Who Do You Think You Are?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I have been greatly anticipating the start of this series for weeks. I believe the show doesn’t officially start airing until tomorrow (Friday) night, but it’s available to get a jump on it now. I just viewed the first three episodes at NBC.com, and all I can say is—wow! You really should tune in for these stories. They’re riveting. I just finished watching Lisa Kudrow’s story and had tears in my eyes almost the entire time. Like the stories of many (most) Jewish families in America, there’s a breathtakingly tragic tale of Nazi atrocity at the center of it. But, there was a sweet surprise at the end of her story which I won’t spoil. Just watch. </p>

<p>The other two stories were those of NFL superstar, Emmett Smith and Sarah Jessica Parker. Both of those were also fascinating. At the end of Sarah Jessica’s story, she said something that actually took me aback. After finding out that one of her ancestors was an important player in one of this country’s darkest episodes (because I don’t want to spoil it, I won’t say which), she said that now, she truly felt like an American! Emmett Smith was only able to fill in a small portion of his family’s slave origins due to the fact that slave genealogical records were rarely considered important enough to maintain, but he was able to find out, through DNA testing, that he is 7 percent Native American, 12 percent European, and 81 percent African. The woman from the company that ran the test said that she had never seen such a high percentage of African Ancestry in the DNA of an AfAm they had tested. But, my guess is that the sampling available to her is restricted to that of people who actually pay to have their DNA tested, and that that would comprise a relatively sparse percentage of black Americans. It is known, however, that most AfAms have at least one white ancestor (even Emmett Smith was discovered to have had several), and often Native American ancestry as well. I know that’s certainly the case in my own family.</p>

<p>The series follows these people across the country, and often, around the world while they search for their family’s stories. Ancestry.com is a resource often highlighted in these searches, as well as state and county historical records from various other places. So far, the LDS church, which keeps assiduous records, hasn’t been consulted for help…</p>

<p>Genealogy has been enjoying a major resurgence in this country. People want to know where they come from, want a greater sense of “who they are”, and this is reflected in shows like this one, as well the the Henry Louis Gates series produced by PBS. Are there any genealogy enthusiasts here at CC? If so, what have you done to uncover your family’s past and what fascinating things have you discovered?</p>

2

<p>I love genealogy and enjoyed the PBS Gates show. My father and I have been pretty successful in tracing our ancestry back to the 16th century. We were able to start with a family tree that he had created as a teenager. On my mothers side we already had a lot of information since she is the direct ancestor of a very famous 18th century gunsmith to the English royal family. It was easy to start on both sides and with all the resources on the internet we were amazed to what extent we could ‘flesh it out’ without leaving home.
I would LOVE to be able to do one of those DNA screenings!</p>

3

<p>PH–I saw the Sarah Jessica Parker and the Emmett Smith episodes. I agree that they were absolutely amazing! I think the Emmett Smith episode should be a “must watch” for every person in the US. I found it very powerful.</p>

4

<p>On the PBS Gates show, we were struck by how virtually every screened participant thought that they had Native American ancestry, but in point of fact half of them didn’t. When Stephen Colbert is told that he was 100% white, he responded with: “What?..No Ojibwa princess?”. H and I howled, since his Grandma always has claimed that H is 1/8 Ojibwa. “1/8” seems to be a popular fraction, since it is impossible to prove. Though, like most Americans, we dream of having some connection with Native American ancestry, we haven’t discovered any documentation and only a DNA test would uncover it. (or nix it and break poor Grandma’s heart).
By the way, we have used the LDS resources and they are fantastic.</p>

5

<p>My sister has traced our genealogy for many generations- ( she is LDS), it is pretty interesting- but icky- my grandmother and grandfather families on my mother’s side, lived in the same small region and intermarried almost as much as British royals :eek:
But haven’t done the DNA. ( although the UW did want us to participate in a study years ago, but made me worried about not being able to get ins in case we had some weird disease)</p>

<p>Did anyone see this yet?</p>

<p>[New</a> Human Species? Siberia Fossil DNA Reveals Ancestor - TIME](<a href=“http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1974903,00.html]New”>http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1974903,00.html)</p>

<p>Many of my relatives came are Scot/Irish, I really want to do a walking tour of that area before I am too old to do so. H has no interest- I think he wants to go to Rio ( to the beaches), before he is too old to enjoy it!</p>

6

<p>TO those who are interested in our nation’s history through our families- you might like these books that I read with bookgroup sometime ago. </p>

