Author |
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Angelicfairies2
Member
07-19-2004
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 8:37 am
Anyone watch? I truly enjoyed it!
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Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 8:47 am
I did. It was really interesting, wasn't it?
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Mak1
Member
08-12-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 8:53 am
I enjoyed it too! SJP's was a great case to start the series, and I loved seeing her emotions as she learned each new tidbit.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 9:58 am
I watched with a great deal of interest, but I think I had a different show in mind than the one they presented. 1) WONDERFUL job showing the joy, fascination and pride that family history finds can bring. I am positive that everyone who looks hard enough into their history will find similarly interesting stories at some point or another. And they really can cause you to adjust your concept of who you are in relation to where you came from. 2) They gave an unrealistic portrayal of what a reliable genealogical search is like. Huge leaps in information took place without any homage to the documents that made them sure the person they were looking for was in fact the person on the page they were reading. For example, they found a John Hodges in a California census a year after he left Cincinnati. How did they prove that this in fact was the same John Hodges? These were professional genealogists providing Parker with the information, I am sure they went to additional records to reinforce their hunch that this was the same man who was Parker's ancestor. They leapt backward in multiple generations for the Elwood information without emphasizing the documents that proved their link or explaining that (what I suspect) there is a proven genealogy for Elwood that, once you have tapped in, takes you back to the 1630's. 3) Proof proof proof. Ancestry.com is a ground-breaking resource for genealogists, a god-send in terms of rendering accessible records from the far reaches of the Western world. However, it includes records of family research (pedigree charts) that have been created by people who may or may not have done the leg-work on proof, and therefore can be VERY dicey as to their accuracy. Those pedigree charts can be helpful at times, and they can egregiously mislead a genealogical layperson who is sincerely interested in their true family history but isn't aware of the potentially flimsy nature of the pedigree charts. 4) I dislike that they made the research look so simple. It is a good thing to get people interested, so I guess they shouldn't scare people off by immediately highlighting the pains they had to go through to get Parker to her destination for this show. But they could have at least paid a bit more homage to the hunt. It is like having a murder mystery to solve every day of your life. You are never finished finding your ancestors, there are ALWAYS knots in documentation that you have to untie before you can move on with authority to the next ancestor. And you can't just assume anything, or every bit of research you do after that point might be a waste of time. 5) They treated the line of Parker's family that was under research for this project as full of people not worth mentioning. Every person on that line of the pedigree chart had a story that is worth knowing, not just the ones who linked in to prominent points of American history. I have been truly shocked at the amount of actual stories that remain of ancestors, no one sexy, that inform me as to who they were and what they went through in order to put me on this earth. A letter from one of the earliest Kentucky pioneer wives that tell of the wolves she was afraid would come down the chimney if she didn't light a fire, but the fear that indians would see the fire and kill her. Things like that. I know they were on very limited time, so there is an extent to which I can understand. But I am a real champion of the every day people you find in family histories, the stories and pictures that you can find to connect with their names and turn them into the real people they were as opposed to just another name on the chart. I find them every bit as sexy as the more famous or notorious relatives you may find in your genealogy. 6) They made it appear as if you must go to the places where these people lived in order to find the history you're looking for, which may be a turn off for many people. I mean, who can afford that these days? You can access most records you need from the comfort of your home office, by phone, mail, fax and internet. It is nice to be able to do hands-on research at the locus, but an inability to fund travel of this nature is in no way going to prevent you from finding the records on your ancestors. You may find more refined information if you can get there, but you can still access the major documents without travel. 7) Resources. This was a complete fail. Just about everyone in the US has a genealogical research center within driving distance, and their access to microfilm/fiche is invaluable. Some records are on line, others aren't - what are the most important ones with which to start? There was no mention of starting with interviews of family members, collecting their information and writing down names, dates of birth, dates of death, counties of death and places they may have lived, children, etc. as a starting point (although they did show Parker speaking with her mother about names and photographs). Family records are every bit as important as public records, and finding what your family has in its attics is vital. Summary: I'm sorry for writing a tome on this subject, I did in fact enjoy the show and intend to watch every second of the seven-week series. Maybe I expected too much of what they are trying to accomplish, and maybe they will get deeper in to detail once they have captured an audience. And lord knows I am all for encouraging people to take interest in their family histories, I send emails to my relatives a couple of times a week giving them tidbits on their family history that they may not have known. Since Ancestry.com is sponsoring the show, it may be the case that they are more focused on getting people to research using their website than explaining nuts and bolts documentation to them. Which is also OK, as long as people know the drawbacks presented by information on their site. It would have been nice if they'd presented Parker's story as the beginning of her search, as opposed to the kind of finished result that she appeared to present to her mother. What about all those other people on this branch of the tree that they skipped over? Is she also interested in them and now off to find them too? Anyway, I will stop babbling. I am very much looking forward to watching the episode with Emmitt Smith, if his family goes back into the 1800's in America his research is likely to present some problems that are unique to African American research. Sorry again for the rant, I can't believe anyone would actually read all this LOL.
