Stories That Live In Us
What if the most powerful way to strengthen your family’s future is to look to the past? Crista Cowan, known as The Barefoot Genealogist, created this podcast to inspire deeper connections with family across past, present, and future. She shares insights on using family stories to craft a powerful family narrative, building resilience, healing, and connection. Tune in weekly for guidance on uncovering your own family history and creating a legacy.
Episodes
Black-Market Adoptions to Broadway Stars (with Lisa Elzey) | Episode 132
What if the secret to breaking through your own genealogy brick walls is stepping away from your family tree entirely? In this episode, my dear friend, colleague, and podcast producer Lisa Elzey joins me to explore how researching strangers' family trees—from solving the dark mysteries around the 1950s Georgia "Hicks babies" black-market adoptions to uncovering the immigrant roots o
Why You Probably Have Cousins Everywhere (And How to Find Them) | Episode 131
What if the person sitting next to you right now (at work, in church, or at a wedding) isn't a stranger at all? When I started doing descendancy research and checking my DNA matches, I realized we are constantly crossing paths with living cousins in the most unexpected places. From college roommates to the groomsmen out on the dance floor, our ancestral threads weave us together in ways that
Breaking a 150-Year German Brick Wall (with Jenny Ashcraft) | Episode 130
When a 150-year-old German brick wall kept my friend Jenny Ashcraft stuck for nearly two decades, she decided to stop pushing straight backward and try a completely different research strategy. By fanning out to document all ten of her ancestor's children, the floodgates opened—leading to an unbelievable library encounter with the author of the exact emigration index she needed, a mysterious
The Heirloom Portrait & The Danish Flood: Verifying Family Lore (with Rhonda Budge) | Episode 129
Growing up, my guest Rhonda Budge spent hours sitting beside her grandmother, staring at a massive framed portrait of her great-great-grandfather, Johann Christian Hansen. Family lore claimed he heroically rescued neighbors from their rooftops during an 1872 Danish flood, lost his ship, and gave away his reward money. It’s a story that sounded almost too extraordinary to be completely true. But wh
From Utah to Iceland: Passing Living Heritage to the Next Generation with Eric Allen | Episode 128
How do you take dry facts on a family tree and turn them into something your kids can actually feel? In this episode, Eric Allen joins me to share how a trip from a pioneer monument in Spanish Fork, Utah, to the volcanic coast of Iceland transformed his family's connection to their roots. From discovering heritage food traditions in the kitchen to an unbelievable workplace coincidence involvi
From Belarus to the Boston Meat Wars: Uncovering a Rebel Ancestor (with Suzanne Hoffman) | Episode 127
When Suzanne Hoffman sat down to help her daughter with a middle-school history project, she never expected to uncover a radical rebel in her own family tree. In this episode, Suzanne shares the remarkable story of her great-grandmother Eva, a 15-year-old Jewish immigrant who spoke six languages, led street marches for working mothers, and spearheaded the famous Boston Meat Wars boycott when food
How the Air Force Saved My Father’s Life (with Victoria Robinson) | Episode 126
When Victoria Robinson’s father stepped in to defend an elderly coworker at an Arkansas sawmill in 1952, he had to run for his life. Shaken and hiding in the dark balcony of a segregated movie theater. A chance encounter there saved him and sparked a powerful family legacy of military service and resilience. Join us on Stories That Live In Us as Victoria shares her father's harrowing escape,
The Adoptee, The Next Door Neighbor, and The DNA Twist No One Saw Coming | Episode 125
When I handed an adoptee a paper with his biological siblings’ names, he burst out laughing. Turns out his long-lost brother was his neighbor!After connecting with an AncestryDNA cousin match looking for his biological family, I spent hours piecing together census records and city directories to identify his biological parents. But nothing prepared either of us for the moment he read the name of h
Raising 8 Kids After Divorce with Music, Faith, and Family Roots (with Bubba Page) | Episode 124
