Top 10 Awkward Moments on Finding Your Roots
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
- Finding your roots can come with awkward revelations. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most embarrassing and unsettling ancestral discoveries celebrities made on the genealogy documentary series “Finding Your Roots.” Our countdown includes Gayle King’s European ancestry, not Julia Roberts, Issa Rae’s free ancestors, and more! What scandalous tales exist in YOUR family history? Why don’t you spill some secrets in the comment section below?
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What did you think of these awkward moments? Let us know below, and be sure to also check out our video of the Top 10 Shocking Reveals on Finding Your Roots - ua-cam.com/video/wFpovaxtCRw/v-deo.html
I think early in the show's run, Dr. Gates had genetic test done and it revealed his genetic heritage was mostly European (over 50%). He joked that as a professor of African American studies, it was scandal that he was even genetically black.
Frankly, I didn’t find them awkward at all. In fact I found the delivery more like hush, hush, tongue wagging, gossipy, snobbery.
@@janlafournaise6505that’s how they got the name Hollywood eleits. I think.
The black people, justice warriors for systemic racism, and reparations....FINDING OUT THAT THEY ARE 30 PERCENT WHITE....AND THAT THEIR ANCESTORS SLAVE OWNER WAS A BLACK MAN....what's the payout on that....??
none of these are awkward at all!
How is any of this "humiliating" or even "embarrassing"? We have zero control over what we find out about our ancestors.
Because they are dumb. And have been preaching hatred for so long.
The fact that we have zero control over what we find out, has nothing to do with how we feel .
Also, what ordinary people had to do just to survive is nothing we should be ashamed of. Short of psychopathic, serial killers, I’m not gonna be surprised or ashamed at what my ancestors did to make it.
Racism being taught through the media.
Depends on how far back you go. I found out my mom lied about who my dad was and my sister isn’t my sister. So…I’m pretty upset. lol I probably wouldn’t care if great great great grandparents did this. But my mom? Just awful.
WE were SPECIFICALLY instructed not to use a DNA kit. Our parents were very upset they were available. Getting a DNA test would possibly TEST the information they had given us, and that was disrespectful....?? Well, I ran into a half brother by accident, apparently my dad had a baby with his girlfriend shortly after he married my mom. He was outraged that I found out. ?????? My half brother's mom wasn't excited about it either. She looked at me, asked me who my parents were......*sigh* It needed to come out at some point. At this point, I'm not sure I want to know anymore. Just curious how many half siblings and cousins are out there. We just DON'T KNOW. Everybody just lied. Period. I'm just glad I made it here.
You have to wonder how many people marry close relatives because Mom won't admit that she could have had the paternity wrong or Dad has left children with many many women, and of course, the Mom doesn't know who else the baby daddy was with. It's sad.
Sounds sad for your parents. Truth is always the way, especially when it’s hard. Sounds like two families are tired up in this secret. Keep reaching out to other DNA matches. You may be the key to shedding more light on the situation and keep meeting relatives…. You never know 😊
There are lots of FB groups for people that find out through DNA kits that they either have other, previously unknown siblings or, that one of their parents isn't really their biological parent.
Sadly for many people they had to behave within accepted visible morals, or be shunned, so I feel sorry for those descendents who had to carry the burden of the lies perpetrated to cover their shame. After doing family history research for many years, I have long since failed to be shocked by discoveries, but have a wry smile at these oo er transgressions. Our ancestors were all young once, had hearts, feelings, life challenges, but if they hadn't none of us would be here now. 😊
I’ve always told me kids that they probably have siblings out there that they don’t know about bc of how many women their father slept with on the side 😂
No one should be ashamed of anything they themselves didn’t commit.
Not even your children??
I have a strong feeling you’re talking about a specific time in history for specific group of people …. 😒
I think in 2024 it's more about embarrassing history of prior generations.
@@yamboghini7307 And? We supposed to just invent a time machine? History is history.
@@rallyfan101 what are you even talking about? This comment is so incoherent, I’m seriously asking.
I did ancestry dna out of curiosity of my ethnic background. A week later, I got a message from someone looking for her father and she noticed that we were first cousins. She told me the only few things she knew about her biological dad. Turns out my uncle had a fling with a woman when he was in the navy right before he and my aunt met. Their oldest daughter (who I'm very close to) is only a year younger than this girl. He never knew she existed.
One awkward phone call later and our family has grown! No hard feelings from anyone. She's really sweet and was very happy to finally meet her dad. My other cousins weren't upset to find out they had a half sister either. I was worried it was an affair but nothing fishy happened so I didn't end a marriage lol. The crazy stories that unfold..
That is truly wonderful.
A few months after I had my ancestry DNA done I also received a message from a woman who'd been adopted at birth in a private adoption who said I was her closest relative in the database. She'd hired someone to help her trace her roots because she couldn't access her own adoption records. I immediately shared my tree with her and her researcher. The last I heard, we believe one of my mom's cousins is her mother. I'm thrilled to help her on her way to finding her biological family members.
This just happened to me! I met my daughter that I never knew I had for the first time today, she is one year one month older than my oldest daughter… and this all because of a dna test I did to find out my roots
@@randybach4581 That's awesome! What a blessing it must feel like. Amazing what more can come with it than just your roots.
@@TracyW1965 I wish you and her the very best of luck! It's crazy that I was in it only to see if I had any background outside of the US. I was pretty disappointed to find nothing very interesting. Then she messaged me. I couldn't reply for a few days once I realized her dad was my uncle. I felt like it wasn't my place. I wanted to help her so badly, but I kept thinking well what if my uncle cheated on my aunt in the beginning of their relationship (the math was pretty close). I didn't want to be the reason for a ton of drama so I was torn. Finally, I called my grandmother, whom I'm very close with. I knew it was risky because I was also telling her she had another granddaughter that she didn't know about. But thankfully she gave me the advice and courage to talk to my uncle and it ended up being the best decision because it turns out, he was seeing a girl while he was in the navy. He started dating my aunt AFTER they had broken up. And she never told him she was pregnant. So it was all innocent on his part - no cheating. And my newfound cousin not only found the dad she had spent years searching for, but also found out he didn't just abandon her. They have talked weekly ever since and she is Facebook friends with everyone in my family. Everyone was so happy to take her in. It's honestly one of the sweetest stories.
As an American descendent of slaves (and freed Blacks), it was not shocking to learn of my mixed heritage. Of course we had European relatives! My family is ALL the shades. Now, HOW that came to be is both intriguing and largely upsetting. They didn't touch on the fact that so many of us African Americans look the way we do because of forced sexual contact. We didn't all have a Loving situation of interracial kinship and romantic love.
It's a deeply complicated history, but it's--for better or worse--OUR American history. We are here today because our ancestors SURVIVED and bequeathed a perseverant spirit to us all. And I mean ALL of us.
In the original genealogy UK programme "who do you think you are" British Black Athletes all descendants of black slaves brought by ship. Only the strongest people survived horrific sea journeys, hence their strong genes making them performance athletes.
Many Blacks in America have Irish last names. Have you ever wondered why that was? It was because freed slaves often lived in close proximity to Irish who were very poor when they came to America.
@@BillGreenAZ, because many slave took the name of the owners.
@@ChyarasKiss no. Most Irish came over in the 1840s and after. They were too poor to own slaves.
@@BillGreenAZ That wasn't the case in the Caribbean. How do you explain all the Irish and Scottish names there?
Please consider that in some cases women were sexually assaulted by people they knew, but didn’t report to authorities. So they may not have had an affair and the secrecy was their way of preserving their dignity in those days.
There is also the possibility of incest as well, from an uncle, a brother, a cousin, or even daddy. That kind of event can damage an entire family, for several generations.
I came to make this comment myself. But, you said it better. I would venture to say that perhaps half of these presumed affairs were actually sexual assaults.
Are you admitting to a crime here?
@@judythompson8227I’ve read they’re realizing this is even more common that suspected thanks to DNA testing being so popular now. So sad.
That’s precisely correct.
My mother always said these dna tests mainly served to uncover pain & crimes unimaginable.
She was right.
I do wonder how they handle this reality behind the scenes though, bc there is no way that the massively talented minds behind this show have not considered this very real possibility. I’d love to hear from someone on the show about how they handle that open question.
