Genealogy Roadshow

(announcer) Coming up on "Genealogy Roadshow," a terrifying experience in the South leads to a new start for this man's family.

It sounded almost like a movie.

(announcer) A possible inheritance for this woman could equal millions.

Something like $96 million?

Oh, well, I never heard a number.

That's new to you?

That's new to me.

(announcer) And could this family have ties to one of the most infamous traitors in U.S. history?

I was hoping that wasn't gonna come up.

(laughter) (announcer) These stories and more right now on "Genealogy Roadshow."

We're crisscrossing the country, helping everyday Americans unlock family secrets and discover the truths of their past.

Helping uncover these fascinating stories is our expert team of genealogists.

My name's Kenyatta Berry.

My name is Joshua Taylor.

My name is Mary Tedesco.

(announcer) Join us as we take everyday people on an emotional journey of self-discovery.

Today we're in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

One of the oldest and most historic cities in the United States, this city was founded in 1682 and aptly named Philadelphia, which is Greek for "brotherly love."

Though many know Philadelphia as home to the Liberty Bell, the Declaration of Independence, and Philly cheese steaks, this city is also recognized for its strides in education and science, thanks in part to one of its founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

Here in his adopted city, Benjamin Franklin was a printer, a scientist, a diplomat, and a founder of civic institutions.

Much of what he accomplished was directed to improving his city and the lives of Philadelphians, which is still evident today.

This is why we've come to the Franklin Institute, founded in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

The Franklin Institute is an esteemed center of science education and development, and today we hope to uncover the past of those looking to explore their roots.

Kind of be nice to find out when my family came over on the boat from Ireland.

I'm looking for my great-great-grandparents.

I have the end of their life.

I want to know the beginning of their life.

(announcer) Tales of Norse explorers have frightened and fascinated people for generations, and this man believes he may have Viking blood running through his veins.

My name is Robert Brown, and this is my wife Renee, and she is the genealogist of the family.

She's been doing some research on my family tree, and she found a piece of information that seemed to link me back to a Nordic king, so we wanted to find out if that was true or not.

For me it's very important to find out whether or not I did the information correctly and put it all together the right way or if I was gullible.

(both laugh) So...

Rob and Renee, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

I understand we're here to talk about some research that, Renee, you've done on your husband's family.

Yes.

And tell me what you found.

So, I found his tenth great-grandfather, Nathaniel Dickinson.

Supposedly they're related to Norwegian Viking royalty.

Of course.

Very, very far back.

(laughter) Okay.

All right.

And I found this in a book, and it skips back all these generations to Norway.

I'd love to know if it's true.

Which I, of course, accepted as Biblical fact.

Well, I mean, I understand that you want to have a Viking funeral.

Right, yeah, totally.

Yeah.

For years.

You got to tell me about this.

Well, no, that's just the way to go, you know.

You're gonna be on a boat with a pyre, with fireworks.

Since the day I met him, that's what he's said.

All right, well, well, let's-- let's see what we can find.

You're in the right place.

So, what do you think of when you think of the Vikings?

Yep, that's what I picture.

Yeah, that's what I picture, yeah.

You want to be related to these folks?

Sure, why not?

No.

(laughter) Well, I mean, the Vikings are a fascinating part of the world's history, so from 790 to 1100 is the Age of the Vikings.

Right.

And they started by raiding monasteries because they were seen as easier targets, and these were sort of smash-and-grab raids.

Oh, yeah.

But the other side of it is they also started settlements with farmers and craftsmen and traders, so it is possible to be related to the Vikings, you know, by some of the settled towns.

Right, yeah, yeah.

They actually settled what we know today as Dublin and Waterford.

Oh, wow.

In fact, in the U.K., the Vikings settled in a region of England called Danelag, which actually is a third of what we consider today to be modern-day England.

Wow, that's huge.

Yeah.

Now, when William the Conqueror came about in 1066, that sort of marks the end of the Viking Age, and there are lineages that are documented of the Viking kings.

Right, yeah.

Because when you're tracing royalty, very often you'll find the lines are more documented than other families.

Right, yeah.

(laughs) So, our task is to see if we can get your family back to that 1100 standpoint and sort of bridge beyond that.

