If you are like me, you may at some point thought about your last name.

What does it mean?

Where did it come from?

Am I related to anyone famous?

Maybe my last name means nothing. It might simply be a made-up name without history.

Your last name is your ID.
The name you have serves to define and identify you to others. Consider the number of times every day someone asks for your last name.

“Can I see your driver’s license please?”

“Sign here please!”

“Could you please spell your last name?”

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It wasn’t what I anticipated as I lazily enjoyed an evening of history on television last week. In 2003, Researchers found, that nearly 8% of the 200 men living in the region of the former Mongol Empire, carry nearly identical Y-chromosomes. That’s about 0.5% of the men in the world or roughly 1 in every 200 men. This led the researchers to believe they all had a common fore-father.

I sat straight up in my chair and listened more intently. And to my surprise; I learned Genghis Khan’s DNA might possibly be in my family genealogy! and he could be in yours too!

No way, that is impossible, I thought. I have to check this out.

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Tiger WOODS claims to be Cablinasian: Ca for Caucasian, Bl for Black, In for (American) Indian and the rest for Asian. His father is said to be one-quarter Native American, one-quarter Chinese and half black. Claims are that Tiger’s mother is half Thai, a quarter Chinese and a quarter Dutch. This [if true] makes WOODS himself half Asian (one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Thai), one-quarter African American, one-eighth Native American and one-eighth Dutch. (“Earning his stripes.” AsianWeek. 1996-10-11. Retrieved 2010-01-15.)

These claims might be intriguing and even give him an air of mystery, but are they true? One would hate to doubt what a person claims as ethnic make-up, but I have not found any proof to substantiate some of these claims and, in fact, evidence seems to refute some.
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Every life is a story. I am sure you have one too. You don’t have to be famous to have your story told. And, you definitely don’t have to wait for someone to tell it for you.

You can do it yourself.

Now is a good time to shake your family tree and document your family genealogy before it’s too late. Before the storytellers are no more, their memories fade and the history is forgotten.

Make the family connection – Are you one of those people as a child you hated to go to Grandma’s house or visit your great Aunt Jane 3000 miles away? How you hated the stories, they used to tell repeatedly. How many times you heard, “When I was your age….” You probably rolled your eyes every time you heard those words.

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I’m very exciting to introduce Xenia Stanford who is a genealogist and writer, and runs Write On! Xpress. She’s just published a book of memoirs of a one roomed school house. You can check it out at her website, the book is called, Pigtail Times at Taimi. Xenia is a connected genealogist with a full schedule and lots of experience.

I’m thrilled that she will be contributing to this blog and answering questions about genealogy research and writing. Here is her first post explaining how she got started with genealogy research and she also shares some important tips for anyone searching their family history. I could go on, but I’ll let her explain in her own words!

I started collecting family information from as early as I can remember. Either it was while sitting on my grandmother’s lap or on the floor between her rocking chair and the wood-burning kitchen stove. She told me stories of the “old country” (Austria) about her siblings, parents and activities. She also had many stories about life in the new country (Canada) as a pioneer, first working in a store when she could only speak German and the owner could only speak English.

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