(announcer) Coming up on "Genealogy Roadshow," two sisters and one infamous historical event.
To have a descendent of a survivor is quite exceptional.
(announcer) Is there a link?
Pretty mind-blowing.
That's amazing, really.
(announcer) Plus, a man makes a heavenly connection.
Now we're back to 1556.
Wow.
(announcer) And a son gives his mother her missing past.
Let's start with your family's journey to America.
I'll be doggone.
Oh, my God!
(announcer) These stories and more right now on "Genealogy Roadshow."
♪ We're crisscrossing the country, helping everyday Americans unlock family secrets.
Working to 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 St. Louis, Missouri.
Better known as the Gateway City, St. Louis, Missouri, has opened the doors to historical events since it was founded in 1764.
In 1904, the city was chosen to host the first Olympics on U.S. soil and the world's fair.
The fair pushed St. Louis into a new musical era.
Local musicians, such as Scott Joplin, blended ragtime and blues, creating a new form of St. Louis jazz.
Many of America's favorite sons and daughters also got their start in St. Louis, from baseball great Yogi Berra to celebrated author Maya Angelou, proving it's truly a melting pot of cultures and countries.
The rich history and people of this city is why we've come to Union Station.
Built in 1894, this National Historic Landmark has been the crossroads of travel for St. Louis' diverse population.
Today it is the crossroads for hundreds of people looking to explore their family history.
I came here to find out about my grandfather, who was born during the Mexican Revolution.
I really don't know much about my family at all.
I was probably going to start a family tree, and I figured this was a good place to start.
(announcer) A good place for us to start is with two sisters who are hoping we can connect them to the infamous tale of the Donner Party.
My name's Lynette Clark, and this is my sister Lisa, and we're here today to hopefully find out about a possible relationship to the Donner Party.
Our great-great-great grandmother, her father was potentially a member of the Donner Party, and we weren't able to officially prove that, so help from experts would be great.
Lynette, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."
Who'd you bring with you?
This is my sister Lisa.
Hi.
Hi, Lisa.
(chuckles) I know you came here today with a question of a connection to the Donner Party.
Yeah.
That's a big ask.
(laughs) Yeah, right?
So, let's see what we can find out.
Okay.
As we know from our history books, the Donner party is considered one of the great tragedies in the history of California and, in fact, in western migration.
So, let's take a look at the Donner Party.
(announcer) On April 14, 1846, a group of 94 pioneers known as the Donner Party set off on a nearly 2,000 mile journey from Springfield, Illinois, to California along the Oregon Trail.
Timing was crucial.
The plan?
To leave in April, after the spring rains, and arrive in California before the snow made the mountains impassable.
However, the Donners made a series of mistakes that eventually proved fatal.
They chose to take a new supposedly safer and shorter route called the Hastings Cutoff.
The new way proved more difficult than expected, adding a whole month to their already grueling journey.
Worse yet, snows came early that year and trapped the group three miles from the summit.
The pioneers had no choice but to hunker down in poorly constructed cabins.
Food shortages eventually ravaged the camp.
On December 16, a party of 17 men, women, and children left camp in a desperate attempt to reach their destination.
It's on this journey that the group allegedly succumbed to their hunger and cannibalized others who had died from malnutrition and exposure.
Of those 17 emigrants, only 7 survived the journey, a trek of around 30 miles that had taken 33 days.
Of the nearly 90 individuals who set out, only 48 survived, including 8 members of the Graves family.
William Cooper Graves was 17 years old at the time.
Though the tales of cannibalism are what propelled the Donner Party into the national spotlight, it is the tale of human drama and survival that earns them a place in the annals of American folklore.
All right, so to have a descendent of a survivor is quite-- quite exceptional.
Right.
And so, the connection you think, or at least the documents you found, say that Lydia Thompson, who's your third great-grandmother... Uh-huh.
...is the daughter of William Cooper Graves...
Correct.
...a survivor of the Donner Party.
Now, you can tell sort of by the photograph your third great-grandmother was Native American.
Right.
And I know you're very proud and you know of your Native American heritage.
Yes.
Researching Native American ancestors can be very difficult... Uh-huh.
...because they're usually not widely considered citizens until 1924, and so they don't appear in a lot of the normal records that we find as genealogists.
They have separate census schedules, Indian schedules that were taken, and so it can be a bit of a challenge.
So, let's start looking at a couple of documents.
This is a 1913 American Indian census roll for Hardesty Rancheria, and, again, the census rolls are the closest we're gonna get to a regular census for Native Americans.
So, we do have one in 1913.
Here is Lydia Thompson, your third great-grandmother.
Mm-hmm.
There you see a daughter.
There at sort of the end of the household is their son Norman.
So, that's your second great-grandfather.
And in between is Hedsley or Hensley.
Okay.
So, that would be the brother of your second great-grandfather.
Okay.
Now, as a genealogist, it's important to look at other members of the family, and oftentimes it's through those other members that we make the most amazing connections.