Right, yeah.

So, you mentioned Rob's tenth great-grandfather, so here's the tree.

And we can trace the line back to the Clary family.

My father's mother.

Your father's mother was a Clary.

And the Clary family goes back to the early 1600s in Massachusetts.

Now, John Clary married Hannah Dickinson, who's the daughter of Nathaniel Dickinson.

So, in order to prove or disprove this potential connection to the Vikings, we wanted to head to the original records because that's where-- that's where we find and we get to piece together different items.

Now, looking through the records of Amherst, Massachusetts, this is what's referred to as the official register, the births, marriages and deaths from Massachusetts, okay?

It's a printed form, and this is actually a compiled version of a vital record, so someone at a later date put together this information.

Right.

Oh, wow.

And they do identify your tenth great-grandfather, Nathaniel Dickinson, and they say that he's supposed to be of Northampton.

They give an exact place where he's born in England.

So, Nathaniel Dickinson, we know that he arrived in America between 1635 and 1640.

Right.

Now, if you go to a library-- and you can find this book online, too -- here is the descendants.

Thomas Dickinson, son of Nathaniel and Anna Gold Dickinson, so this is your tenth great-grandfather, and in the beginning of this book written in the 1890s, we find the line of Nathaniel Dickinson traced back to Viking royalty.

Right.

It's in a book, right?

Right.

It's in a book.

Right.

Now, to investigate this claim, I remembered an article written in 1998 in "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," and I thought, you know, Rob and Renee might be interested in this article.

You can take this copy.

Thank you.

This article outlines the correct English origins of Nathaniel Dickinson and William Gold.

Oh.

"The dismemberment of a long and cherished family pedigree "is never a pleasant task.

"Consolation often may be found, however, "in the knowledge that an accurate albeit shorter pedigree "has been discovered to replace what was lost.

"Such is the case with the English origins of Nathaniel Dickinson, "an early settler of Wethersfield, Connecticut, and Hadley, Massachusetts."

Wow, okay.

Which means you're not related to Viking royalty.

Oh.

Oh!

(chuckles) I kind of believed that in my heart.

(laughter) I have to admit.

(laughing) I refused to believe it.

So what the article does is it actually identifies the correct English origins of your tenth great-grandfather.

Oh, cool.

So, I'm gonna draw your attention to the Baptism of your tenth great-grandfather, Nathaniel Dickinson... Oh, wow.

recorded in the year 1591... Wow.

...in Billingborough.

That's wild.

This document was created during the reign of Elizabeth I. Oh, my God, I can't believe we're seeing this.

Yeah.

Wow.

(chuckling) That's just amazing.

It's incredible-- 1591.

1591.

Right.

When you think of, I mean, that's the birth of someone in his local parish who made his way to America.

I was excited when I got back to the Civil War, but wow.

(laughter) Ooh.

Yeah.

That's-- Oh, my gosh.

In fact, using the resources in that article, we were actually able to uncover births of other members of the family back into the 1560s.

Oh, wow.

Oh, my gosh.

And early wills and probate documents for the Dickinson family.

Oh, man.

Wow.

1500s is impressive, though.

That's pretty far back.

You know, there's a lot of genealogists who would like that.

Yes, yes, yeah.

There were some other things we found on the tree.

Oh, yeah?

Oh, okay.

Along the way, as we were tracing Nathaniel Dickinson's family, we discovered a very famous American.

Okay.

Someone who you might consider to be American royalty.

Oh, wow.

Okay, that's good.

On your tree is a woman named Emily Dickinson.

(gasps) That's pretty cool.

She's born in Amherst in 1830, and during her life, she wrote more than a thousand poems.

Wow.

And she is considered one of the greatest poets in American history.

Yeah.

And she is your sixth cousin, five times removed.

(both laughing) That's pretty cool.

I was going back too far, wasn't I?

Sometimes we can.

We can make that long journey back, and we can miss the things that are closer to us.

Right, yeah.

That's amazing.

I probably never would have found that.

(laughter) That's pretty cool.

Wow.

There you go.

Yeah.

That's really very cool.

That's awesome.

So, there's your cousin.

I'm impressed.

Yeah.

Well, thank you so much for stopping by today, and still go for that Viking funeral.