When my guest Bubba Page walked into the studio holding his grandfather’s 1960 vinyl record album, I knew we were in for a special conversation about legacy. But after facing a painful divorce that left him with his eight children 50% of the time, Bubba turned his family’s roots in music, faith, and Depression-era resilience into a daily blueprint for intentional parenting. Join us as we discuss S
Bootleggers, Mine Massacres, and Brooklyn (with Linda Stasi) | Episode 123
Long before mobster legends took over New York, Italian immigrants were riding in rodeos, surviving coal mine massacres, and brewing bootleg wine in the Colorado mountains. In this episode of Stories That Live In Us, best-selling author and journalist Linda Stasi joins Crista Cowan to uncover how her family survived the horrific 1914 Ludlow Massacre in Pueblo, Colorado, fled to Red Hook, Brooklyn,
Alex Haley is My Uncle: The Rest of the Story of My Family “Roots” (with Chris Haley) | Episode 122
Growing up with a world-famous uncle whose book transformed American history, Chris Haley spent decades pursuing stage lights and applause before realizing his true calling was waiting inside dusty archives. In this deeply moving conversation, the nephew of Roots author Alex Haley shares how making cold calls to phone book listings led him to face hidden family truths, discover a Civil War ancesto
A National TV Crew Showed Up At My House: Discovering a Lost Legacy (with Melissa Stafford) | Ep 121
What if a national TV crew showed up at your door to reveal a family secret?Have you ever felt a missing piece in your family tree that you couldn’t quite place? In this episode, I sit down with Melissa Stafford, who thought her family history stopped with her immediate grandparents until an unexpected email from Ancestry® and a visit from Good Morning America changed everything.From driving past
Stories That Connect Us (And Why DNA Isn't Enough) | Episode 120
Shared ancestors make us related. Shared stories make us connected.Can I tell you a secret? My absolute favorite part of family history isn't just discovering people who lived hundreds of years ago. It's what those stories can do for our living relationships right now.Welcome to the Season 3 premiere of Stories That Live In Us!In this episode, I’m sharing a powerful realization I had dur
Fifty Nifty United States (with Lisa Elzey) | Episode 119
What happens when you spend a year chasing family stories across all fifty states?I'm Crista Cowan (known online as The Barefoot Genealogist), and for this special Season Two retrospective, I’m pulling back the studio curtain. I’m sitting down with my longtime friend, producer, and editor, Lisa Elzey, to look back on our epic cross-country journey—from a 150-year-old sourdough starter in Alas
Delaware: Courage to Save the Words That Built America (with Anna Crowley Redding) | Episode 118
How close did America come to losing its foundational words forever? In this episode of Stories That Live In Us, host Crista Cowan (The Barefoot Genealogist) takes us to Delaware—the First State—as our countdown to America’s 250th birthday reaches its finale.Our guest is Anna Crowley Redding, an Emmy Award-winning investigative television reporter turned acclaimed children’s book author. Anna shar
Pennsylvania: Stashed-Away Secrets and Forgotten Family (with Jessica Rae) | Episode 117
What happens when a simple hint on your family tree uncovers a decades-old secret?In this episode of Stories That Live In Us, host Crista Cowan (The Barefoot Genealogist) sits down with nurse, history lover, and content creator Jessica Rae to discuss a discovery that changed her life forever. While researching her maternal line, Jessica stumbled across a U.S. federal census record that listed her
New Jersey: A Sentence of Survival | Episode 116
Imagine diving into your family tree to discover that your ancestors left you a secret message more than 300 years ago, encoded into the literal names of their children. I follow a trail of meticulous Quaker records from a genealogy brick wall in Ohio all the way back to 17th-century Boston to discover the story of Richard and Abigail Lippincott, my 10-times-great-grandparents. Together, they surv
Georgia: Two Lives, Two Coasts, One Massive Secret (with Julie Merrill) | Episode 115
A dapper playboy, a broken plantation safe, an embezzlement scheme, and a grandfather who completely vanished. What happened to William H. Wheeler? 🕵️♂️🔍When an 83-year-old client named Jane came to Julie Merrill, an accredited genealogist with Ancestry ProGenealogists, looking for clues about her missing grandfather, she had no idea the search would lead away from Washington state, straight past