<p>[Slaves</a> in the family](<a href=“http://www.salon.com/life/feature/1998/02/cov_27feature.html]Slaves”>http://www.salon.com/life/feature/1998/02/cov_27feature.html) and the [The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride](<a href=“Powell’s Books | The World’s Largest Independent Bookstore”>Powell’s Books | The World’s Largest Independent Bookstore).</p>

<p>Both very moving and well written.</p>

7

<p>I didn’t see the Kudrow episode. I did see the others. I thought the shows were “ok,” but not great. I thought it was a bit misleading in the way it made it seem as if you HAD to go to the locations where ancestors lived to get the information.</p>

<p>I’m into genealogy and have done my own and a friend’s family. LOTS of surprises in both. </p>

<p>One of the fun parts is “meeting” --mostly just on-line, for me–distant relatives. Sometimes the same family story has very different versions handed down through the generations.</p>

8

<p>I have no interest in my family history, not my thing, I guess.</p>

9

<p>Most of my ancestors were round German farmworkers. My aunts have been doing genealogical research lately, and they found a bunch of photographs from the 1800s. One of them held out a photo of my great-grandmother, turned to me and quietly said, “Aibarr, when we diet and exercise to try to lose weight, we just need to remember that this is the genetic stock that we’re up against…”</p>

<p>It makes me feel better. ;)</p>

<p>I’ll have to tune into the show… It looks interesting.</p>

10

<p>*“Aibarr, when we diet and exercise to try to lose weight, we just need to remember that this is the genetic stock that we’re up against…”</p>

<p>It makes me feel better. *</p>

<p>We have German ancestors as well- * Aunt Bee* lookalikes.</p>

11

<p>Hey this is pretty interesting.
My sister has been posting stuff on ancestry.com, so I finally joined so I could get more details.
We are related to lots of painters and politicians on my dad’s side,and inventors and outlaws on my moms ( must be where the ADHD comes from- but painters too-and lot’s of first ladies- what is up with that? )
Related to Marlon Brando on both sides & oh lordy Richard Nixon. But hey- also Audrey Hepburn.</p>

<p>My oldest will love this- Laura Ingalls Wilder on both sides.
;)</p>

12

<p>^^^^That’s really cool. I’ve read the Little House books about 10 times each and also every biography on Laura Ingalls Wilder.</p>

13

<p>My family has done lots of research, especially on my mom’s side. They traced her lineage back to Benedict Arnold. =) Not sure if dad has any famous (infamous?) ancestors. Though one of my friends did suggest I find out if Benedict Arnold qualifies me to join the DAR.</p>

14

<p>It’s fascinating to see how we truly are the children of our forefathers/mothers. My daughter is artistic, as is my mother. When I got into genealogy, my mother’s ancestors, back to the early 1800’s, listed occupations including the current equivalent of graphic artist, portrait painter, etc. I wonder if it’s a gene for fine motor skills, or if there is something else involved.</p>

15

<p>HisGrace - I believe there’s a society for descendents who fought/supported the British. If you’re descended from Benedict Arnold, perhaps you could join both that, plus the DAR !</p>

<p>On a separate topic: I don’t mean to be a downer, but I would caution people who use lineage charts from the LDS. The LDS does a wonderful job of making documents and tools available tot the general public, and they’re very generous with their work. However, we need to be aware that they publish lots of family lineage charts that no one checks. The LDS church believes in baptism after death , (which is the reason for their support of genealogy to begin with), so they aren’t necessarily bothered by baptizing the wrong people, so long as they capture the name of the right people as well. It’s up to us to verify those charts from original sources, if you choose to use the charts at all (which I personally don’t).</p>

16

<p>The law may be my career, but genealogy has been my favorite pursuit since I was a child. I’ve traced my ancestry in Poland and Lithuania back to the late 18th century (almost no earlier records exist for Jewish families from those areas), and my ancestry in Germany and Alsace back to the 17th century in many branches, the 16th century in one, and perhaps the 13th century in another. (Through the Weil branch of my family, I’m probably descended from Rabbi Meier of Rothenburg [ca. 1215-1293], the Maharam.) </p>

<p>I even wrote a few articles some years ago that were published in a couple of Jewish genealogy journals (my favorite involved translating from Polish into English all the Jewish marriage records from a particular town in Poland – including the marriage of two of my great-great-grandparents – for the second quarter of the 19th century, and analyzing the patterns of marriage connections with other towns in Poland). Unfortunately, the articles are all under my former name, so I don’t want to be more specific. My former name also appears in the acknowledgements sections of a couple of genealogical reference books.</p>

