Roots Television | Megan's Roots World

Still finding myself on the road a lot doing plenty of interviews. Just spotted this one online:

Family ties - Al Sharpton and Strom Thurmond

Please ignore the badly fitting suit I had to quickly snag since I was snowed in in Chicago and without luggage. If you haven't heard the story, this will give you a taste.

And BTW, did you catch Rev. Sharpton on The Daily Show last night? You can catch two segments on this story here.

Megan will be presenting "Trace Your Roots with DNA" at 10:30 a.m. on March 17 at the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The presentation will be in the Library’s Wheeler Auditorium, 400 Cathedral St., Baltimore, MD. Hope to see you there!

The last 10 days or so have been a blur for me as I've been doing the best I can to handle all the media requests regarding the discovery that Rev. Sharpton's great-grandfather was owned by relatives of Strom Thurmond.

Late last week, I was asked to speak at Rev. Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem. The intent was to inspire parents and other adults to give the children in their lives the gift of family history.

Of course, I was delighted at the prospect! The intimidating part? The featured speaker was Jesse Jackson.

I never thought I'd share a stage with speakers of the caliber of Revs. Sharpton and Jackson, but I did the best I could by just speaking from the heart. With a bit of luck, some of the people there that day went home and called their great-aunts or took a look through some of those old photos.

BTW, tucked behind Al Sharpton in the first photo is Tony Burroughs. And tucked behind me in the second photo is Jesse Jackson.

Yesterday, Rev. Sharpton went to Edgefield, SC to walk in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, Coleman Sharpton. What you see below is part of the media convoy going to the Sharpton plantation where Coleman once lived. The house is still standing -- and fairly authentic. Still heated by fireplace today. Imagine how Rev. Sharpton must have felt seeing this for the first time.

Believe it or not, the tenant house -- that is, the former slave quarters -- is still standing at the Sharpton plantation. The current owner gave Rev. Sharpton an old horse shoe from the building, which is estimated to possibly be 200 years old.

Shortly after I took this shot, we all wandered off single file into the woods -- with all the camera folks doing the best they could to manage their equipment -- to the old slave cemetery. It's simply stone markers now -- no words, just markers. But I poked through the trees and brush and saw many of them. The owner estimates 40-60. Amazing.

I told Rev. Sharpton that Coleman wanted his story told. From the remarkable paper trail to all that's literally still standing, it seems to me that Coleman is practically shouting to be heard.

Remember that contest that Ellis Island launched for school kids? Well, the winners have been picked. Click on the image below to see the artwork of all the winners and finalists. Congrats to all!

Clark County Internet Library provides research on local history, genealogy, and a host of transcriptions designed to assist family research of Clark County, WI ancestors. Information posted on the site is collected by 200 volunteers in 16 states and 3 foreign countries. They plan to use the grant toward the purchase of suitable shelving for newspaper microfiche used by all of the libraries in Clark County. And by the way, check out the cool book shelf on their home page!

Note from Megan: Yeah, I'm a little behind, but catching up! Keep an eye out for more awards shortly.

Seymour, IN is a town with rich history -- founded by "builders and busters, entrepreneurs and scoundrels" and the site of the nation's first train robbery. To document this history, the Seymour Museum board is in the process of creating a living history tour through the Riverview Cemetery to celebrate its 125th year. In this project, historians and actors will research primary documents and family histories to accurately portray notable individuals throughout Seymour's history. The grant will be used to help fund this tour, which will be held in April 2007.

I'm always on the look out for great books with anything resembling a family history theme, and I spotted one a few weeks ago when I was over in London. I swallowed it whole on the flight home and have been intending to write about it since, but just haven't had the time.

I don't have a drop of British blood (that I know of yet, anyway!), but I was completely absorbed by this book. Perhaps my recent wanderings around the south side of the Thames colored my perspective, but this book enchanted me from the beginning.

What makes it all the more extraordinary is that it's simply the story of Ellen Tregent, the grandmother of Martin Knight, the author. Ellen lived a century -- from 1888 to 1988 -- and though she was an "ordinary" woman, her life was anything but. Not that she ever made the papers aside from the day she turned 100 years old, but it's amazing to grasp what a life can encompass. I also like that Knight doesn't do a lot of embellishing or pontificating. He lets his grandmother's story speak for itself.

I suspect most folks who are into genealogy would enjoy this book, and if you happen to sport any London roots, you'll be all the more enamored for the tales of the city that are interwoven with Ellen's.

And incidentally, I checked to see whether the book was available in the U.S. and was pleased to discover that it's about to be released here on March 27th. So for those who might be interested and live in the U.S., you should have an easy time of snagging a copy. Those of you in the U.K. can go snag a copy today!

The Cemetery Surveys, Inc. website, run by Rose Birdwell, posts pictures of every stone in each surveyed cemetery (over 1,000 currently online), plus panoramas. They also post birth and death certificates, marriage licenses, obits and other material with genealogical value. In the past two years, website traffic has increased to over a quarter million per month, slowing the server down and creating problems for their Internet service provider. They plan to use the grant to upgrade their server and to pay for a year of business internet.

