiasts know that when you research a family tree — even when it’s not your own — there are always one or two ancestors who call the loudest, and in this instance, it was Adelia. This is what I’ve been able to unearth of her story.

Adelia didn’t even make it to 30, but experienced more in that short span than most do in lifetimes that last twice as long. And if she hadn’t existed, neither would her great-great-granddaughter, congresswoman and vice-presidential contender, Val Demings.

Adelia, who sometimes went by Delia, was born in Florida around 1843, and I first encountered her in the 1870 census with her husband and their daughter Melvina. Melvina would one day become Rep. Demings’s great-grandmother, but at this moment in time captured in the first post-Emancipation census, she was a toddler of three. The family resided in Mandarin, a citrus-producing village that would eventually become part of Jacksonville. …

Life during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has taken on a soap opera quality with every day bringing gasp-inducing twists and turns, chaos mixed with boredom, horrors and heroes. Among the notables who have taken center stage are the Cuomo brothers — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and CNN anchor Chris Cuomo.

Though Gov. Cuomo is in the eye of the storm doing his best for the people of his state — an undertaking made all the more difficult by a defiantly indifferent federal government — and Chris is showing us first-hand what it is to suffer from COVID-19 by broadcasting from his basement, their moments of brotherly gibing and love have produced brief respites for many (check out #CuomoBrothers on Twitter). …

Solving a Long-held Family History Mystery Leads to an Enigmatic Playwright

I couldn’t understand it. My nana had an amazing memory. As a professional genealogist, I’m more aware than most that we should take our family lore with a grain of salt. Whether deliberately or accidentally, it’s distorted as it travels through the generations, but everything she told me had turned out to be accurate, consistently borne out through my careful research. Everything except that one story.

Nana’s Claim

Nana — known to others as Beatrice Reynolds — wed James Shields in 1923, and with that marriage came an Irish immigrant father-in-law, David Shields, who enjoyed regaling her with tales. The one she was proudest of was our relationship to Academy Award-winning actor, Barry Fitzgerald, known for his Abbey Theatre performances and film career (Going My Way, The Quiet Man, How Green Was My Valley). Barry Fitzgerald was the stage name of William Shields, and according to Nana, Barry aka William was her father-in-law’s first cousin. …