Celebrity Roots

General
Celebrity

Barack Obama's Roots

Michelle Obama's Roots

Joe Biden's Roots

"Who Do You Think You Are?"

Annie Moore's Roots

Top Chef
All Stars

USS Monitor

By Megan

May 2, 2013 - Huffington Post - "HBO's Family Tree First of Four Genealogy Series to Air in U.S." by Megan Smolenyak
April/May 2013 - Irish America Magazine - "Joey From Scranton — Vice President Biden's Irish Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
Read this article in Irish America's online Digital Edition [Pages 56-59]
April 8, 2013 - Huffington Post - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Jon Hamm's Roots" by Megan Smolenyak

Jon Hamm and Megan
Jon Hamm's thanks
for piece about his roots
March 19, 2013 - Huffington Post - "Family Tree Mockumentary Series Coming to HBO & BBC" by Megan Smolenyak
February 25, 2013 - Huffington Post - "Hey, Jon Stewart, Your Roots Are Showing" by Megan Smolenyak
February 8, 2013 - Huffington Post - "Hey, Prince, Your Roots Are Showing" by Megan Smolenyak
January 18, 2013 - Huffington Post - "Martin Luther King Day Could Have Been Michael Luther Branham Day" by Megan Smolenyak
November 12, 2012 - Huffington Post - "What Race Is Bruno Mars?" by Megan Smolenyak
October 17, 2012 - Huffington Post - "Enough With the Famous Cousins Already!" by Megan Smolenyak
October 2, 2012 - Huffington Post - "10 Things You Didn't Know about Rachel Maddow's Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
September 28, 2012 - Huffington Post - "Which Countries Could You Be President Of?" by Megan Smolenyak
September 2, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "American Dream Family Lore of DNC Keynote Speaker and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro Rings True " by Megan Smolenyak
August 27, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Families of the Presidential and VP Candidates in the 1940 Census" by Megan Smolenyak
July 2, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Joe Biden's Irish Roots" by Megan Smolenyak
May 8, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Martha Stewart's Family Tree" by Megan Smolenyak
April 27, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Dora Kirby, Beloved Aunt of Bruce Springsteen, Passes" by Megan Smolenyak
April 23, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "11th Annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards" by Megan Smolenyak
April 4, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Celebrities in the 1940 Census" by Megan Smolenyak
March 13, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Unexpected Irish" by Megan Smolenyak
January 12, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "A Peek into Blue Ivy Carter's Past" (Beyonc&eacute; and Jay-Z's daughter) by Megan Smolenyak
January 9, 2012 - The Huffington Post - "Four Months of Celebrity Roots on Air in 2012" by Megan Smolenyak
October 18, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Josh Groban's Family Tree" by Megan Smolenyak
July 18, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "6 Degrees of Separation: Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon Are Cousins" by Megan Smolenyak
June 14, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Willow Tree: The Roots of Pink and Carey Hart's Baby Girl" by Megan Smolenyak
May 30, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Irish American Barack Obama Heartily Welcomed Home" by Megan Smolenyak
May 16, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "What Kind of Name Is Boreanaz?" by Megan Smolenyak
May 9, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Tracing Barack Obama's Roots to Moneygall" by Megan Smolenyak
April 22, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "10 Things You Didn't Know About Katy Perry's Family Tree" by Megan Smolenyak
April 15, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "2011 Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards" by Megan Smolenyak
April 7, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Sarah Jessica Parker: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
March 25, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Susan Sarandon: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
March 7, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Should David Cassidy Have Let His Roots Show on Celebrity Apprentice?" by Megan Smolenyak
March 4, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Brooke Shields: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
February 27, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Julia Roberts Isn't a Roberts" by Megan Smolenyak
February 25, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Genealogy on TV" by Megan Smolenyak
February 23, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Spike Lee: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
February 18, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Matthew Broderick: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
February 9, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Emmitt Smith: Who Do You Think You Are" by Megan Smolenyak
January 31, 2011 - The Huffington Post - "Lisa Kudrow: Who Do You Think You Are?" by Megan Smolenyak
December 16, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Steven Tyler: I've Got a Crush on Steven Tyler's Grandfather" by Megan Smolenyak
June 16, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Betty White: White-Hot in Cleveland or Not" by Megan Smolenyak
May 21, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Bret Michaels: The Rusyn Roots of the Rock of Love" by Megan Smolenyak
May 11, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Annie Moore and Bruce Springsteen: Living the Dream" by Megan Smolenyak
April 8, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "You Asked for It, Ricky Gervais!" by Megan Smolenyak
March 8, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Happy St. Patrick's Day, Barry Manilow!" by Megan Smolenyak
January 19, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "Celebrity Genealogy Hits Prime Time" by Megan Smolenyak
January 11, 2010 - The Huffington Post - "A Brief Roots Tribute to Catherine Eugenia 'Jean' Finnegan Biden" by Megan Smolenyak
December 24, 2009 - The Huffington Post - "Playing with DNA: Is Larry David Really 37 Percent Native American?" by Megan Smolenyak
December 20, 2009 - The Huffington Post - "Name Game: Celebrities Have Nothing on the Rest of Us" by Megan Smolenyak

