(announcer) Coming up on "Genealogy Roadshow"... Really?

(announcer) A mystery writer has her own unsolved case.

What?

No way!

Yeah.

(announcer) One young man's passion leads to his father's emotional discovery.

This means a lot to me.

(announcer) And find out why pirates are a genealogist's worst nightmare.

Are you sure you want that to be your answer?

Right.

I have to ask.

(announcer) The search for these answers begins right now on "Genealogy Roadshow."

♫ (announcer) We've crisscrossed 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 is 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 at the "Show Me" state in the city of St. Louis.

St. Louis, Missouri.

Home of the Cardinals, the 1904 World's Fair, and the famous Gateway Arch.

Erected in 1965, this landmark was built in honor of America's westward expansion when the U.S. doubled in size, thanks to the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

Named for the French monarch Louis XIV, its location, where the mighty Mississippi and Missouri Rivers meet, made St. Louis a transportation hub... starting off with steamboats in the early 1800s, to trains in 1874, when the Eads Bridge was built, which brought railroads to the developing city.

This growth and transportation pushed St. Louis into a new age of industrialism, attracting a huge influx of immigrants seeking a new life.

This major city has become a melting pot of cultures and countries.

This eclectic, ethnic mix makes St. Louis a rich and challenging environment for genealogists to explore, and that's why we've come here, to the St. Louis Central Library.

Built in 1912, this elaborate structure was designed to promote education and culture within the city.

And today, hundreds of locals have lined up, hoping to find out more about their family history.

I'm here to find some more information about my grandfather, who was a steamboat pilot during the Civil War.

We've been married almost 42 years.

It's about time we found out if we're related.

(announcer) Our first guest is a St. Louis local who's looking to uncover the truth about her great-grandmother's romantic journey to America.

My name is Em Piro.

I grew up in Seattle but now I live in St. Louis, Missouri, and I work in the arts.

So up until recently, I had a really conventional, really safe, really secure job and lifestyle, but I kinda threw it all in and took a huge risk and pursued the arts, where you're never really secure.

I think that it enlivens me, and I think that it enlivens the world around me.

So my family is half-German and half-Italian.

When my family would get together, they would all congregate, and stories start to fly.

And one of my favorite stories that would get told frequently was about my great-grandmother, Isabella.

She never really spoke much English, but she was the matriarch of this big family and one of the stories she would tell was about when she had come to America from Italy and she was supposed to come and marry this cowboy from Wyoming, but when she got here, she didn't like-a the cowboy, and she ran away with my great-grandfather Eugene Piro.

And that, I thought, was always kind of an exciting story and it was like, oh, you know, she's such a rogue.

But the more that I think about it, the more kind of incredible it is to me.

You know, what was it that impulsed her to make such a dramatic change and just what was that journey like?

I find that inspiring.

I would love to know more about who she was and why she did the things she did, and to know that somewhere, somewhere in my blood, there must be a remnant of that spirit.

Hey, Em, and welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

We're so pleased to have you here today.

I'm excited to be here.

So tell us, what brings you to "Genealogy Roadshow"?

The legend goes that my great-grandmother, as a young Italian woman, was sent for by mail...

Okay.

... and was a mail-order bride.

She came here to marry the cowboy from Wyoming.

Right.

So let's talk about who this is.

This is your great-grandmother, Isabella Rizzo.

Isabella Rizzo.

And who is this?

Eugene Piro, my great-grandfather, yeah.

Eugene Piro.

So you came to us with the information that Isabella is from Sorbo San Basile, which is in the province of Catanzaro, Calabria.

Okay.

It's a small town.

Can we take a look at her life in Italy first?

Yes.

Birth record.

(speaking Italian) And here she is.

Carmina Isabella Rizzo.

Ah.

So this is in 1892.

It's in Italian.

And then we scroll down, and we're gonna look for her parents, your great-great-grandparents.

We're gonna make sure those are right.

Saverio Rizzo, which is right there.

And then if we scroll down, we'll see that it says, from their illegitimate union with Theresa Cianflone Salvati Esposita.

What?Scandal.

So that means it was, like, an out-of-wedlock birth?

Your great-grandmother, Isabella Rizzo, was born civilly illegitimate.

Her parents weren't yet married in the City Hall.

Oh.

But 10 days after she was born, they got married and she was legitimized.

So in addition to this alleged cowboy in America, let's talk about some other reasons to leave Italy.

Yeah.

We find out a reason for her immigration is both of her parents had passed away less than a year before she came to America, within only a couple of months of each other, and these Italian death certificates, unfortunately, do not provide cause of death.

Now, at this time, there was also a huge influx of Italian immigrants, especially from southern Italy who made the long journey to the United States for new opportunities-- a long journey that was even more grueling if they were headed west.

Since these immigrants were mostly peasants, farmers, and miners, they sometimes needed assistance paying for their passage to America, so it was somewhat common for family members to pay for each other's migration.

Repayment to family members and friends was on a case-by-case basis.

Now, the journey to America at that time would have been arduous in 1913.

