Grandparents Found

Several years ago I traveled to Titusville, PA, to look for information on my biological grandparents.  I have long known that my grandmother died when my mother was about age 8, and that in 1925 my grandfather decided to send his daughter to live with his late wife's cousin.  His reasons for doing this have never been clear, because he kept his son, my Uncle Ted Kew, at home.  Eight years later, about 1933, this cousin adopted my mother and became the person I have always regarded as my grandmother.  At the same time my biological grandparents all but vanished into the fog of history.

My mother rarely mentioned her biological parents.  It was a painful time in her life, a loss from which she never really recovered.  So we have had very little information on these mysterious people.  She spoke of Titusville as her home town, so I have always assumed that the Kews lived there.  Mom's father was a physician of some type.  I think I was told he was a homeopath, but my brother Brad believes he was an osteopath.  I'm not sure I was ever told his name, and therefore thought of him simply as "Dr. Kew."  My grandmother ("Mother Gracie" to my mother, to distinguish her from her adoptive mother Constance) apparently fell ill for several months before finally dying of unknown causes.  The circumstances suggested cancer, but I had no basis for that diagnosis.

In any case, my visit to Titusville turned up no information on the Kews, although it did yield a treasure trove of data on the Emerson clan, my adoptive grandmother's family.  I drove home... and the search for the elusive Dr. and Mrs. Kew went cold.

Over the last few days several events combined to build a fire under my genealogical snooping.  First, my friends Cat and Bill visited from Massachusetts and I heard in detail of Cat's efforts to trace her family line.  This has included on-site genealogical research in the U.K. while Cat was traveling there on sabbatical.  Then last week Sharon and Attila, my neighbors across the lake, entertained friends from Canada whom they met while snowbirding in Florida.  On several occasions they have visited this couple in Canada while Sharon has researched her family's Canadian roots.

And then there's the TV show Who Do You Think You Are?  This is the American version of a BBC genealogy documentary series of the same name.  In each episode a celebrity traces his or her family line, turning up interesting information about near and distant ancestors.  The American program premiered on NBC in 2010, was cancelled in 2012, and then was picked up by TLC.  The 5th season is now airing.  It's a well-crafted bit of TV.

The program's main conceit is watching a famous person learn about his or her family line.  We know, of course, that family sheep come in many colors, some white, some gray, and some very black.  Celebrity families are no different.  We know, too, that many celebrities try to preserve their privacy at any cost.  Here, however, we get to see the famous and near-famous, mostly actors and singers, do real genealogical research.  Or, to be fair, we watch as experts do this genealogical research on their behalf, sometimes presenting them with family trees done in calligraphy, rather than crayon.  Participants have included Lisa Kudrow (an executive producer for the show), Spike Lee, Ashley Judd, Martin Sheen, Paula Deen, Kelsey Grammer, and dozens more.  The bottom line is that everyone is, in the end, "just folks."

The BBC show is now in its 11th season.  The Ameican version also airs in the U.K., as well as in countries from Finland to Greece to Australia.  Genealogy is a fascinating subject all across the world.  People are often very curious about where they come from.

So, a couple days ago, feeling well nudged, I started working on my family tree on Ancestry.com (which is a main sponsor of Who Do You Think You Are?).  I put in myself and my siblings, my parents, and then identified my maternal grandparents as "Kew."  Before I could say "Holy Progenitor, Batman!" I was looking at the 1920 Census page listing Arthur Kew as head of the household, Grace Johnson Kew as his wife, and children Theodore (age 10) and Constance (age 2).  Constance is my mother, then just a toddler.  They even had my maternal great-grandfather living with them.  At long last the Kews — my grandparents by blood — have emerged from the shadows!

More on this in a day or two. •••