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Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 10:21 am
I did. And enjoyed it. 
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 11:02 am
Thanks, Holly. (I know I'm a windbag LOL.) I am hoping they end the series with an episode that gives essential pointers to people who are interested in beginning their search.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 11:28 am
I enjoyed it. But I'm not an SJP fan. There was a PBS series Faces of America, that ended this past Wednesday which was very similar. It was a three parter hosted by Louis Gates, Jr. The last part traced genealogy further back with the help of DNA-related technology.
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Brenda1966
Member
07-03-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 11:56 am
I enjoyed the show but suspected that they made it look too easy. I'm not sure they could cram into one hour all of the painstaking research, nor could they cram in all of the stories of everyone in her family line. I'd like to know more about my family line, but I don't have the time, money, energy, patience for it. And I don't think anyone else does either, which is unfortunate.
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Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 12:26 pm
I wouldn't know how to begin such a search.
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Whoami
Member
08-03-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 1:27 pm
I wanted to watch this. But it clashed with something else and my DVR dropped it off. Oh well, maybe I'll catch the second episode. I watched Faces of America too. It got me to wanting to see the full details of my lineage. I know bits and pieces, but not much.
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 1:46 pm
I agree with your every word GAL. I enjoyed the show and as someone who has been working on my genealogy for about 25 yrs now I welcome anything that will increase the profile of this pastime. I remember when I started, nothing online but hunting down address' and then writing dozens and letters and waiting months for a response which would then result in more letters. It was slow slow slow but the flipside is that now we have a wealth of online date but not all of it is reliable and you really need to know how to pick and choose and confirm. My one complaint is that as a genealogist I come across people all the time who are only in this to try to connect to royalty, celebrity etc. Before the industrial revolution most of our ancestors were farmers or similiar and that's what you will find. Doesn't mean there won't be interesting stories but very few people are going to connect to the Tsar of Russia or Elizabeth Taylor and I find it's those searchers who are most likely to skip steps in their quest for genealogy gold.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:06 pm
Holly, start with your parents and then go to your oldest relatives. Let them know that you are interested in the family history, and that you hope they can help you with their own information and with documents and photos they may have. I have found most older folks to be MORE than helpful and generous with their time and information. Take a tape recorder with you (if you're visiting in person, take copious notes if talking on the phone). Take them as far back as they can remember with names, birth marriage and death dates, counties and states of birth, marriage and death. Who are their parents; grandparents; aunts/uncles; etc. Fill out those lists as much as you can (some times you have to go through collateral relatives to find direct ancestors, sometimes those collateral relatives' families have records you might need). Ask them what they remember specifically about these people, their stories. You never know what tidbit of information might lead you to a big clue later on. And don't forget to ask them about themselves - their stories in life, their journey. E.g. how did they meet their spouse, where did they live/work/like to vacation, what was their relationship like with their in-laws/parents/sibs, etc. You will be grateful later that you thought to ask them those questions - I have cousins who lost their father and never asked him specific questions about his early recollections. I had asked him those questions and was able to fill in some large gaps in their understanding of their father that would have otherwise been lost. Here is a free pedigree chart you can start filling in: pedigree chart. You can start it with yourself as person #1, or start with one each for your father and mother. Really concentrate on getting all the