Free Republic

Only in Turkey is the identity of a citizen a matter of national security. That’s why the population registry in Ankara was until now a closed book, its details a state secret. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s definition of “Turkishness” was “anyone who is attached to the Turkish state as a citizen”. Turks came from a clear ethnic identity, untainted by racial minorities or doubtful lineage. That’s one reason why the Nazis lavished praise on Ataturk’s republic, their newspapers mourning his death in black-bordered front pages. After all, as Hitler was to ask in several newspaper interviews – and to his generals...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sought Sunday to bolster her shaky claims of Cherokee ancestry with the story of how her racist grandparents drove her parents to elope. But Cherokee genealogist Twila Barnes says that account has its own credibility issues. Ms. Barnes, who said her research into Ms. Warren's family found "no evidence" of Native American ancestry, has challenged key elements of the senator's tale of how her parents, Pauline Reed and Donald Herring, defied his parents by running off to marry. [Snip] After Ms. Warren said in the Globe that her mother told her "nobody came to her wedding at...

Who were your ancestors? What is your ethnic background composed of? Sites like Ancestry.com and 23andme have always been some go to sources in answering all of your toughest questions. But how accurate are they? In a recent interview with Cracked, one of the major ancestry testing companies, (which specific company is unknown) spilled the beans on what really happens when you purchase an ancestry kit. While I can’t say I’m surprised, you may be shocked to learn that these ancestry sites aren’t always as accurate as they claim to be. Beyond this, they’ve also admitted to tampering with the...

I happen to be a member of one of the genealogical sites. Currently my DNA profile is 78% Western European and a typical native Western European is 48%. Which means 30% more of MY DNA came from the region than that of a native. Thank God I am not in Europe welcoming the Muslim hordes.

A descendant of Gen. Robert E. Lee has stepped down as pastor of his North Carolina church after facing blowback from parishioners and others for his comments denouncing racism and lauding the Black Lives Matter movement. As a minister and newspaper columnist, Robert W. Lee IV, the fourth great-nephew of the Confederate general, has spoken and written countless words, but the five sentences he uttered during MTV's Video Music Awards last week were just too much for some members of his congregation. ... Lee, who was pastor at Bethany United Church of Christ in Winston-Salem, has long supported removing monuments...

For generations, cross-referencing tombstones at the cemetery and vital records was required to unlock your lineage. But now, you can easily uncover some of the mystery of your family tree with DNA. Consumers like Larry Guernsey are giving the service as gifts. "I thought it would be a good Christmas present," Guernsey said. The $99 DNA test uses a saliva sample to trace family history. Here's how one company that provides the service, Ancestry, says it works: "A simple test can reveal an estimate of your ethnic mix… like if you're Irish or Scandinavian, or both." For Guernsey his curiosity...

FamilyTreeNow.com aggregates information obtained from public records such as marriage licenses, divorce filings, birth and death records and property tax records....accuracy is not guaranteed. The site also outlines legal restrictions against using the information for harassment, fraud, or illegal purposes. Some say it's no big deal, since many of us freely disclose personal, private information on a regular basis. We're the ones who put it out there. Others see how it could help find relatives with whom you've lost touch over the years. If you're bothered by the concept, you can opt out and have your name removed. In my...

The weeks between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are also the time for high-school and college graduations, which often involve visits from grandparents. That makes this a time for generations to get together so they don’t make the mistake I made. Here’s my error: From the time I turned an arrogant 13, my father and I didn’t talk much. Looking back now, it seems unbelievable that when I flew from Texas to Massachusetts in 1984 to visit my parents for a week as he was dying of cancer, we didn’t talk for more than minutes about anything important, and I...

Half of Western European men are descended from one Bronze Age 'king' who sired a dynasty of elite nobles which spread throughout Europe, a new study has shown. The monarch, who lived around 4,000 years ago, is likely to have been one of the earliest chieftains to take power in the continent... It is likely his power stemmed from advances in technology such as metal working and wheeled transport which enabled organised warfare for the first time. Although it is not known who he was, or where he lived, scientists say he must have existed because of genetic variation in...

How did Salem, Massachusetts become a Halloween destination? For centuries, the New England town avoided any association with its infamous Puritan ancestors, who executed 19 people under suspicion of practicing witchcraft. The surprising answer, author Stacy Schiff writes for The New York Times, has a lot to do with the sitcom "Bewitched." These days, Salem is rife with kitschy witches and Halloween attractions. But before the late 20th century, town citizens rarely acknowledged the Puritan trials. When playwright Arthur Miller visited Salem to research "The Crucible" in 1952, locals refused to help him. "You couldn't get anyone to say anything...

