Free Republic

Pop singer Victoria Beckham is a descendant of a 19th century German communist who was close to Karl Marx, a German historian was quoted as saying on Monday. Beckham, born Victoria Adams and now wife of soccer player David Beckham, is the great-great-great-granddaughter of revolutionary and artist Carl Heinrich Pfaender, said Hans Mueller, a historian from the southwestern city of Heilbronn. Mueller told news agency ddp he had researched the life of Heilbronn native Pfaender, who lived from 1819 to 1876 and was a close associate of Marx and Friedrich Engels. Pfaender took part in the failed revolution of 1848...

In the twelve plus years that I’ve been writing this weekly column, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the Highlands Writers Group. That is a shifting association of professional writers, semi-pros like me, and gifted amateurs. One of the finest writers in the group is Anne Doggett; she helped create the Group a decade ago, She’s a distant cousin who creates Southern people and situations on paper easily as well as the legendary Eudora Welty. I won’t mention any of the other members for fear of slighting excellent talent among those I don’t mention, Suffice to say, there’s enough talent...

Leo McKinstry says the current craze for genealogy reflects an unhealthy combination of snobbery and inverse snobbery, and is a poor replacement for national history When I visited the National Archives at Kew last week the place was full of them, scurrying about with their plastic wallets in hand, a look of eager concentration on their faces. It was impossible to escape their busy presence as they whispered noisily to relatives or whooped over the discovery of some new piece of information. These were the followers of one of Britain’s fastest-growing craze, the mania for researching family history. Studying bloodlines...

Of all the claims in support of John McCain's bid for the White House, perhaps none is quite as grand as this. As he arrived in London today, the publishers of his new book insisted the Republican senator's family was descended from the Scottish king, Robert the Bruce. For a veteran war hero staking his presidential campaign on military credentials, an ancestral link to a warrior who overcame the English to reclaim Scottish independence in 1314 has obvious appeal. But according to experts, the story may be no more than that. Asked by the Guardian to investigate McCain's past, genealogists...

While doing some research last night I discovered a web page for Ellis Island immigrants. Ellis IslandMy Great grandfather immigrated here from Barbados when his children, my grandmother and great uncles, were young. I had known litle of my great grandmother, only that she had died while my grandmother was very young. I assumed that she had died in Barbados and my great grandfather brought his children alone. Looking through the Ellis Island records, I was able to locate the original ship manifest that my grandmother and great grandmother were on. My grandmother was less than 1 year old. My...

Mormon church helps public discover ancestors PLEASANTON ? Getting to know your ancestors now might come in handy when you meet them in the afterlife. This is part of the philosophy behind the popularity of genealogy with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "We believe that family is eternal, and it continues beyond the grave," said Nickie White, one of several regular volunteers at the Pleasanton Family History Center. The center, located adjacent to the Pleasanton church, is open to the public four days a week. The service is free, and volunteers are on hand to help with...

People of African origin have lived in Britain for centuries, according to genetic evidence. A Leicester University study found that seven men with a rare Yorkshire surname carry a genetic signature previously found only in people of African origin. The men seem to have shared a common ancestor in the 18th Century, but the African DNA lineage they carry may have reached Britain centuries earlier. The connection was found to date back many generations Details of the study appear in the European Journal of Human Genetics. The scientists declined to disclose the men's surname in order to protect their...

To see the DNA results of some of the ancient people click here. You'll have to scan around to find this exact page but it contains many links of interest. A compilation of DNA haplotypes extracted from ancient remains Cheddar ManIn 1903, skeletal remains were found in a cave in Cheddar, England. The remains of a 23 year-old man, who was killed by a blow to the face, were discovered to be at least 9,000 years old. Ninety-four years after the discovery of "Cheddar Man", scientists were able to extract mitochondrial DNA from his tooth cavity. Name Haplo Haplotype Cheddar...

Tracing the Geneology of the Black Amiercian DNA to Africa

The first family attended church this morning. Afterwards, the President headed to Camp David where he was to meet with his advisors to work on his State of the Union Address. QUOTE OF THE DAY: At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For a half century, America defended our own freedom by standing watch on distant borders. After the shipwreck of communism came years of relative quiet, years of repose, years of sabbatical - and then there came a day of fire. Some, I know,...

Walking U.N. Perhaps Sen. John Kerry does have an advantage after all over President Bush in understanding the complex political issues of the Middle East. New research by Burke's Peerage reveals that Mr. Kerry is the only presidential candidate in U.S. history who has genealogical descent from Muslims, Jews and Christians. "Senator Kerry ... is a virtual walking United Nations," says Harold Brooks-Baker, publishing director of Burke's. Mr. Kerry is kinsman of the Shi'ite shahs of Persia (the most famous was Shah Abbas I, who reigned from 1587 to 1629), as well as the Muslim kings of Tunisia, all of...