Connecticut: The Windsor Witch | Episode 114
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Massachusetts: From Rags to Riches to Ashes to Starting Again (with Laura Tasse) | Episode 113
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Maryland: A New Kind of Identity | Episode 112
Four months pregnant, two babies already buried in German soil, Anna Maria Niccum boarded a wooden ship in 1749 and crossed an ocean she'd never seen. Not for a revolution but for a foothold. My six-times great-grandmother made an extraordinary journey from the exhausted Rhineland Palatinate to the wild red-earthed frontier of Maryland's Toms Creek, where she would hold the line for near
South Carolina: Ancestors Leading the Charge in Battle and in Life (w/ Anne Mitchell) | Episode 111
A wounded soldier refuses to dismount. His boot overflowing with blood, his hat riddled with three bullet holes, he rallies his troops up a South Carolina hill in Pennsylvania Dutch. History turns on a single moment. Anne Mitchell, a South Carolina native whose roots run deep in the Palmetto state, joins me to share the story of her sixth great-grandfather, Frederick Hambright, a German immigrant
New Hampshire: Chosen Family, Jewish Roots (with Nancy Kotz and Lynne Snierson) | Episode 110
Chosen family and Jewish roots run so deep in New Hampshire's Lakes Region that two families spent generations wondering where one ended and the other began. In this episode, Jewish genealogy researcher Nancy Kotz and award-winning journalist Lynne Snierson share the stories of their families, woven together across generations. From a Lithuanian rabbi who may have missed his train stop in 190
Virginia: One DNA Match and a Woman Who Didn’t Want to Be Found (with Nicole Palsa) | Episode 109
What must it feel like to grow up knowing your mother walked out the door when you were just three years old and never came back? After Nicole Palsa heard her great-grandmother’s heartbreaking story, she spent the next twenty years searching for answers. Nicole’s great-great-grandmother, Dessie Dulaney, disappeared from Virginia around 1914, leaving behind a little girl, a grieving family, and a s
New York: A Melting Pot of Resilience (with Scott Pratt) | Episode 108
What would you do if a single letter revealed that everything you thought you knew about your family was only half the story? Scott Pratt walked into a historic Brooklyn church as part of Ancestry's powerful documentary Railroad Ties expecting to find some connection to his Scottish colonial roots. Instead he discovered that he's a descendant of enslaved people who escaped to freedom on
North Carolina: Buried Treasure, Buried Stories | Episode 107
He buried a fortune in gold under a bent white oak. Then he died before anyone could find it.My 6x great-grandfather Abraham Kuykendall lived 93 extraordinary years. He survived colonial America, fought in the Revolution, crossed the frontier with 13 children, and built an empire of 2,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. But when I found him on a Sunday night FaceTime research
Rhode Island: A Spirit of Independence (with Maureen Taylor) | Episode 106
What can a single vintage photograph tell you about your ancestors? Maureen Taylor, know as The Photo Detective®, has spent decades proving that old family photos can solve family history mysteries in pretty fascinating ways. Born and bred in Rhode Island and currently serving as president of the Rhode Island Genealogical Society, Maureen takes us on a tour of the 13th state’s unique history. She
Vermont: Conversations of Green Mountain Kingdoms (with Mike Brousseau) | Episode 105
Ever wonder how a "Hallmark movie" setting shapes a family for generations? In this episode, Mike Brousseau shares stories from the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. It’s a place so deeply tied to his family that there's literally a mountain bearing their name. From a French-Canadian lumberjack who couldn't read but could build perfect spiral staircases, to a spicy French-Canadian
Kentucky: Postmasters & Snapping Turtles (with Caitlyn Bruns & Paul Abell) | Episode 104
Paul Abell has never wanted to leave Kentucky, not even when he moved 90 miles away for college. When his daughter Caitlyn was born, he finally had the reason he needed to dive into the family tree in a way his uncles had been nudging him toward for years. In this episode, I sit down with Ancestry colleague Caitlyn Bruns, a genetic scientist turned strategist. She invited her dad Paul to join us.
