"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