I wrote a little piece called “American Identity” back in 2008, looking to the 2010 Census. Now here it is, almost the 2020 Census. If I hadn’t written it then, I’d want to write it now. Not changing a thing.
2020 Census
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Warren’s Cherokee Ancestry
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I was at coffee with a friend a few days ago when we got mired in a debate about Elizabeth Warren. I was struck by how much misinformation I was hearing. It doesn’t need to be this hard. There is a political narrative that says Warren lied about her Cherokee ancestry. That’s a story for suckers. First, anyone with experience doing American genealogy will be aware that stories about...
Fan Fiction
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There was a time when I was deeply concerned about genealogists adopting pseudo-history into their research. Most often I see people believing they are descended from Jesus of Nazareth through the Merovingian dynasty. Oh my. This kind of thing is entertainment, not serious history. Now I’ve found a simple way to describe the problem to people who don’t have a good grounding in History...
Asser Levy in New Amsterdam
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Leading up to Thanksgiving, a post on Twitter reminded me of Steve Brodner’s 2013 piece on Asser Levy (?-1680). Asser Levy is the first documented Jew in North America, and his been called the Founding Father of American Jewry. He might have been one of the Jewish refugees from the Dutch colony of Recife in Brazil. He does not appear in surviving records of the Jewish congregation...
Wikipedia
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Sometimes people cite Wikipedia for things that are false, and they get offended if you question them. Other times, people go around the Internet chiding everyone who cites Wikipedia for anything. Honestly, it makes me think people in general don’t understand either Wikipedia or citations. Really, there are times and then there are times. If you understand what citations are and what...