Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak,Sam Roberts

''The New York Times'', September 14, 2006. born October 9, is an American genealogist, author, and speaker. She is also a consultant for the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

and NCIS.

Education

Smolenyak holds a BSFS in Foreign Service from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

, an MBA in International Business from

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

and an MAS in Information Technology from

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...

Career

Genealogy work

Since 1999, she has been a consultant with the U.S. Army's repatriation efforts to locate the families of soldiers still unaccounted for from World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam.Joseph A. Gambardello
"Haddonfield genealogist helped Army identify remains of airman killed in 1946"
''Philadelphia Inquirer,'' December 31, 2012. As a genealogist, she is best known for unearthing celebrity roots,"Megan Smolenyak Articles on The Huffington Post"
''Huffington Post'' conducting forensic research for coroners, police departments, NCIS and the FBI, and championing the use of DNA testing to learn about one’s ancestry. She researched Michelle Obama's family tree, researched Annie Moore, the first immigrant through

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

, traced

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

's roots to

Moneygall Moneygall () is a small village on the border of counties Offaly and Tipperary, in Ireland. It is situated on the R445 road between Dublin and Limerick. There were 313 people living in the village as of the 2016 census. Moneygall has a Catholic ...

, Ireland, and discovered that

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights activist, Baptist minister, talk show host and politician. Sharpton is the founder of the National Action Network. In 2004, he was a candidate for the Democrati ...

’s great-grandfather had been owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond. She also found out that Joe Biden is "roughly five-eighths Irish". She, herself, is of Irish and Rusyn heritage with roots in Ireland, Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine. Formerly Chief Family Historian for

Ancestry.com Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. In November 2018, ...

, she also founded Unclaimed Persons. She is nicknamed the ''"Indiana Jones of Genealogy"''. She is a former board member of the

Association of Professional Genealogists The Association of Professional Genealogists is an organization that promotes professional and business ethics in the field of genealogical research. Organized in 1979, its offices are in Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in ...

(APG).

Author

Smolenyak has authored six books. She has written articles for ''Ancestry'', ''Family Chronicle'', '' Family Tree Magazine'', ''Irish America'', ''Genealogical Computing'', ''Heritage Quest'', ''NGS NewsMagazine'', ''Everton's Family History Magazine'', and ''APG Quarterly''. Smolenyak is also a '' Huffington Post'' contributor. Smolenyak conducted research and wrote the companion book for the U.S. version of ''Who Do You Think You Are?.''

Speaker and consultant

Smolenyak has also consulted for and appeared on CBS's ''The Early Show'', '' Good Morning America'', the ''Today Show'', ''Top Chef'' (Bravo), CNN, ESPN, ''BBC Breakfast'', ''African American Lives'', PBS's ''Ancestors'', ''TimeWatch'', ''They Came to America'', ''Who Do You Think You Are?,'' ''Faces of America'', ''Finding Your Roots,'' NuvoTV, NPR, BBC Radio, and local television and radio shows, and has spoken at the

National Genealogical Society The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is a genealogical interest group founded in 1903 in Washington, D.C. with over 10,000 members. Its headquarters are in Falls Church, Virginia. The goals of the organization are to promote genealogical skill ...

Federation of Genealogical Societies The Federation of Genealogical Societies was a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation founded in January 1976 and headquartered in Austin, Texas. FGS links hundreds of U.S.-based genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, a ...

Who Do You Think You Are Live? Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE was a large family history and genealogy event. A spin-off of the television show, the event ran annually in London, England. Since its inception in 2005 until it closed in 2017 the exhibition and surrounding even ...

, Australasian Federation of Family History Organizations, and other historical, military, ethnic and literary events.

Awards

She was the winner of writing awards from the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors and the Bo Peep Award, given by the International Black Sheep Society of Genealogists. Smolenyak was awarded the 2010 NGS Award of Merit for her work in advancing responsible genealogy to a broad popular audience.

Works

*''In Search of Our Ancestors: 101 Inspiring Stories of Serendipity and Connection in Rediscovering Our Family History''. Cincinnati, OH: Adams Media Corporation, 2000. *''Honoring Our Ancestors: Inspiring Stories of the Quest for Our Roots''. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002. *''They Came to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors''. San Francisco, CA: Santa Fe Ventures, Inc., 2003. *''Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree''. (With Ann Turner). New York, NY: Rodale, 2004. *''Who Do You Think You Are? The Essential Guide to Tracing Your Family History''. Viking, 2010. *''Hey, America, Your Roots Are Showing''. Kensington, 2012.

References

External links

Official website

Honoring Our Ancestors website

Megan Smolenyak on Facebook

Megan Smolenyak on the ''Huffington Post''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smolenyak Smolenyak, Megan Living people American genealogists Georgetown University alumni Walsh School of Foreign Service alumni American women historians American people of Ukrainian descent George Washington University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)