Looking back at the life of Hedsley or Hensley Thompson, here is his death certificate, and it's from this record we glean a bit of new information.
He lists his mother as Lydia Harris.
Okay.
Huh.
Have you ever heard of Harris as the surname before?
No.
Nope.
Does that surprise you?
Yes.
I was not expecting that.
Yeah, a completely different surname.
Yeah.
Now, in this case, we know that surnames can change over time.
Especially in looking at Native American families, there were times when different names were used, a different period in their life.
We could speculate that this may be her maiden name or even her mother's maiden name.
Now, if we can't find Lydia as Lydia Graves on any record, is she listed as Lydia Harris anywhere?
Mm-hmm.
And so, we looked through a couple of documents, and the document I'm actually about to pull up really shouldn't exist.
This is the 1880 general census.
This is in Lake County, California.
We see very clearly here that we have a tribe of Native Americans.
Their race is listed as "I" for Indian.
Remember, Native Americans were not widely enumerated in these censuses until the turn of the century.
Right.
And so, to find a Native American listed in the 1880 general census is a rare thing.
Scrolling down through the names, we actually see towards the bottom-- Oh, I see it.
Yeah.
Oh, you spotted it.
Yes.
(chuckles) Lydia Harris.
Lydia Harris.
And she's 17.
Now, when you're looking at census records, it's always important to look above and below the person who you're really focused on because sometimes family members and associates live quite close to one another.
Looking up from Lydia Harris, the household just above them is a Pen Graves.
So, she's living literally next door to someone with the surname of Graves.
So, who was that Pennsylvania Graves?
He's 20 years old.
He's 20, and Lydia is 17.
Mm-hmm.
Are they cousins?
Are they siblings?
Now, we're not sure yet.
Mm-hmm.
So, we decided to jump in and see what we could find on Pennsylvania Graves.
Back to our trusty death certificates.
Here is the death certificate of Pennsylvania Graves, and here, looking very specifically at the name of the father, you'll see the name listed there as William C. Graves.
So, Pennsylvania Graves, according to this document, is the son of William Cooper Graves.
Okay.
So, the person living close to your third great-grandmother...
Yes.
...is absolutely a descendent of that William Cooper Graves.
Yep.
Now, we have a circumstantial case.
Okay.
Nothing absolutely says no, yet there's no one document that absolutely says yes, that's it.
Sure.
Now, five years ago, this is where we would have ended.
Today we have DNA science, and I know that both of you have submitted a DNA test for us, and our genetic experts compared your DNA to the DNA of descendents from the Graves family to see if there were any matching genetic markers.
Wow.
Cool.
And any guesses what they found?
Not for sure.
I guess it could go either way at this point.
It could go either way.
Well, what I can tell you as an absolute definite through genetics is that your third great-grandmother is a descendent of the Graves family related to the Donner Party.
That's amazing, really.
(chuckles) So, the stories might very well be true.
Yeah.
The DNA doesn't tell us the exact link... Uh-huh.
...so we can't definitively say, "Yes, it's William Cooper Graves," but through the miracle of DNA, I can tell you you're absolutely related to the Graves family of the Donner Party.
That's crazy.
(laughter) Pretty mind-blowing, so...
It's incredible.
You have an incredible ancestry.
Yeah, wow.
Well, thank you.
We are so incredibly lucky that we're able to make connections and figure out where we came from and pass it on to our children so that they know where they came from.
(announcer) The mystery that surrounds one man's great-grandfather is what brings him to the road show today, but what our team has found out may shock him.
♪ My name's Ron Ramey.
I live in St. Louis, Missouri.
Been married to my wife Natasha for nine years.
We have a son Llewellyn who's three, and a daughter Luna who just turned one.
Should I go first?
I want to.
Okay.
Pick a color.
My wife and I don't really believe in the distinction of race.
You know, you always hear in America that everybody's mixed.
There's probably less than 10% of people that are white that don't have some sort of people of color in their family tree.
There's always been a mystery surrounding the identity of my grandfather's father.
It's been said that he died in a car accident before my grandfather was born.
I've heard my mother say a long time ago that there was a scandal.
I didn't even have a name until I looked in a safe deposit box nine years ago and saw the name Raymond Eugene Waters.
The one draft record I found for a Raymond Eugene Waters in World War I had the corner cut, and I saw that the instructions for whoever was filling out the form said that you'd cut the corner if the conscript was colored.
That meant that there was a Raymond Eugene Waters at that time.
Could have been my grandfather's father who was a black man, but I couldn't say for sure that that was my grandfather's father.
All families have secrets, and you just have no idea how deep those secrets go.
I'd like to be able to know for sure if that was the truth.
So, Ronald and Natasha, tell me what brings you here today regarding your family.
The most curious question is we don't know who my grandfather's father was.
Okay.
So, his name was Raymond Eugene Waters...
Okay.
...and my grandfather's name was Raymond Eugene Carter.
