Roots Television | Og Blog

Prominent genealogist Megan Smolenyak-Smolenyak apparently didn’t know what she’d gotten into when she accepted her nephew’s innocent request to help him out with a small school project. Flat Stanley (renamed Flat Austin in her nephew’s honor) arrived innocuously enough – a large brown envelope with instructions to just take him with her and see what happens. Hmmm … sounded kinda boring. But once Megan realized she could put a family history spin on it, the game was on!

Flat Austin’s family tree seemed easy enough to Megan – she headed to the National Archives with him in tow. There she found that Flat Austin’s parents were Stacy Squished and Tom Flat, descended from the Squashed and Squeezed families. But where did that lead the enterprising Aunt and her little paper friend? Colonial Williamsburg, of course – where Flat Austin was unfortunately slapped in to the stockades after an encounter with a grouchy judge. Once it was discovered that one of Flat Austin’s ancestors had gone west to look for gold, Flat Austin was packed back into his envelope and got on the road again – this time to San Francisco, where he rode the cable cars, visited friends at Alcatraz, and got a sugar high at Ghiradelli’s.

Now, a lot of us have been asked to help with school children’s Flat Stanley projects, and some Stanleys have even shown up on tv shows, in front of the Eiffel Tower, or on vacation to Hawaii – but how many Flat Stanleys have been fortunate enough to have their family tree researched by a famous genealogist? Flat Austin was one lucky doll!

Watch our new show, Flat Stanley’s Family Tree, narrated by Brock Jackson, to see the adventures they encountered together.

Og from Roots Television