From Spit to SNPs: Decoding My DNA

A few years ago I spit a small amount (about two tablespoons) of my saliva into a specimen collection tube provided in a DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) testing kit that I ordered through Ancestry.com. My goal was to learn about my ancestors' through their genealogical beginnings and follow a familial chain of genetic links from generation to generation. …

Observing Women’s History Month and Honoring One of America’s First Women Immigrants

    Background Just 30 years ago in 1987, the United States Congress declared March as National Women’s History Month in perpetuity.  This action came eights years after Molly Murphy MacGregor, a member of The National Women's History Project, was invited to participate in The Women’s History Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, which was chaired by …

Brown’s Indian Queen Hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue – Ghosts of DC

Ghosts of D.C. often posts images and backstories about pastimes of people and places in our Nation's Capital, the District of Columbia.  Its story this time is about an 1800's Hotel that hosted many famous events and people and like our American culture fell upon hard times during the Great Depression and in 1935 became …

Expect the Unexpected — John Rolfe Was Here, Too!

Where Are We? We are about 1,500 miles away from home in the Caribbean on the West Indies Island known as Hispaniola--the second largest island in the Caribbean within the Greater Antilles.  It occupies an area of 29,418 square miles. Haiti occupies the western third of the Hispaniola island and the remaining eastern two-thirds make …

A Sunday Morning Visit With Me and “Mr. Church”

I'm branching out this morning--taking that little fork in the road if you will.  This post still shares with you my feelings about my love of God, church, family, special moments, memories, and family histories.  However, in it, I also reveal my love for good music, a good book or a good movie; and, how I spend …