Tennessee: A Patriot From the Holler | Episode 103
What would it take for you to enlist in a war, march hundreds of miles in winter, survive one of the worst defeats in American history — and then turn right around and do it again? My own Revolutionary War ancestor, Daniel Jones, went from the backcountry of North Carolina to a tiny holler in Northeast Tennessee, where a single pension file, a stray boar, and a rundown farmhouse porch brought his
Ohio: Family Roots, Foundational Soil | Episode 102
What if the names your ancestors gave their children were actually breadcrumbs leading straight to the neighbors who helped shape their lives? In this solo episode, I trace my own Cowan family line from a young Irish weaver who had to register as an alien citizen during the War of 1812 to a doctor who built a house that became a historical society, a saddle maker who outfitted the Union Army, and
Louisiana: Red Lipstick, Hidden Heirlooms, and Family Secrets (with Arlene Rome) | Episode 101
What if the most precious pieces of your family history were ones you had to secretly carry home five steps at a time? In this episode, I sit down with my cousin Arlene Rome, a Louisiana native and retired nurse whose story of love, loss, and quiet rebellion will stay with you long after you finish listening. Arlene grew up in the golden summers of Metairie with a grandmother who drove a red conv
Indiana: Been Here All Along (with Lisa Fanning) | Episode 100
What does it mean to be an American when your family has been here longer than America itself? Lisa Fanning, a board member of the National Genealogical Society and DNA expert, has spent decades uncovering a story so layered, so uniquely American that it stopped me in my tracks. She descends from four of the six families who packed up a covered wagon and caravaned from North Carolina in the 1820s
Mississippi: Finding Far East in the Deep South (with Larrisa Lam) | Episode 99
What happens when a California family walks into Mississippi and walks out forever changed?Filmmaker and music executive, Larissa Lam, director of the documentary Far East Deep South, joins me to share how a simple trip to visit a family grave in the Mississippi Delta unraveled a mystery decades in the making and revealed a hidden chapter of American history most of us never learned in school. Tog
Illinois: Scoundrels and Scandals (with Sue Talbot) | Episode 98
When Sue Talbot's grandmother casually mentioned items belonging to "Arthur," Sue discovered a family secret buried for decades. But that revelation was just the beginning of a journey that would uncover scandal, betrayal, and tragedy stretching from Victorian England to the streets of Chicago.In this episode, I sit down with British genealogist Sue Talbot as she shares the shocking
Alabama: Generations of Joy (with Noah Lapidus) | Episode 97
When Noah’s car broke down in rural Ukraine, he discovered something unexpected: the warmth of strangers who knew his ancestors had once called their town home. It's a moment that captures the heart of Noah's journey. As a professional genealogist his childhood obsession with family history led him from the Birmingham Public Library to the decimated streets of Kobryn, Belarus, searching
Maine: Memories Making History (with Steve Bromage) | Episode 96
What if history isn't just about the past—but about creating connections that shape who we become?In this episode, I sit down with Steve Bromage, Executive Director of the Maine Historical Society, whose childhood road trips to a family camp sparked a lifelong passion for preserving Maine's stories. Steve shares how his organization has revolutionized history-making by putting communitie
Missouri: Disaster in the Heart of America (with Kim Harrison) | Episode 95
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Arkansas: Nana and the Aunts | Episode 94
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Michigan: Broken Headstones & Unearthed Stories (with Justin Frost) | Episode 93
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Florida: A Good Deed Is Never Lost (with Meredith Kratzer Sellers) | Episode 92
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Texas: Christmas Card Culture Connections (with Sylvia Hernandez) | Episode 91
When Sylvia Hernandez discovered vintage Christmas cards in a university archive, her coworkers didn't understand their significance. But for her, they represented everything familiar about growing up Mexican-American in Waco, Texas.Sylvia Hernandez, outreach and instruction librarian at Baylor University's Texas Collection and a seventh generation Wacoan, traces both sides of her family
Iowa: A Love of Food and Family (with Rosie Grant) | Episode 90
When archivist Rosie Grant stumbled upon a gravestone with a spritz cookie recipe carved into it, she had no idea it would change her life. What began as a TikTok curiosity during her cemetery internship became a viral phenomenon and, eventually, a groundbreaking cookbook celebrating 50 recipes from gravestones across America.Rosie shares her remarkable project "To Die For: A Cookbook of Grav