What's great about this show is that it shows that every life has twists and turns and very few are perfect. People for centuries have hidden scandal, lied about it, left countries to avoid it but the reality is very few of us live a perfect life
Your words remind me of a moment of The Simpsons, as most things do. Homer is reading the Bible: "and talk about a preachy book. Everyone is a sinner-except for This guy."
Only one person ever lived a perfect life, haha. So I’d say 99.999% of us are flawed.
@nickisnyder3450 ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....You win most boring and cliched comment of this video. Congrats! 👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎👎
@@NsTheName No one, not one person in the history of the world, has ever lived a perfect life.....ever. And if you referring to Jesus Christ, even he told his disciples he wasn't perfect. He said only God is perfect. No charge for this religion lesson.
@@thomasluby1754 I think you need to read the scriptures again 😂 His sacrifice in Gethsemane and on the cross was only possible if He lived a perfect life. Which He did.
You do realize that Mr. Gates has frequently Said that anytime they discover something potentially embarrassing or unsavory that they inform the celebrity and give them the option to opt out of the show. Most stay and act surprised but he did say there were at least 3 or 4 that asked to be dropped from the show, not wanting the info to get out.
Like Oprah, when it was found out that she was more than 1/2 Russian Jew! She threatened to sue when it was leaked.
the surprise lingers
They did that for sure with Niecy Nash, because her father was still alive. You notice, she's talks about informing her family. That episode in particular, starts with her in one set wearing a particular outfit, and then Dr. Gates narrates that they gave her time to consider the information and talk to her family before allowing it to go out to the whole world. Then, the second half of her segment was on a different set and she had on different clothes. It was very well done.
I heard Ben Affleck was pissed that his anscestors were slave owners - I don't know if I ever saw that show air.
@@ppumpkin3282it didn’t and it wasn’t supposed to be leaked. 😂. Amazing how some people would like to pretend they were always on the “right side” of history
I'm from Georgia, we're primarily descended from people who got kicked out of British debtor's prisons and sent to places like Savannah and Augusta to work it off. Ironically we're mostly still in debt.
In the 1970s, I did research in Barbados with people descended from those sent from English debtors' prisons, or prisoners-of-war sent to the British colonies in the 1600s. These indentured servants were supposed to be freed and given land after 7 year, but most were not.
I find genealogy such a fancinating topic
Fascinating
My 5th great grandfather was a highwayman at age 15. Sentenced to death, originally, but the sentence was commuted to indentured servitude here in America. He lived an interesting life after his servitude. He became a constable of the village that he, his wife and 14 children lived in, explored America with explorer Simon Kenton, and one of his younger sons (one of my 4th great granduncles) became an uncle to Abraham Lincoln and 4th great grandfather to a living celebrity.
😮😮😂😮😮
Daniel Boone was my Morgan ancestor's cousin... I bet we're related...😅
Oprah Winfrey?
Wild! 😮👍
Tom Hanks? He's related to Lincoln through the maternal line.
This is why I love genealogy. These awkward moments show that our ancestors were normal people that made mistakes or stupid decisions sometimes, instead of the ideal that we placed on a pedestal.
.
So true. I’ve always learned from childhood that our paternal ancestor was a Spanish priest who was excommunicated to the Philippines and eventually had two wives. That’s all the info I know but I hope someday I can do a deep dive on him. My maternal grandmother also told me that we had an ancestor who was also an excommunicated Italian priest. I honestly don’t know what to make up with this bit of information 😅
I wouldn’t call that normal
Why would you love that? your ancestors should be put on pedestals unless you have no soul. The higher you place them the higher standard you can hold yourself to.
My favorite was when Wanda Sykes found out that her ancestors were free person's of color who owned slaves. Her comment was I hope that the slaves decendents don't sue for reparations. Something to that effect.
That!
@@BarbaraM-lv7pe What?
😂😂😂
Makes since. She likes white carpet.
She is hilarious!
I love this show because we are all so mixed up and varied! And Professor Gates has a marvelous sense of humor. We descend from one of the witches who got away -- she was pardoned by the governor before executed, when they realized what a travesty the whole Salem witch hunt was. We have Quakers on both sides, active in the underground railroad, and a couple of suffragettes. It's inspiring!
Whew! How close you came to not being!
whats the pardoned "witch's" name. fascinating
Susanna Roote was my seventh great grandmother. She also was tried, found guilty, but eventually released.
The Quakers gave one of our grandfathers the boot. Kicked him out!
My great grandmother had ten children. The youngest son was a wild child. Wilder than anybody knew. He has been dead a long time and I found out through DNA that he had a daughter that even HE didn’t know about. She contacted me. She was adopted out. I was able to fill her in on the family history and send pictures. She was so grateful.
As a long-standing family historian, I can tell you that everyone will encounter a surprise or two while researching their tree. Oddly enough it’s the skeletons in the closet that fuel the search. I have yet to see anything unearthed on this show that should be upsetting to anyone! I have been mystified by some overreactions.
Every family has secrets. Sometimes those secrets are lost to time. Somehow, I found out about a few of my familiy’s more recent secrets, but I didn’t tell until those folks were gone. I also discovered a whopper of a secret in my husband’s family, he is aware of it, but doesn’t want anyone to know. It’s amazing what you can find out through genealogy research!
Only surprises I've had is, my dad isn't part native indian.. his ancestors had a native Indian like 13 generations back an we don't have a percent. My grandparents died.. and Suprise.. my grandfather who I never would've suspected, really did cheat on my my grandmother at least twice, cause I have 2 known Half-Aunts by dna. It's Very Likely my grandmother knew but didn't say anything to anyone. It's also Likely she held it over my grandfather's head the rest of her years. It would explain a lot, I knew OF my grandfather's past, and there was some changes about the early 80s.
I am my family's historian as well, and I feel that the most interesting finds had nothing to do with a "surprise moment" like highlighted in this list. They usually are a product of their time and show how much society has changed. For example, I once found an article mentioning how my g-great-grandfather won "best tablecloth" at a county fair, where there is little doubt his spouse, my g-great grandmother, made it. You can then get into how woman used to be the property of men, and so on.To my, that is much more interesting than a ah-ah moment.
@@coppertopv365even from 13 generations ago you would still have a percentage. It would be a very small one but it would be there nonetheless.
Is there a secret to figuring out when someone immigrated. I have a mystery John and Jane in my tree. To the point that there's been a Facebook group made about figuring out who they were exactly, I found the group through a cousin on ancestry. Even with dna, it's a mystery. And those are literally their first names, common is an understatement and then there's two last names as a possibility. Possibly one is her maiden name. At this point I'm ready to say we don't know their real names it was all aliases. If there's no trick but just luck we haven't had yet....boo. 😂
I always get a little annoyed when it is proven a woman had a child after she’d been widowed 3:33 or to a man who wasn’t her husband 9:14 and is accused of cheating. Rape is a thing. This isn’t always the case obviously but it’s a possibility even though no one wants it to even be a consideration. This is what happened on my son’s paternal side.
Rape is always a possibility, but which is more common? And which is more likely to result in a pregnancy? Ignoring any nuances of conception, getting a woman alone repeatedly is much easier if she's a willing participant and that significantly advantages your chances of conception.
However, if it's only one pregnancy, rape does seem more probable, or at least an affair broken off.
@@stadot1427That would depend on how much power the predator has over the woman or girl…
@@Beth_Alice_Kaplan It is still statistically more likely that it was a consensual engagement. It might have been different times but humans are humans and our behavior is not as different from our forebears as we like to think it is.
Seriously? Rape happens more often than cheating does. Good grief.@@stadot1427
Is it not the happier, better possibility?
I have been an adoptee search angel for about 40 years and can attest to the fact that DNA has been a leap forward. My advice - if you have knowingly had a child you gave up for adoption please tell your children while you are still alive. It causes them so much heartbreak when they discover your 'secret'. Also if your adopted child contacts you do not insist that they remain a secret. Your family should understand why you didn't mention it before but will think of you differently if you kept the reunion a secret.
Dad never knew his parents, but now I do. His story was awfully cruel and sad and I'm glad he never knew his mother left him as a tiny infant on a sidewalk in Ohio. I am in touch with his younger sister, and she and I have the same given name. It's so wonderful to call her my "aunt" and we talk very often. I just adore my new family!
Thank you for what you do for searchers.
I’m 62 and all of my life my bf has been a complete unknown.