<p>But I haven’t had the time to do much research in recent years; work and health and other things have prevented it. As does the fact that I’ve really exhausted the resources that are available in archives in this country, including the LDS archives and various Jewish archives (primarily the LBI archives); hiring researchers in Germany or Poland or Lithuania, although I’ve done it several times, can get very expensive very quickly!</p>

<p>I’ve done research for a number of friends, usually limited to what’s available on the Internet (on ancestry.com, for example). I remember the days when one had to do all that research in person, at places like the NY Public Library, the National Archives branch downtown, and the local branch of the LDS Family History Center that used to exist near Lincoln Center, scrolling through reel after reel of poorly-indexed microfilmed census records, ship passenger lists, naturalization records, and birth, marriage, and death records. Some, but by no means all, of that can now be accessed while sitting at one’s own computer.</p>

<p>The only famous people I know of that I’m related to are Alfred Dreyfus (who was a cousin of one of my mother’s grandfathers), and Kurt Weill (much more distantly).</p>

<p>No, I haven’t seen the program. Honestly, it sounds like it’s geared towards people who don’t have much experience in doing genealogical research.</p>

17

<p>I agree with Hayden. I have used LDS for some of my genealogy research, but have become disillusioned when I discovered many errors (it seems to me that the more recent additions are getting sloppy) and also when I noted that they had “re baptised” some of my family members into the Mormon faith. Leave my grandma alone!</p>

<p>There is no one famous in our family. Our heritage is full of Swedish and German farmers who came to Minnesota in the early 1900’s for a better life. It has been a real joy to be able to travel to these small European villages and see the houses they lived in and visit the churches where they were their REAL baptisms occurred. One thing that I have found fascinating is the care they take of the grave sites. Each one is like a mini perennial garden.</p>

18

<p>There was a major controversy some years ago which led to a lot of hard feelings by a lot of Jewish people towards the LDS church: it turned out that thousands of Jewish Holocaust victims had been posthumously “baptized” into the Mormon faith, without their families’ knowledge. After many protests and much discussion, the LDS people agreed to “un-baptize” all of them, although I’ve read reports that the same sort of thing sometimes continues to happen.</p>

<p>To echo Kajon, please leave my poor great-grandparents and great-aunts and uncles, and various cousins, devout Jews who perished in the Holocaust, alone. Yes, it can’t really hurt them, but it’s incredibly presumptuous and disrespectful.</p>

<p>In terms of the LDS records, I almost never look at the family trees others compile (either there or on ancestry.com), and limit myself to the primary sources they have. </p>

<p>Transcription errors are common everywhere, though. The census indexes are full of them. It isn’t always easy to read handwriting, even in English, let alone, say, in 19th century German Gothic or Polish script.</p>

19

<p>The show’s been on for the last few weeks. It’s somewhat interesting but I dislike the time wasting “coming up” just before each commercial break followed by a ‘recap’ when they return from the break. </p>

<p>The show doesn’t really give an idea of the sometimes large amount of work necessary to really do all the genealogical research and they obviously have employed a number of researchers to determine the backgrounds for these celebreties.</p>

<p>I also don’t like the title of the show since I don’t think ancestry determines “who you are” but I guess it’s just a TV show. That said, I do find genealogy interesting. If one searches each branch a number of generations they’re bound to discover ancestors who were famous, common ancestors with another famous person, or had an interesting or notable historical experience (like the witch trials, slave ship, holocaust, 1849 gold rush, etc.). Of course the show only concentrates on a particular interesting ‘branch’ and ignores the rest. I do wonder if they’ve skipped some celebrities after researching and not finding something ‘interesting enough’ for the show. I found the segment on Emmet Smith pretty interesting.</p>

<p>I’ve discovered enough about my ancestry to find that one ancestor founded Salem, Mass (Roger Conant) and another invented a variety of potato. I actually randomly ran into another person, a colleague in another city, who mentioned that an ancestor of his founded Salem and after discussing some more found that he and I have a nearer common ancestor (around the great-grandmother timeframe) even though we’re both now on the other side of the country from where these ancestors were. I also found that one great-grandfather emigrated to the USA from Canada which I didn’t realize until about a year ago. None of this makes me who I am but I find it interesting nonetheless.</p>

20

<p>I agree about being cautious re the LDS charts. We didnt use their charts, but they had great original source documents on micro fiche. And frankly don’t trust a lot of the online charts that seem to arbitrarily link practically everyone’s lineage to well known people. Do some homework and go to source documents.
My dad recently received a copy a letter (by way of the federal government) from my great great great grand dad who applied for a pension for his service and injury during the Revolutionary War. The original reference to his service was found on service rolls we researched at the LDS center. We found the baptism records from several churches in Scotland and the UK to be helpful as well.</p>