Tags: ancestors

Julia Sneden writes: We are not so much proud of our ancestors as we are just grateful to them, for being tough enough and stubborn enough to have picked up and moved when they needed or simply wanted to do so. Crossing the Atlantic (or any other ocean) in a tiny little wooden ship must have taken huge amounts of courage, and once here, huge amounts of energy and brain power to keep from starving to death. more »

Jill Norgren and Julia Sneden Reviews: If you respect well-researched history, and crave an account of the footwork, persistent digging, and serendipity required, Carla Peterson's Black Gotham should be one of the next books that you read. Trying to keep up with the characters and periods in Gods Without Men is more than a little daunting, but the pure quality of Kunzru’s writing is brilliant. Judge John Deed, another addictive BBC series continues on DVD. more »

It didn’t take my husband long to discover that our fathers were 5th cousins, via an eighteenth century common ancestor. That meant we are sixth cousins, and our three sons are their own 7th cousins (for a while thereafter they took delight in greeting each other with cries of "Cuz!"). more »