Then 12 days ago when a true angel from heaven, a DNA Search Angel provided me with his name, as well as a family tree going back 5 generations😮. She also provided me with his obituary 💔.
I’ve done almost nothing since then but scour the internet looking for whatever I can find about him and his siblings and my cousins.
Two days ago I found his HS Yearbook online and I saw a picture of him for the first time and it is the first time in 62 years that I’ve seen MY face on a family member🥹. I also discovered that he was a twin😊 and my youngest daughter is the twin, 50 years removed, of his twin sister.
It’s appears that he did not have children (other than me, .) I don’t know that I would be, but I find that I’m sad that I don’t have half siblings and nieces and nephews.
I did find a 2 column obituary with photo of my grandfather in the Boston Globe.
In both obits and my father’s yearbook entries I clearly saw
the characteristics that made me such an oddball in the family I was raised in had come from😮😲🤯
There is so much joy, but with it deep heartache and sorrows that could have been avoided if lies hadn’t been told and secrets not taken to the grave.
I keep looking and looking at the one picture I have of my father and thinking, just from the expression of his face in this one picture “I would have liked him. I hope he would have liked me…”
When the 1930 census became public, I found out my grandfather was married to someone else before he married my grandmother, which my mom had no clue about. We still don't know why and we can't ask anyone because they are dead. My dad's answer was: "Well now we know why they release the census data 72 years later."
The origin of holding the census back was to keep mental illness a secret. Which is unfortunate as many are inherited and a person would be better for knowing the information.
I've always wondered why they wait so long, and now i know. Thank you!😊
That happened with my dad. His mom's first husband had died, and she remarried years later. But he had no clue.
I had friends who were sisters that found out similarly. Their dad had a whole family before them. At his funeral, his eldest daughter from his first family met them. No one had any idea! I'm like how?? Surely people knew since they were invited?
My grandparents divorced in the 1930’s after Grandpa abandoned the family for another woman. After my aunt died, who lived with Grandma, I found a family Bible that hadn’t been seen in 50 years and found out in the family name list that Grandma was his 2nd wife! He was married 1909-1912 and listed ‘abandonment’ as why for divorce. When my cousin died, who grew up in the same house, I found boxes of old papers and found his divorce papers from his first marriage..she abandoned him!!
We h
I think this was common in the mid-1800's & early 1900's. I had great or great-great grandfathers abandon their wife & children for another or to seek their fortune out west, never to be seen again.😢
So his 1st wife abandoned HIM and then in his 2nd wife he abandoned HER?
Now for the what if bit... what if he left wife 2 to reconnect with wife 1.
Divorce was looked down on in those days. My parents divorced in the late 1940s and I felt the disapproval of others. My sister and I were considered potential trouble and kids who would never amount to much. We turned out just fine but the stigma was there.
My favorite was Eva Longoria who's ancestors were granted land in Texas North of the Rio Grande in the 16th century. Her family didn't come to the US, it came to them.
@@DieselDog1982 True.
My favorites was before finding your roots had it current name. When Chris Rick found out he had an ancestor who was one of the earliest Black US senators from his state (before Jim Crowe laws set in.
The other is Oprah's ancestor who donated land and help with building of a Black school for those of his community. Philanthropy for education is hereditary ? Amazing.
"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us!" Malcolm X
@@sheilatruax6172
Yeah, but was even more interesting is when Gates told her that she was related to Yo Yo Ma, a full- blooded Chinese, born in China. I don't think she bought it. Who would? Makes me doubt DNA tests.
My dad had always been told by his material grandmother that their family came over on the Mayflower. He never believed her, but we visited Plymouth when I was 15 and discovered while it wasn't the Mayflower they came over on, it was the ship right afterwards
I wonder if we are related...
I too have a relative who traveled on the ship after the Mayflower. He was a carpenter and was requested by John Smith to make furniture for Pocahontas’ father. That same relative was a descendant of William Shakespeare.
Sorry, but that can't be. John Smith and Pocahontas were in Virginia around 1607 while the Mayflower arrived in Massachusetts in 1620 and about 500 miles away. She died in 1617 in England.
@@samuelsullivan9546it’s possible they meant in England before they came to Massachusetts
@@samuelsullivan9546 It's possible. I have an ancestor, Stephen Hopkins who went to Jamesstown, went back to England, and came back on the Mayflower. On his first trip he was ship wrecked in the Bahamas, and he wouldn't follow the orders of the captain so they threatened to hang him for mutiny. He said "it can't be mutiny - you don't have a boat". The story of the shipwreck and mutiny trial got back to England and Shakespeare read about it, and wrote his play "The Tempest" based on the shipwreck. The character in the play "Stephano" was based on Stephen Hopkins. Surprisingly more people went back and forth than you think Squanto was an indian the pilgrims met at plymouth. He had already traveled across europe and spoke several languages before the pilgrims arrived on the mayflower.
My paternal grandfather, an alcoholic, died when I was 14. I think I met him probably twice. He and my granny never divorced but they didn't live together after the last son was born (my dad's her oldest son). My parents never really talked about him. As I was researching, I found out he spent two years in the state penitentiary for manslaughter. No one had talked about it. I did a lot of digging before I found out why. His sister was married to a guy who was abusive. The guy was downtown in their rural town and the three brothers tracked him down. A fight ensued and my grandfather went home, got a gun, and shot the guy dead. Because of the attack on their sister, the only one to go to jail was my grandfather and that was because of the gun. I was shocked to find this out. And, of course, researching my family tree is hard because one side of my paternal family are Smiths and the other are Browns. The only way that could be harder was to also be Johnson (thank goodness it wasn't).
He defended his sister. Not in the best way for himself. Even tho he murdered someone, and I'm not saying it was OK, I wouldn't shun him to the rest of the family.
My mother's mother moved from a farm to the nearby town ~1930 to be housekeeper for a wealthy widower b/c her husband wasn't bringing in money. While there, she had 2 daughters by her employer, my mom being one! When one of her 3 boys died from rheumatic fever, she fled back to the farm in guilt. The widower then killed himself (!!) and left his house to the 2 little girls in trust (his grown children got his money). Grandma moved her family into the big house and lived there for decades. I knew this story before my mom did, btw.
Back in 1803, my several times great-grandfather eloped with his brother's fiancée. He changed his last name to elude capture both families, and our family has lived under that changed surname ever since.
Wow. So The Jerry Springer show was real life hundreds of years ago.
My fiancé’s oldest sister stole her sister’s (second oldest) fiancé like he was under a spell They stayed married til death. Second oldest was forced by family to go to their wedding, family acted like nothing unjust had happened. Second oldest wound up with a narc 😥
Sad!
@@swannoir7949 and it was easier then, all you had to do was move a couple towns over & VOILA whole new life.
@@BarbaraM-lv7pewhat happen to the 2 oldest
The shocking ancestors that you find in genealogy are the most interesting ones! I found one who was a wealthy young man having inherited a lot of money in the mid-to-late 1800s. He spent a lot of time in Europe travelling, had a beautiful singing voice, was an opium addict, and had a secret wife (everyone thought he might be gay.) Then, he was killed in a downtown hotel after being seen in the hallway pacing back and forth for some time. He was found with his throat having been slit ear-to-ear almost to the spine and it was called a "suicide." I suspect murder. His body was found in some man's room who did not even know who he was- he said. That is all I've found so far, but I suspect there may be some interesting information yet to find. Oh, his secret wife appeared after his death trying to claim some of his money. A pretty wild and interesting ancestor!
I absolutely love finding a skeleton behind the closet door. Straightforward genealogy is so dry and boring.
@@chloemartel9927 Amen! Love those skeletons, they make things so much more interesting!
Discovered that my ex- husband’s grandfather was shot and killed by HIS father in a dispute over business. Since her husband was murdered by her father in law, my ex’s grandmother sued for support of her two year old son (my ex’s late father), won in court, then brought her son and her entire family to California from Utah. They had been an extremely prominent Mormon family who had traveled with Joseph Smith, then after his assassination with Brigham Young to settle Salt Lake City. Nobody still alive in the family knew anything about it. I made three cold calls to families in the area in Utah Andr found distant family members who not only told me the whole story, but sent me copies of transcripts from her lawsuit and her father in law’s murder trial for killing his son. Many other details, but that’s the gist of it!
🤯
Mormons are obsessed with their record keeping
As a Mormon, that is a great story. I found connections on my paternal grandmother's side to early settlers in America shortly after 1620.
