Family Tree

Pam Engel tried something new with her biology students last year at Glen Burnie High School. Instead of talking about how diseases and traits are passed on through family members, she teamed up with a doctor to help students create their own family trees. Students had to list three generations and include medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, along with causes of death. Then they had to act as genetics counselors and predict which conditions might be passed on in their families.

YOU'D THINK THAT THE HIGH POINT OF something called "Great Chef's Dinner" would be the meal. And this year, visiting chef Jim Gerhardt of Limestone Restaurant in Louisville, Ky., was part of the draw. But at this, the 17th annual such fundraiser for the Family Tree, the oohs and aahs began way before the first course was served. They started as soon as the doors to the dining rooms in the Grand Lodge at Hunt Valley opened, and guests to the sold-out event got their first look at the 35 tables inside.

When the paper trail that Raymond A. Winbush followed in search of his African roots ended at a slave-holding Kentucky plantation, he turned to a combination of modern technologies: genetic testing and online social networking. It worked. A DNA test traced his ancestry to tribes in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea, while an online forum set up by the company that scanned his DNA put him in touch with other African-Americans who share similar genetic markers. "It's like a electronic family reunion," said Winbush, director of the Institute for Urban Affairs at Morgan State University.

On December 3, 2007, DAVID ALLEN HIGGINBOTTOM; beloved son of David and Kathryn Higginbottom; dear brother of Corey, Austin and Jessica Higginbottom; loving grandson of Harold and Betty Higginbottom and Grace Yeager. Also survived by numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. Friends may call at the family owned Ruck Towson Funeral Home, Inc., 1050 York Road (beltway exit 26a) Friday, 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. where a Funeral Service will be held Saturday, at 1 p.m. Interment private. The family suggest contributions in David's name to: The Family Tree, 2108 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218.

Howard County police increased patrols in the neighborhood around Atholton High School in Columbia yesterday after a 15-year-old girl reported that a man followed her Thursday as she walked home from the school. The man tried to get her attention by whispering to her from his car in the area of Cedar Lane and Freetown Road about 2:30 p.m., police said. The man got out of the car and gestured for her to get in the back seat, police said. The girl continued walking to her house on a nearby street, and the man left, police said.

They wore balloon hats, moon-bounced, slurped on snowballs, ate piles of cotton candy, watched ducks and stared at 10,000 pinwheels glittering atop Federal Hill. About 1,000 people attended the Family Fun Fair yesterday, a free event designed to support families and give them activity ideas as the long, hot, school-less, potentially challenging days of summer descend. The day was organized by the Family Tree, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse and neglect by offering classes and other assistance to parents and kids.

Orioles broadcaster Dave Johnson still gets no respect. The new Los Angeles Dodgers media guide is out and the small section about his son, Steven, who is one of the club's young pitchers, has this to say about the family tree: ... is the son of Davey Johnson, a big league player and manager who piloted the Dodgers for two seasons (1999 and 2000). Dave is pretty sure he never managed the Dodgers, though he long ago came to grips with the slings and arrows of sharing a name with a more widely known baseball personality.

Last year genealogist Henry Peden hunkered down in the Historical Society of Harford County to conduct research for the latest in a long string of books he has written. For this project, he perused thick volumes of business licenses. He came across a batch of licenses granted to horse breeders, and the more he read, the more intrigued he became. Peden's mind raced as he soaked up details about horses with names such as Nicodemas, Mountain Boy, Orphan Boy, Paddy Whack and Oysterman. Eventually, it occurred to him that he could undertake a project that few, if any, researchers had undertaken: a book documenting the history of horse breeding in Harford.

And so Molly Welsh, an Englishwoman sentenced to indentured servitude in 17th-century Maryland, wed an African slave named Bannaka. And they begat four daughters, one of whom was named Mary. And Mary wed a slave named Robert, who took her last name, which, by the time of their nuptials, had become Bannaky. Mary and Robert begat one son and three daughters. One of the daughters, Jemima, wed Samuel D. Lett. From that union came eight children, including a son named Aquilla. "Aquilla Lett eventually moved to Ohio," Gwen Marable said Saturday afternoon.

For most of his life, William Popomaronis wondered about his blue eyes and blond hair. Born in Baltimore to natives of Greece, Popomaronis stood out in a sea of dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin at family gatherings. It was obvious that the 52-year-old pharmacist and one of his daughters picked up their coloring from his mother and maternal grandfather, who were also blondes, but no one else in the family had similar features. "I could only infer that somewhere, long ago in my family history, someone did not originate from Greece," Popomaronis says.