Megan’s conversation with us is a free ranging exploration of her Irish-centred research over the years with interesting diversions along the way into other genealogy issues of interest to her, which hopefully, will also be of interest to our audience.
About Megan Smolenyak
Megan Smolenyak is a United States based commercial genealogist and story teller. Her most recent books are Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing and Who Do You Think You Are?: The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History, companion guide to the TV series.
Amongst Megan’s most satisfying genealogy achievements are;
Discovering Michelle Obama’s roots (as featured on the front page of The New York Times), tracing Barack Obama’s roots to Moneygall, Co. Offaly, Ireland, resulting in his pint-in-a-pub moment, and uncovering Joe Biden’s Irish and English heritage.
Correcting history by revealing the true Annie Moore, first immigrant through Ellis Island (as featured on the front page of The New York Times).
Providing 25 years of forensic consulting services to the U.S. Army to locate thousands of family members of more than 1,700 soldiers still unaccounted for from WWI, WWII, Korea and Southeast Asia
Using her sleuthing skills to help coroners locate the next of kin for unclaimed persons and establishing a group of volunteers to tackle this quiet epidemic.
The talk was presented via Zoom by the Ireland Branch of the Society in February 2025. It is now released for all members to view by kind permission of the author and speaker.
You must be a logged on paid up member to view the recording. The link to it can be found under the Members heading above.