That’s very, very cool! I am not Mormon, but I deeply appreciate all the help that the Family History Library at the Los Angeles LDS Temple staff. The people there were wonderful and I was able to dig out a lot of information for my (huge) family tree. I wish I could get back there - shortly after my husband died I had to move from Southern California to Spokane, Washington to get our fourteen year old son hereafter we lost his Dad two weeks after his thirteenth birthday (and nine days before Christmas) so he could be closer to his older half-siblings. Their children are all about his age and he is very happy up here. I am dreadfully homesick for So Cal, but it’s too expensive down there for me to ever be able to move back home.
My great-grandmother never stopped at restaurants when on long roadtrips during the early 1900s. She kept corn in her pockets, and would toss some out when she parked near a farm enroute. Any trusting hen was strangled and chucked into the trunk of her car, to roast later. Yup, Granny was a chicken-thief...
YES!!!! Awesome story 😀
I love her ingenuity! Great story.
If your great-Grandma could afford a car in the early 1900’s, why did she need to steal chickens? Long road trips??
She had a cousin who would drive her (for chicken dinners, I suspect.)
I'm not trying to be funny, but I wonder, did great grand mother keep any chickens alive for the eggs!?
There were hard times back then, but in 1900, electric cars back then were for rich people to drive or their chauffeured driver.They were raised high off of the ground.
Why would a wealthy great grand mother steal chickens? Just saying!! 🤣
None of these stories should embarrass anyone. It is what it is, Reality!!
Some people are proud of the stories and their families standing in social circles. Finding out about the skeletons on a show with cameras rolling, is unsettling for them in the moment.
Look, we all have some difficulty with life's messy details, getting to a resolution usually comes off camera
That's right! We are not responsible for what our ancestors have done. Look, we all arrived here on many ships in many different ways. Most stolen, escaping and finding a better life!
If that had not happened, none of us would be here. All we all can do is pray, be strong, and strive to make our country a much better place.
Be better people to raise our families. To love each other. Look out and be watchful when driving or crossing the street.
We must also watch and raise our children. Be someone for our dependants to be proud of. What legacy are we leaving behind? Plant amazing seeds to make a beautiful future!
That in itself would be a complete miracle. Blessings 🙏😌🙏❤
Blacks are extremely racist
My mom was about 40 when her mom confessed to her that she was the product of a rape by my grandma's father-in-law... in other words, my mom's grandad was her actual dad and she had no lineage to her grandmother's side. We were always told that we had some royal french ancestor through that grandmother so that means my branch of the family never got the royal genes. My mom's dad knew about the rape and had so much shame about the incident that he never treated my mom the same as the other siblings and she got the cold shoulder from him her whole life. To escape the tension she became a tomboy and spent all day long outdoors and hanging with the other boys in the neighborhood. When she learned of this scandal her whole childhood made sense.
Man, that is horrible, sorry that happened to your grandma.
That is so sad.
Wow. Blamed the innocent child not his depraved father 😮
Angela Davis has to be a distant cousin of mine! I am also descended from William Brewster! Dang, my copy of our genealogy is in a box in the garage and I can't remember from which of his children we are descended. Yeah, that shows how much value I put on my Mayflower ancestry, doesn't it? Not all that much. Interesting, but not the center of my existence the way it is for some people. LOL My maternal ancestry also involves someone who indentured himself to pay for his passage from Scotland. He served out his indenture, then started working for his former master for wages. He saved up enough to send back for one of his family, then both of them saved up and sent money over to bring someone over. Each person who came over started saving up and sending money back until everyone in the family and extended family who wanted to come over was here.
I would not like to be related to Angela Davis
I don't know specifically about Brewster, but the pilgrims were seeking freedom themselves, but known for being slaveholders or anything. I don't see why this ancestry would be a problem.
That’s so funny I’m also related to William Brewster
Imagine having a dark secret you believed at your death that you got away with and no one could ever possibly find out now. Then 200 years later your reputation is trashed. Yeah...science!!!
😆
Eh, you’re dead.
Doesn’t affect their lives at that point, or the lives of their children 200 years later.
Maybe these findings will make people a little more aware that we’re all just imperfect humans.
Maybe we’ll all act a little better, knowing that thanks to DNA, we can’t lie or deny our way out of or into things.
nothing stays hidden forever
Your reputation dies with you.
I was adopted at birth and was always told my adopted parents knew nothing about my birth family. Well that wasn’t true. Come to find out my “mothers” stayed in contact and exchanged my pictures and all my information. My adopted parents both died in 1995. I took the Ancestry DNA test in 2017 for health information. When I got my test results, I was able to identify my birth mother within 15 minutes because a first cousin had done an incredible amount of research. I wasn’t as successful chasing down my birth father. My mother lived about 45 miles from me. I sent her a letter with my contact information asking for information about my birth father. She called 2 days later and she gave me the information I requested. It was a nice chat, but she was terrified I would contact her family. I assured her I wouldn’t. She had 3 other children both of her other sons were bankers (as was I). My last job was as a bank examiner and one of my brothers and I had met during an interview in his office. That was in 2015. It’s a small world. To my knowledge her “family” still doesn't know about me.
That's sad but you seem well adjusted about it. Wishing you all the best. God Bless you 🙏🏼
@@ellenadams7354 from the sound of you, their loss!
These are the kinds of stories I love to find in my genealogy. The affairs, lies, felonies, etc. all make them more human and not just names on a piece of paper.
This show is a perfect example of the saying by William Shakespeare that "the truth will out."
This hobby is better than a movie. I unveiled some dramas for my own family and sometimes I run investigations for distant relatives and also find many interesting stories.
Some stories were just too sad or embarassing to pass on to official family history. Men having secret families, women disguising babies from another men, suicides, interblood marriage.
You learn a lot about history as well. Real history, not the selected bits
One of my 2nd great grandfathers changed his surname to his mother's maiden name and took his middle name as first name and added a middle name from who knows where he got it. He did this after his wife, my ancestress died. He married 4 more times. Two wives divorced him for wife beating and the other 2 died by accidents which we wonder if they were really accidents and if my ancestress suffered such an accident too. To make it even more strange. My great grandfather, his son, ran away from home at 14 and we know now it was around the time of his mother's death and he kept his original surname.
Sometimes family stories are like this. Modern times don't have all the bad things. I have a runaway youth and generations of family dysfunction in my family tree. Still haven't sorted out all the details because those stories get buried. But I think it is better than a shiny family tree of only knights, and rich landowners.
My father's ancestor also was sent to the colonies late 17th century for theft. Was an indentured servant ended up reforming, owning a tobacco farm and married the daughter of his owner after his debt was paid.
I absolutely love this show!!! I find genealogy fascinating, it’s becoming my passion. As my family historian, I am always researching my roots. Per 23 and Me, I’m 38% Irish, 43% Sub-Saharan African. My grandmother told me that my great grandfather was “Black Irish.” I’m interested in finding out more about both sides of my family. I even sent Dr. Gates an email, asking if I could be on the show or if maybe his researchers could help me out. Both my great-grandparents were orphans, and met in an orphanage, per my great-great aunt, who at age 98, didn’t forget a thing. Unfortunately, she passed at age 100, which means I stuck in my research.
Over 30 years ago, I went to a "Town Reunion" with my father and other relatives so they could see old friends etc. I sat down in the old school cafeteria and a woman comes over and sits down across from me and says "I was almost your Momma!" Now that surprised me and I was taken back by how easily she said that to me. Turns out she dated my father and would have married him, had he not married my mother. Then I find out she is the sister of one of my aunts, and her husband was my fathers brother. There was no inter marriage going on but living in a small rural town meant the "pickins was slim" so everyone is more or less related!!!
So the sister of your aunt by marriage
I wouldn’t be embarrassed by any of this, I wasn’t even alive when it happened!! 😂
Edit: this is not an excuse to try and erase history or make comments about race relations etc… not being embarrassed about your distant family member being a falanderer is NOT the same as pretending historical events never occurred or don’t have residual effects on society. 🙄
except people come on the show to learn that their ancestors were kings and inventors and explorers and stuff, not that they were two timing, philandering, slave owning, criminals.
That's right. I'd want to know more. History always interest me.
