"Who Do You Think You Are? - Review"

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Kim Cattrall is like many people who may not be interested in following their ancestry back to the Civil War or Revolutionary War, but rather want to know about one person in the family. Usually it is a mystery or has been a family secret. In Kim's case it was a mystery of 70 years ago when her grandfather abandoned his wife & three daughters. Kim's mother was the oldest daughter at age 8. They never saw or heard of him again. They did not even really know what he looked like. The 25 Feb 2011 episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" NBC TV show was one of the best in my opinion and Kim used a lot of genealogical methods to track down her missing grandfather.

Kim found that her grandfather married another woman less than one year after he had left his family. From this she was able to use city directories and church records to find where he had gone & to track down some living children of the second marriage. This was a very sad story as Kim's family lived a very rough childhood, while her grandfather & his second family lived quite well.

My wife had a mystery that plagued her all of her life, but when she was 42 years of age, we found her birth parents' names and found them in Evansville city directories the year of her birth. Then we simply followed them back until her father was living without his wife. Then we looked for a marriage application and found it that provided her maiden name with his & her parents' names. Then we checked the Browning Obituary microfilm for deaths and found both of her parents listing their surviving children. Back to the city directories tracking down my wife's siblings... then we made a phone call and connected with all of her sisters & brothers. From her siblings (all older than her, she was the baby of 7 kids) she learned of the circumstances of her adoption! What she wanted to know her entire life was now known.

If you missed this episode or any of the others of season one or two, go to NBC.com to view the entire episodes.

- Review written by JGWest

"Kim Cattrall - Who Do You Think You Are? TV Show"

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Tonight... Kim Cattrall stars

in "Who Do You Think You Are" NBC TV Show 8/7C.

Kim unlocks the 70-year-old mystery behind her grandfather's abandonment of his young family. This should be another interesting episode. These shows are great genealogical adventures, that shows a little of how to research and how the information is gathered. If you miss an episode, you can go to NBC.com to see full episodes for this season, as well as, season one.

"Who Do You Think You Are?" NBC TV Series

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Rosie O'Donnell is featured tonight 8/7c

Friday is "Who Do You Think You Are?" NBC TV night. Taste o' thee Irish! She stated in one of the previews that *this [researching & finding her family] was not as easy as it looks on TV!* I was glad to hear that statement said as it seems so easy on the shows. This show is well worth watching by beginners in family curiosity to the experienced, advanced genealogical researcher.

"Tri-State Connection to TV Show!"

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There is a connection to the Tim McGraw episode of the NBC TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" in the Tri-State area. Tim discovered that when George Washington was 16 years old he kept a journal and mentioned that he stayed with Tim's ancestor Jost Hite. Twenty years later George Washington met with Captain John Posey and the Hite family was brought up. Posey lived on land adjacent to George Washington's Mt. Vernon home. This John Posey was the father of General Thomas Posey of which Posey County, Indiana is named. The General served as the Aide-De-Camp to General George Washington during the Revolutionary War. General Posey died of Typhus fever on March 19, 1818 in Shawneetown, Illinois, aged 67, and was buried in the Westwood Cemetery. When the General died he was serving as the Governor of the Indiana Territory.

General Posey's grave marker in Westwood Cemetery in Shawneetown, Illinois.
SAR Color Guard from the General Thomas Posey Chapter of Posey County, Indiana. L-R: Robert Hall, Ruth Hall, Wil Teague, Becky West, John G. West (I am carry the 13-Star Betsy Ross Flag while Hall & Teague are carrying muskets to guard the flag)

I am a member of the General Thomas Posey Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution that meets in Mt. Vernon, Indiana in Posey County. We were invited to participate in a SAR/DAR grave re-dedication ceremony for General Posey in Shawneetown, since our chapter was named for him. Several of us dressed in our Revolutionary War uniforms to provide a Colonial Color Guard for the ceremony.

-Written by JGWest

"Episode 2 'Who Do You Think You Are?' Season 2"

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Tim McGraw

When Tim found his Birth Certificate, he discovered that the man he called "Dad" was not his father after all! The country music superstar uncovers his father's heritage among the Founding Fathers. The show is on NBC tomorrow night (Friday, 11 Feb 2011).

As genealogical researchers, we teach others to look for primary records and to cite your findings about that person. We tell you to do that so you & others will be able to verify your proof of relationships in your family history. We always say: "Start with yourself and work back into time!" This episode with Tim McGraw illustrates the reason to start with yourself. You may not discover that one or both of your parents are not blood parents, but you may discover that they used different names for you or for themselves. My wife discovered that her birth certificate had the correct day & month, but had the year of her adoption instead of her birth year! When they typed up the birth certificate after she was adopted the typist carelessly put the current year and recorded it in the local county registry! We were getting our marriage license to get married. Becky was 19 years old, but the "new" birth certificate showed her as only being 17... and she would have to obtain both of her parents permission to marry. Without going into a lot of details, we got proof of her actual birth year and the wedding was on! I just demonstrated two examples of why you need to start with yourself and work backwards.

- Preview by JGWest

"Ancestry.com Sponsors TV Contest"

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You could win a $20,000...

...journey to your family's homeland.