Your great-grandmother would have probably had to go on a donkey or horse and cart from Sorbo San Basile to arrive at Catanzaro to catch a train.

And then she would have caught that train to Naples, where she would have caught a boat.

It's very courageous, don't you think?

Oh, incredibly.

So let's take a look at her journey to America.

This is the passenger manifest from the S.S. Berlin that sailed from Naples to New York in 1912.

You can see Rizzo, or Rizzo, Carmina Isabella.

Oh, wow.

Okay, so never forget page two of the passenger list, 'cause look what we find on page two.

Her destination is her brother, Giuseppe, in Denver.

Yeah, that was one of my questions, is like, was she just, like, sent for out of the blue?

So she had a brother that was already here.

She had a brother, Giuseppe, already in Denver.

Oh.

And if we scroll back for a moment, you'll see that it designates that her brother paid for her passage to America.

Okay.

Never forget page two.

So Giuseppe, her brother, came to America in 1906.

We went back and found the passenger manifest for his voyage to America aboard the S.S. Prinz Oskar and he was traveling to see his uncle.

Did you know you had somebody else?

No, there was another one here?

An uncle named Salvatore Granato-- already in Denver.

An uncle.

And you knew nothing about him.

I had no idea.

I thought she just came here blindly on her own.

She had more than a brother here, she had a whole family here.

Whole family here.

Possibly more than in Sorbo San Basile.

Really?

So, we want to get as close to the source as possible when we're dealing with family stories, and so it's important to talk to family members as well-- and we did.

When I take into consideration all the data that we've gathered, this is the picture that emerges.

Isabella was supposed to marry somebody else in Denver.

So that is true.

And this guy was gonna pay for her passage to America.

Right.

But she shows up at the station and who was there to pick her up?

Eugene Piro.

Really?

Yes.

Your great-grandfather, Eugene Piro.

So then when she got to Giuseppe's home, she was informed that somebody else had paid her passage if she agreed to marry them, so what happened was the guy probably gave Giuseppe the money, he paid for the passage... Gotcha.

She came over.

Giuseppe was like, "I want to introduce you to this guy," and being the good Calabrian woman that she is, she goes, "I don't want to marry him."

(laughs) Dang, she had her sights out.

Exactly.

And then within a short amount of time, she married Eugene Piro.

The man who picked her up at the-- shoot, watch out.

The man who picked her up and she obviously fell in love and they wanted to get married.

Yeah.

Now, my speculation is that "cowboy" was an Italian nickname of some kind, because Denver is the West.

Yeah.

So "cowboy" just could have been her phrase for, like, the American over there.

Exactly, like, "Oh, those cowboys in Denver."

And that's what we speculate the word "cowboy" may have made its way into the story, so you should be just so proud of your wonderful roots, cowboy or not cowboy.

Yeah.

So thank you so much for coming on "Genealogy Roadshow," Em.

Thank you, thank you so much.

It's been a pleasure.

Thank you, Mary.

We had always heard about the cowboy from Wyoming and it turns out that he wasn't a cowboy at all.

It's really interesting because where I thought she was really coming into the unknown, even though she was very brave to go off on her own, she was still going to family.

It makes me very inspired to feel like I'm rooted to something in my past.

I feel like I have these new roots that I never could have imagined having before.

It's such a gift.

I'm so grateful for this whole thing.

(announcer) The stories of pirates who sailed the waters of the Atlantic are legendary, and this woman thinks she may be related to the most ruthless of them all, Blackbeard.

My name is Nicki Overcash.

I'm 29 and I'm from Springfield, Illinois.

I'm very curious to find out a little bit about my dad's side of the family.

His mom always claimed that we were descendants of Blackbeard the pirate and I just am really curious if there's any truth to that story.

Whatever we find out, it'll be neat to just fill in that side of my family history, 'cause my father passed away a few years ago and I think this will really strengthen my connection to him, to know this bit of his history that is also my history.

So you're looking for a pirate.

Yes.

This presents an interesting challenge, as a genealogist.

Yes.

A lot of people think that they are connected to infamous figures in the past-- pirates, outlaws, and gunslingers-- but the very nature of the lives these kinds of people lead make it all the more difficult to make those connections.

So we're here in Boston, Massachusetts, in a cemetery.

But in fact, a graveyard isn't the right place to start looking for a pirate or an outlaw because many criminals and outlaws won't actually be allowed to have a marker for their grave.

But Boston, Massachusetts, is a great place to start looking for pirates because we're so close to the water.

Anywhere where you find an ocean, an open trade route, you'll find the other side of that, which are the pirates.

I've come to the American Antiquarian Society, which is a large collection of early American printed material.

One of the major difficulties that you run into when you're looking for a pirate or an outlaw is the myth that they built behind their lives.

They changed their names.

Pirates often had common-law wives.

It wasn't necessarily popular to document that you were the son or grandson of a pirate, and so it isn't as straightforward as other families are, and so, oftentimes we have to look at resources to separate the myth from the actual fact of the pirate.

(woman) So there's one other collection I wanted to show you.

