Cook is my father’s mother’s family. The Cook family lived, and many descendants still live, in the Liberty community near…
The Aldridge Family: Dr. William Alldredge of Lawrence County, Alabama, with Roots in North Carolina and Maryland
The second in my series of “deep dives” on my ancestral families. Introduction Aldridge (originally spelled Alldredge) is my mother’s…
The Richardson Family: Peter B. Richardson of Elmore County, Alabama
School’s out for summer, and I wanted to devote a little bit more time to writing and blogging. This is…
Mary M. Bowdoin identified as Mary Magdalene Mallet: New French Huguenot connections
This article is distilled from a longer research paper, which is shared below: “First Findings in the Identification of Mary…
My Y-DNA Christmas wish list: Most wanted paternal lines for my Y-chromosome checklist
I’ll be the first to admit: I am an addict. I’m completely hooked on the thrill of discovering a family…
Connecting William Bowdoin, part 2: Finding answers through Machine Learning DNA Analysis
The second part in a two-part series. (Part 1.) This article is distilled from a longer research paper, which is…
Genealogy GIS HOWTO: Create a Historical County Boundaries Map in QGIS
I have received several requests for instructions on how to create a map using historical county boundaries, as I feature…
Connecting William Bowdoin: Finding my Alabama ancestor’s way home through history and DNA
The first part in a two-part series. (Part 2.) This article is distilled from a longer research paper, which is…
Genealogy pet peeve #1: Name creep (and 10 rules for avoiding it)
The single, number-one thing that bothers me more than any other tendency in genealogy is what I call name creep:…
Sarah Ann Cook: Bazzell, O’Neil, or Bullard? Surprises in DNA
Sarah Ann Cook was my great-great-grandmother, the mother of my great-grandfather and namesake Joe Cook (Joseph Eli Cook), and of…