Wisconsin: Great Grandmothers and the Great Migration (with Dani Allen) | Episode 89
When Dani was in eighth grade, she watched her grandmother wash and braid her own mother’s hair. In that moment, she was witness to a ritual passed on through generations of Black women.Join me as Dani Allen, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at Ancestry, shares her family's journey from the Deep South to Wisconsin during the 1930s and 40s as part of The Great Migration. Together we explo
California: Stars Shooting Out of Silence (with Candace Dixon Horne) | Episode 88
When Candace Dixon-Horne's husband bought AncestryDNA kits in 2018, she hesitated before sending hers in. Raised by a single mom in Arkansas, Candace spent her entire life with her mom as the only blood relative she knew.One DNA match changed everything. A simple Google search led to names she recognized, faces that looked hauntingly familiar, and a connection to California's golden age
Minnesota: Santa Claus, a Corn Cob Pipe, and Nellie Oleson (with Lisa Elzey) | Episode 87
What if your family's pioneer past looked exactly like your favorite childhood TV show? When Lisa Elzey discovered her great-great-grandfather's story, she realized she'd been watching his life every Monday night on Little House on the Prairie. Complete with homesteading, hand-hewn cabins, and a white beard down to his belly.In this episode, Lisa shares how a purple-inked memoir wri
Oregon: Trail of the Unclaimed | Episode 86
When Phyllis Zegers discovered her cousin died alone in Oregon State Hospital in the 1890s, she never imagined it would lead to reconnecting hundreds of families with their forgotten ancestors. In this episode, Phyllis shares how her genealogy research uncovered 3,500 unclaimed cremains at the hospital—and how she's worked tirelessly to honor each person by researching their stories and findi
Kansas: A Calling From the Ancestors (with Calvin Osborne) | Episode 85
Calvin Osborne, a Washington D.C. attorney and Civil War reenactor, spent nearly three decades studying African American military history before Ancestry researchers revealed a stunning discovery: his great-great-grandfather, William Lacey, was a soldier in the First Kansas Colored Troops, the very first Black men to fight in the Civil War. In this powerful conversation, Calvin shares how a 1989 v
West Virginia: Fame or Infamy in the Mountain State (with Mallory Peterson) | Episode 84
When Mallory Peterson discovered she had Scottish ancestry instead of Cherokee heritage, she uncovered something intriguing that has captured her imagination. In the little town of Martinsburg, West Virginia she found a spy. And not just any spy but 17 year old Belle Boyd, the infamous Confederate spy known as "Cleopatra of the Secession."In this episode, I sit down with Mallory, a young
Nevada: The Well-Worn Path | Episode 83
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Nebraska: Connecting to the Land Through Stories (with Greg Wagner)
When Greg Wagner's great-great-grandmother made her dying wish to be buried not in a cemetery but beneath an oak tree on their Nebraska homestead, she planted more than roots in the soil. Greg is a sixth-generation Nebraskan whose family has maintained the same land for 158 years through blizzards, armed robberies, and economic crashes. As someone who's spent 46 years caring for Nebraska
Colorado: Braving the Wild Frontier (with Chris Trainor) | Episode 81
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
North Dakota: Creating Community (with Sarah Walker) | Episode 80
When Sarah Walker's grandfather checked his mail one last day before leaving for World War I, he discovered a neighbor had intervened to keep him home—a bachelor farmer needed on the home front. That single act of community support changed everything.Sarah Walker, Head of Reference Services at the North Dakota State Archives, shares her grandfather's journey immigrating at age 10 from Ge
South Dakota: Finding the Girl in the Middle (with Marni Sandweiss)
When historian Marni Sandweiss discovered an 1868 photograph of six prominent Civil War generals standing around an unnamed Indigenous girl, she couldn't let go of one haunting question: Who was she? In this episode, Princeton University Professor Emerita Martha "Marni" Sandweiss shares how she identified the child as Sophie Mousseau and uncovered a remarkable story of survival, ide
Montana: Love, Loss, and Everything In-Between (with Mary Anne Mercer) | Episode 78
💕 When Mary Anne Mercer discovered her great-grandmother's diary in a trunk that had sat untouched since 1915, she knew she had found something extraordinary.Mary Anne, an accomplished author and former international health expert who worked in Nepal and Africa, returned to her Montana ranching roots to uncover a remarkable love story. Through a combination of family interviews, a preserved d
Washington: Replanted Roots Now Evergreen (with Cyndi Ingle) | Episode 77
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Idaho: Unboxing Gems of the Past (with Jen Iverson) | Episode 76