I say just go for it.

I'm totally going for it.

I'm sure the permits will be interesting.

(laughter) Well, I am not Viking royalty.

(laughing) But I am American royalty.

I'm actually okay that the research wasn't completely correct, because the questionable part that I pretty much believed was not correct was in fact not correct.

It's pretty exciting what we did find out, though, so...

Very exciting.

(announcer) A brutal crime against this man's family sparked a historic change that altered the South forever.

I'm Rennard East, I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'm an artist/songwriter.

Over the years I've gotten to work with Pharrell, Kanye West, the Clipse, Pusha T, and Dr. Dre.

I'm born and bred Philadelphia.

Like, you know, my family's been here for years, so this is home to me.

You know, my dad would tell us stories about his dad and granddad, but I wasn't close with my grandfather, and then he passed away when I was 12.

There was a lot of unanswered questions that I never got a chance to ask.

My main question I want to find out is, how did my family get to Philadelphia?

From a few family stories, we found out that they all migrated from South Carolina to Philadelphia, but we don't know why.

We're not sure what made everyone uproot and just move here all at one time.

When we get together at the family reunions, there's always talk and everyone reminisces and tells old stories, but a lot of those stories they don't have concrete answers to, so this would really give some substance to the stories so they all make sense.

Hi, Rennard.

Welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you for having me.

So, Rennard, I'm glad you're here because your family's arrival in Philadelphia from South Carolina was part of history.

Really?

Something that was national that changed African-American history and American history.

Wow.

When I was doing the research, I read the papers, some of the court cases, and I want to share that story with you.

Okay.

But just know that some of the events we're gonna talk about are not gonna be pretty.

Okay.

So, in order to answer your question, we researched your family tree and went back along the East paternal line, and we took a look at your second great-aunt Janie East in South Carolina.

Janie East married into the Lowman family of Aiken County, South Carolina.

Okay.

She married Dozier Lowman, who's the son of Sam Lowman.

Okay.

Now, the Lowman family as well as the East family lived in South Carolina in the 1920s, okay?

Let's kind of paint a picture of 1920s South Carolina.

It's rural, it is in the middle of Jim Crow, so, you know, African-Americans aren't treated that well.

Yeah.

In fact, it was even worse in the aftermath of the Civil War.

(announcer) As a result of the Civil War, African-Americans were granted constitutional rights which white Southerners weren't ready to concede.

Because of this, lynching became commonplace during the Reconstruction Era in the South.

This violent act escalated because of social and economic tensions between poor whites and African-Americans.

Between 1882 and 1930, there were nearly 3,000 documented victims of lynch mobs.

Roughly 2,500 of them were African-Americans.

This means that on average, a black man, woman, or child was murdered nearly once a week by a lynch mob during that period.

People were lynched for alleged crimes such as registering to vote, arguing with a white man, or showing disrespect to a white woman.

Lynching was a brutal act of hatred.

Victims were often shot, humiliated, tortured, burned, dismembered, hanged, or castrated.

It was not only an act of violence against an individual, it was meant as a message for all to see.

From 1882 to 1968, nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced into Congress.

Only three passed the House.

Finally, in 2005, the U.S. Senate formally apologized for its failure in the early 20th century to enact a federal anti-lynching law.

Wow.

We need a moment, you know.

It's, yeah, it's a lot to take in, and it... Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, now that you have an idea of South Carolina at that time, let's turn back to your second great aunt's father-in-law, Sam Lowman.

Okay.

So, Sam Lowman had a farm, and one day, in 1925... Mm-hmm.

...one of his sons was dragged out of the house... Mm-hmm.

...and beaten by the KKK.

Wow.

And a couple weeks later, Sheriff Howard in Aiken, South Carolina, got a tip from a "prominent white citizen"... Mm-hmm.

...who was nameless.

Okay.

Okay?

That Sam Lowman was expecting a shipment of liquor.

Mm-hmm.

And this is during Prohibition and everything, so, using this tip, the sheriff decides to get a warrant for Sam Lowman's arrest.

Sheriff shows up with three deputies, right?

And he shows up at a time when he knows that Sam won't be there.

Okay.

Only his wife and children are home, so just imagine that.

