no idea that isn't why I'm upset about
it oh I feel like my roots of Brent's
spread out and I'm reaching out into the
past well this time of year tends to
bring people together and it usually
means a lot of family gatherings
uh-huh so today we've partnered with
ancestry to take you on a special
journey through your family history oh
my god I better cut you better give me
tissues okay so the patrilineage of my
family tree is like missing there's a
lot to my history I don't know oh so our
friends over at ancestry we're actually
able to find some pictures of your
ancestors that you may have never seen
before oh okay sick oh my goodness I
can't wait take a look
who is that this is your maternal
great-great-great grandfather are you
kidding me Floyd Morgan oh my gosh
that's probably like his Sunday best
that just straight up looks like an old
photo like if I didn't know that they
were related to me I would just be like
yeah that's definitely belongs in like
an old Museum like a gold rush Museum
this is your great-great-great
grandfather George camp house with his
parents Wilhelm and Sophia so
great-great-great it goes me my parents
my grandparents great-great-great that's
this guy sixth and then that means those
are my great-great great-great
great-great grandparents who is that so
this is your maternal great-grandfather
Conklin Sandage oh my goodness this is
gonna bring a lot of life and happiness
to our fan of reunions because we talk
about these names but they're just names
we don't have photos to go with them
no idea who that is and why I'm upset
about it what do you think it is about
something as simple as a photo that
makes you so emotional because it's also
simply something as complex as a photo
so this is a photo of you our paternal
great-great-grandfather Amato Gomez he
was a farmer
born in Hidalgo Mexico in 1860 I know a
lot of my family were migrant farm
workers this is crazy now here's the
same picture but as you'll see it has
now been altered that is so crazy
I always talk to like my ancestors
that's a big part of what I do to guide
me to give me strength to do things and
I'm looking at one of them and it's not
like this ambiguous cloud in my head
there's a face to it there was an
estrangement so I can't like readily go
and like talk to people and get
information that adds to this
overwhelming feeling of like oh my gosh
like I'm seeing part of my lineage it's
super special so we were able to take
things a little further today when it
comes to your family history okay would
you like to see what else the
researchers at ancestry were able to dig
up for you absolutely
of course I'm so happy to cry about this
this is an 1870 US federal census Oh
Sophia George that was the grandparents
their great-great great-great
grandparents I'm gonna direct your
attention over here to this column this
is where they're from Russia Prussia
Russia my great-great great-great
grandparents are Prussian in their first
generation and that means Georgie here
was born in Iowa so he's a first
generation American it's like this
puzzle piece in my head just you know
getting put into place what is the
certificate is a marriage certificate in
Spanish do you notice any any names here
we see Rosario that's my mom's father's
name and how I ended up with it is crazy
I don't even know I looked at my birth
certificate my father is not the father
that's on there but I wanted to keep it
it was really important they kept it so
when I got married I made sure it was
hyphenated so this is a federal census
that lists your great-grandfather Robert
Brown this is your father's grandfather
my father's grandfather can you find his
profession on here looks like school
something school teacher oh my god my
family is gonna be just off the wall for
me to share these facts about them well
now we're gonna take you a little bit
deeper oh my god oh my goodness oh this
is the family tree George Hardin kitty
more Cesar Brown Sally Bernal I don't
know about them okay here's something
kind of nuts right so we have Katherine
here Katherine here right and then we
skip a generation and then Kathy Johnson
right and then on my dad's side is
Katherine Lusk right and then my
girlfriend is named Katherine if I'm a
girl she's being named Katherine like
that's it I'm feeling connected you know
they mean I feel like my roots of
Brent's spread out and I'm reaching out
into the past I don't know a lot of
these names and that's added my mom was
diagnosed with cancer
and people started coming up to me out
of the blue like people I didn't know
and saying like oh I'm related to you in
this way and I know my mom has a lot of
holes in her history so this is really
important because it's something I could
share with her
but it's good it's all good oh I don't
know if I've ever heard the Ellison name
viola Sanders that's my grandma and holy
SH you have Robert Sanders and Margaret
Sanders William Lambert and dicey here's
a bit more on the morgan side oh my gosh
