Whoa, I can't believe a whole month has passed. Life's a real whirlwind this year. In between meetings with NY Times columnists like David Sanger, launch parties for sites like DailyCloudt.com, friends' weddings, freelance projects, and the usual day-to-day, I've been conducting a little genealogical research. Last year I got involved with 23andMe's DNA testing and this year I'm immersed in Ancestry.com.
So far I've solved a paternal family mystery uncovering my great-grandmother's long forgotten maiden name and subsequently, hometown and figured out that 3 of my 4 paternal great-grandparents grew up outside the city of Bari (Conversano and Mola di Bari), while the other great-grandparent hails from Pignataro Maggiore near Naples. For the moment I'm a bit stuck on the paternal side and need to start sifting through Italian documents to find out more about great great-grandparents. I only know 3 out of 8 great great-grandparents' names!
On the maternal side I've managed to go back much farther which is ironic given the prevalence of names like Fitzgerald in my family tree. While the bulk of my maternal side seems to be from Ireland, I'm interested to trace back a line of Austrian relatives who remain a mystery to me. There is also an interesting family connection to a famous Irish politician that I'm working to hammer out.
All in my spare time.