Who Came Before

I'm a big fan of the new television show "Who Do You Think You Are." And SURPRISE it's not a reality game show piece of crap.

The show takes a celebrity and helps them trace their genealogy. Genealogy is one of my hobbies, so the show is fascinating to me, but I think it would appeal to many people. We humans seem to have a need to know where it all started, where we come from.

The first episode I watched featured Matthew Broderick who, despite being freakin' adorable even at his age, I am not a big fan of. It didn't matter. As the researchers from the show helped Broderick research both sides of his family, the details were fascinating. His Grandpa, in other word's his father's father, was always just "Postman Joe" to those who knew him.

Broderick didn't have many memories of his grandfather, who died when Broderick was young. But family stories didn't prepare him for what the researchers found -- his grandfather had served in WWI and was a medic. He received a Purple Heart, which honors those who are injured in war, and a medal for bravery. Postman Joe was one of those brave souls who dashed out onto the battlefield to tend to the wounded, heedless of the bullets still flying around.

He survived the war and went on to become a father and grandfather. But he didn't brag about his war exploits, his medals or his bravery. His grandchildren had no idea their grandfather was a war hero.

Another relative turned out to have been killed in the Civil War. After that person's unit was involved in a battle in Georgia (near Atlanta) the casualties were buried quickly in a vacant lot. A few years later, the bodies were carefully excavated and moved to a local military cemetery. Every body had since been identified -- except one. This turned out to be Broderick's ancestor. So his search for family helped solve a historical mystery.

Other celebs who have participated in the show include Broderick's wife Sarah Jessica Parker, actress Susan Sarandon, model/actress Brooke Shields and actress Lisa Kudrow. It's really neat seeing their faces light up when they find a relative, and it's very moving when they shed a tear over a relative who lead a particular difficult life.

This is just fascinating stuff to me. I have been interested in genealogy for about four years, and I've found so many neat facts about my families and my husband's families. We found his great-grandfather's draft card for WWI -- written in his Ggrandfather's handwriting, along with a physical description. We found a WWII draft card for another Ggrandfather, who was a coal miner. My husband never knew that.

I've found graves of family members that, somehow, we had just lost track of. Tombstones can be great places to get information -- birth date, death date, sometimes a spouse is listed, maiden names for women. These things all help lead you to the next place where you'll find even more information.

I've also found sad facts, and facts that made me very uncomfortable. Recently, I found for the first time, an ancestor who owned slaves. I had always imagined that my family was so poor no one in the whole history of our family could have afforded slaves. Well, this ancestor actually left his slave, and the slave's family, to the ancestor's daughter in his will. It was very disturbing to see a person being willed off like a possession.

The best source I've had so far in finding family information has been the United States Censuses. Over the years, information requested on the census has changed. At some points, the respondents' name, age, years married, rent or mortgage, where you were born, as well as where your parents were born, taxable income, literacy, race were all part of the census. Then again, the earliest censuses often had the name of the head of household and a bunch of hashmarks indicated how many children and/or adults live in the home. Nothing else.

The Census we are all being asked to fill out this year is a bit of a yawn. Name, race, others living in your home. No occupations, no heritage, no ages. And there are still people protesting the Census as being too intrusive. Ha! Censuses are not released for public viewing for about 70 years after they are taken. Most folks would be dead, I'd suppose.

I still love the Census. I love running my finger down a row of names and BAM! There is my great-grandfather, his wife, their children, including my grandfather! And here's their address and by gosh, great-grandpa was a farmer. He could not read and write. In the next census (10 years later) Great-grandpa might be gone (deceased) and Grandma is soldiering on, raising her children alone. Or a child might be missing -- it could be a death, it could be that the child married. It's another door opening to another roomful of questions to answer.

If you like puzzles, or if you are interested in your heritage or just want to know if you are the first writer in your family (I'm not!), dabble into genealogy. If you're not hooked on it, you'll still have fun finding little tidbits. My favorite site for genealogical research is Ancestry.com. There is a fee, although there are some free sites where you can find a lot of info. You can try your local county historical society, as some do have census reports online. Most libraries have access to census reports, as well.

I prefer to pay Ancestry.com, because it contains so much and I can work at home on my research. There are just tons of databases to access, plus you can enter your family tree information right on the site so others researching your family can find you. That is a lot of fun, too. I've found some 7th-cousins twice removed and they've all been very nice.

Good luck researching your own family tree, and I suggest that your first step is to talk to your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, whoever is around and knows the details of your family. Write it all down, then start looking for more. You'll be hooked.