Mm-hmm.

And they're teenagers and early 20s, and for some reason, the sheriffs are in plainclothes.

Really?

Really.

Yeah.

Plainclothes, okay.

Plainclothes, okay?

According to testimony, Sheriff Howard comes around the right side of the house and encounters one of the daughters.

He then starts to beat her.

The daughter?

The daughter.

Wow.

The boys of course are going to approach the house to protect their family, to protect their property.

Yeah, and they're plainclothes, correct?

Plainclothes, not-- They didn't announce.

So, yeah.

Didn't announce.

So you don't have any idea what's going on.

They have no idea-- I mean, you're in rural South Carolina.

Yeah.

You know, four white men approaching your house, and your father's not home.

What are you gonna do, you know?

React.

Yeah.

Because remember, one of the sons had been beat by the KKK and dragged out of the house before.

Yeah.

The sons see this, go into the house, one of them goes to get a pistol.

Mm-hmm.

There's a gun battle and a violent struggle inside and outside the house between the deputies and the family trying to protect themselves.

Wow.

When all this is done, the sheriff is now dead.

Sam's wife Annie is dead.

Wow.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

That's a lot.

Yeah.

The sheriff, Howard, had 40,000 people attend his funeral.

Wow.

200 Klansmen showed up to the funeral.

75 of them are fully dressed, marching in front of the casket.

I've never even heard of any such thing.

After the funeral, Sam Lowman's children plus Sam are arrested.

Okay.

His nephew Clarence is charged with the murder of Sheriff Howard, right?

Okay.

Everyone else was as an accessory.

Sam pleads guilty to this trumped-up liquor charge.

We're in rural South Carolina in the 1920s, and he's a black man.

Mm-hmm.

He had no other choice.

He pleads guilty and is sentenced to two years of hard labor.

Really?

The case against Sam's son, daughter, and nephew goes to trial, and they're tried by an all-white jury.

Wow, that just shows you, you know, where the country was at that-- Yeah, where the country was at that time.

Yeah.

Of course, the jury convicted him.

Terrible.

Terrible.

They appealed their conviction, and the state supreme court ruled they should be retried.

While they're waiting for their new trial to start, all of the children plus Sam are being held in a county jail.

All the children plus Sam.

All the children plus Sam are being held.

Okay.

And what happens is the KKK announces there's going to be a lynching.

They announce there's going to be a lynching?

They cut the lights in the county.

They moved cars from around the jail so the mob will have places to park.

This is sounding almost like a movie, like something that you would, you know, that didn't happen in real life, that-- It's surreal, right?

Yeah, yeah.

You, like, can't believe it.

Yeah.

You can't believe it.

And the mob shows up, enters the jail, and drags out Demon, his sister Bertha, and their cousin Clarence.

They drove them to a pine thicket and told them to run and then shot them.

Wow.

I mean-- You know, the way the story was leading up, I knew it wouldn't be a-- a good ending, but just to hear the sequence of events, um, you know, that happened to them is terrible, you know.

It is.

But it did happen, and, you know, and I definitely want to know.

But with something tragic, something good comes out of it, okay?

And I want you to know that your family was important, and that's why I said at the top it changed American history.

Really?

It did.

Okay.

Because this story of your ancestors' lynching received national attention.

"The New York Herald" ran coverage of it for 28 consecutive days.

Wow.

It became a national story.

Okay.

So much so that a man named Walter White...

Okay.

...from the NAACP-- Have you ever heard of him?

No.

Okay.

Walter White was the assistant secretary of the NAACP, so very high up within the organization.

Looking at him, what do you think his nationality is?

He looks Caucasian.

He looks white, right?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, but Walter White was actually African-American.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Oh, okay.

Even though he had light skin, blue eyes, blond hair, yeah.

Okay.

He went down to South Carolina to investigate your ancestors' lynchings.

Really?

He was able to do so because he passed as a white man.

Oh... And he actually spent a year in Aiken.

That's a long time.

Yeah.

And he submitted an 11-page report to the governor of South Carolina on behalf of your family.

Really?

And that report named 11 people who were involved... Oh, really?

...in the direct lynching, yeah.

Oh, okay.