(Josh) I'm here looking for things like execution records or reports of pirates' activities so that I can begin to piece together the timeline to figure out if there's any connection to the families that we've been researching.

So if there's any scrap of paper, any hint or a clue left behind by any of these pirates or these outlaws, we're gonna definitely find something here.

This is our genealogy section and our local histories.

(Josh) If someone thinks they have a pirate or an outlaw in their ancestry, you want to look specifically at people's connection to the sea.

So we're looking at geography, where someone's living, and also occupation.

Are they fishermen?

Are they working on boats and ships?

While some archives have a lot of their holdings online, it still is so important to make an in-person visit, because the staff is oftentimes better than the collections, because they know what's here and they know it like the back of their hand and they can guide you to things that you'll never find online or on your own.

So there's some challenges in looking at a pirate's family history, but one thing I know as a genealogist is that even a legend that seems farfetched started somewhere.

Right.

So let's learn a little bit about Blackbeard first.

Okay.

I want to know, what do you know about Blackbeard?

I know he's one of the most famous pirates and I know his real name was Edward Teach, but I don't know too much other history about him.

All right.

So Blackbeard actually started out as a privateer, and a privateer was basically a legal pirate during times of war, and he got his start in Queen Anne's war, from 1702 to 1713.

And basically, what they would do is they would hire these privateers to actually capture and raid ships of the enemy.

Okay.

So they were, again, like a legal pirate.

Right.

Well, after the war ended, Edward Teach decided to make this a full-fledged career and turned his privateering into pirating.

And then it was not so legal anymore.

Exactly, not-- not so legal.

And he actually chose North Carolina.

He was in Bath, North Carolina, for a time period, and there's a particular reason why he chose that area.

And the primary reason is because of all of its different ports and the different places to hide.

So looking at a map here, this is where Blackbeard sort of moved around and you can see there's lots of places to hide.

As a pirate, you also have to have proximity to a nice port where there's gonna be merchant ships that you can ransack going in and out.

So that's why he certainly chose the Carolinas as one of the areas where he carried out his less-than-legal activities.

Yes.

So, a logical choice, yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

Now, Blackbeard was one of the most feared pirates.

He used to use slow-burning hemp and he would attach it to his long beard and he'd light it on fire and he'd strap pistols and knives and all sorts of things and that's how he'd show up for battle.

Very intimidating.

Yeah.

Finally, after Blackbeard had ransacked so many ships, the governor of Virginia decided to put a bounty on his head.

Blackbeard was shot five times.Oh, wow.

He was stabbed 20 to 25 times.

Oh, my gosh.

And then he was dead.

As you would be.

So they severed the head.

They put the head on the ship as a warning sign and they threw the rest of the corpse overboard.Oh, wow.

And the legend is that it swam around the ship five times.

(laughing) Now, are you sure you want that to be your ancestor?

Right.

Now, I have to ask... Maybe questioning it a little right now.

Right?

So we'll see how this goes.

Now, what we need from a genealogical standpoint, to be related to a pirate, you're going to have to have someone who's the right time period, right around when he was alive, the right place-- they've got to be living on the coast-- and you would imagine that they're involved somehow with the sea.

Right.

So that's what we're looking for.

Okay.

So with that, we jumped into the Overcash family.

All right.

We have your father, William Moore Overcash, his father, William Lee Overcash, and then to Samuel Overcash, John Monroe Overcash, and then to John Overcash.

So what we want to do is look and see what did they do for a living, right?

Where were they actually residing, if we can connect them at all to the pirate.

Okay.

So let's jump into a few of these individuals.

This is North Carolina.

Looking in Rowan County at John Overcash in the 1880 census, John's actually listed with no occupation.

Oh, really?

Looking at the other Overcash members, you'll see there's an Aaron Overcash right below, and he's a farmer, so we're not seeing a connection.

Yeah, the connection to the sea, right?

Yeah, it's not there.

There's also another little problem and that is simply geography.

You know, in family history, maps are so helpful because learning where someone's living and their access to water and mountains and all that kind of things, they really come into play.

So where is Rowan County?

It is as far away from a coast as you can get, yeah.

It really is.

So probably not, you know, a pirate on that side.

Yeah.

And as we saw in Boston, we want to see if they're working as fishermen or on boats by the water.

So we don't have the right place and the occupations are difficult.

Yes.

We're genealogists here, so when something stumps us, there's always something else to discover and that's what we did.

So we decided to see, you know, if a legend has a base somewhere, what if it didn't come from the Overcash family?

What if it came from the other side of the family?

What if it came from the Moores?

Okay.

Your father, William Moore Overcash, his mother was Inez Moore.

So let's actually look here at Leslie Moore.

Do you know anything about Leslie Moore?

Nothing at all?

No, no.

So looking through newspapers-- you know, we use newspapers because they report everyday things and they report extraordinary things.

Right.

And in this case, they reported something pretty extraordinary.

This article is dated April 25th, 1915.

I'll let you read out the headline.

All right, "Captain"-- already?

