The long running British series 'Who do you thing you are?' is absolutely great. One of the most toughing stories was they of Jerry Springer (yer - that one....) and it is, along with most of the series in You Tube. I have copied the links for the entire Jerry Springer program for you to see. It is well worth seeing all 6 ten minute sections - but beware - have you're hankie handy - it's a real tear jerker !

The other program that Emmy mentions is actually called 'Heir Hunters' and that is great too...


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Wow Carole that was really something. To know Jerry Springer through the Jerry Springer show you would never have guessed his background. Thanks for posting the links (4, 5 and 6 did not work or were repeats)

I'm sorry about that Billie... I watched the whole episode before posting it and I cried - the last half is so very moving.

I've now re-posted the episodes here and I have checked that they are the right ones. If you go to You Tube and pit in 'Who do you think you are?' there are many more episodes - another that you will know is Sam Wannamaker's daughter Zoe - that was moving too and deals with the McCarthy era in the USA.

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I caught bits of that genealogy show, who do you think you are.

My take is..they did the genealogy of "many" celebs and you are only seeing the ones that have historical backgrounds. So, I agree with that quote. I really didnt care for this show, because its not about people like ourselves, doing all of this work. Someone did it for them..and its all for entertainment benefit.

Yes, I see what you are saying eleven, we all can't travel all around the country or the world, following leads, like these celebs can. I think they must have fleshed out all the lines of each of the celebs and went after the most interesting one. I mean, I think we all have one line that is more interesting than the other ones. I am just jealous how far back the people with American records can go...and all in English...easy-peasy. LOL.

I only saw the episode with Sarah Jessica Parker but I too thought how great it would be to walk into a library and they had everything I needed all laid out for me. But after some thought that kind of took some of the pleasure and satisfaction out of it too. To me there is no better feeling than finding something that you have been stuck on and searching for. I think this series may lead more people to seek out their roots but it will also mislead them into thinking they can do it much quicker than is possible. Once everything is online it will be much quicker and easier but not as easy as they make it look on the show.

In the 70s, I watched the miniseries, Roots. From way back then, I used to think, gee, I wish I could do that. Only..who knew, I could trace my roots in Italy. It took until the early 90s for me to find out that I could.

You are right, this program is making people interested. I am doing my daughters inlaws, because of that show. And a woman whose husband works for my son in law, is doing hers. All from watching that show.

My daughter asked me for help, however..I tell her where to look, but then I go and find it. We really arent going about this the right way. We are mostly getting what is online..like censuses. I am almost 100% sure, that we have the right people...all except for one..couple, which I am not sure of. We havent talked to my daughters mother in law yet. We will be seeing her on the weekend. She can confirm who we found so far. But, from the info we had from hearing the mother in law talk, I am sure we are on the right track.

Its funny..I thought I would have to go way back with these people for immigrants. Nope. My son in laws great grandfather was the immigrant on his fathers side and on the mothers side, his grandmother was born in canada. However, from looking at the censuses for the area they lived in..I think her husbands line was here a very, very long time.

Anyway..no way will this be as detailed as my own genealogy, because I will not travel outside the home to do THAT kind of research for anyone. If they want that done, I will instruct them.

What I have learned thru the years is, people want to know..but, they dont want to do the work..and if you do it for them..they are careless with what you find. I already had someone lose all of the information (good think that I save everything). It took me days to find a few simple documents. which I did as a favor..and you cant even be sure its stored in your computer? This person had no interest in then continuing with the italian records, even tho they could, since the FHL had the films. I did it for someone else prior to this. I got them out of America. They began with the italian records, but never continued.

Anyway, I am happy to help anyone and even do a little for them..but, people charge big bucks to do what we do..and I am not doing for anyone, what I did for myself.

Well I have helped some people who also were careless with the info - and some who have become totally fixated and are wonderful with it. I guess that happens all the time. Since I have so much on the go right now I am just trying to break things up into sections and not start anything new.I have hit brick walls on two of my lines and I found that if I walk away from it for a while it will become clearer later.
Looking forward to tomorrow night's episode. It's the only time I get to book the TV for something I want to watch.

While it's not on topic, I was wondering if there are any suggestions on proceeding when one hits the brick wall Nuccia mentioned? I will shortly exhaust the films from FHC on the two comunes from which my Italian family emigrated. I haven't tried writing for church records and don't have any idea how to approach that kind of research or of its effectiveness.
The research on my Irish and German lines has been halted with me unable to get out of the US.
My research on the Italian lines has been far and away the most fruitful and interesting. I've learned that the author of all of those letters that Luca, Carole, and Livio so kindly translated was the third of three sons named Gaetano born to Stefano Dragotto and Giuseppa Mazzola; the previous two Gaetanos died and one of those had a twin sister, Filippa, who survived and later married. I am currently working on organizing all of the data I have collected so far as well as adjusting to a new genealogy program, Reunion 9, that I purchased a few weeks ago. Any and all suggestions, advice are always welcome from the Gente family

Where are you stick Tom? Is it that you have all the records you need now and identified all the persons on the films or did you get stopped on a line and need other places to search? If you need to go back further and can't get church records, you could see if there any catasti available for purchase (They are expensive though but can be purchased through some of the archives). Not sure how you feel about that...

Nuccia,
I have nearly exhausted the family info in Belmonte available on the FHC films with regard to the principal surnames although there are relations that I will revisit later. It seems everyone is related sooner or later in Belmonte! I have managed to trace the Dragottos back to about 1740 at which time they seem to be in Palermo. It seems that church records will be necessary to continue.