I'm surprised he was able to get that much information, not being from that community.

You know, just lets me know that he really, you know, did his job.

Yeah.

Now, remember, while this is all going on, Sam Lowman is still in prison... Mm-hmm.

...serving two years for hard labor.

So, Sam, when he's released, there was an article about it, and he basically said, "I can't live among those people... Mm-hmm.

...and if you turn to the screen, you can see... Wow.

Sam Lowman goes to Philadelphia, too, as it says here to make his home in future with four surviving members of his family, including his son Dozier, who was now married to your second great-aunt, Janie East, thereby uniting the Lowman and East families here in Philadelphia.

Wow.

So, that's how my family... That's how your family got here.

...got to Philadelphia.

Wow.

And here it is.

I knew nothing about it.

Yeah, so they came to Philadelphia and made a new start.

Yeah.

And, um, you know, we've been here ever since.

I think one of the things to note is that, again, while this is something that is tragic for your family, it really, really changed the way lynchings were handled.

Yeah.

And I think you should be very proud...

I am.

...that your family was a catalyst for change.

I'm super proud.

Yeah.

You know, and the fact that it did effect some change in the way, you know, lynchings were looked at in America... Yeah, well, thanks so much for coming back.

Thank you.

When I heard the details of everything that happened, you know, to the Lowman family that the Easts married into, you know, it was hard to really hear.

Though it was tragic, it really helped change the way lynching was looked at in America, and it helped African-Americans out as a result, and we can pass it on to the kids and grandkids.

It's a great feeling.

(announcer) The Franklin Institute is filled with excitement as guests pack the historic building with questions about their ancestors.

So I want to go back and see if we still have family in Russia.

We came here today to learn more about our Native American ancestry.

(announcer) Jay Lassiter is here to find out if he has Russian Jewish heritage.

It would certainly be nice to solve that riddle because there's been chatter about that my whole life.

Okay, well, we've solved that riddle.

Right.

So that line that you thought were possibly Russian Jews...

Right.

...are actually Quakers.

Oh, my God.

How funny.

A very long history in the Quaker church.

I'm Quaker, wow.

That's crazy.

That's so interesting.

I love Quakers.

(announcer) While Colleen Nudge and her sister are hoping to find out more about their grandmother, whom they never knew.

These are just a few pictures and three letters, and this is all we have on our grandmother, Margaret Henneberry, and we wanted to know more.

(woman) Now, we were able to locate the passenger manifest for Maggie coming to America.

(Colleen) Oh, wow.

(woman) This Maggie Henneberry was 20 years old.

She's listed as a servant, female, coming from Ireland.

She's actually immigrating right here to Philadelphia.

This is more than we've ever known.

Yeah.

I mean, you've-- you've sort of uncovered the first clue that, I think, could lead to some pretty exciting places.

(announcer) And amateur genealogist Sherida Leslie seeks Kenyatta's advice on how to start researching a family member connected to the Black Panthers.

That would be something that would be pretty well-documented, right?

Okay!

So those types of records I would look for in maybe a library or a historical society.

Okay.

And you might also want to check out some of the historically black colleges and universities in that area.

Okay!

Okay that's great.

That at least kind of gives me a starting point so I kind of know where to go over there.

(announcer) Could this mother and son be related to one of the most controversial characters in American history?

Hi.

How are you?

Hi, how are you?

I'm Alex, and this is my mom Susan.

I was born in Philadelphia, and my father immigrated here from Canada, and we think that he was related to people that fled the revolution from the United States.

(Susan) We've done some research, but we really didn't get all the way to the end, so I'm certainly interested in finding out if that's true or not.

Hey, Susan.

Hi.

Thanks so much for coming to the Roadshow.

Alex, thank you.

So let's talk about loyalists.

Tell me about the connection that you've heard about in your family.

Well, my father's from Saint John, New Brunswick.

All I know is my grandmother offhandedly saying, "Yeah, we're related to loyalists," so I'm not totally sure what that means.

Well, loyalists were actually colonists loyal to the crown during the time of the American Revolution.

Now, the most famous loyalist, I'm sure you've heard of him, is Benedict Arnold.

I was hoping that wasn't gonna come up.

(laughter) His name obviously became synonymous with traitor.