information filled in up to your great-great grandparents before branching further. They are people who are remembered by people who are still alive, and for whom the window of opportunity for procuring first-hand information may be rapidly closing. Free Family Group Sheet. You should have one of these filled out for every ancestor, they can be used for anyone you're interviewing actually. They help identify the key information that you need to keep track of for that person and their branch of the family. You are likely going to be immediately fascinated with one branch of the family or another and where they came from. I recommend starting with a branch that does not seem to come from a recent immigration, but is more probably American for a few generations back at least. It will simplify your early attempts at tracking ancestors and make accessing their information much more immediately rewarding. Once I have definitely identified an ancestor I always go directly to the census records (they are available up to 1930 on Ancestry .com, or you can research them for free at your library) and track them backward in 10 year increments as far as I can go. The census records will also tell you where they were born and where their parents came from, as well as other information about themselves and their spouses/children. Here are several genealogy websites into which you can plug ancestor information to see what information there may be for your search: Genealogy.com This site has GenForums, which send you pages which are specifically for people researching the surname you are looking for. You can ask questions and look through previous postings for specific information that may be relevant to your relative(s). Family Search.org - this is the Latter Day Saints site, it is a great place to get ideas on where your family tree might lead. They also have free online tutorials for genealogy. Ancestry.com Most of what is on this site you have to pay to access, but it is worth it to track down records and to see the results of other peoples' research on your family. Remember, never take anyone else's word for it, though. Always follow up with documentation of your own. If the researcher cites his/her resources, you're on firmer footing so long as you look and the sources yourself. If you decide you really are interested in going further with your family history, you will want to spend $80.00 or so to get Family Tree Maker, which is the software most of these research sites interact with. You can punch in a search on one relative, and the software will do an internet search and identify the on-line information that exists regarding this relative - including a 5-star system that tells you which sites have the most likely matches. Lastly - a bit of advice. Start off organized. Get two binders, put your pages and charts in it separately for your mother and father, and gradually expand into more folders as you feel the informations requires additional separation. The information will start coming in fast and furious in very short order as you become comfortable with the research, and it can be overwhelming unless you already have an organization that is designed to receive the information and keep it where you can access it easily next time you need it. Seriously, I need to stop talking I am out-wind-bagging even myself. Anyway, this is how you start. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have if you are going to get rolling on your family tree.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:11 pm
Rissa, I started EXACTLY the same way. Writing letters to church secretaries and begging for their largess, knocking around old cemeteries hoping to find the right tombstone, etc. It was SO exciting to get the records in the mail you'd ordered weeks earlier. I still get a bit of that by ordering records from the United Kingdom or parishes over in Germany, but yeah. Modern technology has certainly changed the game, sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way.
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Holly
Member
07-22-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:28 pm
Wow, GAL, that's some superb information to get me started that you supplied. Thanks tons! I only have one aunt still alive; she's it, the last of the last generation. No parents or grandparents. Hopefully I'll be crossing the pond this summer and can pick her brains some then. ETA: You know, I know very little about my father's side of the family. I think I might start there when I go home. It's exciting to think that it's possible to learn about them after all. Again, GAL, thanks for taking the time to supply all that information.
