The development of online resources for genealogical research has been nothing short of explosive. There is now a thriving forest of family trees for anyone trying to discover who they are and where they came from. At some point in everyone’s grade school journey a teacher assigns us the project of tracing our ancestors.

As a nation of immigrants, our lines of lineage often crisscross and loop around to create “family trees” with wide stretching branches and roots that reach across continents and oceans. It’s not unusual for an elementary school report to proclaim, “I’m part Ukrainian and Spanish, part German and English, part Kenyan and English, part Mexican and Portuguese.” And that’s not any “big deal.” For most of us, our “gene pool” is not deep and still. Our “gene pool” is a rushing…