@fundifferent1 They come on with HOPES they are descendants of greats, but we alllll know that one cousin pr have that f* up sibling, 😅so nothing should be shocking or surprising honestly
@@fundifferent1 🤣🤣🤣🤣 True
I would still be embarrassed by it. Most people want to be proud of whom they came from.
I spent 20 minutes with the video and two hours reading the responses! All in all, an enjoyable time.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Well my mother who is a very dark woman is a 3rd white. We constantly get messages from people that clearly don’t appear to be black. We are more British ,Scottish and Portuguese than African. I noticed that my very dark great grandfather had a lot of land and he and his wife were business owners. In the first part of his life his name was Thomas but in his later years his name is Bob. We were told not to ask about it.
does it affect your life today? nope. nice to know stories from ancestors, but it has no bearing of what we accomplish today but it does show none of us are pure anythng
Math would say about 33%. 33.3% to be exact 🙄@@Dru517
@Dru517 It means they have 33% European ancestry.
My maternal grandmother and her sister used to tell us about how well-known and well-liked their father and grandfather were in the community. The part they left out is they were both the most prominent moonshine distillers in the county. Found a cousin who's wife and daughter were arrested on numerous occasions for 'running a bawdy house', while both of them were married. Found another relative who had his arm shot off, was told it was a 'hunting accident'. Wasn't an accident, he was hunted because he'd been fooling around with his neighbor's wife. My grandparents always celebrated their wedding anniversary as Sep 25, 1932. Their marriage license says Feb 25, 1933. My mother was born Jul 26, 1933. Also found that my mother, who grew up as an only child, had a half-brother, whose mother gave birth to him and put him up for adoption in a home for unwed mothers, when my mother was 10 years old. My great-aunt's husband was born 4 years after his 'father' died, and he was raised by his 'mother', who was actually his grandmother. His 'father' was killed when he confronted the married man who'd been fooling around with the 13 year old daughter, who actually turned out to be the mother of my aunt's husband, and she had continued to see this man even after her father's death. We had our share of teachers, preachers, lawyers, and doctors, but they weren't nearly as interesting as these other characters. Family skeletons are what makes your story interesting.
I once met a guy at university who was about half Korean half Japanese in ancestry. Turns out his great grandmother was a comfort woman to Japanese soldiers. Well, you can guess the rest. He reconnected with his Japanese side of the family and visited them. He described them as always loving and welcoming however sometimes with the undertone of familial guilt for their ancestor.
I like the episode when he told this guy who was his friend that his father wasn't his biological father. They contacted the guy first and he still agreed to be on the show. They told him who his father really was. The ironic thing was that he knew the guy. It was somebody that always was around. Kinda looked out for him. It was a good but mind blowing episode 🤯
The only issue I have with this show and similar where they find out that such and such is not the father is they assume it was a consensual, scandalous affair, and never even bring up the possibility of assault or non consensual, which is also very likely in some cases.
Yes, especially Indians.
This is very likely the reason Gayle King gets upset.
@@Skr8955-f3cthat was my thought since her family didn’t want to talk about it.
the hard truth is that most of the time, it was consensual. Unless you know for sure, don't make up story lines or let your preconceived notions color the truth. Things like that is what makes genealogy so difficult. Do not take family "stories" at face value. Dig into a relationship you have found to search for the truth instead of continuing to pass down someone else's notion. Future searchers in your family deserve the truth at the least.
@@chloemartel9927.
If you believe that, you MUST not be black and know little about African American history.
THIS ignorance of that part of our history is one of the MAIN reasons why black history us not included in the study of American history in schools.
It’s a factor that is HIGHLY shameful and inflammatory. So, that is one of the reasons why white people need Black History Month more than black people do.
You have uttered something that helps whites remain comfortable.
Historically speaking, If a white man wanted to have sex with a black woman ( who was often employed as a housekeeper in white homes ) it was NOT consensual in the south.
If the woman was unwilling, she risked retaliation in several forms - including loss of employment by ALL the neighboring families, because the white man had power to ruin her and her family.
Many years ago, Oprah Winfrey had two families on her show as guests - one white and one black. They had a COMMON ancestor: a white slave owner.
The White man did his genealogy chart, discovered the slave holder in his family, and set about FINDING his black relatives.
He told Oprah that “EVEN TODAY - in the south, it is COMMON for white men to get their FIRST sexual experience with black women. “
My maternal grandmother was half black and half Cherokee Indian. She had had two half-sisters who were fathered by two DIFFERENT white men WHILE SHE WAS MARRIED TO HER mixed race husband ( who just accepted and raised them right along with his biological children)
That’s the way things WERE back in the early 1900’s.
If you think WHITE women had very few rights back then, it doesn’t take much imagination to figure out how “consensual” black women’s liasons were.
People - especially women of ANY color just bore their shameful situations in silence down in “ku klux klan country.”
There was a great deal of shame about this in our family, and Grandmom was very TIGHT-LIPPED about her OWN experiences down south when she was a young woman.
All she would say was that it very risky for a black womanhood to say “No” to a white man.
And my Grandmom had a LOT of anxiety about my going to work as a domestic in white families when I graduated from high school back in 1959. I was always told to “be careful.”
And WE lived up North.
I learned via the census that my grandfather had abandoned his 1st wife in Arkansas. I didn't believe it at first because no one had ever mentioned it. I truly believe my mother would have, had she known. But as his first name is unique and as I checked his date of birth several times on the documents, the match was there on the marriage license.
I later learned this was not uncommon for that time period. Indeed, one could just save up enough money and just leave town with no forwarding address. There wasn't SSN or any other digital footprint.
One could relocate and even just change their names!
In his case, he did not. I was tempered by the fact there weren't any children listed on the census, so it appears he left just her and not a family.
As I shared this find with my cousins they shared the rumor that was his sister had done similarly. Simply left her husband and moved north.
As she had children, she passed as a widow when really she was "separated"!
Its probably something in your genes too. the "Just popping out for some milk" gene.
I was 40 when I learned quite by accident that my mother was my aunt and her sister was my mother, and my birthfather was not the man I thought, but a fairly well placed scientist...I can see why it was kept quiet, since illegitimate kids in those days were harassed mercilessly, and often shunned. But still...
Your family should have told you as a young adult age 18-25 range
@@BarbaraM-lv7pe This was a strongly Catholic French Canadian family, and a complicated one. In those days you kept your 'dirty laundry" at home, and there really was no space for this kind of revelation. One thing I did, I never told anyone in the family when I found out, I suspect the fallout from that would have been incredible. Frankly it was a screwed up family, and the farther I get from it, the screwier it seems. By the time I found out, I was married, and had no problem with the idea of it. I'm not sure knowing when I was younger would have helped anyone.
I did, at one point contact him, but got no reply, and none expected. I got a quick short email from one of his sons, at one point, suggesting that I 'leave him alone" --maybe they thought I was a gold digger, I don't know. something tells me it was more complicated than that, so no, I never got the chance to connect. It was awkward all the way around.
@@judythompson8227 His son is your half brother. Honestly you gave them a chance to do the right thing they wont, go sue for money for the people who raised you
I was told by my Paternal Grandmother, who lived in South Carolina at the time, that one of my male ancestors had bought a slave woman who looked white. He brought her into his home and made her a house slave. But, she would occasionally get pregnant and would bear him children that looked white. Since he was already married to a white woman who had young children, he simply added them to his family and raised them together as white along with his white children. No one suspected a thing as back then they lived way out in the country and only had visitors maybe once a year or so, so new babies were no surprise, especially since they looked like him. So he would introduce his children from the slave woman along with his with young white children. He raised them and educated them together, and no one suspected a thing. As they grew he married them off to white people and time matched on.
Fast forward hundreds of years later, my oldest son had his DNA done and questioned why he had sub-Saharan ancestry so I told him the story just as it was told to me. My son really is of mixed race as you can also add Ashkenzi Jew from my Mother's side. I am loving it!
"occasionally get pregnant" I occasionally go to Chick Filet and occasionally run into friends from High School at the grocery store, I'm not sure I'd describe getting pregnant that way. lol. Then again people did have big families back then. Its an interesting situation to be sure. I think many Americans who have DNA that predates the mass immigration in the early 1900's would be surprised to find African and Native American DNA in them. Many tribes and children of slave/owner relationships were simply absorbed into either the white or the black communities of the south.
Rape....rape is the word.
"I am loving it!" what an interesting way to end that awful story.
