Roots Television | Og Blog

Three years ago, just after she started her family history research, Beth Uyehara decided to take her first genealogical field trip. She headed to Pennsylvania, armed with optimism and what turned out to be a remarkable streak of beginner's luck.

Her journey began in Schuylkill County, where she managed to locate her great-grandfather's grave and accidentally stumbled onto some valuable family papers in the local courthouse.

Want to learn more about how you can use cemetery records to help trace your family tree? Check out this episode from the popular PBS Ancestors Series.

Og from Roots Television

What happens to people when they die with no next of kin to claim their bodies? Our newest show, Unclaimed Persons, brings attention to this largely unknown epidemic. Coroners’ offices across the country are struggling to cope with thousands of unclaimed people whose identities are known, but for whom no family can be found.

"I knew about John and Jane Does," said genealogist Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, "but I had no idea about all these unclaimed people who are usually cremated and buried in unmarked graves, and that's often after several months on a shelf in a morgue. We hear about abandoned pets, but you never hear about these abandoned bodies."

Accidentally stumbling across an article about one such case is what prompted Smolenyak Smolenyak to cold call a couple of coroners’ offices and offer her sleuthing skills for tracking down family members. Unclaimed Persons features cases -- one involving a man who was found in his jeep in the desert and had been lost to his family for more than 50 years -- from Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania and San Bernardino County, California.

Says RootsTelevision.com co-founder Marcy Brown, "We hope this show will create awareness, and that viewers will help with unsolved cases. But most of all, we hope it will motivate folks to pick up the phone and call that brother they haven’t spoken with in decades. I think it will make people ask themselves if maybe it’s time to call home."

You can watch the first episode of Unclaimed Persons here. If you have any questions or informations about these cases, feel free to contact us at unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

No one was more excited than Og when Unclaimed Persons cracked the Joseph Higgs case. But now it seems, the project has not only helped a lost brother come home, it's broken down a brick wall in one of our viewer's research.

This is amazing! I received an email invite to join Megan's Unclaimed Persons group an hour ago and after I signed up, I watched her research video on Joseph Higgs on Roots TV. My husband's grandmother was Melvira Higgs. To our amazement, we found out Alpha Higgs, Joseph's father, was Melvira's first cousin. We had no information on Alpha's descendants, but now thanks to Megan and Roots TV, we can fill in the gaps. Thank you so much for the work you're doing! We'll be sure to share this video with the rest of the family.

Her story just highlights why this project is so important. Bringing these unclaimed persons homes reunites families in more ways than we may ever know. If you'd like to help solve more Unclaimed Persons mysteries, join the Unclaimed Persons group and check the discussion board to see our active cases.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

The response to the Unclaimed Persons project has been extraordinary. In the first two days of being an active group on Facebook, group members have solved two cases that had been sitting unsolved for years. If you'd like to participate, you can check out the Unclaimed Person's group for more information. We post our new cases on the Discussion Board in Facebook, where volunteers are free to collaborate with one another as they research these mysteries.

To make sure the process flows as smoothly as possible, our group members have helped us brainstorm a few guidelines for working with the project:

1. We'll create a separate discussion board topic for each case, titled with the case number and the name of the deceased. Please post all research findings here and not as comments on the case-related photos or The Wall. Hopefully, this will help us avoid duplicating efforts.

2. If you'd like to email Megan or other Unclaimed Persons administrators about a case, please use the email address at unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com This will help us make sure your questions and/or tips don't get buried in our inboxes.

3. Please do not post contact details and other private information about living persons, such as likely next of kin, in the public forum. Once you have those details, email them to unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com

4. Please do NOT contact coroner's offices directly, unless it's specified in a case that they have requested this. We're not trying to be control freaks here, but several coroner's offices have requested that we act as a point of contact and forward them the compiled information. We want to make sure that we don't overwhelm them with our enthusiasm!

5. NEVER contact possible relatives. Instead, provide the information to the relevant coroner's office via this Facebook site and/or unclaimedpersons@rootstelevision.com

All researchers are welcome. Even if you're new to genealogy, this might be a perfect place for you to see top researchers at work and learn a few tips and tricks.

Og from RootsTelevision.com

When Genealogy Guys George Morgan and Drew Smith came across the Milton family headstones of a mother and daughter who died on the same day, they knew they wanted to learn more. In our newest episode of Down Under, shot in Tampa, Florida, you'll learn more about the Milton family tragedy.

George has also written a case study about his experience researching the Milton story, which is currently running in the Family Chronicle.

George announces that the third episode of RootsTelevision.com's series, Down Under: Florida with The Genealogy Guys will be debuting in mid-August. In tandem with its premiere, George has written a case study, "The Milton Family Tragedy," for Family Chronicle Magazine. The issue containing this article will appear on newsstands at about the same time in August. The story describes the behind-the-scenes research involved in filming the story, and it includes a couple of additional surprises.

And to learn more about George and Drew's behind-the-scenes experience, check out their latest podcast.

Og from RootsTelevision.com