Okay.
So, we went through, just like yourself, right, looking at military records, and we found one Raymond Eugene Waters that was serving his country in World War I as an African-American in the U.S. navy, and the military records indicate that he was on the navy cruiser "Des Moines."
However, we cannot find him at any point in time in Kansas anywhere near your great-grandmother to match up the birth of Raymond Eugene Carter, your grandfather.
Now, however, we did some more digging.
There were actually two Raymond Eugene Waters.
They were both African-American?
Oh, both were African-American, yeah.
In doing our research, we actually found out that this Raymond Eugene Waters, he was somewhat of a mischievous person.
Oh, really?
Uh-huh.
So, we can see this newspaper article is from December 26, 1903, from the "Baltimore Sun," and that a 13-year-old boy was arrested for stealing from the post office.
The story states that he stole a letter containing a draft of $800.
Wow.
That's a lot of money.
He couldn't cash the draft.
He turned it over to a small boy, who took it to the bank.
(laughs) (sighs, chuckles) Failed at that one.
(laughs) But we do also know that by 1910, the same Raymond Eugene Waters is 21 years old, and he's working as a railroad porter in Chicago.
You said in 1910?
1910, yeah.
The same Raymond Eugene Waters that we're looking at right now also served his country.
He was stationed at Camp Funston, Kansas, so we can place him in Kansas, okay?
So, while the evidence is piling up that your great-grandmother and him could have met, we can really never find them in the same place at the same time.
As a genealogist, when you have the circumstantial evidence, you then really turn to science, right?
And you took a DNA test.
And I'd have to say I was kind of shocked by the results.
So, Ronald, I can emphatically state that Raymond Eugene Waters could not be your great-grandfather... Wow.
...because your DNA came back 99% European.
Wow.
You take a look behind you.
Good Lord.
That is your DNA.
Wow.
(chuckles) You know, I almost fell off my chair when this came back, to be quite honest.
Wow.
This is the first time I've seen such a very straightforward ethnic makeup.
(chuckling) Really?
Yeah.
You know, it's just 93% British Isles.
That almost seems un-American.
Yeah.
(laughing) To not have something else in there.
Yeah.
A little bit of African or a little bit of Native American or something.
A little bit of something, yeah.
I mean, there's not even a wee bit of sub-Saharan African in there.
But here's the twist for you.
Your surname Ramey actually comes from France.
Really?
Yeah.
(chuckling) Yeah.
I'd heard that it was a Welch name, that it had a Welch origin, but I don't know of anyone in my family that you can trace further back than Arkansas on that side.
Oh, really?
Okay.
I guess you got further back than Arkansas, so... A little bit.
Okay.
Just a little bit further.
So, we show here the Ramey family, and we start with William Remy, who is the first person of your family born in the U.S., and he's born in the colony of Virginia in 1672.
Wow.
c If we continue going down the family tree to see what else we can find, George Remy was a noble in France, as was his father Didier.
Now we're back, at this time, to 1556.
Wow.
Wow.
But we can go back even further.
The family line actually goes all the way back to Bishop Saint Remi of France, who lived from 437 A.D. to 533 A.D.
So, we can tell you that you're descended from the French saint Remi.
Really?
A bishop.
Yes.
Wow.
That is insane.
So, you came here thinking, right... Yeah.
We've gone through... (chuckles) We've gone through a lot today.
Yeah, it's pretty shocking.
I mean, it feels great.
I had no idea that I was descended from some sort of French nobility, so that's fascinating.
Thank you.
♪ Being related to a saint, yeah, that's pretty crazy.
I'm still digesting that.
It's pretty cool.
(announcer) Sometimes a single clue, like a family crest, can unlock mysteries that lead you far from home.
This family's crest might lead us all the way back to Italy.
♪ My name is Tracy Bono.
My maiden name is Busalacchi.
I live in St. Charles, Missouri.
We are a very close family of Italian descent on both sides.
And my dad did a little family research and came upon a family crest that a distant cousin had, and it really has sparked my son's imagination.
The family crest is really interesting because it says that the family was the royal family in Lombardy in northern Italy around the year 600, I think.
And we're wondering is that true?
Are we really related to former kings and queens.
It's really exciting, and we'd love to know.
Tracy, tell me who's here.
This is my father Tony Busalacchi and my son Santino Bono.
So, do you like genealogy, Santino?
Yes.
Yes, I do.
What do you like about it?
I actually really like history, so I like seeing, like, who we're related to-- Well, you've come to the right place, I have to tell you.
All right, so you and your family have come here for a family crest and a possible connection to nobility?
Yes.
So, let's talk about this crest.
Okay.
The crest is actually a portion of a coat of arms, and a coat of arms was used in the 12th century by knights all throughout Europe in tournaments, in battles.
It was also used to represent families of prominence.
And families of all nationalities do look to the family crest and perhaps try to find a link back to their own family.
So, let's talk about what you've brought us today.
