Wherefore art thou?

[author_by_night]

fernwithy discussed a show called Who Do You Think You Are?, a show about celebrities (the first one being Sarah Jessica Parker) seeking their ancestry. I gave it a try myself to see what she was talking about.

I do feel like this show has an interesting premise: history is not irrelevant. SJP's ancestors were ordinary people, sure, but they endured horrible, extraordinary things. I think that's true of all of us... we all have someone interesting in our roots. (Sidenote: I can't believe when SJP found out an ancestor was accused of being a witch, she didn't mentioned that she played one and that her brother works on Wicked. Or that she, too, went to California with a dream. Those are coincidences that may actually explain a lot.)

One of my big issues was that it was less realistic for people who aren't SJP and can't pull money out of the bank and roam all over America. I'm so interested in ancestry, but... those resources are harder for me to find. I guess I'd just like to see how an everyday person with a more typical budget and schedule could do it.

It has definitely re-sparked my interest in genealogy - I've always had more than most people, but it seems to come and go in phases. Now I just want to know more again. The thing with me too is that I'd like to dig deeper with the information that I do have (and beyond) so I can really get a feel for who my ancestors were. I did find out really neat things about one great grandmother (she was one tough lady), but there's still dead ends there.  I'd also like to find surviving kin... particularly on my Scottish side, because they always wrote to my great grandfather, but we've since lost touch. I'd love to find them again.

Oh, and also, I'd love to be able trace back even further than they did in the show.  



Comments

[kennytrent.livejournal.com]

Yeah, totally understand. We gave it a year. Since my wife's family was almost entirely American, she was easy. But mine being part native American and listed on teh census...awkwardly and as I said, Ireland for my great grandad and Scotland for my great grandma well...we cancelled it LOL

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

The thing with SJP is that she was lucky enough to have face to face contact with experts, as opposed to relying on an online database. You can't really ask ancestry.com specific questions. And when you're not an expert in genealogy, you also don't have the resources to look any further.

[kennytrent.livejournal.com]

heh...yep. And of course as you said SJP has...well...SJP monies! LOL

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

Hey, I saw this... two years later, I've indeed gotten VERY far thanks to ancestry.com. I'm glad you encouraged me not to give up on it. :)