I am completing my family tree which goes back 39 generations on one branch and 14 on another. I would like to explain to my grandchildren how unique the DNA combination they have is. We have roots to a canonized saint in our bloodline as well as an American Revolutionary War solider and a famous Irish revolutionary hero too. I just need to show the children how small the odds are of duplicating our family tree. Anyone that can help please Freepmail me, Thanks much

This Monday is the federal holiday Washington's Birthday, better known as Presidents Day, celebrated on the third Monday of February. If you want to know the actual birth date of George Washington, you will find two dates: Feb. 22, 1732, and Feb. 11, 1731. Both dates are correct. What accounts for the discrepancy? When Washington was born, Britain and its colonies were using the Julian calendar. Developed in first century B.C. under Julius Caesar, it had three too many leap days per 400-year period. The Catholic Church corrected the error in the 16th century by introducing a modified calendar (the...

Camper went into the mountains in 1968, body found in 1975, remains identified in 2015 By Patrick J. Sullivan of the Leader Jan 29, 2016 0 Camper went missing in Olympic Mountains in 1968 A forensic artist in 2000 made a sketch from the skull found in the Olympic Mountains in 1975. In 2015, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office’s Cold Case Squad confirmed that the remains belonged to a camper who went missing in 1968. Images courtesy Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office cold case squad has resolved a 47-year-old mystery of a Tacoma man who went missing...

Confucius, he has many descendants By Richard Spencer in Beijing Last Updated: 1:27am GMT 19/02/2008 More than a million people around the world have responded to an appeal for people who think that they are descendants of the Chinese sage Confucius. The appeal was made by Kong Deyong, a 77th generation descendant of Confucius who founded the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee and is based in the family's home town of Qufu, eastern China. Confucious: founding father of Chinese political and ethical thought Mr Kong, a senior member of the Confucius clan, fled to Hong Kong after the Cultural Revolution, when...

A US accountant has proof that he is descended from the Mongol warlordTHEY seem the unlikeliest of relatives. One was a fearsome warlord whose name became a byword for savagery. The other is a mild-mannered accountancy academic from Florida. Yet Tom Robinson, 48, has become the first man outside Asia to trace his ancestry directly to Genghis Khan, the 13th-century Mongol leader whose empire stretched from the South China Sea to the Persian Gulf. And, since his paternal great-great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from Windermere, Cumbria, many more descendants are probably scattered across the Lake District. Genetic tests have...

Published online: 24 October 2005Charlotte SchubertY chromosomes reveal founding fatherDid conquest and concubines spread one man's genes across Asia? The Manchu warriors took control of China in 1644. © Punchstock About 1.5 million men in northern China and Mongolia may be descended from a single man, according to a study based on Y chromosome genetics1. Historical records suggest that this man may be Giocangga, who lived in the mid-1500s and whose grandson founded the Qing dynasty, which ruled China from 1644 to 1912. The analysis is similar to a controversial study in 2003, which suggested that approximately 16 million men...

Genghis Khan's pen as mighty as his sword? August 23 2004 at 11:45AM Beijing - A Chinese historian says he has evidence that ruthless conqueror and master of the Mongol horde Genghis Khan was as masterful with the pen as he was with the sword. Historians have long assumed the ancient Mongolian ruler was illiterate, primarily because the Mongolian written language was created in the early 13th century, when Genghis Khan would have been in his 40s and not have had time to learn, the official Xinhua news agency said. However, Tengus Bayaryn, a professor at China's Inner Mongolia University,...

A London restaurant chain is offering customers free DNA testing to see if they're descended from Genghis Khan. Restaurant Shish has promised free meals for any found to be related to the notorious Mongol leader. The unusual promotion is to mark the Mongolian government's decision to allow citizens to have surnames for the first time since they were banned by the communists in the 1920s. Some 50,000 Mongolians now proudly claim direct descent from and bear the name of Genghis Khan. Shish has teamed up with DNA-based research company Oxford Ancestors to offer descendants food from their ancestral homelands. From...

Genghis Khan: Father to Millions? By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery Newshttp://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040621/gallery/genghis_goto.jpg> Statue of the Mongol Emperor June 22, 2004 —Genghis Khan left a legacy shared by 16 million people alive today, according to a book by a Oxford geneticist who identified the Mongol emperor as the most successful alpha male in human history. Regarded by the Mongolians as the father of their nation, Genghis Khan was born around 1162. A military and political genius, he united the tribes of Mongolia and conquered half of the known world with a cavalry riding on grass-fed ponies. By the time Genghis died in 1227,...

February 11, 2003 A Prolific Genghis Khan, It Seems, Helped People the WorldBy NICHOLAS WADE remarkable living legacy of the Mongol empire has been discovered by geneticists in a survey of human populations from the Caucasus to China. They find that as many as 8 percent of the men dwelling in the confines of the former Mongol empire bear Y chromosomes that seem characteristic of the Mongol ruling house. If so, some 16 million men, or half a percent of the world's male population, can probably claim descent from Genghis Khan. The finding seems to be the first proof, on...