First, Al Sharpton on The Daily Show and now Stephen Colbert offering a new segment called When Ancestors Attack. Genealogy is suddenly pop culture -- and since I'm a big fan of both of these shows, I don't mind one little bit. In fact, I really enjoy seeing genealogy finally get a bit of attention.

If you'd like to see Colbert's take on Rev. Sharpton, McBama (yes, he really does have Irish roots), and others, take a look at this video.

The Wachusett Writers and Poets Club in Westminster, MA is a group of seniors, all over age 55, who met through a course in Creative Writing at the local junior college. They write short stories, poems, essays and more and self publish a text of their individual works once a year. Their love of writing continues to grow, as they explain: “We all have been bitten by the bug of writing since childhood. Retirement has allowed this love to blossom into the joy of telling for posterity.” The grant will be used to fund a workshop for the group, guided by the Central MA Genealogical Society to enrich their research skills for the telling of family stories.

Well, it's a tad past St. Patty's Day (which I greatly enjoyed celebrating in Baltimore after having a terrific time with the crowd at Enoch Pratt Library, one of those grand old libraries I just love), but it's never too late (in my mind, anyway) for a touch more of Annie Moore. So I take this opportunity to share this article (one of the most accurate summaries I've seen) and offer my sincerest apologies to the people of Waco.

Tale of two Annies: Wacoan Annie Moore's story no longer part of Ellis Island lore

Lest you need a reminder that one day you, too, will be history, check out this amusing article:

A Family Heirloom, Disguised in Pink

If you're like me, you probably have a flamingo story or two in your past. I recall one time opening the door to greet some guests at our annual Christmas party, only to find a bunch of my mom's employees scattered around the lawn all standing on one leg. It was part of an on-going flamingo gag that started when they decided to adorn her office balcony -- on Pennsylvania Avenue, a few blocks from the White House -- with -- you guessed it -- pink flamingos!

I didn't have the foresight then to realize that I should have kept and babied those pink resin creatures, so don't make my mistake. If you have any flamingos left, cherish them. Wrap them securely and protect them for the benefit (and perhaps puzzlement) of future generations.

Last Friday, I had the opportunity to attend the 16th annual Family Reunion Conference -- this time in Philadelphia, PA. It's run by the very capable Dr. Ione Vargas. I had attended a few years ago in Baltimore, but was long overdue! If you're not familiar with it, you might be startled to learn just how large an event it is. Check out this photo from Friday's lunch:

I also got a chance to catch up a bit with my friend, John Logan, whose email updates I greatly appreciate. John manages to stay up to date on a lot of interesting stuff that others don't always catch.

BTW, one of the reasons I was there was to film a few lectures for Roots Television, so be sure to keep an eye out!

I already mentioned that I spoke at the Enoch Pratt Free Library (check out their remarkable digital collection here) on St. Patty's Day, but I wanted to give them a shout out for all the effort they put into creating a terrific event. Made me feel like a big shot to discover this in the window! And as you can see, the other person on tap that day? None other than Tom Kemp of Genealogy Bank. Pretty good company, don't you think?!

Hey! Have you spotted the new website for Ancestry Magazine yet?? If not, you'll definitely want to check it out!

I went in there today and discovered that one of my articles is the current featured one. I write an "orphan heirloom" column for the magazine called Found, and She Had Me at Junkyard is the latest. It's about a box of family treasures that were found, appropriately enough, in a wrecked Legacy in a junkyard in Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you want to know any more, you'll have to go read the article!

And if you have any treasures you'd like to return to the family of origin, just submit them here.

Well, we still have some more work to do, but we've been quietly working on a revamp of Roots Television and flipped a switch late yesterday. One of the first things you'll notice is that we're categorized all our programming into 20 channels and added both a program guide and video search feature to make it easier to find exactly what you're looking for. So now you'll be able to go straight to Flat Stanley, or find all the shows with DNA in them, or see what's showing in the Dearly Departed channel. And now it'll be a lot easier to tell your friends about a great show they just have to see because you can send them a direct link. Lots of options. If you've got a few minutes, check it out! And tell your research buddies!

P.S. I also confess that I think our channel images are pretty cool. Try playing with the mouseover on the home page!

Wow, I know we've become borderline paranoid about privacy in recent years, but even I was startled the other day when I had to provide a copy of my drivers license for -- get this -- a marriage record from 1894 and a death record from 1908. Mind you, there was no requirement to be related to the individuals in the records, so this wasn't a matter of proving a blood tie. This is simply routine procedure at the repository involved.

Is our fear of fraud and/or terrorism so great that we really need to track exactly who's ordering copies of century-old marriage records or 99-year-old death records? Is this truly protecting anyone from anything?

Even if these documents could somehow be used to, say, commit a crime (sorry, but my feeble brain can't quite figure out how), I maintain that criminals are too lazy to work this hard. Aren't criminals mostly folks who want a lot for a little? Do we really think they would take the time to research someone's grandparents in order to try to steal their identity? Wouldn't snagging their wallet, running their credit card twice when they shop, or buying card numbers from fellow criminals be a lot easier?

What do you think? Am I over-reacting or do I have reason to be perplexed?