"Captain Leslie Moore of the lifeguard shows himself a hero."

So he was a captain?

He was a captain.

So we have a connection.

In fact, your grandfather, Captain Leslie Moore, served in the Coast Guard during the Prohibition Era... Oh.

... and he fought against what were called rum-runners.

Rum-runners would actually run rum from the Caribbean up into the southern coasts...

Okay.

... during the Prohibition Era.

And it was your grandfather that fought against them.Oh, wow.

He actually tried to prevent the smuggling.

Really?

That's so interesting.

Absolutely, so the exact opposite of a pirate, as he's fighting against pirates.

Right.

Now, looking through the Moore family, there's an Alfred Moore, your great-great-grandfather.

Okay.

And here we have the death certificate.

Right there in the middle, under occupation, what does it say that he did?

"Captain"... Captain of a fishing boat.

Oh, okay.

So two generations of captains in a row, very much involved on the sea.

Okay.

Now, looking in some of the collections, we looked for the Moore family in Bath, because remember, Blackbeard is in Bath County.

We looked for them in any 1750 records and we couldn't find anything.

Okay.

So it's not likely that there is a connection there.

Not to be deterred, not to be deterred.

Okay.

There wasn't a Bath County in 1750.

Oh, wow, okay.

Bath County was actually dissolved into several different counties in the late 1720s, early 1730s.

Okay.

Now, what our research told us is that the Moore family has been in North Carolina for a long, long time.

Okay.

One of those counties in North Carolina is Carteret County.

So this is what we call historic Bath County, up until 1729.

Where is Carteret County?

It is right on the coast.

It is right on the coast.

So let's do our check, all right?

We know the family is there.

Right.

About the right time period.

We know that they're in the exact place, they're right on the coast, so they're where Blackbeard was and they probably had the right occupation.

Right.

We've got a lot of fishermen.

Now, we don't know for sure how they were involved with Blackbeard, but, honestly, I can't imagine a family who made their living off the sea not knowing about Black-- What do you think?

I think, yeah, maybe I'm not a direct descendant, but I think that there's likely some connection, some encounter that maybe they had with him, because all the pieces are fitting.

And at the very least, they might have grown up in fear of Blackbeard or in celebration of Blackbeard.

Right.

You know, you never know.

It's such a fascinating story, and so I'm really, really grateful to have learned this part of my family's story.

Thanks for stopping by "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you so much.

(announcer) It isn't slowing down here at St. Louis' Central Library.

People from all across the state are here searching for answers... like guest Valerie Wright, who received a document proving her great-grandparents were free people of color.

They were required to carry what is called a free black license.

We actually have a copy of this license.

Oh, no!

And if you would, I'd like you to read right here.

Oh, my goodness.

"The court grant him or her a license "to reside within the State aforesaid and order the same to be issued according to law."

Wow.

Yeah.

It was proof that he wasn't a slave, that he was a free person...

Right.

Yes.

... when he came to St. Louis.

And I always wondered about that.

I feel like that James is part of my heart and there's, like, a piece of the puzzle that has always been missing.

(announcer) While another guest finds out how she may be related to royalty.

What I found online is that one of our lines matches up with Princess Diana's lines, so I really would like to know if that's true.

All right, so we have what we call gateway ancestors, an immigrant into America during the colonial time period that is known to have a connection to royal roots.

You and Princess Diana share a common ancestor.

So here you see this Moore Fauntleroy, born in England who came to Virginia, he would be considered to be the gateway ancestor that you have that leads you back into this royal line.

That's awesome.

(announcer) Now, could this mother and daughter have a connection to a world-famous author and one of the West's original pioneers?

They're here to find answers.

I am Amy Jo Ferguson and this is my daughter, Carolyn Ferguson, and we came here today to find out if we are related to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

My great-grandmother, whose maiden name was Ingalls, I never met her.

She died before I was born, so to hear a little bit about her story through Laura Ingalls Wilder and just interested in knowing if we're related to them.

So Carolyn, I know you're reading the "Little House" series right now, is that correct?

Yep.

So what do you like about that?

It's cool because she lives in the out West and I get to learn about how she was living.

It's like, she tells every single little detail.

Okay.

So let's take a moment to learn a little bit more about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.

(announcer) Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" novels are a fictionalized account of her childhood on the Midwest frontier.

It's considered to be one of America's most beloved children's books.

Laura was the second child born to Charles and Caroline Ingalls, known to fans of the "Little House" books as Ma and Pa.

The family moved from their first home in Wisconsin to various points across the Midwest before finally settling down in De Smet, South Dakota.

It's here that Charles Ingalls established his homestead claim.

Signed into law by Abraham Lincoln on May 20th, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Americans to move West.

The act offered any U .S.

citizen, or anyone that intended to become a U.S. citizen, 160 acres of free land, provided they lived on it for at least five years, established a home, made improvements, and grew crops.

Once these were met, a homesteader could finally receive the full title of their property.

On January 1st, 1863, in Nebraska, Daniel Freeman became the first person to file a homestead claim.