The lion is a symbol that typically represents courage.
The knight above the crest, that closely resembles the symbol for baron, whereas the crown is not consistent with that of baron.
I was not able to match that symbol exactly.
So, in this case, the symbols appear to be a little inconsistent.
The next thing that we're going to do is we're going to take a look at your Busalacchi paternal line, because we have to find out whether there's a connection to nobility here.
So, all of your people, Tony, come from the Sicilian town of Termini Imerese.
Yes.
100%.
Right.
Beautiful.
Let's take a look at some original Italian records...
Okay.
Wow, okay.
...that come from your ancestral town of Termini Imerese.
Fantastic.
Let's take a look.
So, let's talk about the first Busalacchi in America in your line.
Okay.
This is the immigration record of Matteo Busalacchi in 1891.
Your grandfather, Anthony, right?
Right.
And your great-grandfather and your great-great grandfather, right, Santino?
Yeah.
And it says that he is a mariner.
That's incredible.
Wow!
So, the next record we're going to see is a birth record for Matteo's father Giacomo.
So, there he is down at the bottom-- Giacomo.
He is the son of Giuseppe Busalacchi and your-- To Tony it's great-great.
Okay.
To Tracy, great-great-great.
And we'll just say fourth great for you, Santino.
So, the last possible record that we were able to extract and the one that got us the farthest back, I don't know if you've ever heard of Lorenzo Busalacchi.
It's a great name.
He happens to be your fifth-great-grandfather.
Wow.
This is actually his death certificate.
Holy cow.
And his father on here, Giacomo, is the oldest Busalacchi ancestor that I can find.
And they're also fishermen.
The really cool thing is that your family comes from a long line of Sicilian fishermen.
And this is something to be incredibly proud of because fishing is really a central part of the coastal Sicilian economy since the beginning of time.
We're going to have to start taking you out fishing more, huh?
You need to go fishing, buddy.
It's in your blood.
Yeah.
It is.
So, Lorenzo was born in 1740, and we estimate that his father Giacomo was probably born between 1700 and and 720.
Okay.
Wow.
So, we were able to get back basically eight generations before you, Tracy.
Eight generations.
That's-- Wow.
Which I think is pretty cool to you, right, Santino?
Y e a h .
You wanted ancestors.
We got 'em for you.
But we were not able to connect your family to nobility with these documents.
Okay.
(chuckles) But as an Italian genealogist, I go to Italy on a regular basis, and I decided that I would make a stop just for you guys in Termini Imerese to continue researching your family history.
No kidding?
Wow!
Wow!
Let's take a look.
♪ Sometimes there are mysteries that are nearly impossible to solve from the United States.
For this reason, it's actually necessary to travel to the location, which brings us to Italy now.
Two fantastic places to start with your on-site Italian research are the church and the city hall.
Inside of this church are baptismal, marriage, and death records dating back into the 1600s.
So, these parish registers that we find right here in this bookcase are really the story of this town.
This document was actually written on an animal skin, and it's been preserved since the 1500s.
You can't find this anywhere else but right here in this parish church.
Good morning.
The city hall contains two offices to be aware of here in Italy: the demographics office and the civil records office.
Now, there are thousands of records in these offices: births, marriages, deaths, census equivalents.
These are records you can't find anywhere else.
Holding an actual document that our ancestors might have touched is one of the coolest parts about on-site research.
Nowhere else can you actually do that except if you've come to your ancestral town or a repository that contains these records.
Wow.
That's amazing.
Isn't that amazing?
Wow.
So, this is your beautiful ancestral town of Termini Imerese.
It's gorgeous.
Yeah.
I took this photo about a month ago.
It's absolutely beautiful.
So, my first stop was this church, which is where many of your ancestors were baptized.
So, in this church, there was an index entry for Giacomo Busalacchi, the one born in 1775 that we saw in one of the records.
Wow.
Unfortunately, the register containing his baptism is no longer available.
It's actually gone missing.
So, unfortunately, we were not able to bring you today that particular information which would have connected us to previous generations.
Oh...
So, I didn't stop there.
The next stop that I went to was actually an archive containing notary records.
So, in the notary records, a family of prominence or from nobility would show up quite frequently in these records.
So, I was looking for the signs of that, which I unfortunately did not find.
And when I tell you I exhausted every resource, believe me I did.
(chuckles) I was unable to match this particular crest with your specific family, and I'm so sorry to report that to you because you're such wonderful people.
But we were able to connect you to a beautiful paternal line of Sicilian fishermen, which, to me, is something to be so, so proud of.
Thank you so much for coming on "Genealogy Roadshow."
Thank you so much for all of your work.
We really appreciate this.
I really appreciate it.
Thank you, sir.
And I know Santino does too.
Can I get a high-five?
(laughter) We did find some really good information about our crest.
Our crest which isn't our crest.
You know, I'm not really disappointed, but I am very excited that we learned more about our family.
And I mean, they had documents that I'd have never been able to get to.