Ancestry.com is partnering with NBC to help celebrities discover their family stories in Season 2 of Who Do You Think You Are? airing on Friday nights beginning on 04 Feb (8/7c). Ancestry is giving you a chance to win an amazing experience of your own.

It is called

The Ultimate

Family History Journey

Sweepstakes!

The Grand Prize includes $20,000 in travel money, plus:
Up to 8 hours of consultation time with an expert genealogist
Help from up to 5 experts in fields relevant to your family history
A yearlong Ancestry.com World Deluxe membership for you and 5 family members

20 First Prize winners will get an annual Ancestry.com World Deluxe membership

For additional chances to win, come back to Ancestry.com and enter once a day through April 8, 2011 for more chances to win.

"Uncle Dudley dies at 86"

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Chet Behrman...
Evansville Local TV Pioneer,
died Tuesday 25 Jan 2011.

He was one of my heroes growing up with that new thing called TV back in the days when everything was still black & white. Behrman played a noon, lunch time character to cover for the non-existent national shows during that time of day. He was Uncle Dudley to every kid from 1956 thru the early 1960's. He had a metal polka-dotted lunch bucket and between cartoons, he would announce birthdays of kids. Really cool to hear Uncle Dudley wish you a happy birthday on Television!!! Of course what we remember most were his miniature-sized toys of a worm & a giraffe (& others): Juan Worm & Jerry Giraffe. I remember as an adult working on the J. Jeff Hays campaign for Evansville Mayor. Jeff asked me to deliver a press release for that day to the TV & radio stations. I walked into NBC-WFIE Channel 14 and Chet Behrman took the news package... all I could say was "you are Uncle Dudley!!!" He was both pleased & embarrassed, but he was my hero and he knew it.

- written by JGWest

"Who Do You Think You Are?" NBC TV Series

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If you missed last night's first show in the series on NBC "Who Do You Think You Are?" - click on the link below to watch it.

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/episodes/#vid=1206958

I missed it last night, but watched it online. I enjoyed the show. I read Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and the comments posted by bloggers. Eastman's post was a review of David Hinckley's article on last night's TV show... Hinckley, writing for the New York Daily News, basically, stated the show was worthwhile in promoting genealogy interest. See Hinckley's writing at http://tinyurl.com/y9n23wn

Of course, if you watch it, you can form your own opinion. I thought it was interesting and I was surprised that the sponsor Ancestry.com did not over promote themselves. There was hints of research in archives, libraries & courthouses and other resources. I do not think the show was created to show people how to do research, but rather, to encourage people to begin research in their family history. As genealogists it is easy to poke holes in the show and point out how difficult research can be and that the show seems to nearly magically find some very nice finds almost instantly... but it is TV and they had lots of experienced professional researchers in the local areas concerned. Money & time was probably no problem! However, if you were to read any genealogical history, generally, very little is mentioned about the time, money or difficulties that took place to put the history together. I suspect all would find these histories very interesting! The previews show documents, old books, library microfilm readers... the real stuff in genealogy. Very little was shown of researching on the Internet!

I recommend all genealogists (advanced or beginners) to watch and encourage your non-genealogical friends to watch this series! From the California Gold Rush back to the Salem Witch Trials, Sarah Jessica Parker made some interesting discoveries of her family's involvement in the history of the United States (as all of us can). I have been at this hobby for over 50 years and I still love the hunt and the excitement of finding something new!!!

- Written by JGWest

RACING DOWN the RIVER -Brief Genealogical Notes

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Bill West announced that...

"Who Do You Think You Are" premieres on NBC Friday Mar 5 at 8pm EST. Read more on the NBC Web Site: http://www.nbc.com/news/2010/01/14/nbc-presents-post-winter-olympics-primetime-schedule-beginning-march-1/ "“Who Do You Think You Are?” gives viewers an up-close and personal look inside the family history of some of today's most beloved and iconic celebrities. Among the celebrities featured are Matthew Broderick, Lisa Kudrow, Spike Lee, Sarah Jessica Parker, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields and Emmitt Smith. Ancestry.com is NBC's official partner on the series. From executive producer Kudrow (“Friends,” “The Comeback”) - in conjunction with her production company Is or Isn't Entertainment and the U.K.'s Wall to Wall productions - “Who Do You Think You Are?” is an adaptation of the hit BBC television documentary series created and executive-produced by Alex Graham."

Dick Eastman posted...

It appears that genealogy is all over the television set these days. PBS is releasing a four-part series, "Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates Jr." The special, which builds upon the Harvard University professor's popular documentary series "African American Lives" parts 1 and 2, traces the genealogical histories of 11 luminaries of various races and backgrounds. The list includes author Malcolm Gladwell, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, former champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, television actress Eva Longoria, and Oscar-winning legend Meryl Streep. When "Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates Jr." premieres on PBS in February, viewers will first get to see Kristi Yamaguchi learn about the grandfather she never really knew. Meanwhile, novelist Louise Erdrich is shown cheering out loud when she is told one of her ancestors was one of the founders of Detroit. Check out the PBS Web Site for more: http://detnews.com/article/20100114/ENT10/1140329/PBS-lines-up-family-history-series--Faces-#ixzz0ce3yCrZT