The Countess is Count-less. Countess LuAnn de Lesseps, one of the society ladies on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of New York," has separated from Count de Lesseps after 16 years of marriage. Her husband is a Frenchman whose ancestor presented the Statue of Liberty to the United States. ...more

March 31, 2009

I fell in love for the first time when I was 4 years old. No, the object of my affection wasn't the little boy down the road - it was the railroads. It began when I traveled with my parents from Rome, Ga., to Chicago. More than 50 years later, the memories of that trip are still vivid. ...more

February 15, 2009

Society generally has not been kind to those with mental illnesses or quirky personalities. Embarrassed by such relatives, their families of decades past often sent them to institutions and never talked about them again. ...more

January 25, 2009

Loony. Retarded. Goofy. Touched. All words that reflect historical attitudes toward the mentally ill. ...more

January 18, 2009

Are your ancestors lolling in your genealogy files, identified only by their dates of birth and death, and by whom they married? Perhaps you should breathe a little life into their dull existences by finding out how they supported themselves and their families. ...more

January 11, 2009

Sherry Jones was driving son Malcolm, 13, to school recently when he mentioned something about a kid he didn't like. ...more

January 4, 2009

Are you getting the most out of your genealogy software? Here are a few ways you can get even more bang for your buck. ...more

December 28, 2008

How many of you genealogists will admit that you have unproven, undocumented ancestors sitting in your family tree? ...more

December 21, 2008

Genealogists love research trips. Nothing rivals the hunt, whether it takes place seated in front of a microfilm machine or tramping through a weedy cemetery. ...more

December 14, 2008

It's hard to find ancestors who, in the eyes of the law, were property rather than persons. Descendants of American slaves must be tenacious to overcome the many obstacles imposed by their families' years in bondage. ...more

October 26, 2008