Appreciate it.
We're beyond thrilled.
Oh, yeah.
This is amazing.
(announcer) Here at St. Louis' Union Station, people have come near and far to get up close with our experts.
You and your mother qualify for the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Great!
That's exciting.
That was one of my questions.
(announcer) This amateur researcher hit a wall when trying to find out if his great-great grandfather was the son of billionaire businessman Vincent Astor.
We went through and tracked the movements of Vincent Astor because if we can place him and sort of your great-grandmother in the same place, we can at least start to make a case-- That it's plausible.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, we can't ever place him in St. Louis.
Well... (announcer) But he's not leaving empty-handed.
We actually have some contact info for you for an archivist at the school that can help you out.
Excellent.
So, there's always a next step... All right.
...in this.
(announcer) Another guest has a mystery of her own.
Is she related to Edward Everett, the governor of Massachusetts during the Civil War?
He got upstaged by President Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg.
He actually gave a two-hour speech...
Yes.
...but he was upstaged by a two-minute speech, the Gettysburg Address.
Mm-hmm.
My oldest sister Helen says we're not...
Okay.
...and my mother says we are.
So, I guess we have to find out who wins, right?
Yes.
You are related.
Yes!
You are related to Statesman Edward Everett.
Yay.
I guess the moral of the story is mother knows best.
Mother does know best.
(chuckles) (announcer) Next up is a local musician looking for a connection to a St. Louis jazz legend.
♪ My name is Evelynn Johnson.
I am an educator.
I am a community developer.
I am a vocalist.
♪ Music has always just been a part of life for me.
I hear my mother tell me from the time I was born, her come home from the hospital, and my grandmother was walking through the house saying, "That child is going to be a singer when she grows up."
♪ He loves from above♪ ♪ He's up above♪ ♪ Most families have an interesting story to tell about their ancestors, and one came up when I was speaking with my mom about my great-grandfather Daddy "Buggs" Roberts.
Apparently he was a local jazz band leader, and that was about all she knew about him.
So, I tried to do some research on him.
I've been to record stores looking at the back of albums to see if his name is there, but I couldn't find much.
But I did find a well-known and very popular band leader by the name of Buggs Roberts who was popular, very popular, for an arrangement of "Body and Soul," and he had played in the Apollo Theater.
So, I wanted to know, is this Buggs Roberts my great-grandfather?
Hi, Evelynn.
Hello.
Who did you bring with you today?
I brought my uncle Ralph Roberts, and my mother Loyce Davis.
Hi.
So, with your question about your great-grandfather Daddy "Buggs" Roberts, as you guys called him, you wanted to know if that was the same famous Buggs Roberts arranger and composer.
Yes.
So, let's take a look and learn a little bit more about Buggs Roberts to see if we can make that connection.
Okay.
Like many musicians, you know, Buggs Roberts was drawn to St. Louis because it was a hotbed, and we know he came here when he was around 22.
He first arrived in St. Louis in 1937, and then he landed a job as a composer and arranger for the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra.
Wow.
The band played all of the top spots...
Okay.
...in St. Louis.
Over the years, he also arranged songs for many world-famous musicians, including Benny Goodman and Louis Jordon.
But you didn't come here for a jazz lesson.
I know you came to find out if your Daddy Buggs is indeed the Buggs Roberts arranger and composer.
Yes.
Now, when doing genealogy research, we tend to look for-- Obviously someone's given birth name and surname, but as you know, with musicians, they use nicknames and pseudonyms...
Okay.
...and so when looking for Buggs Roberts, came up short.
There was nothing with the name Buggs Roberts on it.
So, then I thought, Buggs was famous in St. Louis as a musician.
Let's go to some newspapers.
Okay.
We were able to find an article that was published in January 1951.
Now, this article gives us a name, and it's truly sort of the start of an obit for Buggs if you take a look here.
And it says Leroy Buggs Roberts.
Oh, okay.
So, now we go from just Buggs Roberts to Leroy Buggs Roberts.
We searched for Leroy and names similar to Leroy with the last me Roberts.
We were able to find a death certificate for a LaVelle Roberts.
(chuckling) That's where your middle name comes from.
So your middle name is LaVelle?
Yeah.
Okay.
But don't get too excited.
We still don't have proof that they're the same person.
Okay.
Now, he was born on May 11th, 1915, in a little town called Anniston, Alabama.
Wow.
He was the seventh child born to Augustus and Viola Roberts.
Okay.
When he was about four years old, his family actually moved to Zanesville, Ohio.
Oh, my goodness.
Okay.
Okay, in 1934, while they're living in Zanesville, Ohio, Buggs joins his first band-- the Al Fears Band in Cincinnati.
Okay, Al Fears.
Okay.
Al Fears Band.
All right.
So now that we have an idea of who he is... We've gone through some information about his family members, his childhood.
We need to see if we can answer that question for you.
Yes.
Yes.
