Historian Gives Woman Shocking Truth About Family's Criminal Past | My Family Secrets Revealed

[@robinc6324]

Hatched, matched, and dispatched! I love this!

[@ladonnaradney3466]

@@robinc6324 me too

[@violetgypsie]

There was a Canadian comedy called Hatching, Matching and Dispatching.

[@pennymitchell8523]

When I'm stuck with the direct line I explore sidewards. A lot of interesting information and also the help with the direct line.

[@lisaduhn184]

These stories are the best. Make more please

[@nonamerooster5413]

I’m addicted to this show!

[@kimberlymay3175]

My mum started doing ancestry research and found out, that her grandma from her mums side was born in a region which nowadays belongs to Poland and had at least one younger brother.

[@pennymitchell8523]

As an Australian....many have convict ancestry. My husbands family have 10 convicts....I have none. I have many Methodist/Wesleyan ministers and Missionaries. My husbands ancestor Charles Mitchell was convicted with his wife Sarah and MiL Sarah Swatman. Great records about the trial in the Old Bailey records.

[@Ceelle2]

And it appears sometimes the "crime" was just being poor!

[@theresaschuebel5151]

Wow my maiden name is Mitchell my family is from Northern Ireland it my be possible that your husband is related to me. That would be so cool. Do you have a George Mitchell in your tree

[@cheryllynnbostrom1308]

What's heartbreaking (for me) is to know some were convicted and sent to Australia for petty things, as simple as pick-pocketing, or were even convicted unfairly (innocent), splitting up lines of families for hundreds of years and by oceans :(

[@davinasquirrel7672]

I hate the fractured segments. So annoying. One has to immerse themselves with the details, only to be switched over to another story. It really does NOT help engagement. I am a genealogist of over 35 years now. I also worked in TV production for many years. This fractured segments is completely unnecessary. PLEASE STOP DOING IT

[@lorimartin8981]

My sister and i as well as all of our cousins were raised to believe we were part native American on my fathers side. My dad was th 5th child of 10 and passed before we were ever able to do a DNA test. His younger brother and sister (last surviving brother and sister) both have taken DNA test and it shows not 1 drop of Native American. I have taken 2 different DNA tests and neither shows any Native American. I don't want to perpetuate to the family lie and so tell my grandchildren that we just thought we were, but we were wrong. My Aunt & Uncle continue to argue with us that we are completely wrong. I appreciate having learned all the things i did growing up such as going through my naming ceremony, learning beadwork, going to pow wows and the peaceful ways, but i have been lied to my entire life and therefore have been made a liar for continuing it on with my children. My Aunt and Uncle keep trying to say that all of the DNA tests are unable to detect Native American blood. The story i grew up hearing was that our grandmother was a little girl and her parents were going to they're land allotment in either two waters ot towata and the covered wagon burned with all they're paperwork. Ive also been told that my grandfather was told we were native, but it was better to be dead than red so they called themselves black dutch. Is there any way you could help us get to the bottom of this family mystery once and for all?

[@annaraeellison3417]

We have the same issue in our family. My dad's mother's grandma was supposed to be full-blooded cherokee. That would be five generations back from me. What I have learned is, since this is on my dad's side of the family only the male members of the family would be able to have DNA traced back to that person. I asked a brother a few years ago to do a DNA test. For him it showed up 1% Native American. As I have been talking to and watching professional genealogist on youtube, the DNA gets less traceable as you go back. By the time you get to 5 or 6 generations from yourself, it is almost indistinguishable. Your aunt and uncle might be right, what they're not understanding is that bloodlines that far back are minute. They need to do research with census records, and things like the Dawes rolls which listed many people from the SouthEastern tribes when they were forced out west. This is a difficult thing to deal with. I have one living aunt on my dad's side. I have doubts as to whether or not we are Cherokee at all. But out of respect for her, I would never tell her even if I found out definitely that there was no Indian blood in the family. We too are very sympathetic to the indigenous people of this country, and some of us feel very native in our souls I did some missionary work for a few months in New Mexico on the Navajo reservation, what mattered to them was what was in my soul. The greatest compliment and confirmation to me is that several people of Indigenous roots have told me I have a native soul. I love them all. I don't know if this will help you at all. I just wanted you to know there are other people in your same position.