In San Giuseppe Jato I have not been able to connect the Licatas (also La Licata seems to be interchangeable in some records) to a common ancestor to link the various members. Church records would appear to be needed to do that although I still have a few approaches left with regard to the films which may help me make such a connection. Records indicate that some of the Licatas as well as the families into which they married were born in places such as Monreale, Aragona, etc. And since they were born prior to the records available on FHC films, it seems that church records would be necessary here as well to uncover earlier ancestors, etc.

Having said all of that, I am not in a rush or panic. There is still plenty of work to be done on the data that I have already collected and am still in the process of collecting. I will move at a more relaxed pace for a while; I've been spending a minimum of 8 hours a week reviewing films and taking photographs of records for most of last year--this doesn't include the time I spend at home working with the photos I've taken, translating them and preparing them for my genealogy software. Sometimes, I think that I am singlehandedly supporting my local FHC with my film rentals In addition to the research here I am trying to formulate a plan to get to Sicily before I am too old to enjoy it All of that is very tentative, however, and much has to be done before that can happen--I need to learn much more Italian before I step into the swirling matrix of Sicilian life!

The irony of my search is that I know much more about my ancestors than I do my immigrant family here in the US. As I contact relatives, I find most do not respond and those who do are interested for only an email or two at best--none have answered old fashioned hand written letters delivered via snail mail either. What is most frustrating is that I know so many facts about our ancestors, more than anyone else in my extended family/families, and yet I am unable to find the elements which make it personal, real enough for me to write the story that I have longed to write. I think many people confuse learning about the past with wanting to live in it. I am clearly a product of a different time than the one I'm researching and have no desire to return to the hardships and the way of life that I have discovered that my ancestors had to overcome but I also believe it has something to do with my own character, how it was molded and how it helped to shape the person I've become and how I will continue to grow in the light of all that I've discovered.

So, I got too philosophical there--sorry it is an unavoidable genetic trait I think of Sicilian blood and the fact that I majored in philosophy in college. Anyway, through this long-winded response I can't say that I really answered your question, Nuccia

Tom..I understand totally how you feel! I know more about my dead ancestors than I do about my living relatives and other than an email or two I can't get anyone to pay much attention to it. I guess it's not as important to them as to me.

Church records may not be bad for you since your ancestors came fromSicily. I think many Sicilian Church records are available from the LDS. That would be amazing. I think Jim got as far back as 1500 or further using them.

Have you put anything online at all? Will all the work you've done and all the records you have you should consider putting them online for others to look at. Since you already have a site it would be awesome and you may even get to meet some distant relatives this way. It really is how Cathy and I met - and honestly it is gratifying if you go slowly so you don't overwhelm yourself.

Anyway, it is just a thought. Now, I have several records to put online and I am hoping to get some up today since I am home early. Let us know if you decide to go with Church records (maybe after the summer so you have a bit of a break). I would be interested in knowing how it goes.

P.S> I think some of the Palermo records are already up...have you already seen this site?

freepages.genealogy.ro...index8.htm

Come August, it will be 18 years, that I have been doing genealogy. The first 2, were very intense. I was doing something, on a daily basis. Of course, back then, there was no internet. Everything was done with snailmail, hand written notes and charts and a typewriter.

Since then, I believe I have found something at least once a year. Most things that I have found, I never knew existed. Some, were short of a miracle.

In the past few years, with the internet growing and more records online, I still continue to find things.

The live ones. Relatives. Or people who you think are relatives. I have had a mixture of the very interested, to the disinterested. This goes for relatives I have known all of my life, to newly found relations. I get my biggest thrill from all of this in sharing what I have found with others. I found a couple of "almost sure they are" relatives, from this forum. Two people found me after googling a surname which came from a post here. One joined, to message me here and the other took the email address from that post and emailed me. Both these people were doing genealogy themselves and remain very interested. I provided them with information that took me only minutes to find and they had been searching forever. I guess a little knowledge goes a long way. I am still working on proving we are connected (paper proof), but by word of mouth proof..I believe we are.

Anyway..dont think you have found everything. You havent. If you seek..you shall find.

Every month or two..I google all of my surnames. I cant tell you how much I have discovered by doing that. I also google "Italian genealogy" and keep an eye on forums. Ancestry, the mormon church and their new pilot site are also good places to keep searching from time to time. And now, I recently found footnotes has information out there, some of it for free.

So many times, during these years, I thought..well thats it. I dont think there is a thing out there for me to find. Every time, I was wrong. And every time I find something new, its the same feeling as when I found my first. I am still thrilled to death.

I have brick walls, just like everyone else. Matter of fact, both on my mothers and mother in laws side, I dont have a whole lot...but I keep trying. For the fathers, I got back to the 1700s.

Last sept, we had a family reunion. Just for my Husbands bros, sis and their children and grandchildren. We total about 65. Most attended. I had a chart made of mostly their fathers line and what little of the mom, that I had. I had the chart start at their parents, going both backwards and forward. This included the name of every grandchild and great grandchild of my husbands parents. We had it hanging on the wall. Each brother/sis family also made a collage of pix of their children and grandchildren. People were by that wall all day. The outcome was, I had to order 6 more charts. .for those who wanted them.

Anyway..keep on looking. There are things out there, left to find.