(announcer) Coming up on "Genealogy Roadshow"... our team proves that home is truly where the heart is.
Yes.
That is it.
There's the house.
(announcer) Did the families of this couple know each other a century ago?
Are you kidding me?
Wow.
(announcer) And can we help solve a 100-year-old murder mystery?
My great uncle's tombstone reads he was murdered and robbed.
(announcer) These stories and more on "Genealogy Roadshow".
We'r're criss-crossing the country, helping everyday Americans unlock family secrets and discover the truths of their past.
Helping uncover these fascinating stories is our expert team of genealogists.
My name's Kenyatta Berry.
My name is Joshua Taylor.
My name is Mary Tedesco.
(announcer) Join us as we take everyday people on an emotional journey of self-discovery.
Today, we're in the Big Easy, where variety is the spice of life.
Every year, approximately one million people visit New Orleans for Mardi Gras celebrations.
These Fat Tuesday festivities have been going on since 1857.
Mardi Gras isn't the only draw here.
New Orleans is a melting pot of people and cultures.
It's no wonder tourists travel across the globe for flavors of food only found here.
The ethnic diversity showcased in New Orleans' native cuisine is reflective of the city's rich history, which is exactly why today we've come to the historic Cabildo.
Since 1795, this landmark has served as city hall, a courthouse, and a prison.
Currently a museum, these walls have kept Louisiana history and artifacts for centuries, and today, more history will unfold.
Hundreds have gathered here in the hope that light will be shed on their family mysteries.
I'm here to find out a little bit more about my father's side of the family.
I know that one part of my family, I have a member who fought for the Civil War on the Confederacy.
I don't know anything about my father's side, and that's one of the things I want to do is see where I can start to try to figure that out on my own.
(announcer) Can this house be the key to unlocking our first guests' secrets?
I'm Lila Luster Stipe, and I have my daughter Kayla with me.
Looks like my dad.
My grandmother lives in the Seventh Ward here in New Orleans.
It's a house that's been in the family for years.
(Kayla) There was over 29 people in the house at one time.
A lot of families have grown up in the house.
Sort of raised in that house.
My grandmother just recently passed, so the two of us are trying to dig in our past, and trying to find more of our ancestors.
Lila, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow".
I know you asked us a very specific question about the family home.
Because so much of our family lives evolved in my grandmother's house, we wanted to know more history about the house and, you know, did she build it, and who else was involved and what?
Yes.
That is it.
That's it.
There's the house.
What is your first memory of the house?
When I look at it, the first thing I just think was spending time with my grandmother.
My great-great-grandmother, Mama Jean, would stand in the doorway there on the right side, and my uncles, who were Mardi Gras chiefs, would pass by so that she could see them every Mardi Gras.
So, so many memories.
So many memories in that house.
We talk a lot about documents in family history, but sometimes it's those physical assets, like the house, that is our link back to the past.
Exactly.
So the question is, how long has your family resided at that address?
You provided the name of your third great-grandmother, Adele.
Mm-hmm.
Did you know her husband's name?
No.
We haven't been able to find a name to connect with her.
Well, looking through the documents, we know the name of your third great-grandfather.
Wow.
He was Jean Baptiste Eugene.
We actually looked at the 1867 city directory.
Now, city directories are great because they're year-by-year accounting.
giving an address, sometimes an occupation.
So here we see your third great-grandfather, Baptiste Eugene, listed in the 1867 city directory.
He's living on 176 Villere Street.
And he was a drayman, which meant that he drove flatbed wagons to transport goods back and forth.
Wow.
The next document we took a look at was the 1870 census.
Okay.
Now the census record, at this point, does not actually include the address they're living at.
Mm-hmm.
But it does confirm the family.
Here we see... Oh, I see it.
... Baptiste Eugene.
I see it, I see it, I see it.
Baptiste Eugene and Adele, your third great-grandmother.
And a daughter, Marie.
Another great resource are actually birth certificates.
Right.
Because they often will include the residence of someone.
This is the birth certificate for the daughter of Baptiste and Adele Eugene, Antonia Eugene.
So this is all the way in 1885 and it provides the address, number 34 St. Anthony Street.
They were close to what you know as the home.
Right.
But not there yet.
We would love to look at the 1890 census.
We can't because it was actually destroyed.
it was being stored in a building in the basement, and the building caught fire, and the water dripped down, and the documents were irreparable.
However, there is one surviving schedule for 1890 that was particularly interesting-- Union Civil War veterans.
Wow.
And it's in this schedule that we actually find your third great-grandfather, Jean Baptiste Eugene.
That's amazing.
We know from the record that he enlists on the Union side, and he was in the 73rd Regiment, Company A, of the Colored Troops.
Let's take a look at a bit of the history of the Colored Troops.
