BARB'S GENEALOGY TIDBITS-GENEALOGY HELPED BY TV SHOWS

Doing genealogy can seem like a lonely journey. Watching Webinars. Joining facebook groups. Researching whenever possible.

I watched the Finding Your Roots TV show on PBS with Henry Louis Gates Jr. as the moderator. Two celebrities were able to discover their roots.

Finding Your Roots

Michael Strahan and S.Epatha Merkerson were showcased. As people who descended from slaves it was interesting how the paper trail and the DNA helped with their stories.

When Ms. Merkerson was given the name of a slave ancestor, she was so overwhelmed. She stated she had just thought they were nameless people but to have a real name for a real person was so overwhelming.His name was Patrick.

It made me think about our brickwalls. Especially for the women in our lines. But usually we have the name- always a first name and the need to discover the maiden name. 

The show makes genealogy fun. 

Seeing the actors so surprised by the findings reminded me of 1984 when I was first starting my family history journey. I had gone to Goodwood where my maternal grandfather had roots. I stopped at the store in town to ask about any local cemeteries as I was doing my family research. The clerk showed me a book written on Goodwood. I did not the cash to buy and the clerk would not take a cheque. She said the author might. So given her address, I went to Mrs. Todd's house. What a gracious lady. Yes she would take a cheque. While talking with her I discovered that my gggrandfather had 12 daughters and lived in Goodwood. 

That feeling of discovering a piece of the puzzle. The book had some pictures of family. 

So on those occasions when genealogy is bogged down or the scanning or organizing becomes boring, it is so much fun to watch newbies to the process discovering their roots. Of course there are many researchers on the show Finding Your Roots that does the work. Yes there would be hours of research to put together that Book of Life presented to the celebrities. But fun to see!

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