In all, around four million applicants filed, although only 1.6 million successfully completed their claim.

270 million acres were parceled out to homesteaders, a little more than 10% of the land in the United States.

The final title was handed out in 1988 to Kevin Deardorff for his Alaska homestead, but because of the popularity of the "Little House" series, Charles Ingalls is arguably the most well known homesteader of all.

Let's talk a little bit about this gentleman we have up here.

That's my Uncle Dusty.

And how did you guys get the copy of this obituary?

When my Uncle Dusty passed away, my father sent us a copy of it.

Okay.

And we noticed that my great-grandmother's name was Mildred Ingalls.

And we went, "Ingalls"?

Right.

That kind of started a little journey for us in trying to figure out if we were related at all to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

And those pioneering families around that time, it was really sort of a migration story, so in order to establish a connection between the two Ingalls families, we need to follow that migration through documents.

So let's trace the census and land records of both families to see if their journeys match and hopefully intercept.

So let's get started.

Let's look at your pioneer family.

What we're looking at right now is a 1920 census record, and you see a Jim H. Ingalls and then a Mildred, your great-uncle Dusty's mother, your great-grandmother.

Okay.

Now, James H. Ingalls' father is James L. Ingalls, your third great-grandfather.

Now we know that James L. has been in South Dakota since 1877, but the reason why we know the precise date is another cool document I want to share with you guys.

The homestead.

The homestead, yeah.

So this is homestead testimony of James L. Ingalls.

If you look at question number three, it says, on December 1st, 1877, he arrived, same day, established actual residence.

Wow.

Built a house 24x28 feet with three doors and eight windows.

This is your ancestor settling-- Yeah.

it gives you an idea of his home, his homestead.

And I love this, wife and 13 children.

13!

13, 13 children.

So the big question is, where is Laura Ingalls during this time?

We know that her father, Charles Ingalls, came to South Dakota in 1879, only two years after your third great-grandfather, James L. Ingalls.

Okay.

So we know they were there around the same time.

The first thing we need to do is sort of look at, well, where was James L. Ingalls before he built this lovely home in 1877?

So here we have Minnehaha County, South Dakota, 1880.

We see James L. Ingalls and then all of the children are born in Iowa, so the next place to look for them is in Iowa.

We have another James Ingalls in Iowa.

James Cousin Ingalls, the father of James Lemuel.

All righty.

We have here in 1856, Osage land office certificate, showing that James Cousin Ingalls purchased 160 acres at 1.25 per acre.

This establishes James Cousin in Iowa.

Now, we also know that they turn up in Illinois as well.

This is an 1850 census record, okay?

In Kane County, Illinois.

So we can see James Cousin Ingalls is there.

Now, we've established where your family was from 1850 to 1880.

Now we need to look at the records of Laura Ingalls Wilder's family to see if they match up.

Her genealogy is pretty well-documented, and if you see here, that is Lansford Ingalls.

Now, check out the 14-year-old Charles that is living in the household.

They're living in Kane County, Illinois, the same county as your family, less than 15 miles away.

Oh.

With these pioneering families, less than 15 miles away, they're so close to each other, so the real question is, what is that relationship?

And this is where it gets a little bit tricky.

We know that Lansford's parents were Samuel Worthen Ingalls and Margaret Delano.

So we need to find out if James Cousin Ingalls is also a child of Samuel and Margaret, so we tracked down a birth record for them.

It does indicate that James Cousin Ingalls was born in Hartford, Vermont.

Ah.

But the town records for Hartford have been lost for that year, of course.

Of course.

Of course.

Now, we're looking at two families.

Some circumstantial evidence, living less than 15 miles apart from each other, right?

In Kane County, Illinois.

And both families continue to move at the same time to similar locations.

So while we can't say 100%, as a genealogist in doing this research, I would say, very likely that James Cousin and Lansford are related, which would make you two, Amy and Carolyn, related to Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Wow.

How does that make you feel, Carolyn?

Like, really excited.

Really excited?

So all along, you've been reading the books written by your pioneer ancestor.

Carolyn, did you have a good time?

Uh-huh.

Yes?

Are you gonna share this with everyone at school?

Yes.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

It was a pleasure meeting you guys.

(announcer) People continue coming to the roadshow today for questions about their family past.

Priest Father Mike has a question about his Russian ancestors and wants to know if he's related to the notorious ruler, Ivan the Terrible.

Now, let me get this straight-- Ivan the Terrible, do you want this connection?

Well, not really, but it'd be good to know whether it is or isn't.

Or put your mind at ease.

Now, Ivan had three sons and he killed the first son.

The second son was mentally incapable.

The youngest son, Dmitry, was the only one left.

Dmitry was killed at the age of eight, so the possibility that you're related to Ivan the Terrible is highly unlikely.

Well, that's good news.

(announcer) And Caiti Woodburn is curious about how deep her St. Louis roots lie.

So now, while having roots in St. Louis and being tied to the city is extremely important to you, I know, your family hasn't been here since the founding of St. Louis in 1764, but I can tell you they've been here since the 1870s.