🎵 When Jen Iverson said "What I wouldn't give to hear Grandpa's music again," she had no idea what she was about to discover just two days later. Join me as Jen Iverson, a Gen X mom and passionate family historian, shares an incredible story of musical discovery that transformed her family's connection to their Idaho heritage. We explore her great-grandfather Arnold Steed&
Wyoming: Tumbleweed Ties That Bind (with Lindy Nielsen) | Episode 75
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
Utah: Walking Where They Walked (with Michelle Ercanbrack) | Episode 74
When Michelle Ercanbrack volunteered for a Mormon pioneer trek, she thought she'd be helping teenagers learn history. What she discovered instead was a missing piece of her own family story that had been hiding in plain sight for decades.Michelle, a BYU family history program graduate and former Ancestry researcher who worked on television shows like "Who Do You Think You Are," join
Oklahoma: Two Genealogists and a DNA Match (with Nicka Sewell-Smith) | Episode 73
〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️ 🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️ Re
New Mexico: Centuries of Stories (with Stephen Torres) | Episode 72
When Stephen Torres's grandfather told him "one of your forefathers was the first European to set foot on New World soil," young Stephen was skeptical—until his college history research revealed a truth that changed everything.Stephen shares what it means to have 400 years of unbroken family history in New Mexico's Taos Valley. From growing up with 50+ cousins to living with hi
Arizona: Hidden Gifts of Healing (with Lisa Louise Cooke | Episode 71
When Lisa Louise Cooke walked into her estranged grandmother's house in Arizona, she had no idea she was about to discover the key to healing a decades-old family rift. Lisa Louise, host of the long-running Genealogy Gems podcast, shares how following an unexpected inner voice led to finding a hidden quilt that would transform her relationship with her father forever. After years of separatio
Alaska: Treasured Pieces from the Last Frontier (with Jay Marquiss)
🏔️ When Jay Marquiss sat down for breakfast at a Southern Utah ranch house, he had no idea a casual conversation would unlock a 130-year-old family mystery.Jay Marquiss, a third-generation Alaskan, grew up expecting to spend his entire life in the Last Frontier. But when his wife experienced her first Alaskan winter, their plans changed forever. Now living in Utah, Jay thought he'd left Alask
Hawaii: Woven Together in the Aloha State (with Mike Daniels)
What happens when cultures collide and choose connection instead of conflict?To launch our America 250 series and Season 2 of the podcast, I sit down with Mike Daniels — former mayor of Pleasant Grove, Utah and a dear colleague from our early days at Ancestry — to explore his family’s extraordinary journey to and through Hawaii. From war and immigration to love, loss, and discovery, Mike shares ho
America 250: A Journey Through 50 States and 50 Stories That Live In Us (Season 2 Trailer)
What if the story of America isn't just in history books, but living right now in your family tree? As we approach America's 250th birthday in 2026, I'm taking you on an extraordinary journey across all 50 states through the intimate family stories that shaped our nation. Starting in July 2025, Season 2 of Stories That Live In Us will reveal how your ancestors' choices and expe
Waiting to Be Found (with Hopwood DePree) | Episode 68
🛏😴 What if you found out that the bedtime stories you were told as a kid were really true?When Hopwood DePree finally traced his unusual first name to its origins, he discovered something extraordinary: a 600-year-old ancestral estate in England that had been waiting centuries for him to find it. When Hopwood, author of "Downton Shabby," began exploring the childhood stories he dismissed
A Life Changing Adventure (with Diana O'Connor) | Episode 67
🌍 After decades of dead ends and false leads, one $27 payment to a county archive changed everything for Diana O'Connor. She didn’t just get a record. She got a photograph that made her weep with recognition.Diana grew up knowing almost nothing about her family history. Her father was placed in foster care at two years old when his mother died. He then died tragically young and Diana’s own mo
Gathering and Connections (with Betheny Tomseth) | Episode 66
🎂 What do cake and cemeteries have to do with one another? Maybe not much but both have quite a bit to do with family history.Betheny Tomseth, known on Instagram as @BethenyCakes, takes us on a journey through her family’s complex history. From the mysterious circumstances surrounding her great-grandfather Omer's hunting accident in 1921 to the Scottish immigrant family she discovered buried
Wonderful Grandmothers (with Aimee Cross) | Episode 65
When Aimee Cross discovered her French ancestor's will in a 1904 newspaper, she found something more precious than gold - a grandmother's heartfelt advice to her children. Professional genealogist Aimee Cross joins me to share how her second great-grandmother Estelle Dumont left behind more than an estate. She left a legacy of wisdom that continues to shape her family today. From Pierre
