What Can Your Last Name Tell You

In Western Europe, surnames first came about in Medieval times as civilizations grew larger and it became necessary to distinguish between people.

Sometimes, names were based on occupation: a blacksmith may have been “John le Smith” (John the Smith) which became, over the generations, “Smith,” and a person named Appleby lived by or tended the apple orchard… Actor Christopher Reeve’s ancestor, the one to first take the surname, was most likely a sheriff, and Sarah Jessica Parker’s early medieval ancestor probably tended a park.

[Read more. Discover the surnames and stories in your family]

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Titanic Mystery Solved with DNA Testing

DNA solved a 70-year-old question of whether Loraine Allison survived the Titanic crash. Many have wondered what happened to the two-year-old little girl who disappeared from the crash more than 100 years ago.

The story begins with Hudson and Bess taking their two kids, Trevor, seven months, and Loraine, two years of age, across the Atlantic on the Titanic. At the time of the sinking, it is said that Trevor was rushed to a lifeboat by their maid and that the other three died on the boat. However, only Hudson’s body was found, leaving the mystery of what happened to Loraine and her mother.

[Read more. Uncover your family secrets by taking an AncestryDNA test.]

 

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6 Things You Didn’t Know About Bonnie and Clyde

The young gangsters in love tore across the American Southwest during the Great Depression, leaving a trail of robberies and murders. Newspapers demonized Clyde Barrow and his “gunwoman” Bonnie Parker as “notorious desperados” and “dangerous killers,” so the following six facts might surprise you.

The pair attained such notoriety that <strong>hordes of people flocked to the scene of their death and later to the coroner’s to retrieve “souvenirs.” Some attempted to cut off Barrow’s ear or finger; others took snippets of Parker’s blood-soaked dress or shattered window glass. One man offered Barrow’s father over $30,000 for Barrow’s body—the equivalent of over $600,000 today.

[Read more. Investigate your own outlaw ancestors]