Why is it awful, those children were loved, not separated or sold from their mother and both woman would have worked together to create a home … for the times a win/win
@@noelineatterbury822Very naive of you to consider that the origins of this family which included chattel slavery would be positive. Did the purchased human have a right to decline the sexual advances of her owner? When not there is a word for what ensued. Do you really think the wife was happy with the situation or supportive of the female slave and her children. This was not a commune from the 1960s. Think about it. This is why learning all aspects of US history is important for all of us.
7:35 the people on the mayflower were not the complete opposite of activists. They were activists against the English crown and came to America to seek religious freedom.
Only they didn't grant religious freedom to anyone else!!!
The LL Cool J episode should have been on there. His mother was never told that she was adopted.
Sonnie definitely should have been on there . I am still expecting my check from that Bitch !
And Queen Latifah- she found out that her family tree had free-born people all the way back to just before we fought for Independence. She had no idea. It was very cool.
Yup, that was a wild one!
When I was 55 I found out I had an aunt I’d never heard of; my father’s half-sister. His father (my grandfather) was separated from my grandmother and was openly having an affair with a married woman. I’d known about the affair but did not know about their child. I don’t know if my father knew about his much-younger half-sister but others did. It was NEVER mentioned or discussed. A few months after this revelation I was told this same grandfather’s brother had also fathered a child - but this remains unconfirmed. Very complicated!
Coming from a large family of siblings, we ranged from light to dark skinned from the same set of parents.
Are you sure?
Normal.
My 10X great grandfather, John Lothropp, was exiled from England to "the colonies" in the 1630's. He had spent time in the Clink prison. His crime was embracing and teaching a Christian sect that was not the official religion endorsed by the crown. He has 10's of thousands of descendants, including 6 US presidents.
Dude, I had no idea until I read your comment that when they call prison "the clink" in old movies, that was a reference to an actual prison in England!
Most of the people where I live are descendants of Huguenots (including my paternal line) that were exiled from France in the late 1600s for being Protestant in a Catholic nation.🤔😊
Criminal ancestors are the most interesting and easiest to find since they generated public records 😊
LOL
I have an ancestor who was imprisoned in Scotland for being a Protestant, then was taken to New Jersey in the 1600's.
I’m a big fan of this show and have learned…none of us are what we seem. We are all mixed races, so everybody needs to chill, come together in kindness and let racism disappear.
You hear me LeVar Burton, Sunny Hoskins, and Ben Afflek? Their episodes were surprising too.
We are not all mixed raced, we are mixed ethnicities but that’s another story.
Some of us are mixed out of rape...lots and LOTS of slave rape....because of slavery.
Just saying.
I was kind of hoping I'd find something interesting when I DNA tested. A little surprise. A bit of variety so to speak. But NO. Although my ancestors came to America long ago, many of them even having fought in the revolution, with plenty of time to mix things up, it turned out ALL of my genetics were cooked up in the British Isles. To me, that was the actual surprise.
I love the ones that embrace the facts like Michael Strahan who hosts 10,000 dollar pyramid whose white side goes back to king Charles the third but the newly freed ancestor started a town in Texas that's a great part of this country's history and I love history that's why I love the show I wish that I could go on it but I'm adopted and don't know who my mom is or my dad neither one is on my birth certificate my adopted parents are
@@richardharepax123 You might be amazed if you took a DNA test. I never knew my father or any paternal relatives. I'm pretty old now, so all of the generation ahead of me are dead. Growing up I only had 9 living relatives across the counter anyway, but what I found interesting was that there were a few second cousins I don't know anything about, and thousands of third, forth, fifth, and sixth cousins, and so on. I talked to a few people who told me interesting things and shared pictures about branches of the family I'd heard of. Anyway, to grow up be a lonely kid from a tiny family (it was just my mom and me in our state) it was shocking to find the number of people I'm related to.
Great grandpa rode with Poncho Villa... in his later years he was asked about it from the historical society and he denied doing so. My dad asked him why and he didn't want to be remembered as a revolutionary. Which is a completely different mindset from many today. He valued assimilation over that of the truth.
Crazy... I've got a photograph around here with him and like thirty guys surrounding Poncho Villa.
My college boyfriend’s (in 1990) grandfather was in the Texas Rangers chasing after Pancho Villa. Exciting times!
Dr Gates shold be the next Jeopardy host!! I absolutely love your shows sir. Very educational and entertaining.
I got into tracing my family tree in the late 90's. At that time I subscribed to several now defunct newsletters. The most common problem people had and asked for advice about was how to deal with the discovery that an ancestor had "passed" for white at some point in their family tree. This embarrassed and horrified a lot of older relatives. One lady said she kept two family trees. One for herself with the truth and one for her elderly relatives to look at.
That’s so sad. They needed to know the truth to possibly help confront their bigotry and died bigoted people. I’d rather die sad but enlightened by truth. And it shouldn’t have made them sad anyway. That’s their kin.
To me that’s super sad. Her relatives were robbed of an opportunity to confront their own bigotry before they died and faced their maker, and didn’t have a chance to see the beauty in the rainbow of ALL of us made in the likeness and similitude of The Almighty.
Native American-I pass for white and Latino also- sometimes- and I do not Care who I piss off- supporting myself and my family-there it is- bite me- hehe
On my Mom's side we had a great grandfather that was a notorious "boss" he led work crews around the county, He was apparently a horrible man. His daughter married a man that had fallen on hard times and he offered to put him to work on one of his work crews. But he apparently constantly belittled the man. Till one day the younger man couldn't take it any more and killed the older man with an ax. Seems the family rallied around the accused murderer, and they got him an attorney. They ended up arguing insanity and he was put away in an institution for the rest of his life. But they figured that was better than the death penalty or life sentence. The couple stayed married and she visited him regularly at the asylum. But the Ax Murder was in all the papers back then. There was always talk on my Mom's side about the family "temper" and it apparently came from that incident.
Loved watching Ben Affleck finding out his ancestors bought and sold slaves. He was in compete denial! It was classic!
He might not have had a clue. We can't change what our ancestors did had zero to do with it, and at the time (unfortunately), slavery was legal.
Enjoyed a watery, tasteless cup of Schadenfreude, did you?
Angela Davis' one was even better , when she found out she was the very thing she hates, so ironic.
Ritierumbles9451, I don't think Angela Davis HATES White people, what she hates is inequalities, injustices and racism, which is different. This is the reason why she became an activist.
@@rottierumbles9451 you don’t know much about Angela Davis. All of her degrees are in French and German, and she is a leading scholar on Marx and Marcuse internationally. Being an advocate, for the freedom of Black people does not make you antiwhite it makes you anti-racist.
Ted Bundy was adopted by his stepfather, John Bundy. John Bundy was my Grandmother's brohter making the serial killer my 2nd cousin by marriage and adoption. Families are complicated.
did your grandma ever meet ted
@@bloreo1315 Yes, and my Aunt Jerry and Uncle Charlie knew him, too. When I was growing up in the 80s, we never spoke about it. My Uncle Charlie who died in the early 90s was a sweetheart, the type of guy, (tho a not very educated Southerner) was just the sweetest, kindest person. I never met John Bundy but if he was anything like his little brother Charlie, I can see how easily he was to manipulate for a sociopath like Ted Bundy.
Wow
I think I found a serial in my line... she had a hard time carrying a child to term, (I suspect she had negative RH factor, as do I), but everytime she married a man, if she lost a baby, or it was stillborn, the father soon passed away as well. This happened 3 times, until she reverted back to her 1st husband's surname, the only one with whom she had a child that survived... as irony would have it, he died bfr the child was born... I always wondered if she jumped the gun, and didn't know she was pregnant bfr she offed him... and maybe that was why she tòk his name back. One day I saw a beautiful plant growing in a lady's yard, and said to my Mother, I wish I knew what that is... she turned and answered, it's a castor bean plant...(my Mother who never so much as owned a houseplant)... I said how did you know that? She said the woman's name, and said she always had one growing in her yard..... Aaahhhh... I see, I said... Can you say Risin?
Ricin is the waste product of discarded castor beans after making oil with them. Get fresh air and call 911 ! The poisonous substance in them keeps your cells from making the protein they need.
We just found a wonderful cousin. Illegitimate daughter of our uncle. We are so happy. She is wonderful❤️
Thats amazing. Glad you found each other and are getting along so well.