(announcer) On April 12, 1861, Confederate gun batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter, heralding the beginning of the Civil War.
The uncompromising differences between the Southern slave states and the northern free states had ripped the Union apart.
By the summer of 1862, in need of fresh troops, Congress moved to allow the enlistment of African-Americans in the Union army.
When Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, their acceptance became official.
The new enlistees became known as the United States Colored Troops.
Militias previously formed by free men of color in New Orleans were consolidated into the new regiments, and they prepared for battle.
One of the first engagements of an African-America regiment involved the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native Guards attacking Port Hudson, a key Confederate fortification, north of Baton Rouge, guarding the Mississippi River.
They were sent on a near suicidal charge against the heavily defended fort, and performed valiantly, despite heavy causalities.
Their fearless advance helped dispel the notion that black troops would not perform under fire.
By the end of the Civil War, African-American soldiers accounted for 10% of the entire Union army.
Louisiana supplied almost 25,000 troops, more than any other state.
The formation and recognition of the United States Colored Troops was an important early step in the fight for African-American civil rights.
Wow, that is remarkable to find that out.
You know, to know that your family was involved in the Civil War.
Very involved in the Civil War.
Very much so.
Now, we know from death records and other documents that, very sadly, your third great-grandfather died the very next year, after the 1890 schedule.
He left behind his wife Adele, your third great-grandmother, and six children.
Right.
She applies for a widow's pension.
The nice thing about pension records are they actually leave incredible firsthand accounts.
Okay.
You know, if our ancestors were to write a blog, wouldn't we love to read the words?
Yes, we would.
Well, they were sitting across the table while someone was literally writing, word-for-word, of what they were saying.
When she applied for the pension?
Yes.
I would love to hear her words, or to read her words, rather, and know what she was thinking and doing at that time.
Now, the pension files have survived.
There is millions of pages.
They're in one place.
Where is that?
They're in Washington, D.C., at the National Archives.
We were able to uncover... Oh!
... the words of your third great-grandmother.
Oh, you're kidding me.
Oh, my God.
Now, before we start to dive in, these documents are going to be a bridge between the life of your ancestors before the Civil War, when life was very, very different, and after the Civil War.
This is... Adele Eugene!
... Adele Eugene.
You can see her here.
She's applying for the pension, and she's actually given $8 a month and $2 per child.
There's one document in particular in the pension file that really stands out to me.
I stopped, I read it, read it again.
I'm going to have you read into the third page here.
These are the words of your third great-grandmother.
Okay, she says, "My maiden name was Adele Jorniac.
My father's name was Dorville.
He was a white man."
(gasping) Oh, my God.
"My mother was born in Virginia.
"Richmond, Virginia.
"And she was bought by Mr. McDonald.
"When Mr. McDonald died, he gave all of his slaves their freedom.
"My mother told me that she was free before she had any children.
I never was a slave, and never had a master or mistress."
She was never a slave.
She was never a slave.
But her mother was.
Her mother was.
Her mother was.
My gosh.
This is what you wanted to know.
Adele's dad is white.
To think my grandmother, Madeline, said that she came from Virginia.
I remember her saying that.
This is just-- This is powerful.
Does it change the way you sort of think of your past?
I would have never dreamed this.
For African-Americans, you know, either we have some slaves in our lives somewhere in our past.
Some say we don't.
I mean, it's right here in front of me.
This is what she had to give to prove she was the wife of Jean Baptiste in order to receive his pension from the military.
Yeah.
And she did get it.
She got it.
She got it.
The question is, what did she do with it once she had it?
Let's look at Adele.
Ooh, Josh.
What did she do?
What did she do?
Here she is in 1890.
So she gets the pension-- I know what she did with it.
She bought the house.
That's exactly what she did.
Here she is in 1900.
Wow.
Living very clearly at 1315.
And it's a double.
So 1313 and 1315 is all-- It's the same house.
And look at the family.
You said at one time there was 29 people living in the house?
29 people living in the house at one time.
Look at people.
I mean, that, I think, is a family tradition.
A single mother of six bought that house.
Yes.
Had it not been for your third great-grandfather serving...
In the military.
... in the Civil War, which made her eligible for the widow's pension, you might not have that house in your family today.
Wow.
The very conflict that affirmed the emancipation of the slaves also changed the destiny of your family.
Thank you so much.
Thank you.
Oh, you are welcome.
It's amazing.
It makes me know that I have the strong blood in my family.
We went from not just finding out who Adele really was, but finding out what she was.
(Kayla) And what she did to get that house.
We're strong black women.
We come from a strong black woman who did what she had to do.
I just remember that, and remember where I come from, and I know I can do whatever I want 'cause Adele did whatever she wanted.