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Kitt
Member
09-06-2000
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:33 pm
I'm watching the SJP episode now. This series has been running in the UK for quite a few years now, and my brother's company (he's a genealogist) were involved in it. Basically they set a team of people on the research both before and after the celebrity gets involved. They look at all the people they can on the family tree and then concentrate on a few select stories they want to reveal on the show. It's not fake so much as staged, in that the specialists the celebrities meet have already done their research and know where to look to find the facts they want to present. The celebs are kind of the patsies, their tale has already been told and they come in and have it revealed to them in stages. The show sparked a lot of renewed interest in genealogy in the UK, and have made the websites like ancestry.com very popular. Everyone has a story and a lot of the shows made me cry in some way or another, some of them very much so!
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:35 pm
Kitt, tell your brother I want his job please ROFL.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 2:44 pm
Holly, you are very welcome and I will be excited to hear what you turn up. I didn't know anything about my father's family, either, and was SHOCKED to learn he had a whole network of relatives out there who had family records (his own father and mother died very young, and with them went any tangible records to my knowledge). I'll bet you're in for a very similar surprise, and prepare for the ride it can be one of the wildest and most rewarding of your life.
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Curlyq
Member
07-10-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 5:22 pm
What's good about shows like this is that they drive more people to go to Ancestry.com, which can then benefit those who have already been searching. I know every time PBS does a genealogy series I will usually hear from my aunt who has suddenly remembered some other relatives she never told me about before. It happened again this past week. Not only did I hear from her, but also from another cousin I'd never met who found my online tree. So far I've been contacted by four cousins from both sides of my family thanks to my Ancestry.com tree, even though it's set to private. I enjoyed the show. I didn't expect to see the research that goes into it, because that can be tedious and not fun to watch. It's only fun in the moment when you find what you're looking for. I did wish they had explained how they found that letter about the death of the miners, though. Making the celebrities travel adds something to it because it's one thing to hear a story but another to actually go to the site where it took place. It's not so much about going there to get the info, but more about making the celebrities walk in their ancestors' footsteps. It was just funny watching her emotions as she got all caught up in these stories and started worrying about whether or not they died, even knowing they'd been dead for quite some time. It really can feel like you're a detective on the trail of living people when you search for them in the records. Some of my relatives still don't understand why I care about old stories of family history, and some seem to feel like it's best to let them stay buried. I figure if there's something shameful or embarrassing in our past history, I'd still want to know. Nobody's perfect. Even the scandalous relatives should be remembered. Having Puerto Rican ancestors makes it challenging because the only records at Ancestry.com that help are the last three censuses, the passenger lists, and the draft cards. I dug up all those during a free trial, so now there's no reason to subscribe. You have to be careful with the census records, too. According to them my great-grandfather was born in St. Thomas, Santa Cruz, and Denmark. Yet my grandfather always said his father was born in England. So we still have no idea where he came from. We just know he ended up in Puerto Rico. One of these days I'd love to go to a research center to learn more.
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 5:38 pm
Curlyq, I have an ancestor that flat out lied multiple times in census records (I knew her, by the way - my g-grandmother). It turned out to be a very sad story of illegitimacy and insanity, there were reasons why she was so secretive all her life. I almost felt bad finding these things out, things about which she was ashamed, but at the same time I have been able to explain to the family why she should be viewed very sympathetically, not as the bitter, cutting and disappointed person they remember. It certainly has made me love her more. My cousin even recently named one of his children after her, something she dearly wished for (a namesake) during her lifetime, but never happened. I never thought I'd see that happen. I hope NeNe is resting in peace.
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Ladytex
Member
09-27-2001
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 6:42 pm
I recently learned of living cousins that I never knew existed. It was interesting also to see where my mother and my father's trees connected way back when and then the roadblock we hit in the 1800's. I have the CD's of the records of the Freedman's Bank, but at a point there are no records...