:)
Through our mother, my sisters and I are related to the owner of the most famous and expensive, high end brothel in our country. We're very proud! 😃😃
🤷🏻♀️
I love when Dr. Gates is able to show a direct relative of one actor to another, like 2nd cousin.
One connection he found was between Jim Gaffigan (actor/comedian) and Brian Cox
(actor/Succession).
Fascinating.
People who hate their ancestors or embarrassed are sad. You don't have control.
Exactly! No point getting embarrassed or upset.
On that note, why feel happy or proud? Unless you’re saying to be selectively indifferent.
None of us chose our families. It's like reading a novel that was based on a reality show a few hundred years ago. XD It's entertaining and interesting, but nothing to be embarrassed about. It's not like you knew them or were close to them.
@@xoxoxoxo4483 I think it's cool to find out you were related to someone who did something awesome. It's not a surprise to find out you're related to someone who did something shitty. That's like most of the humans on the planet, and it's not newsworthy. Definitely not worth being embarrassed about. But it's fun to find out that someone cool was in your family tree, because most humans are boring and mundane.
Her point is valid. So is your’s. It is silly to be proud or embarrassed about what we ourselves aren’t personally responsible and haven’t accomplished.
That’s all about people’s inferiority and superiority complexes.
Still interesting, though.
I love how a light skinned black woman was shocked at having white ancestors.
No one in the vid is shocked about having white ancestors, most African Americans have them. The shocking part is learning their names and stories.
@@2law2be It's not shocking the prejudice towards why-tees that O'brien and this Gates moron exhibit.
Yes she told him to take it back
@@2law2beoh come on- Angela Davis was clearly shocked.
100% Africans come in all shades of brown. As do Europeans come in all shades of beige.
The episode about Ria and Tamera Mowry just blows me away: on their father's side, they are directly descended from the minister on the Mayflower and on rheir mother's side they are descended from slaves.
OMG Jennifer! That’s the episode that absolutely blew my mind too! I was stunned when it was revealed, Tia & Tamera Mowry, are direct descendants of the minister/leader from The Mayflower. Absolutely incredible! We just never know.
Explains so much confusion and conflicting views.
wow
Oh wow! We are pretty sure we are descendants from the captain of the Mayflower!
@@annettegatlin2161 🙄🙄🤔🤔🤔🤔
In my quest to understand my grandfather’s time as a POW in WWII I learned SO much about him, the war, and history.
One giant lesson was that people who lived through the war often had a philosophy of seizing the day because you didn’t know if there was going to be a tomorrow.
So they had sex and exploited morally questionable opportunities that their parents wouldn’t have approved of in peaceful times.
Then the war ended and they couldn’t explain those activities to younger generations who wouldn’t understand the mindset at the time.
So they hid things and lied and raised their kids with peace time values.
I found out that the man who raised me wasn't my biological father. That explained a lot about our relationship, but I also found an amazing half sister whom I love dearly.
I love genealogy and have traced my roots back to 848. I am distantly related to George Washington, Ben Franklin, and John Adams on my mother’s side.
I am a direct descendant of slaves on my father’s side - he is from Brazil.
I am not embarrassed by my roots. I can’t help the family I was born into.
Ben is a distant cousin.
I'm a descendant of Samuel Adams. Hi cuz.
848? What primary sources are available?
Why would you be embarrassed???
I am also related to George Washington (4th cousin many times removed) , Ben Franklin(6th cousin 8 times removed by marriage)John Adams (3rd cousin 9 x removed)Adams was direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden who are my 11th great grandparents
The Angela Davis revelation is the most viral scene in this series. It was a punch to her hypocrisy half a century too late.
@11:30 So what happened to the woman/wife in Germany stuck with 6 kids and alone with no prospects??? He probably left them all to live on the streets. This is a lot less amusing when you think about the reality of those on the other side of these things.
I've always wondered why men do not appear to have that infant protection gene? I instinctively looked out for my baby, shortly after having/bonding with him. The minute I was about to do a different activity, he was first on my mind to bring. How is it that many men can up and leave their families without a 2nd thought? Some even react as thought their life is being rudely interrupted if a bio child is able to contact them as an adult. Why is this?
Nobody said anything about 'amusing'
Some of the people in the show act a bit amused when they find out such details about an ancestor..
"Silence is always interesting to me." Very wise words, there.
I was struck by that statement too.
This is simply an amazing program that I try to never miss. Ironically, both of my parents were adopted so I know very little about my own lineage.
Everybody has twisted family history, if you think you dont you just havent looked hard enough.
So true!
I don't and i looked hard. Its just you and your creep family
My great, great, great grandfather was a sailor in the German navy (it was likely the Royal Prussian Navy.) His ship was sailing up the north coast of California and dropped anchor in what is now Humboldt County to get water. He and two other sailors were sent ashore in a rowboat to fill the casks and bring them back to the ship. He and the other two sailors hit the beach running and deserted the ship near the Klamath River. They walked up the river and eventually came to a logging camp where they found work. He later married a woman that was an indentured worker from Germany. She worked as a taxi dancer with a group that visited the logging camps, played music from a hurdy-gurdy and put on dances. (According to family history these taxi dancers were NOT prostitutes! 😉) The couple eventually settled in Siskiyou County, CA where he cut and sold firewood.
My great great grandmother was a Native American/Melungeon in the mountains of Tennessee, and instead of taking her entire family to Fort Oglethorpe GA and onto the Trail of Tears, she actually hid out all of her family and friends that were Native, in the hills and mountains we lived in and the US Government issued a warrant for her arrest until the day she died, crazily enough my birthday 60 years earlier on July 5th, 1921. Well that is the presumed date of her death because no one ever found her body in the mountain next over from the mountain my family lived on. She went out getting ginseng to sell and never came back. She was 104.
Wow!!!
What's truly great about this show is we're all different but all the same. Yet, we're also all the same and all different.
All related too!
In the 1920s/30s, my dad's great uncle was shot on a bridge. Rufus was very white and was on the bridge to meet with his Black mistress. In Southern Ohio, where people thought they were part of the Deep South. We don't know who did it, but it's suspicious as hell.
Another fun one: Giles Corey, the man pressed to death in Salem, is my direct ancestor.
Hello, Giles Corey is also my direct ancestor!
in OH they still do
@@nome5123 Yep
@@Cyrill15This is wholesome. You two each found a cousin. 😊
Say, have either of you by chance found anyone by the name of Milk or Milks in your research?
"More weight!"
The most awkward moment on _Finding Your Roots_ was when Henry Louis Gates demanded one guest to: “Give me my damn Reparations! Your great-great grandfather owned my great-great grandmother!” 🤣
LOVE that Angela Davis is related to those on the Mayflower! Awesome.
xoxox
I wonder if that's where Angela got her inner strength from? As an American I would be honored to be directly related to William Brewster, one of our founding fathers. No matter what color skin I have. He didn't own slaves, did he?
@@HOGH-HOP Her inner strength came from being a person of color fighting against oppression based solely on skin pigmentation. African-Americans are survivors, even after every possible effort being made to destroy us. Facts.
@@HOGH-HOP probably.
I would not call Davis an unwavering advocate for human rights. She declined to show her support for political prisoners in the USSR and Cuba, and, being an open lesbian, to the gays in Gaza.
Frankly I'm still impressed with my father, because he did a similar family history on both his and my mom's side of the family, originally to gain EU citizenship for us (which he succeeded at - I'm an Italian citizen through my mother's grandfather) but also just to learn more. He managed to go back up to 6 generations, and I know a lot of the reasons my great-grandparents moved to the US (involving family inheritances, mostly) as well as some fascinating family facts. One set of great-great-grandparents of mine were killed when their store was robbed and set on fire, for example. Or that my mother's grandfather was a stowaway from Sicily when he arrived in New York. Family history is always so fascinating, and I'm incredibly lucky to have such a talented father to dig so much up on his own.
I'm envious! In anticipation of a possible dreaded Nov. 2024 presidential election result, I'd love to be able to get EU citizenship.
@@lisica8458
Careful of what you wish for! Unfortunately the EU has its own tough problems… it depends on which bundle of problems you can tolerate and/or live with.
@@wg8859 I'm well aware of the problems in the EU. But thanks anyway.
We found out through 23andMe that a cousin of my father's had a child nine months after her senior prom that the child was adopted by a childless couple near where her parents lived. I only knew this woman as an elderly lady who I liked but it was fun to find out that about her.