John Kerry's Jewish Roots Fooled you! And you, and you, and you. Even the best friends of Senator John Forbes Kerry, a practicing Catholic from Massachusetts (the state which contains America’s largest Irish Catholic population), thought of him as an American Irish Catholic through and through. The discovery of Kerry’s European Jewish roots has surprised many people, including the senator himself. Benedikt Kohn (Great-Grandfather) Benedikt Kohn, the great-grandfather of Senator John Kerry, was born about 1824 in southern Moravia. Benedikt was successful as a master brewer of beer. In 1868, after the death of his first wife, he moved to...

How long will it be, before Kerry announces, that he has JUST DISCOVERED, he has Jewish roots?

The Democrat’s president candidate John Kerry is related to King Harald of Norway, and according to one expert, royal relation ensures that he will win the election this fall. Not only did Kerry live a couple of years in Oslo during his youth, he is also related with the Norwegian King, according to Harold Brooks-Baker, director of Burke’s Peerage, the «bible» of the European royal families. «He is not only related to the Queen of England on his mother’s side, but also to the Queen of the Netherlands, the Queen of Denmark and the King of Norway, and other European...

The ancient split between the English and Scots is older than previously thought, an Oxford don said today. Traditionally the difference between the English and Scots, Welsh, Irish and Cornish was attributed to the foreign influence of invading forces such as the Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Vikings settling in different areas of Britain hundreds of years ago. But Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University, believes the difference originates much further back in history. In a book tracing humankind from its origins in Africa 80,000 years ago, Prof Oppenheimer develops a theory of the original inhabitants of Britain. The professor of clinical...

Naushon Island, off the Massachusetts coast, has been known as the home of pirates, who confiscated the hard-earned wealth of merchants and businessmen; sheep, obedient creatures who demonstrate no independence; ticks and flies, droning annoying pests; and is rumored to be haunted by frightening, ghostly pale, gaunt figures. It is also a family home of John Kerry; readers can decide for themselves whether he constitutes a redundant addition to that list. Seven miles long and about 5,000 acres, Naushon is the largest and most unspoiled in the Elizabeth Islands chain, just northwest of Martha's Vineyard and Chappaquiddick. The only year-round...

VIENNA -- Michael Kerry and John F. Kerry live an ocean apart and have never met; but they have a lot in common. They share the same last name, the same birthday, the same great-grandfather. And as Senator Kerry gains international renown as the man expected to challenge President Bush for the White House in November, his second cousin Michael is paying close attention. "People are saying to me, `Wow, you are going to be related to the president,' " said Michael, 42, a product manager at the T-Mobile telecommunications company who in some aspects resembles John Kerry in his...

<p>Heck, the two are related.</p> <p>According to a fully sourced ancestral history lineage-linked in the Family Forest Web page, Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry now are calculated to be at least 9th cousins twice removed. And as more of the pair's ancestral lines continue to grow, the relationship might become even closer, experts say.</p>

From: "IHFF" Subject: [AUSTRIA-L] Senator Kerry´s ancestors in Austria Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 09:48:00 +0100 Senator John Kerry runs for President. Im Jänner 2003 entschloß sich der Demokrat Senator John Kerry (http://kerry.senate.gov/ ), für das Amerikanische Präsidentenamt zu kandidieren. Vom Boston Globe erhielt ich den Auftrag, die österreichischen Vorfahren von Senator Kerry zu erforschen. Ab dem 2.2.2003 wurden im Boston Globe laufend darüber berichtet (http://www.boston.com/globe/ ). Den kompletten Artikel finden Sie untenstehend. Andere Tageszeitungen übernahmen diesen Artikel: zB der New Republic http://www.tnr.com/ampc-preview.mhtml?pid=206#top oder die Tschechische Pravo http://www.pravo.cz/ Ing. Felix Gundacker professional genealogist for Austria, Bohemia and Moravia [snipped personal...

And that leads Good Morning America's parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy to her second Murphy's Law: Thou Shalt Give Them Roots. Albert Dehart Washington III, who also goes by DD Washington, is learning from Albert Dehart Washington I, a grandfather who is wisely following Murphy's edict. Freed Slave Gave Family Name "My family originated in Dinwoodie County in Virginia and we can trace the family back to 1808," Washington told his grandson. "My great-great grandfather? Well, he was a slave, and he changed his name to Washington after he was freed." Connecting with their family's past not only helps children...

Ghengis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies  Hillary Mayell for National Geographic News February 14, 2003   Genghis Khan, the fearsome Mongolian warrior of the 13th century, may have done more than rule the largest empire in the world; according to a recently published genetic study, he may have helped populate it too. An international group of geneticists studying Y-chromosome data have found that nearly 8 percent of the men living in the region of the former Mongol empire carry y-chromosomes that are nearly identical. That translates to 0.5 percent of the male population in the world, or...