(announcer) An ancestor's unexplained disappearance has troubled this family for years.
Today, they're determined to find the truth once and for all.
I'm Graham J. McDougall, and I have a great-great-grandfather who was a senator here.
And when he finished his tour in the Senate, he told his family he was going to hunt for gold, went to Alaska and he was never to be heard from again.
The last word from him was a photograph that he sent his family from Seattle, and I'm sure it just devastated the family.
Why would this man disappear, and what would he have been up to out there?
So, Graham, I see you've brought some people with you.
This is my cousin Maureen Krayle, my cousin Cheryl Scripter, and her lovely sister Vanessa Wetzel.
Well, thank you, family, for coming and joining us.
Now tell me, what question did you come to us with?
We don't know much about what happened to Charles A. Montaldo, my mother's great-grandfather who, in his mid-life, went off search for gold.
But he was never to be seen again.
And other than that, I don't know much about him.
Well, let me tell you this.
His life was certainly worthy of a motion picture.
(laughter) Really?
Let's take a look into Charles, shall we?
On November 12, 1860, 24-year-old Charles, your second great-grandfather, marries Estelle Marie Salasse.
Here is a newspaper article from 1860 announcing their marriage.
Now, later, in 1861, the country was on the brink of the Civil War.
Sure.
Charles joins the Confederacy.
He actually achieved the rank of second lieutenant.
And then on March 8, 1862, in the Battle of Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Charles, during that battle, actually does an about-face and leaves his company on the front line.
Wow.
We were actually able to find a very interesting record about what happens next.
This is the court martial document of Charles Montaldo.
Wow.
This document specifies that he was found guilty of fleeing the enemy and leaving his command.
As you would expect, he was dismissed immediately.
Sure.
Now, Charles returns home after the Civil War, and tragically, in 1864, his wife, Estelle Marie, passes away.
Aw.
Leaving Charles with three very young children-- Louise and Joseph, and then your great-grandmother Rosa.
Yeah.
Eventually Charles was able to pick up the pieces and move on with his life after the tragic death of his first wife.
Now, by the 1870 U.S. Census, Charles has remarried.
Oh...
This is Charles with his second wife, Bridget.
There's their younger daughter, Mary.
And there were a total of five, so he would go on to have one more child with his second wife, Bridget.
We can also tell by looking at the 1870 Census Charles is working as a policeman for New Orleans, but that doesn't mean he stays out of trouble.
During this time period, we found other articles that he was actually charged with false imprisonment and battery of a police officer, but was later acquitted.
Now, we know that a few years later, Charles decides to run for public office.
Can you tell me what you know about that?
That he was in the Senate in Louisiana for one term.
Well, it seems your great-great-grandfather went above and beyond to secure his place in the Senate.
We were able to locate a newspaper article where Charles is actually accused, with another gentleman, of vote-rigging.
Of what?
Vote-rigging.
Oh.
After his Senator term ended, his political term ended.
He also runs the Gaiety Theater right here in New Orleans.
Yes.
And then you will not believe what happens in 1878, but he was actually shot.
Charles.
So...
Shot.
... we do have a newspaper article that I want to take a look at.
The shooting of Charles Montaldo, right here in New Orleans.
"The wound is not considered dangerous."
Essentially, he refused to serve someone a drink at his establishment, the Gaiety Theater.
Wild, wild west, huh?
So the 1860s, 1870s were a somewhat colorful time for Mr. Montaldo, your second great-grandfather.
Let's take a look at the 1880 Census, and Charles is right here in New Orleans.
So this is really the last time that you know of Charles in New Orleans, right?
About 1880, I would assume.
That's exactly right.
So you told me that you think you know where he might have gone.
You said something about the Klondike?
That's what he told the family.
Okay.
Alaska.
In search of gold.
Right.
Part of the gold rush.
What we can tell you is we're certain that he was not in Alaska in the Klondike.
Really?
So about five months after the 1880 Census that we just took a look at, here in New Orleans, we find him in Sacramento, California, opening up an opera house.
Here's a Sacramento newspaper article from 1880 that describes his opera.
I mean, we knew from the records that he had a love for the theater, of course, and being a theater owner here in New Orleans, it's not that much of a leap.
No, he was entrepreneurial.
Exactly.
Now, Charles continues his nomadic existence, and from a newspaper search, we were able to locate him next in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1882.
Wow.
He gets around, huh?
He does.
Why did we know this was him?
Well, because he was actually charged with committing gambling in a theater that he was running.
(laughter) I think those years out west were totally unknown to anyone but him.
Well, it seems like he completely abandoned his life in New Orleans and started a new one out west.
Now, let's take a look at the 1910 U.S. Census.
We find Charles and a woman named Ida Montaldo living as husband and wife in Reno, Nevada.
