Finding Your Roots

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Narrator

I began with Billy Jean King. Her father helped nurture the skills that made Billy Jean a super star. But she told me she knew almost nothing about his family. She was especially eager to learn about the origins of his mother, Billy Jean's grandmother, Blanche Leighton, whom she had grown up calling "Gammie." Gammie originally came from Boston, but she never answered questions about her past. Gammie was adopted at a young age, and it was clear to Billy Jean that her grandmother was guarding a painful secret. -

Henry

Did she ever talk about her birth parents or what she knew about them? -

Billy Jean

No. Well, she didn't want to tell me. I think she felt ashamed of her birth or something, I never-- You know what, I'm guessing. -

Henry

Uh huh. - I don't know. -

Narrator

Uncovering Gammie's biological parents was going to be a challenge. The name that Gammie had gone by, Blanche Leighton, was not her birth name. It was her adopted name. Adoptions aren't part of the public record, so our search quickly hit a wall. Then we got lucky. We reached down to Billy Jean's extended family, and learned from her aunt that there was an old family Bible. Inside was a carefully recorded genealogy. And it turned out to be one of the keys to solving our mystery. According to the family Bible, Gammie's birth-name was Hazel Campbell. -

Billy Jean

(gasp) Gammie's birth name was Hazel Campbell? This is fantastic. -

Henry

Gammie was born Hazel Campbell. -

Billy Jean

I had no idea about any of this. This is from a Bible, we have a family Bible? -

Henry

Uh huh. - That, I didn't know. -

Narrator

Now that we knew Gammie was born Hazel Campbell, we could search for her birth record, and the secret that had always haunted her. We poured over the birth records for 1897, the year that Gammie was born. And we found something unusual. A baby born in Boston with no first name,

but two last names

Campbell and Leighton. Campbell was Gammie's birth name. Leighton was Gammie's adopted name. -

Billy Jean

Surname

Leighton... slash, Campbell.

Name

Nothing... What? -

Henry

Name

Everything... Everything here lines up with what we know about Gammie. 1897 is the year she was born, Leighton is the name of her adopted parents, and Campbell is her birth name. Right. -

Henry

Name

So even though no first name is given her for the newborn child, we know that you are looking at your grandmother, Gammie's birth record. It's amazing.