Saturday, March 20, 2010

More thoughts on "Who Do You Think You Are?"

* I really enjoyed the Emmitt Smith episode, mostly because he voiced so many thoughts that I feel myself when I'm doing my family history, how I feel like a detective and how I can feel the spirits of my ancestors being so happy to have not been forgotten.

* I always think about how African-Americans, if they can trace their family trees back to the Civil War, pretty much have hit an ultimate brick wall with any slave ancestors, but watching Lisa Kudrow research her great-grandmother's murder by the Nazis in 1940s Belarus, it seems to me that Americans of Eastern European Jewish descent have the rawest deal, being unable to go further back than that generation...

*I record every episode Friday night and watch it Saturday morning...I can't watch it Fridays before going to bed because, without fail, I always end up crying during this show.

*I just get so excited to see these people get so excited by what they're doing and what they're finding out...

Next week, Matthew Broderick traces his family tree (wow, James and Marion and Tabitha Broderick really lucked out, getting help with both sides of their family tree by professionals!!)

And this doesn't have anything to do with the show, but I read this quote today while I was looking into my Stutzmann genealogy, and I just thought it hit the nail on the head, especially in explaining why we do what we do to people who have no interest and just don't get it:

"Those who take no pride in the recording of vital records or the achievement of their ancestors are not likely to accomplish much that will be remembered with pride by their descendents."

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