He did the crime, he did the time, and then he disappeared — again. — I should have known better when I decided to write an article about Barry Manilow’s Irish roots. As an Irish American fanilow, I wanted to know which town or city could lay claim to him (shout-out to Limerick!), but that’s not where…

Every one of us is an amalgamation not only of all our ancestors, but of their decisions, and in 1831, Ambrose Hawkins was contemplating moving his family from America to Africa. Had he done so, his son Joseph would have been raised in Liberia instead of North Carolina and never…

This is an updated version of an article that was first published in Irish America in 2013, but for obvious reasons, has become freshly relevant. How can you not love a name like Finnegan Biden? I find it charming when family names are given fresh life in ensuing generations, and…

A Special Photo Finds It Way Home 130+ Years Later — Bessie Lillicrap must have been exhausted when she arrived in New York with her children. The family had left Liverpool on October 7, 1890 and finally disembarked on the 18th. That’s a long time to be at sea with nine children, the oldest of…

The Little Fellow Crossed the Atlantic Alone — Percy Hemingway was a little boy with a big tag and minimal luggage when he made the journey from England to America by himself at the advanced age of eight. Fellow passengers on the S.S.Teutonic said he showed no fear and required little assistance. Ellis Island was under construction, so…

Honor Her Memory by Welcoming Today’s Refugees — Many are aware of the hateful rhetoric spouted by Ohio candidate, Josh Mandel, about Afghan refugees now coming to America. “These planes are now being emptied into Cleveland, Toledo and other places in the heart of America,” he said. “To protect our kids, our communities and our Judeo-Christian way of…

I’ve written an entire book of genealogical serendipity tales, but have been something of a wallflower in this regard. With a couple of cherished exceptions, these magical moments of happy coincidence have mostly eluded me in the course of my research, but my dry spell just ended. Like so many…

Ancestors from Ukraine to China Arrived 1893 to 1940 — Until a few years ago, Jon Stewart came into our living rooms four nights a week to both educate and entertain us. Now he uses his celebrity sparingly to support select causes such as keeping our commitments to and 9/11 first responders, but otherwise keeps a low profile. He didn’t…

What a difference two decades make — In April of 2001, a miracle occurred. Well, it certainly seemed that way at the time. The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation (SOLEIF) opened the American Family Immigration History Center (AFIHC), launching an online database — digitized and indexed — of the passenger records of millions of immigrants who took…