And it says they've been married for 20 years.
This is a second family.
He was married to Bridget in New Orleans.
Right.
With five children.
Exactly.
We don't have any documented evidence of a divorce from Bridget.
No.
They were Catholics, and I don't think that would have ever happened.
Exactly.
So although we can't say definitively, we would presume that the marriages were likely concurrent.
Now, the colorful life of Charles Montaldo comes to an end in 1910.
We find this article in "The Daily Picayune" here in New Orleans.
"Soldier of fortune succumbs after long-regarded dead."
They thought he was gone already.
Correct.
Well, the title of the motion picture that I was thinking of earlier that I didn't want to mention was "Catch Me If You Can".
(laughter) Now, I wanted to say thank you so much for coming on "Genealogy Roadshow".
Thank you so much.
It's been a lot of fun.
We've enjoyed it.
It's really been an amazing experience to see this depth of historical analysis of one's family from over a hundred years ago.
So I'm really appreciating that opportunity.
(announcer) Questions and anticipation continue here in New Orleans at the Cabildo.
This guest and her nephew would like to know about the origin of their last name-- Farrier.
I actually want to know about different information so I can just like, tell my friends about my family.
Many slaves actually would use a surname they were familiar with, and so it could have been their owner.
Now, in the Washington County area, we find a John Farrier, who owned slaves in the 1860 Census.
So we think that that could have been the owner.
Okay.
(announcer) And it's an exciting day for Leanna Miller, who finds out her true ethnic makeup.
You are actually 55% European.
But on the African side, we have some West African, and then a little bit of East African.
There's also, here, 8% Jewish.
Oh.
(announcer) Next up, a Mardi Gras Indian queen has questions about her past that will unlock a shocking revelation about her ancestral roots.
My name is Cherice Harrison-Nelson, also known as Queen Risey.
I'm a born and bred New Orleanean.
I've lived in New Orleans all of my life, except for a few months after Katrina.
We were displaced for a couple of months.
I am the daughter of Harriste Harrison and Donald Harrison Sr., who was a big chief of the Guardians of the Flame.
We participate in an African-American carnival masquerading tradition.
My father always referred to the tradition as the Flame, and that it was our responsibility to maintain the Flame and pass it down.
We don't call them costumes, we call them suits.
The beads and the stones are a way for me to stitch my way back to my ancestral homeland.
I'm a queen.
(laughing) As a family, we've looked into our history, and we were only able to go back so many generations, so I really want to find out what happened prior to that.
I want to know how we got to be in New Orleans.
Were we, as people of African descent, part of the transatlantic human cargo to this country?
Who were we?
How we got to be who we are today.
Those questions have been gnawing at us for a very long time.
Hello, Cherice.
Who do you have with you today?
I have my wonderful mother, Harriste Johnson-Harrison.
My spectacular son, Ryan Nelson and my marvelous sister, Michelle Harrison.
Well, nice to have you all here.
Nice to meet you.
Let's get right into your heritage and talk a little bit about what I found for you.
So I wanted to bring up your family tree.
And through census documents, we were able to find your grandmother, Mattie Pendleton, your great-grandmother, Victoria Briscoe.
And we can see, Cherice, your second great-grandfather Madison Briscoe.
So let's look at Madison.
We go to the 1880 Census, and we find Madison and his family.
He was listed as age 70, so he would have been born around 1810.
Now, Madison is living with his wife and children.
And I took a look and went back even further.
Now, looking for African-Americans before 1870 is typically called a 1870 brick wall.
And that is because former slaves were not enumerated on censuses prior to 1870.
But in Louisiana, they have a slave database from 1719 to 1820 that we found very helpful in trying to figure out how your family got to New Orleans.
I looked through that, and I was able to locate an affidavit from 1820.
And this is in Huntsville, Alabama.
What you're looking at here is a record for Madison being sold as a young boy, taken away from his family.
Yeah.
That's more than you bargained for, huh?
More than I bargained for.
It is a complicated past and history.
It is very complicated.
It is very, very complicated.
Extremely.
Extremely.
Now, if you look at the name, he was sold unto Francis E. Reeves.
Now the thing about Francis, he was a Senator from Virginia, and he was a slave owner, but he was also a slave trader.
So there was a time period between 1817 and 1820 where slaves were sold from Virginia and Maryland to Alabama and Louisiana.
So I want to show you another document that I have showing that Francis Reeves then takes Madison to New Orleans.
So that's how your family first came to New Orleans.
Francis then sells him to Eloise Trepagnier.
He's 11.
He's sold with another young boy who's 11.
And that's difficult, you know?
You all right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
You okay?
It's part of our history.
It's part of our history.
A painful history.
It is a painful history.
