Originally Aired: 12 Mar 2010
"...history is really MY story right now." -Emmitt Smith
Ancestry.com Presence: One direct mention, one indirect viewing, and one representative.
Pros:
- Granted, my experience doesn't come from doing a lot of African-American genealogy, but I thought it was a good introduction into the challenges that kind of research presents.
- DNA: I find the DNA testing fascinating and I'm glad it was used for this episode. It made me even more curious as to what my own results would be in comparison to what I think and/or know about my ancestry
- His appreciation of what his ancestor Mariah lived through and how lucky they were to have been kept together as a family.
Cons:
- Music.
In the End: Overall good episode with no major archival transgressions. (Running fingers down the old documents trying to keep his place while reading is about the main one I spotted.)
Rating: 4 out of 5 (Mainly because while I thought it was a good episode, it left me wanting more. I suppose that could be a good thing as well...I'm really just going on instinct for giving out the rating!)
Things I'd Like to Reiterate:
- I haven't used DNA testing for my own research, but that is more due to funding it than an absence of desire to use DNA testing. After all, being that I have no brothers, I would have to make my father and one of my maternal Uncles to take the test. Females don't get as detailed results because our DNA can only go on the maternal lines only.
- I'm going to re-watch this next week once I'm done with this cold. My head is still pounding and I know I'm not thinking as quickly or as well, hence why there is so very little content to this review.
Next Episode: Lisa Kudrow
I just went to a genealogy conference and one of the speakers talked about the different DNA test that you can do. A couple of them sounded like they were more well rounded then just the two that go for your father and mother side of the family. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of them right now.
ReplyDeleteEither way I think it might be interesting. Like my family always thinks that even though we are African Americans we are sure we have some Italian in our line because we love pasta ;). With DNA we could at least prove it or disprove it.
I would like to do it because I'm just curious as to the actual percentages! Some of my lines I haven't been able to trace back to Europe because they were in America so long and the record trail vanished. I can guess based on surname that I'm primarily UK (English/Irish/Welsh/Scottish) with some Swiss, Native American, and French...but I'd like to know for certain!
ReplyDeleteThat's for another day, once I enter the workforce with a full time job and can afford it!