The Costco Connection - October 2013

WHO DO YOU think you are? New Jersey Costco member Megan Smolenyak2 ( www.honoringourancestors.com) can help you find out. More on that name later.

One of the nation’s foremost genealogists—she calls herself a genealogical explorer—Smolenyak2 has researched the family histories of President and Mrs. Obama and numerous celebrities, most notably on the popular television show Who Do You Think You Are? She has written six books, does speaking engagements and is a cold-case researcher for the Army, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and the FBI.

“It was a sixth-grade homework assignment,” she
says, explaining how she got started. “We had to go
home and find out what country our surname was from.”
Her initial interest in genealogy came in the pre-
Internet years, requiring a lot of work via snail mail and
on-site research. She was living in Washington, D.C., as a
teenager and couldn’t wait to turn 16. “Not to get my
driver’s license,” she says, “but because that was how
old you had to be to get into the National Archives.”
Although the Internet has helped, Smolenyak2 says
most vital records are not online. Some agencies have
online ordering systems, but you’re still dealing with a
human being, she explains. “There are places in California
that take over a year to fulfill requests.”
Another challenge is privacy laws. “When you make
your request, you have to submit a chain of documents
to prove your connection,” she says. “Even the stuff I do
for the Army, acting on the federal government’s behalf,
I’m not above faxing the governor of a state if I’m really
determined to get a case solved.”
For those who want to research their own family
backgrounds, she advises, “Start at home. Do a scavenger
hunt at your home or a parent’s home. Look in drawers,
the attic; look in the basement. Look for old photos with
names on the back, look for diplomas, military discharge
papers. And pick up the phone and call any relatives

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you’ve got who are even 20 minutes older than you.”
Now, about her name. Smolenyak is her real
maiden name, but it’s also her husband’s name. “I
don’t know what’s weirder,” she laughs. “That I man-
aged to find another Smolenyak to marry or that I
managed to find one that wasn’t related to me.”
—Steve Fisher

WHEN COSTCO MEMBER Susan Weese took a medical illustration course at the Art Institute of Chicago, she didn’t expect to start a long-term love affair.

“I have been in love with skeletons for 40
years,” she says. “The bones are so beautiful
and so intricate; I think they’re just gorgeous.”
As for people’s reactions, she says, “They
either love her or hate her.” She adds, “They
threw her out of the Colosseum in Rome. They
wouldn’t even let her on the boat to go to the
Statue of Liberty. Here’s how you know a real
New Yorker: Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
with a skeleton. The tourists all stopped us.
New Yorkers didn’t even look.”—SF