ROOTS & BRANCHES

Last week’s “Roots & Branches” started working through Cindy Cruz’s rundown of her recent first trip to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City. One of her best finds (at least for me, because it’s a family we have in common!) was a 1953 German genealogical society periodical article that was mentioned in a 1995 …

 After I wrote a “Roots & Branches” column last month on my distant cousin Cindy Cruz’s plans as a first-time visitor to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City, I gave her a mission to place on top of her genealogy quests for the trip: Bring back a summary of how she made out. Well, …

I know it from the way my hair has balded with just a little tag remaining in the front center. I know it from the way I can get angry pretty quickly, but also can cool off quickly, too. And I know it, most scientifically, from the way my DNA results show me to be …

I spent a couple of columns recently musing about people who affected my life so profoundly that I call them “chosen family.”But what about my blood relatives, particularly my parents?Well, I’m fortunate to say—and it’s taken me well into adulthood to realize that what I considered “normal” is actually pretty abnormal—that both my parents gave …