It's a very difficult thing to understand, but it's part of our history, and it's something that, if we want to know our history, we have to kind of get through.
One other document we have is another bill of sale for Madison.
And what this document says is that Eloise sold Madison less than 15 days later.
My goodness.
You think about an 11-year-old child without his parent and-- I know, and this is in 1820.
Talk about survival, and what's important to you guys, and what it means to your family to be a survivor.
Well, it's emotional for me, but at the same time, it's what I understand and know.
It's a difficult subject.
Well, the work is now.
That was then.
It was what it was.
That's the history.
We have to know and understand that.
It's our right.
Yeah.
It's a subject that generates an emotional reaction.
But you can't mire yourself down in what happened.
You can-- You can feel-- You can feel remorseful that this was what was taking place during that time, and how horrible, horrible it was.
But it's part of who we are.
It's who we are.
It makes us stronger.
For every African-American person today whose ancestor was a slave, they are here because of them.
After meeting you today, after hearing this, I have more work to do.
Because I didn't know this story.
Thank you.
You are very, very welcome.
Thank you.
One of our ancestors was sold as an 11-year-old.
What broke my heart the most was wondering who loved him.
Who loved Madison?
I don't refer to my ancestors as slaves.
He was a human being who was enslaved by some people who were not very humane.
We're going to honor Madison in the future.
We know his name.
I'm going to wear him on my suit.
I'm going to tell his story to the world.
He mattered.
He's one of my ancestors.
It's not what I wanted to find out, but it is our history.
He is our family.
(announcer) New Orleans has some of the most unique cemeteries in the world, known to locals as cities of the dead.
And if there's one thing a genealogist knows, it's that cemeteries can be the perfect place to begin hunting for the past.
We're in a cemetery because that's point number one for a lot of genealogists to start investigating their family tree.
The cemetery in New Orleans is very unique.
Because the water table here is so high, they have to bury people above ground.
When I visit a cemetery, I'm always looking at the gravestone.
I look at it from all angles because sometimes you pick up details that might be on the back of a tombstone.
And I'm also always looking on either side to see who they're buried next to.
You know, who were the most important people in their life that ended up next to them in the cemetery?
So this is a goldmine of a tombstone.
Here I have a name, I have an occupation.
I have where he was born in England, that he drowned in the Mississippi River, a date, his age, and a symbol that tells me that he was a Mason.
So I have a lot of information I can follow up on.
Some tombs become iconic in and of themselves.
So this is the tomb of a voodoo queen, and the legend is that if you sort of knock on the tombstone three times, and then mark it with chalk-- three Xs-- and then turn around leave an offering, that she'll grant your wish.
If you're not sure where your ancestor was buried, you can start in a couple of places.
One would be to look at the death certificate to see if it actually lists which cemetery the burial was supposed to occur in.
Another place might be a local mortuary that actually handled the funeral.
They would have a record of what cemetery that ancestor was buried in.
(announcer) A tombstone is the first clue to solving a mysterious murder.
This next story has all the ingredients for the perfect whodunit.
My name is Patricia Wynell Parrish.
As a child, I would sit and listen to my grandfather and his brothers tell about the murder of their brother, Neal Sessions.
On Christmas Eve, in 1905, he had journeyed to a Christmas party.
As he was coming home, his throat was slit, and he was left to bleed to death.
My grandfather and his brothers never found the people who murdered Uncle Neal.
I would really like to know more about the circumstances of the murder.
There are so many questions we have that have never been answered.
Patricia, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow".
Thank you.
I'm so pleased to be here.
I was told that you're interested in Neal Sessions, your great uncle, who was murdered at the age of 25.
Yes.
I've known about the story since I was old enough to sit at the feet of my grandfather and his brothers and hear them repeat the story.
My great uncle's tombstone reads he was murdered and robbed.
We actually have a photograph of that tombstone.
And if I were walking through a cemetery and I saw this, I would stop and do a double-take.
I have searched diligently.
I'd like to know more about the people who murdered him.
Let's dive into our cold case.
Let's see if we can find more about this murder.
You know, newspapers are the number one source for things like this because anything sensational that happens in an area, we absolutely want to head to the newspapers.
Right.
So this is a newspaper published in Scott County, Mississippi, on January 3, 1906, that tells us that the body was found by a Mr. James Sullivan.
Now looking at a newspaper on January 17, 1906-- at this point, they have a suspect.
Oh, my goodness.
This man named Henry "Ran" Walk was attending a Christmas Eve wedding.
Your great uncle, Neal Sessions, was also there.
They're seen together at the wedding and after.
At about 8 p.m., people actually claim that they heard a notice of distress.
This man named Henry "Ran" Walk came home, and he's described in the article as being dirty, muddy, and intoxicated.
They actually believe he's a suspect because he's fled the scene.
