WDYTYA (USA)

[marilyn morning]

According to Dick Eastman's newsletter today, David Hinckley from the New York Daily News wasn't very impressed ither.

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_ge ... -view.html

and

from nbc.com

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

[LesleyB]

Hi Marilyn

Sounds like the same kind of format we have seen in UK. Although quite entertaining, and it makes an interesting change from reading family history magazines, there is no doubt that the programme has a lot to answer for in that it makes it all look very easy, and as if stuff just drops into your lap and the archives always have what you are looking for.

Some folk new to research, who are inspired by these progs, then completely overlook the much more subtle highs and lows of research; the lack of instant progress can come as great disappointment when they find that it is not all easy-peasy, the information actually requires some hard work and dediciation to unearth and they will not have a full tree in a fortnight!

Best wishes
Lesley

[Jamboesque]

I'm glad to see it's basically the same format as the UK one and I agree that it seems quite superficial in terms of the 'magic tree' mode of genealogy but it was the first UK series of WDYTYA (2004?) that got me interested in, genealogy at first, then family history, by revealing that 'stuff' was available on the internet (Scotlands People).

I know this term might be a troublesome for some but if more folk take it up and the 'market' grows other records and information will be put out there, and yes there will be a cost but in terms of a hobby, it's usually not a terrible expensive one, and with communities like the one we have here, people can always come up with a helping hand.

I am faced with a dilemma, one of my biggest relates to my Great Grandfather & Grandmother going over to Ireland (County Wexford) in 1879 and returning with a daughter in late 1880/early 1881 in very much reduced circumstances, he was going out as a Land Steward from Brechin and coming back to be a Lorryman in Leith. The only way, realistically, I'll be able to resolve the issues behind that will be to go over there and do a bit of research, but it's a lot of money just to solve a point of history, no matter how much it itches.

[emanday]

but it's a lot of money just to solve a point of history, no matter how much it itches.

The trouble with an itch is that it is almost impossible to ignore it for long

[LesleyB]

Hi Jamboesque

my Great Grandfather & Grandmother going over to Ireland (County Wexford) in 1879 and returning with a daughter in late 1880/early 1881 in very much reduced circumstances, he was going out as a Land Steward from Brechin and coming back to be a Lorryman in Leith. The only way, realistically, I'll be able to resolve the issues behind that will be to go over there and do a bit of research, but it's a lot of money just to solve a point of history, no matter how much it itches

.
If you have a name for this child, have you tried a birth search on the Irish Civil Indexes over at Family Search ("Pilot" area)
http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... ionDetails
If you can find it, and get the ref, (works llike the English system, in quarters of the year, with ref. no. for volume and entry) you can send for a copy of the birth cert. from GROIE at Roscommon, which may give you some more info.

Best wishes
Lesley

[Jamboesque]

Thanks Lesley.

I found her, Alice Mary Hood Born Jul-Sep 1879 in Gorey Wexford.

I'm writing off to the G R O at Roscommon tonight!

This is what I mean our about little community here, Thanks again

Jack

[LesleyB]

Hi Jack
Great to hear - glad it was of some help. I very much hope the birth entry will reveal an address or some other new info for you.
As far as I remember you can ask for a photocopy for about £4 or so rather than a certified "official purposes" copy which is predictably much more expensive - there is a saving to be made with the unofficial copy. Have a look at their web site as it is mentioned there somewhere. Mindyou, either option will be a good deal cheaper than that trip to Ireland. I'd save up that trip for the better weather!

Best wishes
Lesley

[sheilajim]

Hi All

I watched the show on Friday and although I found it entertaining. It was as others have noted not very realistic. I wish that I could just drop in someplace and find my ancestors so easily. I am stuck at the late 18th century and it took me a number of years to get that far.

I think that they did a genealogies in advance on certain celebrities and contacted the ones that there was really something interesting to find. If I were a celebrity, they wouldn't have bothered with my tree as none of my ancestors seemed to have done anything interesting either good or bad.

In spite of this, I will continue to watch the show because, unlike mostly all of the other programming, I do find it entertaining.

[Jamboesque]

I'm not sure if the programme has any real aspirations to tell a genealogy as we would find it.

They have to take short cuts, concentrate the work, accelerate the process, to make the program watchable for the general public. If they stalled the story process too much to explain how things were found out, and more importantly how long it can take, the program would run out of time, IIRC the US program is 40-45 mins long and the UK is 55 - 60 mins long, though I seem to remember the first series of the U K one had a 5 - 10 minute exlpanation block tagged on at the end.

It would be interesting to know how many celebs they have to sift through to get the interesting ones, or people who can illuminate a singular part of genealogy that not is covered by others selected for the series. I'm pretty sure Micheal Parkinson let it be known that he would have liked his family history to be televised, but the research discovered that there was nothing of great interest or 'exciting' that came up.

One of my my favpourite UK WDYTYA's was Patsy Kensit, who coming from a distinctly dodgy background found her distant g -> gfather was a man of the cloth who did good things, she was most affected by it, in an obviously good way.

[marilyn morning]

Looking forward to tonight's show

Here's a distribution update from

http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_ge ... ional.html