Is this famous Buggs Roberts of St. Louis the same as your great-grandfather, Daddy "Buggs" Roberts?
So let's look at the second part of that article we had.
One of the big things it mentions is who his surviving family is.
Oh... Tell me if you recognize a name.
Dolores, your great-grandmother.
(laughing) And, actually, all of these names are familiar to you as your ancestors.
Yeah.
And just to confirm what we've seen on the obituary, that Daddy "Buggs" Roberts is indeed the famous St. Louis arranger and composer...
I'm so excited.
..."Buggs" Roberts.
I'm just tingling all over.
I will faint.
I'll let you have your moment.
Take all of that in.
Oh, my goodness!
Okay, okay.
Ah, all right, I'm ready.
Now, if you turn around, we were able to find an article with a photo of "Buggs" Roberts over there.
It's kind of grainy, but if you can see it, right there in the corner, that's him.
Talking a little bit about his accomplishments and who he played with as well.
Oh, wow.
That's amazing.
(laughing) This is overwhelming to me.
It really is.
This is the very first time I've ever seen a picture of him.
Oh, wow.
Yes.
Daddy Buggs died when I was just a year old.
(sighs) So why are you so-- Your mom is getting really emotional.
It's just overwhelming, really.
It is?
Why is it overwhelming?
Just to see... Well, just to know, you know?
Just to know.
Just to know.
As an added bonus for you guys, I wanted to play a song that he wrote and composed for the Jeter-Pillars Orchestra.
Okay.
And the song is called "Lazy Rhythm".
"Lazy Rhythm."
(easy jazz playing) ♪ So, Evelynn, how does it make you feel hearing this song?
Elated.
Elated?
Elated.
How about you?
How do you feel, mom?
It just makes me feel great.
I mean, it's the same sound as the rest of the bands in that era.
This has been just wonderful for me.
It really has.
I'm so happy.
I'm so happy.
Yes, I really appreciate it.
You are so welcome.
Thank you.
The moment I heard the music come on, I could see the band.
Everybody just swaying to the music.
I mean, it really just pulled you right in.
It did.
Music was his life.
Jazz was his life.
I was interested in trying to locate my great-grandfather's parents.
One of the best ways would be to look for his death certificate.
(announcer) It hasn't slowed down for our genealogists here at St. Louis' Union Station.
Many people have come here for pointers, like Kevin Subra, his wife, and their eight children.
What an amazing research team.
It-- its a lot of fun.
(announcer) He hit a roadblock about his third great-grandfather, who came from France.
One other thing you can look at is the land records.
Figure out, you know, the process of how he got the land, and then, really, what he did with it.
Okay.
(announcer) And guest Tru Lewis finally found a document she's been searching for for years.
So what I'd like to show you here, actually, is a document that we found.
And it is a marriage record for your great-great-grandparents.
I've been researching them for a long time, and it-- it just brings them alive.
(announcer) Knowing where you came from and how you got here is a question most people want answered.
And for woman, it has taken a lifetime to find out just that.
My name is Timothy Dasenbrock.
I'm here today to help my mother find her mother, who died just after childbirth.
And my mother never knew...
I'm sorry.
My mother never knew her mother, and knows nothing of her family.
I would love to have had her at my wedding.
I would like to have had her see me go to school.
Mom lost an entire half of her family.
If you could say something to your mother, what would you say to her?
Oh, my God.
I don't know what I would say.
I think I wouldn't have words.
(Timothy) My mother is suffering, slowly, and very mildly at this point, dementia.
So she's coming to the end.
Perhaps we get to replace the memories that she's losing with whole new memories.
I think that's wonderful, to finally give her something that no one else has been able to give her for 87 years.
I'm gonna walk.
All right.
I'm gonna walk for this.
Tim.
Yes, ma'am?
Welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow".
Now I see that you've brought somebody with you today.
I did.
This is my mother, Emma Dasenbrock It's really an honor to have you here, ma'am.
So do you know anything about the origins of your mother's family, the Kunkels.
I know nothing.
Let's start with your family's journey to America.
Oh, how cool.
In 1853, your great-grandfather, Phillip Kunkel, and your great-grandmother, Margaret, set sail for America from a place called Malstadt, Germany.
They sailed, actually, from Le Havre, France.
Oh, they came from France.
Uh-huh, there you go.
They did.
So those are the first Kunkels in America, ma'am.
I'm so glad they came.
(laughing) I know.
Me, too.
Me, too.
So let's take a look at Phillip and Margaret in America.
This is the 1860 census.
This is Phillip Kunkel, his wife Margaret, and their first two sons, Edward and Henry.
If we scroll over, we can see that the value of his personal estate-- about $500.
$500.
Now, as the war was breaking out, Phillip Kunkel joined the Union army.
Oh!
Really?
By 1870, your great-grandfather and your great-great-grandfather, Phillip Kunkel, owns a tavern.
And the value of his estate now is $4,000.
Holy smokes!
In 1860, he was working at the tavern, and by 1870, he owns the tavern.
