I watch it. We have the same show here that traces famous Canadians roots. I love it since I have been researching my family tree for awhile now. I wish I could have access to the help they receive.

Anne

I watched Sarah Jessica Parker last week, and dvr'd this week.

You just have to remember that they spent a lot of time doing that research and then they condense it into an hour show including commercial breaks. They make it look really easy and anybody's that done genealogical research can tell you it's not that easy and you get very frustrated with it. Of course, when you do find something you're looking for it's GREAT!!!!

I find it interesting, and often disjointed as they hop from celebrity to celebrity. Clearly, an entire team did the research. Most of us would not have such resources. It does make me wonder what would be found in my own background, which is German and English on one side and Irish on the other.

it's been really interesting...emmit smith had the dna testing done, about the best way for a/m to find their roots...the saddest thing was when he visited his african country of origin, and found there's still slavery...

I've 'dabbled' in my family genealogy. It sure makes history come alive! My most recent immigrant to America came from Scotland before Ellis Island existed, but she's been the hardest to trace.

Sara Jessica Parker's ancestor was arrested in the Salem witch trials. Lucky for her the arrest occurred after many had grown suspicious of the trials when 100% had been found guilty. She was released, unlike those arrested only a couple of years earlier.

It was sad/interesting when Smith found that parents in his ancestor's homeland still sell their children into slavery as a source of income. He was found to be 81% African ancestory, and the researcher said she had never found such a high percentage in a black person's bloodline.

We love this show. It's so well put together. The stories are really well told and everything is very interesting. I do wish they would read a disclaimer at the beginning or end about the actual time (and money) it takes for these results.

It is an interesting show. And I agree - I wish they'd give some information as to how long long it took the researchers to uncover the lineage. They could even give suggestions along the way for viewers who are interested in doing similar work.

I had seen Lisa Kudrow being interviewed about the show, and watched for it. It was listed in the TV guide to be on NBC this past Friday at 8 p.m., but it was not shown. I was very disappointed.

I'll check out Hulu, but when is the regular scheduled time?

Sue

I have been working on my research now for 10 years - ever since I got the internet. Try tracing names like Booth, Chase and Paul - not easy especially when I don't want the John Wilkes Booths, or the phonebooths or John Paul's or the chase or purchase or Gannock Chase, Chase Manhattan bank people LOL. Monk is just about impossible. LOL Try putting any of thos names into a search engine and you come up with everything but what you are looking for. Forget about researching my Scottish roots even though my Mom was born in Scotland - I can't find anything on her family and what info there is can only be found on pay sites.

I haven't been able to join the pay sites yet but I think I will have to if I want to get more information. My family is from the Lancashire-Audenshaw area in England and my Grandpa landed at Ellis Island in 1911 - imagine my suprise when I typed his name after 10,000 times and that little tidbit showed up. He lived for a few years in New York and the documents on Ellis Island showed he was going to stay with his Uncle JW Booth - LOL Not that JW Booth. I went to a Booth genealogy message board and said I wanted help to find my Booths and 2 people traced my line back to the 1700's all because I had the name of my Grandpa's brother who was adopted by his maternal Grandmother after his Mother died.

I spend hours and hours on the computer at night when everyone else is sleeping trying to find that little morsel of info. New documents are being transcribed all the time and posted on the internet and BMD indexes are being updated constantly. I have traced my Dad's side all the way back to the 1700's on the male side. Finding info on the wives is a bit more difficult - names like Stopford, Hooley - I never knew these names until I started researching on the internet.

Also from posting on a genealogy message board 10 years ago looking for my ancestors I received an email from an 80 year old woman who said she was researching the same family and that she was my 2nd cousin - I never knew she existed! She is my Great Uncle George's daughter. She called me on the phone from England and we talked for over an hour and she passed on info I didn't not have. I have lost touch with her because all the info I had about her was on my Webtv email which I don't have anymore. I can't remember her married name so I don't know how to find her again and if she is still alive. I hope so! She told me about meeting my Dad during the WW2 when his ship was docked in Liverpool and he brought the family food and blood oranges and she always remembered that.

My next stop is the LDS Family Centre in Windsor - I can't get any info off their internet site so I will see if they can help me in person. They have info on just about everybody. LOL

I started out with 1 name - Samuel H in Hooley Hill and a whole world of my ancestors opened up to me.

Family members have passed along volumes of postcards from when my Dad's mom was a young girl in England, a bible from my Dad's stepmom that had some old newspaper clippings in it, and lots of old pictures of people we don't know the names of but who are ancestors. People, put names on the backs of your pictures for future generations - it sure does help!