Oh, my goodness.
According to the newspapers, his younger brother helps him escape, And when we look at a map of the railroad system in the area, we can see here where they believe "Ran" Walk hopped a train.
The article said that they think he boards an Alabama and Vicksburg train near either Rankin or Brantley, which is the next town from Forest.
Now, where did he go?
No one knows for sure, but let's recap what we do know.
We now have a suspect, Henry "Ran" Walk.
We know he has a younger brother, and we know that they were all at a wedding on Christmas Eve, 1905.
Now all we can do as genealogists is go back and recreate the neighborhood and some of the individuals that were there.
And luckily for us, we have the U.S. Census.
Yes.
And when the Census is enumerated, he will go through the neighborhood, and he'll talk to people, sort of as they're living, house by house by house.
Here we have the 1900 census.
So this is five years or so before the murder.
This is the only Walk family located in the area where the murder occurred.
Now just a few pages before this is your great uncle's family.
So they lived in the same proximity.
Yes.
This is a Rod Walk, his wife Maude, and a son Willie.
Now, some of the census years, the mother is asked how many children she has, and then how many children are living.
Maude has said that she is the mother of four children, two of whom are living.
Now, there's only one son in the household.
So where is "Ran"?
That's a very, very good question.
Looking at a county that's a bit south in that same 1900 Census, five years or so before the murder, we come across an entry for an "R.H.
Walk".
"Ran" would be about 18 years old in 1900.
We know his age from the newspapers.
Right.
So this is a perfect candidate for the murder suspect.
He's living in the house of a Y. Westerfield.
He's a boarder.
Yes.
So the next step is to find out who Westerfield is.
When you're doing genealogy, it's always important to look at friends.
associations, and other neighbors that you have.
And so what we did is we said let's trace the Walk family tree and see if we can figure out any more details on this.
There's Henry "Ran" Walk.
So she was a Westerfield.
Maude was a Westerfield.
And that's the house that "Ran" Walk's living.
So we know that the suspect's mother Maude was a Westerfield.
Now, looking at the Westerfield family tree, we learn that Maude had a brother, Yancy, who we believe is that "Y" Westerfield in the 1900 Census.
So the murder suspect, at this point, is living in his uncle's house.
Now we know that they were at a wedding.
I never thought to ask what wedding.
We asked that question.
Good.
The newspaper published a list of licenses that were issued over the holiday period.
So there's 12 weddings over the holiday.
Six of them occur on Christmas Eve, including the wedding of a Pearl Askins.
Now, looking back-- and the census records-- remember how important it was to know the friends and the neighbors that are there-- This is that 1900 Census where we saw the murder suspect, and look who's living just below the suspect "Ran" Walk.
Meda Askins.
So it was probably a neighborhood wedding.
Yes.
Now according to a lot of the newspapers, your great uncle, Neal Sessions, was flashing around $100, which they suspect could have been the motive.
The murder occurs sometime before 8:00 p.m. "Ran" Walk comes home, he's very disheveled, and his younger brother helps him board a train and he escapes.
Do you remember James Sullivan?
Yes.
The man who found him.
Right.
He discovered the body.
Looking at the Census, there's James Sullivan.
He's living right next to a Westerfield.
Yes.
So we now know the wedding we're at, the person who discovered the body.
We have the victim, your great uncle, and we have the murder suspect.
All in that same area.
So all the characters of the play are in place.
They're right there.
Now on February 28, 1906, we learn that the grand jury has indicted "Ran" Walk for the murder of Neal Sessions.
Now, remember earlier, "Ran" Walk hopped the train.
But no one knew where he went.
But according to the article, he has escaped to Texas, they believe.
They can't find him.
And the one tantalizing clue, and sort of the final piece of the puzzle that we have is the 1910 Census of the Walk family.
Here we see R.R.
Walk and Maude, the murder suspect's parents, and there is that son Willie.
That's the younger brother who helped "Ran" escape.
Looking over at the column, Maude now says... She has four children, and only one surviving.
One surviving.
So was that a story Maude just told to cover up or was "Ran" dead by then?
That's the mystery.
Did she lie to the enumerator to protect her son because she knew that he was an indicted criminal?
And so that's where we leave the cold case.
I know you came here today wanting to solve this.
I think we got pretty close.
We did.
A lot of questions that my family had have been answered with this.
I appreciate it.
And you're welcome.
It was a wonderful experience, and I did learn some facts that I had not known before.
Some things that maybe were suspected are now definite.
That will help my family.
We'll be able to pass this along to the younger ones-- a more complete story than I had before.
(announcer) Did destiny bring this couple together?
They're here to find out if they have an Italian connection from a century ago.
My name is Katie Giardina.
My name is Domenic Giardina, and we live in Pearl River, Louisiana.