[@mstreemoon8117]

Where were they from?

[@amandacazares82]

There *could* be the possibility that 1 of your ancestors was 'adopted' into a native family 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@tangojuli209]

A friend of mine grew w the tale of indian blood. Turned out to b true, to my surprise, as so few of these stories do. I did her tree- hundreds of hours of my time. 4 years ago, their DNA was showing 4-5% vietnamese. But it was before the reference groups on ancestry had been better fleshed out w native american dna. The reports can only reflect matches in there reference (comparison) samples, which is what your aunt and uncle alluded to. I would cut them slack: your talking abt erasing ones whole sense of identity. Release your bitterness and maybe find peace in understanding. Check your ancestry update too. They just did a huge update recently.

[@mstreemoon8117]

@amandacazares82 or they paid for there names to be added to rolls...ppl really did this just for the land allotment and/or $$ .. Hence the term "$5 Indian"

[@jessgunn6639]

Given the mothers maiden name Harwood I would suggest that the use of Blackwood could be because she was illegitimate which would have been an absolute taboo in Romany families.

[@ordiekelleher2641]

Fun show! Love genealogy! Hugs love!😊

[@jamesdulany2176]

29:39 Probably because Julian would be the Anglicized version and that sounds very French, so my hunch is that he wanted a more English-sounding name, and Henry was the first that came to mind. When my Italian ancestors emigrated to America, they Anglicized their names a lot more directly (but kept their original surname).

[@cheryllynnbostrom1308]

So enjoyed. I didn't realise that the English/British have to wait 100 years to see census records. In the US it's 74 years, so the US 1950 census records were released last year (2024), and I was able to update my family tree records a lot! I can't imagine having to wait another 26 years to have seen them! I would have been in my 80's!

[@JoMamaLuvsReptiles]

Those two brothers look exactly alike. Very interesting thanks for sharing.

[@tinaluna1509]

I was adopted when i was 2yrs old my biological half brothers an sisters found me when i was 21. I am now 60 and still have no disire to really know where i came from

[@carollollol]

Government: lets give people first and last names to keep them apart! People: Lets call everybody in the family the same! Great great great great grandkids: WTF who is who! 🤦‍♀🤦‍♀🤦‍♀🤦‍♀🤦‍♀🤦‍♀

[@Leah-br6xu]

@@carollollol LOL

[@Noname-cn4ly]

Mine is similar with everyone being a Richard or Evan …. 🤦‍♀️😂 generations of them….

[@arlysveen706]

My husband had 4 cousins with his name, named after the same grandfather in the Netherlands

[@thekytikat]

Lol. For real. I have no less than 10 Johannes in the family. And three of them lived in the same area, served I n the same militia, attained the same rank, and two of those guys went on to serve in the colonial assembly. I've been trying to untangle that web... Doesn't help that the records seem to have gotten muddled.

[@julienelson6506]

I wish they did this show in the US or we had something like it. My great uncle went missing in 1930. I was just contacted by a man saying that his father used my great grandmother's name on documents (wedding cert and such) but he does not have a DNA match to my uncle, my cousin, or myself. The information lines up perfectly, but I do not dare imply the man's mother may have been unfaithful

[@feliciagaffney1998]

There used to be Genealogy Roadshow in the US. The good news is, you can do your own research! Or get someone to help you. 😊

[@garyedwardgray7549]