Bruce Springsteen
at Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards

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Articles

March 6, 2013 - The Argus - "Come to Cooley, Joe!"
April 27, 2011 - Irish Echo - "Details of Obama visit still unclear" by Susan Falvella Garraty
April 27, 2011 - Galway Independent - "California Galway Girl" by Lorraine Murphy
March 5, 2011 - The Jersey Journal - "With Hudson County as a backdrop, TV chefs, stars learn life lessons from their genealogy" by Daniel Klein
March 3, 2011 - Medil Reports - Chicago - "Branching out on the family tree" by Leslie Trew Magraw
March 3, 2011 - Marian's Roots and Rambles - "Top Chef Genealogist: Megan Smolenyak" by Marian Pierre-Louis
April 26, 2010 - UGO Film and TV - "Susan Sarandon Searches For Grandma on TV Roots Show " by WENN
May 16, 2009 - Tuscaloosa News - "DNA research finally confirms 'Roots' author's ties to Alabama" (Alex Haley) by Michael E. Palmer
April 7, 2009 - USA Today - "DNA testing: 'Roots' author Haley rooted in Scotland, too" by Rita Rubin
December 2008/January 2009 - Irish America - "A New Dawn in American Politics" (Obama, Biden)
Read this article in PDF format
October 8, 2008 - Newsweek - "The Man Who Would Be King" (George Washington) by Kurt Soller
October 8, 2008 - Reuters UK - "Palin may be related to Princess Diana and Roosevelt" by Ellen Wulfhorst
October 7, 2008 - USA Today - "Texan is Washington's kin, and could've been king" (George Washington) by Michelle Roberts
September 2008 - Irish Times - "Four Green Fields" (about 2008 U.S. elections)(Obama, Biden, McCain, Palin)
September 2008 - Ancestry Magazine - "The Man (or Woman) Who Would Be King" (George Washington)
August 29, 2008 - AFP - Google News - "Obama, Biden descended from Irish cobblers: researcher"
March 14, 2008 - US Magazine - "It's All Relative - Famous Family Trees"
Read this article in PDF format
October 28, 2007 - New York Post - "Cousins by Dozens"
March 13, 2007 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - "Sharpton case drives more to find roots on Web site" by Monica Haynes
February 26, 2007 - BBC News - "Sharpton slave link to US senator"
February 26, 2007 - New York Times - "Sharpton Learns His Forebears Were Thurmonds' Slaves" by Fernanda Santos (registration may be required to read the article)
February 26, 2007 - New York Daily News - "Slavery links Al Sharpton, Strom Thurmond" by Austin Fenner
February 25, 2007 - Washington Post - "Sharpton's Ancestor Was Owned by Thurmond's" by Robin Shulman