Could you be related to someone famous?

YOU’VE MADE HIGH-PROFILE DISCOVERIES, LIKE TRACING OBAMA’S ROOTS TO IRELAND. ANY OTHER FASCINATING CELEBRITY BACKGROUNDS? Anthony Bourdain, who, sadly, we lost last year. At the age of 13,

his grandfather hid in a ship from France. He also had roots in Eastern Europe and places like Brazil and Gibraltar. You begin to see where he got his sense of wanderlust. It’s as if he did

what his genes compelled him to do.  WHO INITIATES THE RESEARCH? It’s a mix of both. Occasionally I research somebody’s roots out of admiration, like Lin-Manuel Miranda. I discovered that,

along with his Puerto Rican ancestry, which he’s naturally very proud of, there’s another branch with a revolutionary past — though not the American Revolution. In a nutshell, a Virginia

ancestor of British heritage named David fell in love with an enslaved woman named Sophie, and they ran off to Nacogdoches, Texas. It’s a dramatic tale with the fate of the family in

constant jeopardy. I tweeted out the story, and Lin-Manuel instantly responded. I even got to go backstage and meet him at _Hamilton_! TELL US ABOUT MICHELLE OBAMA. Her

great-great-great-grandmother Melvinia was born enslaved in South Carolina. She was recorded in the estate with a value of $475. It’s one thing to know that your ancestors were once

considered property, but quite another to be confronted with a price tag. I also found out that Michelle Obama and Meghan Markle, who married Prince Harry, both had third great-grandmothers

in Jonesboro, Ga., right after the Civil War, so it’s likely they knew each other. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE UNKNOWN PERSON YOU’VE RESEARCHED? Annie Moore. She was the first immigrant to come

through Ellis Island when it opened on January 1, 1892. She was 17 years old, from Ireland, and represents the American dream. Annie stayed in New York, lived in the tenements and worked

very hard. Countless Americans have a story of a brave immigrant who made sacrifices so that his or her descendants would have better lives. WHAT INSPIRED YOUR INTEREST? First, there was

just my last name. It’s obviously a bit unusual, and I wanted to learn more about it. My dad, before I was old enough to drive, took me down to the National Archives. I could spend all day

just going through their records and census files.