When Katie and I first met, we were just friends, to the point where we would try to fix one another up on dates.
I think the turning point of when we actually fell in love was after Hurricane Katrina.
I think a lot of people kind of reassessed what was important in their lives, and then four and a half months later, we were married.
We got to talking one day and discussing where our families were from, and one of us had said that we were from Ustica, and we were like, "Well, my family's from Ustica, too."
And we were thinking that's kind of a weird coincidence that here's this little bitty tiny, tiny island off the coast of Sicily-- I mean, it's only five or six miles long.
It's not a very big island.
Our questions mainly are was there any connection family-wise?
Did we live near each other?
Did we interact in any way?
Seems like we would have, being on such a small island, not at least knowing one another.
Katie, Domenic, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow".
Thank you.
We are so excited to be here.
So we decided to look into your family a little bit.
Now, I want you to take a look at this family tree.
Okay.
So, Katie, I want you to tell me when you stop recognizing some of the names in this paternal line.
Felice.
That's the last one that I would know is Felice and Rosalia.
Okay, so let's take a look at your family in New Orleans.
This is the 1910 United States Census.
Now, it's important to know that the names on census records are often misspelled because many times they were written phonetically.
So here's Felice Spizale with your great-grandmother Rosa.
These are your second great-grandparents, and these folks were from Ustica.
If we scroll over on the Census, we find that Felice is working as an oyster fisherman.
Okay.
Ah, cool.
Now let's take a look at Domenic Giardina.
As you know, Domenic, you are not the first Domenic Giardina in America.
We found three, at least.
Three Domenic Giardinas.
At least.
Now, we were able to trace your family back.
We have Giuseppe Giardina and his wife, Maria Rosa Picone.
and it appears that Giuseppe was the immigrant.
Domenic, your grandfather, was actually the first Giardina in your family line born in America.
Right here.
So we continued to dig into both of your families here in America.
And we found a very, very special document for the two of you.
This is the kind of document that every genealogist dreams about presenting to a client.
This is an 1883 passenger manifest.
And the best thing about this document is we actually find members on both sides of your family coming to America together.
Are you kidding me?
Wow.
That's ironic.
So let's take a look.
That is amazing.
Here's Picone, Rosa.
Oh, there we go.
Okay.
So this is Domenic, your great-grandmother at age eight coming to America.
Cool.
Now if you look at seven-year-old Giuseppe Speziale, Katie, this is actually the brother of your great-grandfather.
'Cause your great-grandfather Frank was born here in New Orleans.
This is him coming over, and then after that, your great-grandfather was born.
That's cool.
That is amazing.
On the same ship.
So I'm thrilled to tell you, at minimum, they knew each other on the boat.
That is amazing.
That is pretty cool.
Very cool.
Wow.
The next thing that we actually did was we decided to look into whether there was a connection to your family back in Ustica.
And let's just take a quick peek of Ustica.
Isn't this absolutely beautiful?
Yes.
I don't think you could come from a prettier place, collectively.
So in Ustica, in about 1861, the population was only 2,300 people.
Wow.
Okay, yeah, that's not many.
And it was an island.
We can presume that maybe they knew each other.
So we decided to follow the two that were found on this passenger list.
This, Domenic, is actually the birth record from Italy of your great-grandmother, Maria Rosa Picone.
The beautiful thing about Italian birth records is there are witnesses.
I want to focus in on one witness in particular.
His name was Michelangelo Caravella.
So he witnessed the birth of Maria Rose Picone.
The next thing we looked at was the birth certificate from your family, Katie, of your great-great-granduncle, Giuseppe Speziale.
Remember the little boy that appeared on the passenger list?
We decided to see whether our friends, Michelangelo Caravella...
Same witness?
Same witness in both places.
Exactly.
And he actually witnessed various other births and marriages on both sides of your family.
Wow.
So we can speculate that this man, Michelangelo Caravella, knew both of your families.
That's amazing.
They had to know each other.
Exactly.
Now, on some of these Italian records, we were able to extract addresses.
Oh, wow.
So I'm going to show you, during this time period, where they lived.
This is a map from Ustica.
And your families lived less than 500 meters apart.
That's only five football fields.
Wow.
They were right there.
No kidding.
They were in the same community.
They were basically neighbors.
Yeah.
They're neighbors.
It's amazing that-- Our families were that close.
Right.
I bet they would have been amazed to imagine that our families would have kept getting brought back together again.
All the way around the world.
All the way in New Orleans.
It's a match made in Ustica.
Right.
Right.
The two of you were obviously meant to be.
No kidding.
From the beginning.
... living in the same place in Ustica, to coming on the boat together, to arriving in the same port.
It's amazing.
It was meant to be.
It was definitely meant to be.