It's kind of what I thought, that we've been here for a while, but it's good to know when we came.

(announcer) This remarkable young man's curiosity about his ancestors could give his father the gift of a lifetime.

I'm Beronda Taylor.

And I'm James Taylor from Alton, Illinois.

And we're the parents of James Herschel Taylor.

James was first diagnosed with Asperger's at the age of eight.

Basically, you're highly intelligent.

You're sensitive to smell, noises, sounds.

Staying focused is hard because there's so many distractions around you 'cause everything is high sensitivity.

Genealogy and ancient history is basically my most favorite thing.

When I'm reading my history books, I feel like I'm there.

I feel like I'm a part of people, what they're doing.

I feel like I'm in a time machine.

I'm, like, in my own invisible bubble, sitting there comfortably and writing stuff down.

I always ask my parents, "Do you know much about your family tree?"

And they say, "Sorry to tell you this, son, but we don't know much about your history."

(Mr. Taylor) I truly hadn't met my father, so I don't know too much about my father's side of the family at all.

We don't know anything about the history of our family.

One of the main mysteries that I want answered is, which part of the world my family ancestors descend from.

It's just hard to tell 'cause a lot of West African tribes, they do have their origins right there in the Nile Valley.

I hope I am descended from the Urabas of Nigeria 'cause they had a great empire.

I hope I am descended from the Mandeni people.

They were very educated people.

The Dogon people that live in Mali, they actually were very good astronomers.

They mapped out the stars and solar system.

My dream is to improve my theories and see if they are right.

Knowing where I come and who I am descended from, it'll bring, like, a wave of awesomeness.

Like, it would just be cool.

It'll bring me honor and my family honor 'cause once you know where your ancestors come from and your history is, it'll help me get better self-esteem and better self-understanding.

Taylor family, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

It is such a pleasure to have you here.

Glad to be here.

I know you're here to learn a few things.

I was so excited to meet you and I was all over this story from the very, very beginning.

So, James, we're gonna do something that we don't do with everyone on the show, and that is, we're gonna go through almost your entire family tree.

Wow.

How does that sound?

It sounds nice.

All right, you ready?

Yep.

So in genealogy, as we're doing some of the research, we start with exactly what you know, which is what you passed on to us, and then we work towards the unknown and try and fill in the mysteries.

So let's start with Mom's side.

Okay.

We see you and we trace back to your parents, and we'll look first on the Cato family.

Now, we know you've done a little bit of work and you'd found Charlie and Jesse Cato.

We were able to actually go back a bit further using the census records in 1880.

Wow.

So this is Toby and Anna Cato.

Now, James, this is your third great-grandparents.

You see, Toby is a farmer and his wife Anna is keeping house and they have a slew of children.

Oh, my goodness.

Now, this 1880 census doesn't indicate that he owned or rented a farm, only that he was employed as a farmer.

Regardless, life for an African-American farmer would have been difficult.

Some were sharecroppers, so they were cultivating land as their own, but were required to give away 50% of their profits to someone else.

But the good news is, in this case, he's living near his family and we can assume they're taking care of each other.

Now, living right above your third great-grandfather Toby Cato is his father and mother, Abraham and Harriet Cato.

Never heard of him.

Brand-new information.

Yes.

So we have Abraham and Harriet.

Abraham, like his son, is also a farmer.

And then his wife Harriet is keeping house, and they have a granddaughter and a grandson living with them.

So, it's a great example about how families support each other and they stay together.

Here you see they're right next door to each other.

Wow.

The parents are supporting their grandchildren and their children and they live right there.

Probably a very close family unit.

That's neat.

I'm discovering people that I've never heard of and that I've always wondered about.

I wish I could talk to them.

Just like you long for somebody, you miss somebody and you wish just would have had a chance, had the opportunity to meet 'em.

So, Dad, let's look at your line a little.

All right.

Let's look at James Whaley.

James, your grandfather.

Me, I've never seen him, so I don't know, but, you know.

And, James, are you curious about this?

I am curious because I never got a chance to even see a picture of him.

So a complete sort of unknown, in that case.

Yes, yes.

Now, James Whaley was born in May of 1921.

Wow.

And here he is in a city directory in the 1950s under "Whaley."

See, Eliz M. and then J-A-S, which is an abbreviation for James.

And he says he's a laborer in Monroe, Louisiana.

And best we can tell, your father, Mr. Whaley is alive and well.

Wonderful.

I'd like to meet him.

I will bet.

Might have to send him a letter or something.

Because we were able to find this connection, this unlocked a whole branch of the family tree.

Do you want to look at it?

Yes.

You want to dive in?

Yeah.

Dass Whaley, your biological great-grandfather is from Arkansas.

Uh-oh.

Arkansas.

He married a woman named Chanch Leopold and we were able to trace the Leopold family back to William and back to Simon Leopold, so this is the 1870 census.

They're enumerated as Lepooles, but this is that Simon Leopold and there is his wife and just down below, you see more Lepooles or Leopolds, so, again, they're living next to each other on the census, so it still is that spirit of family taking care of family.