I've learned so many of the dirty family secrets but in the end it didn't change anything.
I'm always hopeful that any of these episodes will lead me to one of my ancestors that I've been struggling to find more information on. One of these days, it'll happen.
Would've been easier if the info was easier to track down or free to access in a database. But you need a lot of patience, nerves of steel and probably a wad of cash to get to the info. I don't know A LOT about my relatives on either side of my family beyond my grandparents.... and even they are huge grey areas. I also live in Europe and over here, it's even harder to gather info about dead relatives. All I keep thinking is that, nobody keeps a tight lip about their past, if it happens to be boring. Some sh*t must've gone down.
Have you tried Family Tree?
@@m0t0b33 there are free sites and many sites that offer free trials. I may or may not exploit this design 🤣🤣 I have various emails that I use to sign up for a free trial, use it, cancel and repeat. It doesn't NOT work. Set yourself up as your own sibling and continue the searches.
❤
Have you done a DNA test like Ancestry or 23&me? I found so much about my unknown maternal and paternal side. Just the cost of the test and membership to AncestryDNA and I found everyone. Holidays now have the test for 50% off but they are only around $100.00 at Ancestry. Take the plunge!
The same thing described here happened in my family and is the only reason I am alive to type this.
My father had a wife and 2 children in the United States.
My mother had a husband and 2 kids in australia and she was waiting on her divorce.
My father was employed to work in Australia and it was a BIG deal, and a significant pay check. So he and his beautiful wife traveled over, looked at houses, eventually purchased a beautiful house in a nice area - they even brought out the kids over summer to see the house and pick their bedrooms. His wife and the two kids then traveled back to the United States.
My father stayed in australia to start his new job and his wife went back home to America to finish the kids school year, pack up their belongings for shipping and sell the house they had. They were even pictured in their local newspaper as the family moving out to Australia etc. so everyone knew. All of the kids friends knew it was a big deal back then.
In the meantime, my father had been introduced to my mother through mutual friends, and they began an affair.
Now, could you imagine how that all went down? He obviously had to tell his wife AND KIDS not to come over. That he had met someone else etc.
Their belongings were already in a shipping container on a ship heading to Australia ffs.
My father then moved his new girlfriend and her two children into the house that he and his WIFE has found. Oh my goodness the betrayal is intense.
As soon as he got his divorce, he married my mother (for tax purposes. So romantic) and I was born about two years later.
I’m the only child of their relationship and it took me years and years to understand just how much damage had been done to his kids, even if they were in their late teens when I was born. It really messed them both up.
I only found out that he and his first wife had been in australia to look for a new home after my father died.
I just always think about that phone call. The call he made to tell his wife and his son and daughter not to get on the plane and meet him in Australia. The savagery of doing this to someone after being married for over a decade is beyond me.
Now, don’t get me wrong, my father was the best person and he was a great father, a fun dad. He worked a lot but his time was quality time. He created memories for his children.
So for his kids to have him leave them behind for another woman with a son and a daughter and then me. I can’t imagine what that would have been like for them. My oldest sister, his first daughter was never the same and I don’t think she ever really forgave him for leaving her like that - on the other side of the flipping world!!
Anyway, that’s my family’s drama - well, it’s one of them. The origin story for everything that happened next 😳
I am so sorry that your father did this to his first family. It seems he was nice to you, but that does not excuse his behavior toward his first family. You have your "great father" memories, but he was not a good person. A truly good person would not have done such a thing.
I never get why people are so surprised. Heck one of my ancestors was an overseer for Jefferson Davis' plantation. You arent your ancestors so worrying about what happened in the past is silly.
Agreed!
We are our ancestors! Are you mad!
Except when it leads to generational trauma. The psychology of it is just beginning to be understood. How hundreds of years of enslavement and oppression couldn’t have an impact on present generations is the real question.
Its only important on that Show The View because America is racist according them them. They know it all!
@@ellenstone9704oddly, it did not affect earlier generations nearly as much as current generations. That is a mind set issue. Too many black people are being raised with a victim mentality, when they live in one of the countries that offer them the greatest opportunity for personal success (inclusive of programs dedicated to them to help promote their success).
I love Finding Your Roots. It's so much more interesting and goes deeper than Who Do You Think You Are?. And it's not just finding out that a famous person comes from other famous historical people. I'm surprised by the number of pioneers on both sides of my family, so many who helped found towns and even churches.
One of my customers did the DNA test and found out he had an identical twin brother . He was in his 70’s when he found out went to meet his brother and found out that his mother had to give him up because she couldn’t afford to take care of them both .
That's incredible. I can't imagine having to make that decision.
@@blondewriter99 It’s tough to imagine .
I recently found out that an ancestor on my paternal grandmother's side was married to the granddaughter of John and Hannah Putnam, whose testimony sealed the fates of three women during the Salem Witch Trials. There is no familial ties there as my line goes through his second wife but I found it interesting that there is that faint connection to that part of history, especially since the Salem Witch Trials always fascinated me.
You should research the property records and other outlier information. I think it was John Litgow who also had an ancestor who testified during the Salem Witch trials, and took over the land that woman owned after she was excited.
You should read Bill Oreilly’s book “Killing the Witches”… really good book about the trials
@@cherokeehill9242 eh, I'm wary of anything from Bill O'Reilly. I don't like him as a person at all
@@aliciawentzshadows
He’s pretty creepy.
@@aliciawentzshadows Worthwhile, as long as his research is sound, and it's not a subject he needs to be surrounded by women to share.
Does anyone actually believe their family doesn't have a criminal element in it. That's just obtuse
Seriously
If you go back far enough you’ll find it!
Especially when something like stealing a loaf of bread for your starving family was a “crime”
While doing research I found a gg uncle who killed his wife's parents.He then went home and joined the posse.7 black men were killed,he took off for FL.When he was dieing he confessed.On a different branch of family an other gg uncle killed his brother over a woman.He left his body by the road.He claimed he must have been robbed. On a good note, I found out my ggg grandmother was Johnny Mercers aunt.Since I live in Savannah Ga this has great meaning.Johnny Mercer was one of the greatest song writers,Moon River was one of his hits.
Yeah I am sure I dont.
One of my crazy awkward moments of the show was when Dr. Gates’s mind was blown like mine and found the documentary director Micheal Moore had an ancestor that was labeled a slave from a shipping document from Scotland I believe. Even Dr. Gates had to double check that fact and it was true there were white slaves! Whaaaaaaattt?! Inconceivable!
Isa should direct a version of her family story… I’d watch it
Maybe that goes against her ideology
Lol was thinking the same
How did the LL Cool J revelation not make the list? They had to tell him ahead of the episode it was such a shocker!
What was that REvilation. I don't watch this show and I don't follow LL Cool J.
@@HoldenNY22 The grandparents who raised him were not his biological grandparents. They adopted his mom as a baby and never told her or LL about it.
I've heard about people who were raised by their grandmother pretending to be their mom, and their aunt or sister to be the mother.
Isn't it fascinating that most of the "shame" brought up was because it was somehow related to race? "I can't believe im a part of this race" or "i can't believe my ancestors were not part of a racial stereotype"... seems pretty racist if you ask me...
Finding Your Roots, my favorite, and Mr. Gates, too.
Yes one of my favourites too. Mr Gates stays calm and cool no matter what he finds and has to present across the table.
It is sad that so many people concentrate on trying to "cleanse" their lineage so they can feel purified of any unacceptable "taint" rather than accepting that we all are connected in some way to each other. So many focus on trying to divide from the mess and clutter of the human race rather than accepting a place in it along with all it's undesirable attributes.
Amen! Jesus was descended (in his human lineage anyway) from a prostitute, an alien “outsider,” an adulterer and murderer ( as a son of David), etc. The Lord has a purpose for EVERYONEand can use anyone’s story/ history for GOOD AND BLESSING but people want to focus only on people involved, as if the mortal and fallible are the end all be all. SMH
@@augustcleavitt So you're saying that Mary was a prostitute at 12 years old?
@@augustcleavitt we are all descendants of Adam and Eve
The strangest thing happened to me last Christmas. Someone put a Christmas card in my mailbox with a very expensive gift. The card had the last name of my ancestral great grand mothers; with no return address, first name, nor number! I am still puzzled by it! 🤔