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Watching the Sean Hayes ep -- I thought he really got an insight into the why's of his family. I wonder if there is any plans to revisit past people to see if their knowledge has changed their outlooks?
Just watched the Sean Hayes episode. I liked how it wasn't just the "one ancestor" theme, but multiple generations. I wonder if learning all of this will help him understand and maybe one day forgive his father, seeing how the guy really had little chance of learning to become a decent father.
The family lore of the one ancestor "dying in the gutter" from alcoholism, and then having a death certificate saying "pulmonary tuberculosis--far advanced" is exactly the story with one of my ancestors, who was also a 1st generation Irish-American. It's word-for-word the same cause of death on my ancestor's death certificate. I guess if you are between 40-50 and you die of "far advanced" TB, you're probably a hardcore alcoholic.
I was really disappointed when the episode was over--I wanted to learn more about this family. Alcoholic violent guy has a son in Ireland who is also violent and goes to jail multiple times, then cleans up his act, moves to the US and becomes an upstanding citizen, then has a son who becomes an alcoholic who abandons his own family, and his own son grows up to be a father who abandons his family, which includes son, Sean, who becomes successful and famous. In each generation, a man had some negative "givens" and then made choices about how to lead his life.
Just watched the Sean Hayes episode. I liked how it wasn't just the "one ancestor" theme, but multiple generations. I wonder if learning all of this will help him understand and maybe one day forgive his father, seeing how the guy really had little chance of learning to become a decent father.
The family lore of the one ancestor "dying in the gutter" from alcoholism, and then having a death certificate saying "pulmonary tuberculosis--far advanced" is exactly the story with one of my ancestors, who was also a 1st generation Irish-American. It's word-for-word the same cause of death on my ancestor's death certificate. I guess if you are between 40-50 and you die of "far advanced" TB, you're probably a hardcore alcoholic.
I was really disappointed when the episode was over--I wanted to learn more about this family. Alcoholic violent guy has a son in Ireland who is also violent and goes to jail multiple times, then cleans up his act, moves to the US and becomes an upstanding citizen, then has a son who becomes an alcoholic who abandons his own family, and his own son grows up to be a father who abandons his family, which includes son, Sean, who becomes successful and famous. In each generation, a man had some negative "givens" and then made choices about how to lead his life.
But keep in mind -- the guy that came here -- we have no direct evidence that he was an upstanding citizen. We have census reports that say he didn't leave his family...nothing to say it was a happy family.
He could have been an abusive father, and the son decided that instead of beating the stuffing out of his kid it was time to leave.....
As far as the TB -- lots of people died from TB, it was pretty widespread, have a number of them in my family -- the anorexia is way more attributable to alcoholism. He chose to buy drink and not food.
But keep in mind -- the guy that came here -- we have no direct evidence that he was an upstanding citizen. We have census reports that say he didn't leave his family...nothing to say it was a happy family.
He could have been an abusive father, and the son decided that instead of beating the stuffing out of his kid it was time to leave.....
As far as the TB -- lots of people died from TB, it was pretty widespread, have a number of them in my family -- the anorexia is way more attributable to alcoholism. He chose to buy drink and not food.
I just said "upstanding citizen," "not "upstanding father" because he evidently was married, stayed married, lived in a stable address, and had a stable job during the depression. Sure, that person could be a jerk in his personal life, but he wasn't showing up in public records with criminal charges, living on skid row, leaving his family, or ending up in a public hospital.
They mentioned that the guy with TB, who died in his 40s, was likely immunocompromised, in order for it to get to the "advanced" stage. Liver disease, especially cirrhosis, will compromise the immune system. Many people had TB, fewer died from it, but they were usually very old. Adults in the prime of life were not likely to get that bad unless they had a comorbid condition (like liver disease, immune dysfunction).
Wow, Tony Goldwyn has some interesting ancestors. I had no idea he was descended from Samuel Goldwyn of MGM. And his other grandfather wrote the screenplay for Gone With The Wind.
But the episode was about his more distant ancestors, a married couple who were active in politics in the early to mid 1800s. I tend to not like the devoting of a whole episode to one ancestor, but this couple had such an interesting life, that I didn't mind. There was a little bit of unnecessary travel in this one though. Like going all the way to a small town in NY just to see a newspaper article.
I also noticed that WDYTYA now directs guests to Newspapers.com instead of Genealogybank for newspaper articles. Past seasons featured Genealogybank. I've never been impressed with Newspapers.com. But I guess they must have been bought by Ancestry.com, so now they get featured on the show.
Just watched the Bill Paxton episode (he seems like a genuinely kind, courteous person)! and saw this video next to it on YT so thought I'd post. Just a little about how they put these shows together.
I've always wondered what they do if they find no ancestors of any interest at all on a certain person they've either chosen or who has "chosen" them (apparently it works both ways, as is pointed out in this video)!
I now think that the producers of the show FIRST have genealogists trace the ancestry of lots of famous people, to find one interesting ancestor to showcase. THEN they contact the celebrity and ask them to do the show. That way they start with what they already think is an interesting story, and there is no chance of the celebrity having ancestors that are all duds.
I've always wondered what they do if they find no ancestors of any interest at all on a certain person they've either chosen or who has "chosen" them (apparently it works both ways, as is pointed out in this video)!
The UK version of WDYTYA famously dropped an episode on UK talkshow legend, Michael Parkinson, precisely for that reason.
Parkinson, as a certain type of Yorkshire person is prone to do, for decades banged on and on about how he had raised himself up from extremely humble origins as the son of a Barnsley miner, who was the son of a Barnsley miner who was the son of...etc, etc.
The WDYTYA researchers found that, in an unusual occurence for showbiz folk, that Parkinson was telling nothing less than the absolute truth and every tracable ancestor indeed seemed to have spent much of their waking hours grubbing for coal down a hole in some capacity.
Unfortunately, if a little cruelly, the BBC figured that the Great British viewing public wouldnt exactly be entranced by an endless succession of coal smut covered hardworking but decidely dull Parkinson forebears to fill out an hour or so.
So the BBC informed Parkinson that they were not going to finish filming the show.
Hell hath no fury like a Yorkshireman with a righteous beef, and Parkinson was not a happy bunny of a son of a Barnsley miner.
But sadly you cannot help feeling that for once the BBC made the right decision. Even a stopped clock ....and all that.
I loved the Melissa Etheridge episode! First, I was so happy they didn't just stick with one ancestor but covered a few generations. Second, the court records were interesting, involving that very personal lawsuit. And third, it covered a period of history that we're mostly familiar with, but from another point of view: French colonists in North America during the American Revolution. It prompted me to go brush up on the French & Indian War.
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