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Smokey
Member
07-08-2003
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 10:05 pm
I just watched my recording. I really enjoyed it. And, Goddessatlaw, I enjoyed all the information you've passed along. Thank you! One interesting thing to me was that one of the names on Sarah Jessica Parker's family tree might be a relationship to us. Our last name is the same with the exception of a few of the letters changed. I had heard my father in law's family had dropped a few letters because the last name is so long. She had it listed as Breitenbuecher and we now say it as Britenbucher (pronounced Bright n Booker). I am going to see what info I can find on that. Interesting stuff!
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Curlyq
Member
07-10-2002
| Saturday, March 06, 2010 - 11:17 pm
Goddessatlaw, I think I know what you mean. My great grandmother is remembered by her grandchildren as being a real...well, let's say it rhymes with witch. She moved to NY from PR to be with the rest of the family, but never wanted to pitch in with the housework and would say things like "I'm not the maid." After doing research I learned that for one thing she'd been married off as a teenager to my great-grandfather when he was practically a senior citizen. She'd lost a couple of children within the first 10 years of their marriage, and certain clues about her lead me to believe she had come from a well-to-do family and likely had a maid in her married life. In those days in PR the wealthy women were taught not to do housework but to just play music, look pretty, and do needlework. Sure enough, my aunt remembered her primping in the mirror a lot and tatting (making lace). So she wasn't just being mean, she was brought up to behave that way. When my great-grandfather lost his business in a hurricane and then died, she was probably left completely unprepared to take care of herself. Then she lost her youngest son in WWII. So I think of her with a bit more sympathy than those who grew up knowing her.
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Rissa
Member
03-19-2006
| Sunday, March 07, 2010 - 3:59 am
I have a rhymes with witch as well LOL. My grandmother... refused to give us any information whatsoever regarding her family, her marriage, my dad's dad. You could ask her the most harmless questions and get a look that would freeze hell and then she'd look away and talk to someone else. We always thought there was some big scandal she was ashamed of so my father asked her if she would please write down some basic information for him and seal it until her death. She agreed but never did it. Took us years but we found the information she hid and no scandal at all in her family. In fact they were the founding fathers of two separate towns and she their spoilt princess (think Nelly Olson LOL). During the depression her father loaned money to dozens of local families and extended credit to many more. When the economy began to rally he forgave all those loans and debts. One of those was for his own brother and my grandmother felt his children should have paid HER back after their fathers had both passed away and for that she spent 60 yrs not discussing her family or talking to them. She also told my dad zero about his own father (they divorced when my dad was 5) except that he was a jobless bum but we know now that when they met he was an accountant for our federal gov't, a job he held for decades before, during and after their marriage. She had moved with him to a small BC town where his large, close family lived but her own family was days travel away (at that time) and she resented the heck out of it (and probably felt isolated to be fair). She left him and spent the rest of her life bitter, refusing to let him know where his kids where yet also refusing to grant him a divorce. I am still floored by the energy that woman devoted to remaining indignant. On the other hand I have a branch of the family that would do well to keep their ancestors behavior quiet but love to brag about their drunken, thieving kin. LOL
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Goddessatlaw
Member
07-19-2002
| Sunday, March 07, 2010 - 9:01 am
LOL, Rissa!! Great story!! Those old grudges die hard, I tell you. In the days before television I guess that was a form of entertainment, because I've encountered many stories that resemble yours. I like your colorful relatives who put their drunken, thieving kin out on the front porch for everyone to enjoy. Better than hiding them in a closet LOL. I encountered the vague and silent treatment from my in-laws regarding Colossus' great-grandfather, so I sent away for his records and sure enough - illegitimacy and family horror related thereto. Between that and explaining to my MIL how in-bred one branch of her family is (not quite as bad as King Tut, but 1st cousins marrying all over the place so the family tree grapevines back and forth over itself), let's just say I'm not as popular with the in-laws as I'd like to be LOL. Sometimes you need to know when to hold your cards close to the vest, but they asked and I told them ROFL.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Sunday, March 07, 2010 - 9:19 am
I missed it???? Oh no!!!! Grumble. Grumble. Any chance it's being repeated?
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