Yes.

Yes, that is neat.

So there is absolutely your connection back to the Leopold family.

We've been wanting to hear this for a long time.

One thing to remember, because slaves were seen as property before the Civil War, they're not typically enumerated by name in census records.

This can be a real roadblock for many.

In this case, we can use DNA to get a view of your deep ancestry, taking us back hundreds and thousands of years.

While there is that large gap before 1870, hopefully we can fill in your story by looking at your DNA.

So we deal a lot in genealogy with sort of the current generations.

We think 300 years is really, really good, if we can get back that far.

James, I know you're thinking thousands of years back, and DNA actually helps us do that.

So, we have your DNA profile.

Yay.

All right.

You ready?

Yeah.

James, this is what makes you James.

Oh, man.

Oh!

Oh, my goodness.

Dang, I got Nigerian blood.

Oh, man.

Wow.

So you are 89% African.

86% from West Africa.

Wow.

3% from South Central Africa.

Oh, my goodness.

And you're 8% European.

You said Mali and Mali is there.

You know, speaking of Mali, I hear you're interested in the Mali Empire, right?

What I basically know about the Malian Empire, it first started with the first king of the Empire, King Sundiata Keita, who actually got all the neighborhood tribes to unite 'em like Shaka Zulu into one kingdom.

Well, that map actually places you smack dab where the Mali empire was.

Wow.

Your ancestors come from the Mali Empire.

That's awesome.

Well, I'll be danged.

That's what he wanted.

Now, that's what you wanted, right?

Yeah.

I think that is pretty cool, man.

I never-- I never smile hardly in my life, but this is-- this is cool, this is cool.

Awesome.

Well, I have one more gift for you.

Okay.

We went ahead and made you your family tree.

Oh, thank you.

Awesome, awesome, man.

And we even put your DNA map on here so you can show exactly where, generations after this, your family comes from.

That's great.

I don't mean to cry.

I'm sorry.

This-- this is all overwhelming.

So, Taylor family, we've covered your whole tree.

Yes.

And, James, you know exactly where you came from and you came from the same area as the Mali Empire.

I'm just, like, so happy, like, my brain could just jump out of head, say, "That's where I told you, that's where I told you where you come from."

Thank you for letting me look-- look at the Taylor family tree.

This was awesome, so exciting.

It was amazing.

Yes, yes, yes.

Thank you so much.

We appreciate it very much.

You're welcome.

Thank you.

Thank you.

What this means now, I need to go do some archaeological digs in the countries where my ancestors used to come from, so I can bring out the truth of what they did.

It just meant a lot.

I just never knew anything about my father, you know?

And... uh, God, I don't know.

Just a lot, just means a lot to me.

(Mrs. Taylor) I wanted our son to know who his grandfather was.

This is really a dream come true.

It's a new beginning.

It's just like we've gotten our past and now we have a future to look forward to and to research.

(announcer) We're here on the "Genealogy Roadshow" at one of St. Louis' most treasured historical landmarks, where people are finding out more about their family's past.

Josh is helping guest Sarah Moyer learn more about her great-great-grandfather.

I'm worried that he probably loved and left many women across the United States.

Okay.

So the question is, where is he?

Yeah.

So we found him.

Okay.

He is in Illinois with a Kingery family, so your third great-grandfather is living with his mother and stepfather.

Okay.

(announcer) And Kenyatta is confirming what amateur genealogist Cory Kalber has researched about the origin of his surname.

Yeah, so it seems that you have made a tie from your German Kablers to your U.S. Kalbers.

Oh, that's awesome.

(announcer) Our next story reveals a family secret taken to the grave and a mystery writer who is determined to find the truth once and for all.

I'm Gail Lukasik.

I'm from Libertyville, Illinois, and I write mystery novels.

But I have a real life mystery that I have not been able to solve.

It revolves around my maternal grandfather, Azemar Frederic.

I've never seen a picture of this man.

I know nothing about him.

I decided that I was gonna do my own research.

Started going through the census records and finally, I find Azemar and his family and I'm going across and I see the letter "B."

I'm thinking, "Wait a minute."

So I go up and I go, "That's for race."

So I sent a letter to the state of Louisiana and I asked for my mother's birth certificate, and the section where it says race was written C-O-L, for colored.

And it was like one minute you're thinking you're one person and then the next minute, you find out you're somebody else.

My mother looks Caucasian.

I just couldn't get it in my head how this was true.

And I said, "Mom, on your birth certificate, it says "colored."

She said, "I don't want you "to tell anyone in the family about this until after I pass."

My mom just passed last April.

I have kept that secret over 20 years.

I think it's important to know the people you come from, not just for me, but for my children and my grandchildren.

I think we need that.

Gail, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

I'm so happy to be here.

We're happy to have you.

So, Gail, I understand you are a published author.

I am.

Can you tell us a little bit about what type of books you write?

Yes, I write mystery novels.

Oh, great.

But I know you have unsolved mystery in your family.

Is that what brings you here today?

That is exactly what brings me here today, you know.