Oh, wow.
Good for him.
So in 1876, Phillip passes away.
We looked into this further.
His Civil War pension file actually reveals to us that he committed suicide.
Ah.
Can you imagine?
Well, sometimes life-- and back in those days, especially-- became to hard.
Amen to that.
And, of course, we will never know the reason why.
Right.
Because it seemed like he was doing so great.
It did.
It did.
So let's jump ahead for a moment to 1900.
We have Phillip's son, Edward Kunkel, who's your grandfather.
Oh.
By 1900, Edward Kunkel is actually living as a widower.
His wife has passed on, leaving him as a single father with two children.
Oh, wow.
Barbara, age 14-- your mom.
Oh.
Barbara.
And Phillip, age four.
You had an uncle.
Yeah.
I'll be doggone.
Oh, my God.
How cool is that!
By 1904, Barbara-- She's had enough of living under her father's roof.
So she decides to tie the knot with someone named John Wallheimer.
(gasps) That's where the Wallheimer is!
We found a picture of my Grandmother Barbara.
Okay.
But it had "Wallheimer" on the back.
Really?
We had no idea what that meant.
Well, in 1904, at 18, your mother married John Wallheimer.
Oh.
So she was very young.
Yes, it was.
Yes, it was.
Well, I don't know.
You were 18 when you got married.
Really?
Well... ...that's all right-- I wasn't 14.
(laughter) Touche, Now, in 1909, tragedy, unfortunately, befell the family again.
Oh, no.
Edward Kunkel, your grandfather, passes away in a miming accident.
Oh, I didn't know that either.
Following this accident, Barbara, your mother, takes care of her younger brother, Phillip, who's ten years younger, remember.
He's only just a boy Right.
when this happens.
She took responsibility for her brother, Good for her to step up.
who was much younger.
Isn't that great to think that your mom was such a, you know... the upkeep of that family.
Exactly.
And then, in 1924, after 19 years of marriage, your mom, Barbara, and John divorce.
She was married all those years.
This divorce record shows us that in about 1921, your mom, Barbara, took up with another man called Rufus Eldridge Musgrave.
That was my father.
She was stepping out on her husband with your father.
Yeah.
That's all right with me.
Okay.
That's okay with me.
I wouldn't be here otherwise.
(laughter) So we can assume that perhaps the Wallheimer marriage was not the happiest one.
It must've been.
But it appears that she did find love with Rufus.
Oh, I'm so glad.
I am so glad for her.
Which is wonderful.
And for me!
Yes.
Oh, boy.
So later, in 1924, shortly after the divorce, the two married.
And we know that on February 20, 1927... Me!
Me!
...there was a wonderful event.
Emma Belle Musgrave came into this world.
So to me, this is really a story of survival.
A family that takes responsibility and takes care of their loved ones.
Just like you, Tim.
(laughing) That's right.
You made my day.
You made my day.
Thank you.
This was my pleasure, ma'am.
That was great.
Oh, that was wonderful.
They just added years to my life.
It just gave you back so much.
I was stunned.
My jaw hit the floor.
The things I learned, it was just amazing.
It was amazing.
(announcer) This schoolteacher may have all the answers for her students, but has very few when it comes to her own past.
My name is Julie Bryar, I'm from Chicago, Illinois, and I am a middle school science teacher.
words are inadequate to describe how much my family means to me.
My fiancee and I have children from previous relationships, so together there's the five of us.
Katherine is my partner, but biologically, there are only two other human beings on this planet that I know.
That is my mother and my daughter.
I have no knowledge of any other blood connections.
My mother was adopted, and she was fostered first as an infant.
And by the time she was in first grade, that was when the adoption was finalized.
My mother always knew she was adopted, and my adoptive grandparents never hid that fact from her.
And so they always were able to share whatever information they had.
There's a newspaper article that described an altercation between my biological grandfather and biological grandmother.
That's why my mother knew the names of her family members.
I would like to know anything we can about my biological family.
I feel like getting the answers will no longer make me this island in a sea of people that all know who they are and where they come from.
Julie, let's meet who you brought with you today.
This is my daughter, Erin.
One of only two blood relatives that I know of.
My daughter, Mystic, and my fiancee, Kate.
Hi.
Congratulations.
Thank you.
All right, well, let's get started.
So the first thing you had was an adoption letter, actually written from Catholic Charities, that your mother had attained.
It tells us about the two biological siblings that your mother had.
And you learned that her mother's name was Marian.
Mm-hmm.
And you learned that her father's name was Warren.
Mm-hmm.
You also had another document in your family.
The clipping from the newspaper.
Well, that look on Marian's face, my mother gets that look.
Really?
(laughter) Sometimes you get that look, too.
(laughter) Okay.
You can't fight the genes.
No, you can't.
So this document actually gives us the next step that we need in the story.
We have enough to actually do a search of the marriage records in Cook County to see if we can find any record of a Warren Bowers marrying someone named Marian.
