Episode 311: Classic Rewind - Wives and Families of Pirates, Man Travels to Ancestor's Ports, Finding WWII Navy Ancestor Records

In this Classic Rewind from 2019 host Scott Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. The guys open Family Histoire News with major news about GEDMatch.com. It has been acquired by a company out of California. Hear what we know so far. Then, there's news that Ireland is working on reconstructing the archives that burned in 1922. Find out how they're going about accomplishing this immense task! Then a discovery at the site of a Civil War camp sheds fascinating light on how soldiers prepared to have their likenesses taken. It may surprise you! Then another place is asking the people to decide whether or not to open adoption records. Find out where, and what the strategy is. Next, hear about a woman in her 90s who was adopted who recently learned she has siblings. LOTS of siblings! Find out how it all was discovered and just how much family she has!

Fisher then visits with Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos, author of the book called "The Pirate Next Door: The Untold Story of Eighteenth Century Pirates' Wives, Families, and Communities." She explains how pirates were not really anything like the way they are portrayed in movies and lore… and some didn't even have a say in becoming a pirate! Hear Daphne explain.

Ray Weiss then visits with Fisher. Hear this Maryland man explain how he has been researching his seafaring ancestors for decades and how he continues to travel to all the places they went, even out-of-the-way little islands!

Melanie McComb from NEHGS then takes on Ask Us Anything.

That's all this week on Extreme Genes, America's Family History Show!