and there's Floyd Morgan Wow that's the
Morgan you showed me my mom has no idea
who either one of their parents are no
clue they just never talked about that
stuff we have another surprise for you
okay so what you're holding right now
uh-huh
is a marriage record for your great
great grandparents George Hardin and
Katherine Warren
so they were married in 1866 as newly
emancipated people in tennis yes my
siblings are gonna be blown away this is
the 12th census of the United States the
12th so this is a 1900 US census that
shows your great-great-grandmother
Katherine campus who is the daughter of
George Katherine is listed in the 1900
US census as Katie and as a servant at
age 15 in the household of the Glazer
family who are of German descent
honestly I feel like I'm in my own story
like I feel like I'm watching a movie
and uncovering these plot twists over
and over again Mike Wow hi Amazo Gomez
emigrated to the u.s. of America from
Nuevo Laredo Mexico on July 18 82 on the
ski francette a skiff what's a skiff
it's as an old boat there's literally a
line that says I'm like he has to tell
them that he's not an anarchist which is
kind of punk rock putting yourself in
his shoes and thinking about his journey
he came here on a boat what do you think
that must have been like frightening and
terrifying if somebody said like hey Lee
once you just take the bus like I
probably piss and moan about that and he
got a little boat and went to a
different country it takes guts so this
is an application detailing your
great-great-great great-great
grandfather's service and the
Revolutionary War holy cow so my
grandmother was born on the ranch
and in 1976 the ranch house burned down
all of these things that she probably
had we're gone gone and so what a gift
it is and to be able to have copies of
so many things that burned in that fire
it's just absolutely incredible as we
said earlier this is a common topic for
families during this time of year
especially so in honor of the holiday
season we're gonna send you home with
the perfect gift to give today this
isn't my first time giving this as a
gift today we're sending you home with
an ancestry gift membership which is a
family history sixth month subscription
to build a family tree and search
historical records for you so along with
this ancestry DNA kid to discover your
organs I was gonna be so delighted I
will probably give this to her for
Christmas and this would be one of her
favorite Christmas presents ever I've
actually done mine
I've been desperately wanting one of my
brothers to do it so this will be like
in depth too right so this is more than
just like learning about the family tree
this is gonna learn about where I come
from and what's in my DNA
that's insane how does it feel to know
that you'll be able to continue this
journey and share what you've learned
with your family members this holiday
season
other than the gift of having my mom
still around it's the next best thing I
think of every two years we have a
family reunion and we go over the family
tree so that all the younger people can
remember the names they will be all in I
cannot wait to tell my mom it always
made her sad that she doesn't know
anything about her side of the family
and so I cannot wait to call her and
tell her that we have information now so
we really hope that you enjoyed taking a
deeper dive into your ancestry oh yes
from your perspective how important is
understanding your past and how it
impacts you today I think it's
everything if you learn from your past
what to do and not to do I mean you're
so far ahead of the game there's the
whole reason that storytelling is is so
part of the human culture in general and
it's so that we could transfer these
knowledge --is down generations you
discover like a door and you open it and
it's a door to a room of doors so you
have all these questions that pop up a
little more than the initial question
that you had but that's the great part
about it so finally can you tell us what
this experience has meant for you today
well you know when you can see things
when you see evidence it just makes you
feel real good and want to know more
it's been everything FBE and ancestry I
cannot thank you guys enough for giving
me something to give my mother that I
just never thought to be possible I've
always been very big into learning about
myself and my family's past okay you
know it's like move on you know where
she goes into that one chamber all of
her ancestors come alive as blue ghosts
that's how I feel right now
Hey
ciara producer here at FBE thank you so
much to ancestry for partnering with us
on this really special episode that's
helping bring families closer together
this holiday season every family has a
story an ancestry is a gift that can
help bring you closer to your origins to
see how you can give your friends and
family the gift of discovery with
ancestry check out the links down in the
description bye guys