Right.

He first fought for the Continental Army, and then later joined the British army.

Nearly 30,000 loyalists evacuated the colonies following their revolution, and they fled to the maritime colonies of Canada-- for example, New Brunswick.

And you said you have some family history in New Brunswick, is that right?

Yeah.

So, in order to make the connection to the loyalists, we need to trace the family line that makes the most sense.

In this case, it would probably be the New Brunswick line.

Correct?

Right.

What was the name of the grandparent that told you about these loyalist stories?

My grandmother is Marjorie Bonnell.

Bonnell?

Yeah.

What was she called?

Grandma Marjorie?

Nanny.

Nanny Marjorie.

All right, so let's start with Nanny Marjorie.

Okay.

All right, we're gonna take a look at Nanny Marjorie's marriage certificate.

Oh, wow.

So, here's Nanny Marjorie Lorraine Bonnell getting married to James Allan Anthony...

Right.

...who I believe is your grandfather, is that correct?

Mm-hmm.

Your grandmother reported that her father's name was Alfred G. Bonnell.

Yeah.

So, this is a birth record for him.

It's Alfred Gilbert Bonnell, your great-grandfather.

From this 1898 birth record, we're able to get back to the previous generation.

Do you see them, Alex?

Benjamin Simon Bonnell?

Simeon.

Simeon?

Yeah, I think that's Simeon.

I think it is Simeon.

Okay, we mentioned Benjamin Simeon Bonnell.

Let's take a look.

This is actually his death record from New Brunswick.

The date of birth is listed December 5th, 1851.

His father is listed as Isaac Bonnell.

Had you ever heard of Isaac Bonnell?

No.

So, maybe we should explore Isaac and find out what's going on with Isaac.

Right.

For that, we turn to the 1861 Canadian census.

Wow.

Let's locate the Bonnell family.

Isaac Bonnell.

Wow.

He's got a wife named Levina.

This is so cool.

It is so cool.

I get chills.

This document doesn't tell us who Isaac's parents were.

That's what we need to know to get back.

We were looking high, low, anywhere you could find.

Couldn't find the father, couldn't find the father, couldn't find the father.

It wasn't until we found an 1825 land agreement between two men: Isaac Bonnell that we know is your direct ancestor and another man called Benjamin Bonnell.

And let's see if this document will give us the answer that we need.

This is a land agreement between Benjamin Bonnell and who is it?

Isaac Bonnell?

Mm-hmm.

His son.

His son.

His son.

Oh, wow.

(chuckles) I think we might have found the father of Isaac Bonnell.

What do you guys think?

I think so.

That's it.

So, because land records are always a fantastic resource, we decided to take a look at a map of land grants right in New Brunswick.

Oh, wow.

All right, so... Oh, what a great man.

...can you see the name written right there?

Oh, hey, Benjamin Bonnell.

Wow.

Wow!

It looks like Benjamin Bonnell may be our loyalist.

He's in the right place at the right time.

Hey, he even has a land grant in Canada, in New Brunswick.

So, if this is our loyalist, what did he do in service of the crown during the American Revolution?

Maybe we should answer this.

Yes, yes.

Great idea.

Our first clue actually came all the way from the state of New Jersey.

This is a muster roll from May of 1775.

This is the first New Jersey regiment of the Continental Army under Captain Mead.

If we take a look here, we'll see an entry for Private Benjamin Bonnell.

Now, my question for you is, what's he doing signed up with Captain Mead?

Right.

I thought he was supposed to be in Canada.

Right, a loyalist.

Or a loyalist maybe.

So we found something that may explain this whole thing.

This is a 1779 indictment for passing counterfeit money for Benjamin Bonnell.

(chuckles) Uh-oh.

We ain't showing Nanny that one.

Yeah.

(laughter) Ooh, you have to call her the minute we get home.

I know.

I know.

(laughter) The Brits were waging a war through counterfeit money trying to disrupt the colonies' financial system.

Apparently Benjamin Bonnell was passing counterfeit notes in New Jersey.

We also have a newspaper article.

This 1781 newspaper article actually tells us that Benjamin Bonnell was arrested for deserting.

(groaning) Wow.

