I.
If you’re looking for excellent watchable genealogy how-to videos, you would be hard-pressed to find better than Jen Shaffer, the Formidable Genealogist. We’ve never been introduced, but for some time I’ve been watching her do the good work her job requires…and get unwarranted grief for it.
Earlier this spring she debunked the popular myth about immigrants’ surnames being forcibly changed at Ellis Island. (And yes, it’s a myth; I’m not entertaining a debate.) Many families have this legend: Your flatcap-wearing great-great grandpa walked off the boat in New York and told them he was Wiśniowiecki or Kovačević or Bellincioni. But then an evil immigration officer changed Grandpa’s name to something “more American”—Weck, Kovak, Bello, etc. Poor Grandpa didn’t even have a choice.
Continue reading “Everybody’s So Creative: Thoughts on Self-Invention in Genealogy”
Graveyard Snoop 