Okay.
We found the marriage record of Warren Bowers... Huh.
...to a Miss Marian Marsalko.
So we have a maiden name now for your grandmother.
Now we can actually go to the U.S. census.
Okay.
And we were able to find your grandmother in the 1940 census.
Wow.
So you can see her listed there.
And her sort of status or occupation or relationship to the head of household is listed as an inmate.
Is there another term they may choose for her other than jail?
(laughter) You know, it's great that you asked that, because yes.
Okay.
Oftentime when someone is in some sort of an institution or an organization, they're listed as an inmate.
And the enumerator will tell us at the top where they were actually taking that census.
So if we scroll up to the top, we'll actually learn where Marian was living in 1940.
(chuckles) I didn't expect that.
Yeah.
So not only was your mother an orphan, but your biological grandmother was, too.
Holy crap.
Wow.
Okay.
Actually, the orphanage they were in-- Angel Garden Orphanage-- is one of the largest, at that time, in Chicago.
We were actually able to find footage of that orphanage taken in 1940.
Are you serious?
Oh, my God.
That's awesome.
It's very possible the person behind the camera captured your grandmother.
Okay.
All right, let's watch.
Those were the children that your grandmother knew, that she played with.
Her friends, her schoolmates.
The nuns who watched over her.
It's so large.
The building is very, um, institutional.
It doesn't seem like a warm place to grow up.
Did she spend her life there?
Let's take a look at the 1930 census to see if she's in the orphanage ten years earlier, or if she's with her parents.
So here we have Julius and Anna Marsalko, and then a Louise, who's four years old.
We believe that's your biological grandmother, Marian Louise Marsalko.
Okay, that makes sense.
So Julius is great-grandfather?
Julius Marsalko is your great-grandfather.
That's pretty cool.
Instinct.
So now, going back to your question, you know, what happened between 1930 and 1940?
At this point, we can start looking at other documents.
In 1933, there's a record from the Canadian Immigration Service Down on about the fourth or fifth line is your great-grandfather, Julian Marsalko.
And if we look at the record, it actually says that he's married.
Yeah.
He lists his wife as Anna, so this is definitely your great-grandfather.
Right.
However, there is something that is a bit startling.
Her residence, however, is listed as an insane asylum.
So we don't know how long she was there.
We don't know why she was there.
Right.
When he was asked, "Where's your wife?
What is her residence?"
He went, "Aw, I put her away."
That's what he wrote, maybe... maybe.
Women were incarcerated for many other reasons other than actual mental illness.
Exactly.
Exactly.
So is that actually how kids could often end up in orphanages?
Like, maybe the family is not actually dead, but... That's possible.
You're asking the right questions.
Okay.
So one thing that we can do is-- We've looked at the 1940 census, where we found your grandmother.
So we can do the same search and see if we can find Julius.
So this is the same year that your grandmother is in the orphanage.
Right.
Here is her father, Julius Marsalko, and he's listed as a lodger in someone's house.
Oh.
And the important thing we glean from this document is there's a "D" under his marital status.
So they were divorced.
They were divorced.
Nobody stays together long in my family, apparently.
We also learned from the document that Julius was a naturalized citizen.
He was-- Oh, so he was the immigrant.
Yes.
And one amazing thing about naturalization documents from this period is some of them contain a picture.
Yeah, boy, that's the chin.
(laughter) What is it like looking at a picture of your great-grandfather?
Pretty darn cool.
(laughs) So now we have a bit clearer picture.
We know there was a divorce in 1937.
Right.
And with that, we were able to actually go through and find the divorce documents.
Oh, wow.
And so it's possible, through the divorce record, we might learn why your grandmother was in the orphanage.
Okay.
So I'm gonna actually hand you some pages from the divorce document to take a look at.
Wow.
This is actually Anna's testimony.
Okay.
Um, lived with him until 1935, He left her.
She said she was good to him.
"How did he conduct himself towards you?"
She said they didn't get along at all.
He was a drinker.
Oh.
And you might want to read this one carefully.
"As to Margaret, Fritz, and Mary Lou, are they living with you?"
"No, sir."
"Where are they?"
"At the Guardian Angel."
"In the event they are released from the Guardian Angel orphanage, you want custody and control of them?"
She said, "I want them."
So the thing that you learn from this document is she said... "I want them."
So not a case of abandonment.
No, no, no.
Good.
Very good.
You came here today with a lot of questions.
Yes.
And what I see, certainly, in looking at the women in your family are strong mothers... Hell yeah.
...who love their children.
Yes.
I know now where a lot of my strength of character comes from.
What do you guys think?
It's intriguing.
I want to keep digging.
I know.
Well, thanks for being on the show today, and thank you for letting us unravel some mysteries.
Thank you.
(announcer) Everyone has a great story, whether it's of survival, romance, or intrigue.
"Genealogy Roadshow" is on the road again next week to bring them to you.
(announcer) 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.
