Table of Contents
Introduction xi
Chapter 1 The Eighth Cousin 1
Chapter 2 The World Family Tree 5
Chapter 3 DNA Sharing Is Caring 11
Chapter 4 A Great (or Possibly Terrible) Idea 15
Chapter 5 A Pandemonium of Genealogists 21
Chapter 6 Historical Voyeurism 27
Chapter 7 Genetic Jambalaya 35
Chapter 8 Groundhog Sam and My 2, 585 Southern Cousins 41
Chapter 9 Embracing Failure 49
Chapter 10 Should Family Be Abolished? 55
Chapter 11 The Good Cousin 61
Chapter 12 Adam and Eve 67
Chapter 13 Kissing Cousins 75
Chapter 14 The Greatest Generation (and the Upside of Cigarettes) 81
Chapter 15 Thank You for Having Sex 87
Chapter 16 Biological and Logical Families 93
Chapter 17 Ellis Island 97
Chapter 18 Our Neanderthal Cousins 103
Chapter 19 Family Feuds 109
Chapter 20 Who's Your Father? 117
Chapter 21 Son-in-Law of the American Revolution 125
Chapter 22 The Mega-Tree Revolution 131
Chapter 23 Our Animal Cousins 137
Chapter 24 Big Love 143
Chapter 25 The Other Side of the Dash 149
Chapter 26 Privacy 155
Chapter 27 The Genius of Isaac Newton 163
Chapter 28 Fathers and Sons 167
Chapter 29 Twins and Twins. Also More Twins 171
Chapter 30 Five Mothers 177
Chapter 31 Black Sheep 181
Chapter 32 My Presidential Cousin 187
Chapter 33 Tradition! 193
Chapter 34 The Kevin Bacon Delusion 197
Chapter 35 The Pilgrimage 201
Chapter 36 An Ocean of Cousins 209
Chapter 37 Cheers to the Dead 215
Chapter 38 My Celebrity Cousins 221
Chapter 39 51 Percent of the Family Tree 231
Chapter 40 The Melting Pot 239
Chapter 41 The FBI and My Grandpa 245
Chapter 42 The Great Surname Challenge 249
Chapter 43 Awkward Family Photos 255
Chapter 44 Brother Versus Brother 261
Chapter 45 The Global Family Reunion 265
Chapter 46 We Are, Without a Doubt, Irrefutably, Family 267
A Note from the Author 280
Acknowledgments 281
A Brief and Subjective Guide to Getting Started on Your Family Tree 287
Notes 303
Index 307