Benjamin Bonnell has now passed counterfeit money and deserted his unit in the Continental Army.

Yeah, yeah.

What's next?

We were able to find a muster roll for the American Legion.

The legion was actually a loyalist militia raised in New York by the British toward the end of the war, and you'll never guess who the commander of this militia was.

This muster roll is under Brigadier General Arnold.

(chuckling) Wow.

(laughing) So, who do you suppose that is?

Wow.

Benedict Arnold.

It's Benedict Arnold.

Wow.

As a corporal in the American Legion, Benjamin would have had to have fought the Battle at Fort Griswold near New London, Connecticut.

This was a particularly bloody battle that the British won with Benedict Arnold as their commanding officer, and Benedict Arnold and your ancestor Benjamin Bonnell would have been right there all together at Fort Griswold.

Wow.

Fort Griswold was the last major battle before the British surrender at Yorktown that ended the war.

And I hope I'm not spoiling it, Alex, by letting you know that the British actually lost the American Revolution.

Yeah, no, I-- I figure, yeah.

And with the war lost, the British Navy evacuated thousands of loyalists from New York, including Benjamin Bonnell and his family.

His destination?

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

I hope that we've been able to clear up some questions, I'd say, about your family history.

Oh, for sure.

Absolutely.

We were able to confirm that you do indeed have loyalist ancestry.

We knew that we'd been in the United States for a long time, but the Benedict Arnold, that's a little freaky, huh?

It's a little freaky.

It's gonna be great for my family, you know, so that they know, and it's a little color.

And it's okay they know 'cause they're in Canada.

Yeah.

It's okay.

So thank you both so much for coming to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

Thank you.

It's been great.

Been a pleasure.

Really appreciate it.

Thank you.

(Alex) We never would have thought that I'm related to somebody that fought against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.

Under Benedict Arnold.

Under Benedict Arnold.

But that's where our land comes from in Canada.

We still have a cottage there.

You know, one of my great-grandfathers built the cottage, and it's actually on land that was deeded to him because he was loyal to the crown, so...

It's been very eye-opening, very, very interesting.

(announcer) Where do you go when you hit a roadblock researching your past?

Kenyatta travels to Utah to reveal a genealogist's best-kept secret.

So, we're in lovely Salt Lake City today, and we're going to visit the family history library, which is one of the largest genealogical libraries in the world, and I like to call it a mecca for genealogists.

What's unique about this library, what makes it so great for genealogists, is they started their collection in 1894, so you can imagine how large and vast that is.

At the library, there are more than 600,000 books, more than two million microfilms.

Visitors to the library have access to 550 computers.

There are approximately 450,000 visitors annually.

This is the international section, and all of these people behind me are looking for their ancestors in other countries.

Some of these people have come from around the world to find their ancestors.

So, is that your family tree on the screen?

Yes, it's mine.

How many generations have you gone back so far?

I have, like, five generations.

That's pretty cool.

In preparation for a visit to the library, I typically search the catalogue they have online first, then focus on a family, dates, and a specific area.

Each of these microfilm contain a vast amount of records.

The one that I need today contains over a thousand records.

Microfilm was one of the primary ways we accessed information prior to records being digitized and put online.

If you've done your basic level of research or your first step in research at home, this is a great place to come to to take it to the next level.

(announcer) Rumors of an ancestor's perilous journey from Portugal have intrigued this woman for decades.

Is she related to a sneaky stowaway?

I am Karima Bouchenafa.

I'm from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and I'm an English instructor at Delaware Valley University.

Family history is very important.

It's a connection between your present and your past.

Those pictures and those oral histories give you a better picture of your whole family, but especially you, whose shoulders you stand on.

I love to listen to stories about these other ancestors that I never knew, you know, I've only seen in pictures.

One story that I've been trying to pick apart is the story of my great-grandfather, Julius Aggie.

My dad is the one who would talk about his grandfather, and he'd say, "Yeah, he was born in Lisbon, and he came here as a stowaway on a ship."

I'm like, "Oh, no way," you know?

There is something really valuable to me about knowing about this ancestor who came here of his own volition.

Who was he?

What did he do?

Did he really stow away on a ship?

It's quite possible that, you know, none of this is true.