They did, as someone else replied. Genealogy Roadshow was practically identical to this. Sadly, it lasted very few seasons and disappeared. I agree that I wish it was still around. I didn’t really appreciate the other commenter saying, “the good thing is…” and saying you can do it yourself or get someone to help. Sure, that’s true. But doing it yourself can be arduous, depending on the specifics. These programs have teams of people to work on these issues. What’s easy for them can be very difficult for you. The simple act of birth certificates, which you saw on this episode. If you don’t know the town from which to search, you’re stuck. And even if you do, those are largely not online, so you need to go through the process to obtain it, which varies from town to town. It’s not simple. For these shows, it is. And as far as getting someone to help you… yeah, if you have money to throw away. Sure, there are some volunteers out there. In fact, as a semi-pro in this field myself, I’m thinking of setting up a free service, on a donation basis. But MOST people in this field… they have to make a living! They charge for these services. Saying, “do it yourself” or “get help” is NOT helpful whatsoever. So… I feel for you. I May set up that service soon. But I do not have all the pro resources, so I cannot guarantee success. What I do have is experience in solving these mysteries. If you want some help reach out to me (just reply to this) and we’ll see what we can do.

[@LisaNunlist]

VERY COMMON for Americans to have a family legend that they have indigenous/Native Am blood; seems glamorous; usually mistaken.

[@beverlyanne5192]

I think its to hide African American blood . If your skin is darker, people say they have Native America blood 😊

[@chriseggleston7573]

Find the Kennedy stories fascinating as my family has troublesome Kennedy's as well

[@rosiesgrandma]

There is controversy over the DNA for Native Americans however I have family that is directly related I can prove it by marriage to the Ross family in Tennessee to beloved Cherokee woman Nancy Ward. Those men were only a quarter and a half Cherokee back in the early 1800s. The family lines have been so diluted that once in awhile it will show up with a marker on somebody in the family of multiple people test but not always does It capture my family's past. My great-great-grandfather was born in the same area as where she passed away when he was about 2 years old. Family history says that we are Cherokee I have Cherokee married in on numerous lines with actual physical records however we do not come back testing Native American.

[@AnnetteMurphyger]

Yes, I am

[@kurtvanluven9351]

He has campers in his ancestors? Cool

[@verysad2036]

We have Kennedys on my husband's side in south africa

[@aletheaglenn6656]

Why didn't the gentleman who found out he had Romanian blood, learn that when he did DNA testing?

[@bernicewade9796]

The Roamy gypsies came from India, not Romania. Perhaps India came up in his DNA, but they didn't make the connection ?

[@violetgypsie]

I was a little confused about the Romany Gypsy connection. I thought there were two kinds of Gypsies in the UK. The Romanies and the Travellers. Aren’t the traveller gypsies of Irish descent? And don’t a lot of the Travellers have the last name Smith? Maybe I’m confusing the two.

[@ivydickson7596]

The Romany gypsy are originally from India

[@Pirrata123]

Monika Blackwood Sounds Like a German forest/region "Schwarzwald"

[@owoodford]

The overarticulation and emphasis on every single word is just too much, making it hard to hear what the genealogists are wanting to convey. I imagine the all had the same bad speech coach

[@kerriefearby9542]

Robert Byfield convict transported to Australia. Crime: Burglary (House breaking/Larceny in a dwelling house) Convicted at: Middlesex Gaol Delivery Sentence term: 99year. Ship: Hooghley Voyage: 25th Jul 1834 Arrival: 18th Nov 1834 Place of Arrival: New South Wales

[@francesbernard2445]

😂Didn't that one guy by the name of Jesus Christ have in some generations past a criminal one sometimes in his family tree too? Regardless somehow while he and his parents too was being stalked for 33 years he had in spite of that managed somehow to avoid for example killing anyone in self-defense,

[@pennymitchell8523]

Have to get a DNA sample from god😂

[@Khangel]

@@francesbernard2445 Jesus had several ancestors we would judge to be less than righteous. For example, Rehab was a prostitute.

[@violetgypsie]

Jesus Christ is not his name. His last name is not Christ, it’s a title.

[@mimsicle1]

What about his DNA heritage area?