These Are My Kinfolk: A Juneteenth Reunion (with Linda Epps Parker) | Episode 64
Linda felt there was "something special" in her dad's family but couldn't get answers. She never imagined a single phone call would connect her to relatives she'd never met and a Civil War-era ancestor whose story would change how she celebrates Juneteenth forever.In this deeply moving episode, I sit down with Linda Epps Parker, whose connection to the Hawkins Wilson docum
An Honest Witness | Episode 63
What if one of history's most famous authors unknowingly documented your ancestor's immigration journey? In 1863, my three-times-great-grandmother Rachel Smuin sailed from England to America aboard the Amazon—and Charles Dickens was there to witness it all. Expecting to find chaos and disorder among 800 Mormon emigrants, Dickens instead discovered remarkable organization, cheerfulness, a
Through the Eyes of a Child ( with Tamara Buzyna Adams) | Episode 62
🚢 When 11-year-old Lydia escaped Russia on the last evacuation ship in 1920, she began documenting her extraordinary journey in beautiful handwritten diaries.Tamara Buzyna Adams discovered her grandmother’s childhood diaries during COVID lockdown. What started as a mother-daughter translation project unveiled an incredible story: a young girl who lived on a refugee ship for two and a half years, f
Even in the Face of Injustice | Episode 61
What if your ancestors' darkest moment could teach you the most about resilience? While chasing down a DNA match with my dad, I uncovered a shocking story about two sets of my 8x great-grandparents that kept me awake all night. Roger and Anne Park and Andrew and Olive Smith were Quakers who fled England seeking religious freedom in colonial New Jersey, but found decades of land disputes and c
The Ache Is Still There (with Tara Hall) | Episode 60
When Tara Hall discovered her great-uncle Norman had been shot down in WWII, his story became an enigma that haunted her family for generations. In this poignant episode, my Ancestry colleague Tara shares how Norman joined the Army Air Corps as a navigator, following in his older brother's footsteps. Shot down over Germany on just his third mission, Norman's body remained unidentified fo
I Can See All The Story (with Lisa Elzey) | Episode 59
When Lisa Elzey discovered her grandfather flew on a B-17 bomber during D-Day, she knew there was more to uncover…In this continuation of last week's DNA revelation, Lisa shares how researching her grandfather's war buddies unveiled an extraordinary military legacy. From discovering rare crew photos to uncovering first-hand accounts of a harrowing mission that earned the Distinguished Fl
I Can Live With the Truth (with Nidel Day) | Episode 58
When DNA results revealed a puzzling Quebec connection in Lisa Elzey's family tree — everything she thought she knew was called into question... Join me for an intimate conversation with my podcast producer Lisa and her mother Nidel as they unravel a family mystery that remained hidden for over seven decades. Witness how modern genealogy technology unlocked memories long forgotten and reshape
One Year Anniversary - I'm So Glad You're Here | Episode 57
For one year straight, I've shared stories that remind us we're all connected through the messy, beautiful threads of family history — and today, I'm celebrating YOU. Recorded live at RootsTech 2025, this anniversary episode is a reflection of the incredible stories we've uncovered together, from my great-great-grandmother Carrie to DNA discoveries that led to phone calls from
We Wear a Poppy (with Simon Pearce) | Episode 56
When Simon Pearce discovered his great-great-uncle Howard's name on a casualty list from WWI, his heart skipped a beat — launching a 20-year quest to piece together the life of a man he never met but now feels deeply connected to... In this moving conversation, Simon, an Ancestry military history expert, shares how Howard's service from China to Gallipoli and ultimate sacrifice in 1915
Marry a Genealogist (with Irene Hantman) | Episode 55
💕 When a stranger asked Irene Hantman about Arthur Kurzweil's lecture at a Jewish genealogy conference, she never imagined it would change her life forever...In this heartwarming episode, I talk with Irene, an accomplished genealogist and longtime editor of Avotaynu journal, about her 40-year journey through Jewish family history. She shares how receiving the book "From Generation to Gen
All I Need is a Warm Glass of Milk (with Brian Donnelly) | Episode 54
🍀 When Brian Donnelly's grandfather calmly announced he was having a heart attack, nine-year-old Brian's only instruction was to fetch a warm glass of milk…In this heartwarming episode, I chat with the Ancestry Chief Commercial Officer about family remedies that become inside jokes and DNA discoveries that challenge family lore. Brian shares how his Irish identity was upended when his DN
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