Having access to archives is a great thing. Archive Canada has a wealth of information as does the one in England. Visit sites like Ellis Island if your ancestors emigrated to the US or Canada - remember names may have been changed - census takers and immigration officials wrote the names down as they heard them or shortened them. My last name has many variations.

Good luck because once you start on this genealogical trip it is hard to stop. LOL

Anne

Sue, it's Friday night at 8:00 on NBC.

Anne, I've had some luck looking into my father's family, thanks to the unusual name (Luckstone). But although I'd love to know more about the ancestors of my paternal grandmother (whose personality is a lot like my own), her parents were George and Margaret Campbell of Scotland. I'm not encouraged. :-)

Great show!

Linda

Anne (CherryFizz) -- Ancestry.com and the LDS Church are both using volunteers to transcribe new records to be put online. I know that Ancestry.com will give you a discount on a paid membership if you transcribe a certain number of records within a 90-day period. They are using volunteers from all over the world, and they have records from all over the world that need to be transcribed. You should look into it.

I saw Sarah Jessica Parkers episode and thought it was really interesting! I wish I had her resources and experts like those working on my family's history. I will have to remember to DVR the series.

Anne-My husbands last name is Smith! I've never even attempted his side!

Okay, I've just finished watching the first two episodes, and I'm hooked! Not being a football fan, I'd never heard of Emmitt Smith. But I loved him and his story. It really brought home the tragedy of slavery. Not new information, but his connection made it personal.

And I can relate to Sarah Jessica Parker's emotions and her enthusiasm.......I felt the same every time I discovered one of my ancestors (although she was given far more detailed information than I have managed to get so far).

I've watched both episodes, and will continue to watch the rest of the 7-episode series (Lisa Kudrow, one of the exec producers of the show, will be this week's episode), but I have mixed feelings.

As an avid genealogist, I think the series is great in that it shows folks how fascinating genealogy can be -- how it can help you to learn more about yourself by learning about those who came before you.

On the other hand, I think it does a bit of a disservice by making it appear that it's so easy to find information to go back so many generations.

Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmitt Smith both have a lot of money, and can afford to just jump on a plane to head off to a totally different area of our country, not to mention another country altogether; when the vast majority of us simply don't have that option. Another sticking point is that Sarah Jessica Parker and Emmitt Smith (and the other five celebs to follow in the coming weeks) have the benefit of several professional genealogists and archivists searching for information long before they arrive in town. The information is simply handed to them. They aren't spending hours upon hours looking at rolls of microfilmed records, etc.

I have a World Deluxe membership to Ancestry.com. I have access to every record they have. Plus, I'm an arbitrator for submissions to Ancestry.com - both from the World Archives Project as well as corrections/suggestions that folks submit regarding records that are already online. Yet I continually hit a total roadblock when it comes to ancestors/family in Pennsylvania, because Pennsylvania has close to nothing available online.

I wish it were as easy as the show makes it appear...

I got alot of info from the free 14 day Ancestry deal. I have my great grandparents coming off the boat and that's as far as I can go. I doubt I'll be able to go to the Czech Republic or Hungary for research. My Swedish roots go back the farthest. I also liked Prof Gates on PBS.

Here is a link that might be useful: Faces of America

Thanks Lindsay, I will check into that.

Anne

Good points, Lindsey. I wonder if they'll say something to clarify these things at the end of the show.

I also found myself wishing they'd point out that although the ancestors they found were in a direct line to the subject, there were many other direct lines . . . i.e., we don't have just one set of great-great-great-great-great grandparents--we have 64 sets!

Anyone know how much DNA testing costs these days? I'm hoping it will become cheap at some point. I'll bet there are lots of less-than-reputable labs willing to do it.....

I'm hoping I can see it this week. I went back and checked and last week it was not only in the (newspaper) TV schedule, for NBC at 8pm, it was in the Friday's Best Bet column. But it was not on.

I checked Hulu and they tell me I need to update Adobe Flash. I will check into that later.

Sue

Holy smokes, 64 sets? I've never considered that.

It's true, Dani. We have two sets of grandparents, four sets of great-grands, and then it keeps doubling every time you add a "great." The pyramid of people who came before us is huge.

Right! And just think--if your great great great grandfather hadn't met your great great great grandmother when he did, you wouldn't be here!! Think of all those sperms and eggs that went before you w/o being fertilized. You think that's not staggering? The odds against you even being here are astronomical!! Thank your lucky stars your mother didn't have a head ache the day you were conceived!

Ancestry.com offers the DNA testing for $150. Hubs and I are thinking about doing it.