Our families were connected then, they're connected now.
It's just like a love story that just continued through time.
(Domenic) Planning a trip to Ustica one day soon.
Yes, hopefully one of our special anniversaries.
We'll go back there and get to visit where we're from.
Now we know the exact location.
(announcer) A royal scandal may be the reason why this woman's family emigrated to America.
My name is Lori Lynn Gremillion and this my mom, Lee Riley.
We have some question about our family history.
We think that there's a possibility that there's a Count Von Bayer in our family tree.
So there's a possibility of our family having some royal blood, and there's some scandal there that Count Von Bayer left with a mistress and came to the Americas.
I want to know which female did we come from.
Did we come from the countess, or did we come from the mistress?
And if there could possibly still be a castle in either Austria or Germany that belongs to the family.
Welcome, Lori, to "Genealogy Roadshow".
Thank you.
Who do you have here with you today?
This is a fraction of the large group, but most of the people here are my cousins, first and second.
And I also have my daughter Gracie and my mom Lee with me today as well.
Oh, great.
So let's get to the Count Von Bayer story.
Now, we actually worked with a researcher that was German to help uncover your story.
And we looked around and we couldn't find a Count Von Bayer in Austria at all.
But what we did find was a Bayer family that was titled.
So nobility.
And it started with Dr. Franz Bayer in the early 1800s in Austria.
And he was a tax collector and an attorney.
He married into a wealthy family known as the Pehrer family.
His wife was Caroline Pehrer.
And I actually have a photo of him.
When he married into that wealthy family, money came from steel and iron production.
He was able to purchase a property in Austria called Weldsdorf.
And this property actually was purchased in 1841.
Now, it had a main house, a farm building, winery, all that good stuff.
But he didn't enjoy the life for long.
He died just two years later, in 1843.
Unfortunately.
He left behind two sons-- Johann and Karl.
Now Karl, he had a son named Edmund.
We're going to focus on Edmund 'cause he's a little interesting character here.
He wasn't exactly the most ambitious person of the family.
I like to say the first generation makes it, the second generation builds it, and the third generation spends it.
And Edmund was a third generation.
So he spent his time hunting on wealthy estates and kind of really just slacking around.
During that time, he fell in love with a farmer's daughter that he met, okay?
But, unfortunately for him, he was already married to someone else.
Oh, whoops.
Married to a woman named Elizabeth, and so he could not necessarily just go off with this woman he fell in love with.
Well, then Elizabeth dies.
Oh.
Later, we find Edmund actually in America with his girlfriend, Rosa Gisburg.
Now, Rosa is actually your second great-grandmother.
This is a census record from 1900.
Okay, so this is Edmund and Rosa, and they have a son, William.
It also lists that they were actually married for nine years.
And if you see for Rosa, it says she's the mother of four children with three living.
Wow.
And of course they're immigrants, so they're trying to find opportunities in other places.
And we know that they moved around a lot because we find them in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1907.
And the reason we know this is because they actually sent a postcard to their sons.
Wow.
Now, they had two children in Austria that they left behind.
And I don't read the native language, so I'm just going to show you the postcard.
And they promise to send them-- or pay for their passage to America.
But that did not happen, actually, because they did not have a lot of money.
Right.
Now, the next time we see your great-great-grandfather is in 1910, but unfortunately, Edmund is no longer with us.
And this is his death certificate from New Orleans.
Now we know that after Edmund died, Rosa had a child.
And that child was Frank Bayer, who is your...
Grandfather.
Grandfather.
Now, it's impossible for a woman to have a child born years later, after her husband dies, and to say that that is the father.
Yes.
So while your connection to the Bayer family in Austria is through Rosa by marriage, Frank is definitely not Edmund's son.
Now his last name is a little confusing because he has the Bayer surname, but we can't say for certain who Frank Bayer's actual father is.
Had you heard this story?
Is this news to you?
It's news to me.
Yes.
It's news to you?
This is even more information that we weren't even aware of.
My mom will be the first person I share this information with.
Okay.
'Cause this was her dad, and then she still has a sister and a brother that are still alive, too, so they're going to be interested in hearing the story as well.
Okay.
I am happy to help you guys put this piece of the puzzle together.
And I want to thank you so much for being on "Genealogy Roadshow today.
Thank you.
Thank you.
The royal blood is something that we found to be untrue because of the illegitimacy of our great-grandfather.
There were surprises for us today.
We weren't expecting this.
(announcer) From stories of bravery to intrigue, everyone has a tale to tell.
Join us next time as we bring more of these stories to you on "Genealogy Roadshow".
To learn more about this program, please visit pbs.org/genealogyroadshow.
This episode of "Genealogy Roadshow" is available for download on iTunes.
Other episodes in the series are also available.
