Kansas: A Calling From the Ancestors (with Calvin Osborne) | Episode 85

Calvin Osborne, a Washington D.C. attorney and Civil War reenactor, spent nearly three decades studying African American military history before Ancestry researchers revealed a stunning discovery: his great-great-grandfather, William Lacey, was...

West Virginia: Fame or Infamy in the Mountain State (with Mallory Peterson) | Episode 84

When Mallory Peterson discovered she had Scottish ancestry instead of Cherokee heritage, she uncovered something intriguing that has captured her imagination. In the little town of Martinsburg, West Virginia she found a spy. And not just any sp...

Nevada: The Well-Worn Path | Episode 83

Nebraska: Connecting to the Land Through Stories (with Greg Wagner)

When Greg Wagner's great-great-grandmother made her dying wish to be buried not in a cemetery but beneath an oak tree on their Nebraska homestead, she planted more than roots in the soil. Greg is a sixth-generation Nebraskan whose family has ma...

Colorado: Braving the Wild Frontier (with Chris Trainor) | Episode 81

North Dakota: Creating Community (with Sarah Walker) | Episode 80

When Sarah Walker's grandfather checked his mail one last day before leaving for World War I, he discovered a neighbor had intervened to keep him home—a bachelor farmer needed on the home front. That single act of community support changed ever...

South Dakota: Finding the Girl in the Middle (with Marni Sandweiss)

When historian Marni Sandweiss discovered an 1868 photograph of six prominent Civil War generals standing around an unnamed Indigenous girl, she couldn't let go of one haunting question: Who was she? In this episode, Princeton University Profes...

Montana: Love, Loss, and Everything In-Between (with Mary Anne Mercer) | Episode 78

💕 When Mary Anne Mercer discovered her great-grandmother's diary in a trunk that had sat untouched since 1915, she knew she had found something extraordinary.Mary Anne, an accomplished author and former international health expert who wo...

Washington: Replanted Roots Now Evergreen (with Cyndi Ingle) | Episode 77

Idaho: Unboxing Gems of the Past (with Jen Iverson) | Episode 76

🎵 When Jen Iverson said "What I wouldn't give to hear Grandpa's music again," she had no idea what she was about to discover just two days later. Join me as Jen Iverson, a Gen X mom and passionate family historian, shares an incredible story of...

Wyoming: Tumbleweed Ties That Bind (with Lindy Nielsen) | Episode 75

Utah: Walking Where They Walked (with Michelle Ercanbrack) | Episode 74

When Michelle Ercanbrack volunteered for a Mormon pioneer trek, she thought she'd be helping teenagers learn history. What she discovered instead was a missing piece of her own family story that had been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Oklahoma: Two Genealogists and a DNA Match (with Nicka Sewell-Smith) | Episode 73

New Mexico: Centuries of Stories (with Stephen Torres) | Episode 72

When Stephen Torres's grandfather told him "one of your forefathers was the first European to set foot on New World soil," young Stephen was skeptical—until his college history research revealed a truth that changed everything.Stephen sh...

Arizona: Hidden Gifts of Healing (with Lisa Louise Cooke | Episode 71

When Lisa Louise Cooke walked into her estranged grandmother's house in Arizona, she had no idea she was about to discover the key to healing a decades-old family rift. Lisa Louise, host of the long-running Genealogy Gems podcast, shares how fo...

Alaska: Treasured Pieces from the Last Frontier (with Jay Marquiss)

🏔️ When Jay Marquiss sat down for breakfast at a Southern Utah ranch house, he had no idea a casual conversation would unlock a 130-year-old family mystery.Jay Marquiss, a third-generation Alaskan, grew up expecting to spend his entire l...

Hawaii: Woven Together in the Aloha State (with Mike Daniels)

What happens when cultures collide and choose connection instead of conflict?To launch our America 250 series and Season 2 of the podcast, I sit down with Mike Daniels — former mayor of Pleasant Grove, Utah and a dear col...

America 250: A Journey Through 50 States and 50 Stories That Live In Us (Season 2 Trailer)

What if the story of America isn't just in history books, but living right now in your family tree? As we approach America's 250th birthday in 2026, I'm taking you on an extraordinary journey across all 50 states through the intimate fam...

Waiting to Be Found (with Hopwood DePree) | Episode 68

🛏😴 What if you found out that the bedtime stories you were told as a kid were really true?When Hopwood DePree finally traced his unusual first name to its origins, he discovered something extraordinary: a 600-year-old ancestral estate in...

A Life Changing Adventure (with Diana O'Connor) | Episode 67

🌍 After decades of dead ends and false leads, one $27 payment to a county archive changed everything for Diana O'Connor. She didn’t just get a record. She got a photograph that made her weep with recognition.Diana grew up knowing almost ...

Gathering and Connections (with Betheny Tomseth) | Episode 66

🎂 What do cake and cemeteries have to do with one another? Maybe not much but both have quite a bit to do with family history.Betheny Tomseth, known on Instagram as @BethenyCakes, takes us on a journey through her family’s complex histor...

Wonderful Grandmothers (with Aimee Cross) | Episode 65

When Aimee Cross discovered her French ancestor's will in a 1904 newspaper, she found something more precious than gold - a grandmother's heartfelt advice to her children. Professional genealogist Aimee Cross joins me to share how her second gr...

These Are My Kinfolk: A Juneteenth Reunion (with Linda Epps Parker) | Episode 64

Linda felt there was "something special" in her dad's family but couldn't get answers. She never imagined a single phone call would connect her to relatives she'd never met and a Civil War-era ancestor whose story would change how she celebrate...

An Honest Witness | Episode 63

What if one of history's most famous authors unknowingly documented your ancestor's immigration journey? In 1863, my three-times-great-grandmother Rachel Smuin sailed from England to America aboard the Amazon—and Charles Dickens was there to wi...

Through the Eyes of a Child ( with Tamara Buzyna Adams) | Episode 62

🚢 When 11-year-old Lydia escaped Russia on the last evacuation ship in 1920, she began documenting her extraordinary journey in beautiful handwritten diaries.Tamara Buzyna Adams discovered her grandmother’s childhood diaries durin...