Okay.

And it concerns my mom.

I found her birth certificate.

Okay.

Under race, she was listed as colored, C-O-L, so, yeah, I'd be curious to know if that's true.

Okay.

Well, it seems like your mom wanted to do something that we call taking this to the grave, right, this family secret?

Yes, yes.

And I think that happens a lot.

And since you already know she's listed as colored on her birth certificate, let's see if that was an error or if these records support that.

Now, I actually have a 1940 census record.

Okay.

You see your mother, Elvira Frederic, and you see Shirley Frederic.

We see that they are cousins living in a household in New Orleans in 1940.

Yeah.

I mean, they would say "Elvira," but her name was "Elveera."

Oh, "Elveera," yeah, "Elveera, " sorry, yeah.

They would get it wrong.

And you have to also think of, with the census, at the time, they're spelling it out phonetically, right?

The way they hear it, right?

That's right, that's right.

But that is your mother.

Wow.

I mean, this is her at 18 in 1940, and she's working as a maid in a tea shop in New Orleans.

I didn't know that.

Do you see their designation, N-E-G?

That designation is for Negro.

So here, your mom was identified as black.

And this is in New Orleans in 1940.

You're kidding.

Yeah.

So what we've uncovered so far lends credence to your mom's birth certificate.

So you know that your mom's parents were Azemar and Camille Frederic.

Right.

Azemar, on his birth certificate, is listed as colored.

Oh.

Like your mother, his daughter.

Now we know also in 1918 that he's working as a pipefitter for a company called Inland Steel.

Wow.

Okay, and that was in East Chicago, Indiana.

Ooh, wow.

Yeah, yeah.

How'd that happen?

A lot of African-Americans were making the migration from the South to the North for better opportunities.

Now, Azemar does find true love and he gets married and here is the marriage certificate, and on that it has Azemar Frederic and "C-O-L," and what do you think that stands for?

Colored.

Yeah.

Also on the 1910 census, we see Camille's race at the age of five listed as "M-U" for mulatto, so your grandmother Camille is listed as mulatto as well.

Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my God.

That is awesome.

Yeah.

Ay-yi-yi.

I didn't know that.

Yeah.

That's a surprise.

My mother was always very concerned with her appearance.

Oh, really?

Oh, very important.

She never went outside without a hat.

You know why?

Yeah.

She didn't want to get tanned.

Right.

That's right.

Yeah.

That's exactly why did that.

That happens a lot, as far as African-Americans and those of African descent passing for white.

Are you familiar with that concept of passe blanc?

Yes, I am, I am familiar with that.

Okay, okay.

Especially when you have African-Americans of lighter skin or have some African descent.

We're also talking about Louisiana.

Right.

Okay, and there was a lot of mixing of race in Louisiana.

Right.

Especially with all the French, Spanish, and Creoles settling in this area.

This made it easier for blacks to pass as white.

It's important to remember, especially at this time, when a person passed as white, they had to abandon their black heritage and culture in hopes of better opportunities and social acceptance.

However, passing was not easy and it was a choice in which you lived in constant fear of being found out.

I think once my mother married my dad and came north, she left that life behind, and as a young girl, she never really wanted to go back home.

And when you choose to live your life as not black, as a white person, you really can't go back.

No.

You can't really embrace that part, and it's almost you're losing who you are and your history, and I think it's awesome that you wanted to come here today and bring that piece back in for your children and your grandchildren and for you, you know?

Thank you for saying that.

So your mom's parents, Azemar and Camille, are both of African descent.

Now, let's continue tracing back your grandparents' line.

Did you know that they were divorced by 1934?

My mother said she was around six years old when they were divorced.

The day after Christmas, Azemar married Modesta Messmer.

What?

So if you look at this record here, there's Modesta Messmer, colored, single, and listed, it says "D-I-V" by Azemar.

That means he's divorced.

Divorced.

So Azemar marries someone else after Camille.

I have no idea who Modesta is.

You have never heard of that name or that family?

No, I have no idea.

Well, they actually have children together.

So your mother, Elvira, had four other half-sisters and brothers that she never met.

Oh, my God.

Or knew of.

Wow.

So there's an entire branch of the family tree.

Oh, my God.

That's something else.

Yeah.

That's why I say, you never know what you're gonna find when you start looking into genealogy.

Wow.

Yeah.

Are you okay?

Yeah, it's really... something else.

Mm-hmm.

I'm okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's a lot of information to take in at once, you know.

It is.

It's huge.

It's huge.

It's huge.

Yeah.

I'm very touched.

It means a lot.

I'm a bit in shock.

I didn't know my grandmother Camille was also mulatto and that Azemar Frederic married again.

And hearing Kenyatta talk about his second family-- I just lost my mom and I got very choked up over that.

I'd like to know these people, I'd like to meet them.

They're part of my family.

I am so glad we came here.

It was worth it.

150% worth it.

(announcer) America is full of these stories of heroism, romance, and self-discovery.

Join us next week as we travel to another exciting city to uncover more family secrets 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 of the series are also available.