Articles About Who Do You Think You Are?
Tell Us Your Story
Ever since watching Sarah Jessica Parker find a link to the California Gold Rush, I’ve been hoping to find one in my family tree, too. I have family in California (some of whom show up repeatedly in marriage and divorce records) but my research says they all migrated in the 20th century. Still, each episode of… Read more
Seven Great Lessons from Who Do You Think You Are?
Beyond just being entertaining, there were valuable family history lessons to be learned in the first season of Who Do You Think You Are? Here are seven of my favorites: Lesson #1. Always verify the information. Sarah Jessica Parker’s search for family proved that not all obituaries are perfectly accurate. Her ancestor’s obituary gave a… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 7 – Spike Lee
It might seem ironic that a filmmaker – a professional story teller – didn’t get his own family’s story on film before it was too late, but that’s what happened to Spike Lee on Who Do You Think You Are?, whose grandmother died in 2006 at age 100, taking with her whatever she knew about… Read more
3 Great Reasons to Dig City Roots
I admit it – I spent part of my life being bitter that my family was big-city only. As a kid, I had no farm to spend the summer on visiting Grandma and Grandpa, no chickens to feed, no front porch to sit on, no cows to milk. It didn’t get any better once I… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 6 – Susan Sarandon
From New York to Italy and back again – all to find a single mystery relative in the family tree. For Susan Sarandon, whose quest to learn more about her grandmother on Who Do You Think You Are? took her to two separate continents and through dozens of records, the hard work and research paid… Read more
Working Through Other People’s Family Trees
I’ve never had quite the success that Brooke Shields did when she traced a family line back multiple centuries on Who Do You Think You Are? I’ve considered myself lucky just to get to the 19th century with most of my family. But one of the biggest finds I ever stumbled upon was very similar to what helped Brooke… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 5 – Brooke Shields
Brooke Shields always felt her parents were from separate worlds, but when she dug into her family history on Who Do You Think You Are? , she realized how true this really was. Her mother was from a working-class New Jersey household, and her father’s family stemmed from European aristocracy. Researching the pair, however, gave… Read more
Small Details Make a Big Difference
Did you catch the reference to “Joe the postman” in Matthew Broderick’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? While the moniker was mentioned in passing on the show, to researchers working with Matthew’s family history, “Joe the postman” was the key that opened up all sorts of doors. Matthew’s grandfather’s name wasn’t entirely… Read more
Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 4 – Matthew Broderick
When Matthew Broderick started his family history journey on Who Do You Think You Are?, he knew one thing for certain about his father’s family: they didn’t talk about the past. His dad’s dad, “Joe the postman,” was ill-tempered and quiet, so noted Matthew’s sister, who also dropped another clue: Joe received money because he… Read more
Getting Your Own Expert Opinion
Like Lisa Kudrow, I also have family lines that lead to Eastern Europe – both of my grandmothers hail from there. I was also relatively certain that there was no way I’d find out anything about those lines once they left U.S. records. There were plenty of times I wasn’t even sure they were in… Read more
Here you will find informational, and sometimes fun, posts from the folks behind the scenes here at Ancestry.com. We hope you’ll notice just how passionate we are about family history and about the products we’re building to help connect families over distance and time.
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