Who Do You Think You Are? is back!

[csziggy]

Fridays 8 PM ET

This friday night:
Award-winning actor and activist Martin Sheen embarks on an epic journey into both sides of his family history. It takes him to Dublin, Ireland and Madrid, Spain, where he discovers that a commitment to social justice runs deep in his roots.

what’s next on who do you think you are?

Marisa Tomei travels to Italy to reveal the truth about her great-grandfather’s murder.

February 10th, 8/7c


Tune in throughout the rest of the season to watch Blair Underwood, Reba McEntire, Rob Lowe, Helen Hunt, Rita Wilson, Edie Falco, Rashida Jones, Jerome Bettis, Jason Sudeikis and Paula Deen.

More: http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/

Some of the people I don't even recognize their names, but in the past watching people discover their past was interesting even if I didn't like the celebrity.

[Little Star]

1. I always watch that show....

I do genealogy as a hobby and I find watching how some of the professionals do research fascinating. I've learned some new tricks from time to time.

Besides the stories are very interesting.

[csziggy]

2. Same here - even if I don't particularly like the person, their family story

Can be interesting. And sometimes I learn stuff about genealogical research I didn't know.

[HeiressofBickworth]

3. For the new researcher

it gives a false impression of the amount of time it takes to research a single fact. In the show, the celebrity shows up somewhere and everything is laid out for them. What isn't shown is the amount of research it took to get to that one point. I've been researching for nearly 40 years and I'm still finding new stuff.

[csziggy]

4. True - but TV is all about giving false impressions

In my case, my paternal grandmother and her grandfather were both interested in genealogy. I have copies of letters (my parents have the originals) from the 1880s and 1890s where they were seeking family history information. My Mom started researching her family in the 1950s.

Now, without even leaving home, I am finding "new" information and extending the family history farther back than ever. Some of grandmother's "dead" ends now go back another hundred years; Mom's have been taken back in some cases more than two hundred years farther.

It does go quicker these days for a lot of the resources. Mom took years to visit all the cemeteries where her ancestors were buried in just one county - of course she had to do it for a few weeks each summer with little kids in tow. Now, if you are lucky, some one has taken the needed pictures and posted them on Find A Grave. Or if they haven't, you can post a request for pictures and some kind person will take them just for you.

I remember Mom poring through the census indexes and trying to figure out from the bare information they gave which families were hers. Now, the scans of the original pages are online and far more detail can be found by reading all the details and looking at neighboring families.

Grandmother never bothered with the census - she knew (or thought she did) where her ancestors had lived. But I did find details that she did not have right - her father actually moved back to New York state for a while rather than take a quick trip to marry his childhood sweetheart before carrying her to the wilds of Upper Peninsula Michigan. He was in New York for at least two years before his marriage!

Mom spent a lot of time in the dusty back rooms of courthouses looking at deed books and probate records and then waiting for the copies she ordered of deeds and wills. Now for many counties those records are online and I can download scans in a few seconds.

I've also found information about ancestors that was simply not available before. Through Fold3, I've found applications for restoration of rights of some of my Southern ancestors, and for one that he had enlisted in the Confederate Army after his youngest son died. We never knew that before!

And I've only been seriously researching for two years. I had helped Mom back in the day, then digitized the records decades ago, but never had time to spend really trying to get new information. Now with membership in Ancestry, Fold3, and other online sources I can access more records than Mom and Grandmother ever dreamed of seeing. While membership is not cheap, it's less than the travel costs and paying for copies and postage were when they were doing the work.

[Little Star]

13. Posted in wrong place. Sorry.

[Little Star]

5. OK. Who else watched last night?..

Martin Sheen's tree is quite amazing.

If you missed it you can catch it on NBC's website:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/martin-sheen/1383116/

[kdmorris]

7. Thank you!

Watching it now. I meant to set the DVR to record them all, but the last couple of weeks have been incredibly hectic.

[CanonRay]

6. The first episode was pretty good.

[Little Star]

8. Just watched the Marisa Tomei episode...

It was good.

Here is a link if anyone is interested:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/marisa-tomei/1384453/

[Little Star]

9. Here is a link to the Blair Underwood episode...

Last edited Wed Feb 29, 2012, 05:18 PM - Edit history (1)

I haven't watched it yet, but they are all good and I am sure this one will be too! I'm off to watch!

Link:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/blair-underwood/1387374/


Edit to add: Just watched it and it was awesome! I love genealogy even if it's not my own!

[kdmorris]

10. It was incredibly awesome!

I love genealogy even when it's not my own, too.

[Little Star]

11. Here is a link to the Reba McEntire episode...

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/reba-mcentire/1388707/

It was really good. Well worth the watch, imho.

[Little Star]

12. Here is a link to the Jerome Bettis episode...

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/jerome-bettis/1389825/

I'm off to watch it now.

[Little Star]

14. Here are some more links...

I haven't watched these 3 episodes yet.

Helen Hunt:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/helen-hunt/1392334/


Rita Wilson:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/rita-wilson/1393794/


Edie Falco:
http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/edie-falco/1395260/

[Little Star]

15. Here's a link to the Rob Lowe episode...

http://www.nbc.com/who-do-you-think-you-are/video/rob-lowe/1398785/

[kdmorris]

16. I liked this one

I like them all, but this one kind of spoke to my own German ancestry... To avoid spoilers, let's just say "that is all".

[Little Star]

17. I think this was one of the best ones! I loved it. Poor Rob...

I thought he was going to faint when he thought his ancester wasn't a patriot. Glad it turned out the way it did for him.

[kdmorris]

18. SPOILER ALERT: I laughed

when he was looking at the guy - completely incredulous - and said "You mean - he was trying to STICK IT to George Washington??"

He just seemed like - total disbelief LOL.