So, whatever I can learn about my family is still important.

It's that story that connects me to the past.

Hi, Karima.

Welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you.

So, what brought you here today?

I'm here to learn more about my great-grandfather, Julius Aggie...

Okay.

...who was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and who came to the United States as a stowaway on a ship, and I want to know whether it's true.

Okay.

Well, one of the things, when we look as genealogists and do research, one of our main documents are ship manifests, okay?

All ships had ship manifests, which reported who was on board, their names, where they were coming from, where they were going, and for your ancestor, we looked for a ship manifest, and we were able to find one.

However, the pages where your ancestor was recorded were illegible.

Okay.

But we do have the certificate of arrival for Julius.

And if you look here... (gasps) I know.

Oh, my God!

No way!

That's your great-grandfather.

Oh, my God!

(laughing) That's crazy.

Wow, in 1912?

In 1912.

Oh, my God.

And do you see his port of entry up there right under his name?

Yeah, Massachusetts.

New Bedford, Massachusetts, actually is really known for fishing and shipbuilding, and what's interesting is that the "S.S. Diana," which he arrived on... Uh-huh?

is a fishing vessel and not a true passenger vessel.

Oh, my God.

(laughing) I'm gonna read it to you at the top, and it says, "...on this date and manner shown and was lawfully admitted to the United States of America for permanent residence."

So the stowaway story is a no-go.

(laughing) So, even though he came on the fishing vessel, he was not a stowaway.

That's okay.

This is cooler.

This is cooler.

Exactly.

Exactly.

So, let's learn a little bit about what he did when he arrived.

And what I'm gonna show you is information on what is a World War I draft registration.

Okay.

I wanted to point out where your great-grandfather worked.

He worked at a company called the Lake Torpedo Company.

Now, this company actually was an early maker of submarines for the U.S. navy.

He's single, but this is what's crazy.

If you look at number 11...

Okay.

"Have you ever served military service?"

He said yes, he was a sailor in the navy in Portugal.

No way!

Yeah.

Oh, my God!

Yeah.

Oh, my God!

(laughing) That is so awesome.

My dad was in the marines.

This is awesome.

Oh, okay.

Well, you have that military history and background.

Oh, my God!

I have a little five-year-old nephew.

Like, wait until I tell him, like, "Your great-great grandfather was a sailor in the Portuguese navy."

Yeah.

That's amazing.

(laughing) Yeah.

Now, do you want to learn more?

Absolutely, yes.

Okay.

Now, we find him in 1920, and he's in Philadelphia-- Julius Aggie.

He's a lodger, but what's interesting is, all of the folks that he's living with that are listed as lodgers are people from Portugal.

Oh, I see that.

Wow!

But let's go to the 1930 census.

So, in 1930, they're in Philadelphia.

You see... That's my grandmother!

(laughing) And Barbara.

Yeah, your grandmother and your great-grandmother.

Wow.

The 1930 census.

Oh, my gosh.

In looking at other information, we found his certificate of death.

What's interesting about this is that he was buried at the Holy Sepulchre Church.

That's where he's buried?

Yeah.

I know where that is.

You know where that is?

I drive past that all the time on my way to work.

You have to go there.

I'm going there today.

Yeah.

You're wasting no time.

You're going there today.

Yeah, yeah, okay.

Now, we did some additional research.

We were able to find the birthplace of your great-grandfather, and before, remember, I showed you the World War I registration and it says, "Where were you born?"

"Cape Verde Islands."

(gasps) No!

My God!

Santiago, yeah.

Oh, my God!

So, he was born there and not in Lisbon.

And not in Lisbon.

He was born in the Cape Verde Islands.

Santiago.

Portugal still, there, so Portuguese.

It's a colony.

Colony.

This is great.

When I was in college, I took Portuguese because of knowing about the connection.

I'm gonna go pick it up again.

(laughter) I couldn't have expected any of this at all.

I'm sorry.

I'm, like, a little... No, this is great!

This is awesome.

I mean, yeah.

I mean, you're learning a lot of information.

Oh, my God, yes.

My great-grandfather was born in a tropical paradise.

He was a sailor in the Portuguese navy.

I'm done.

(laughter) Learning about this story, coming here and getting the actual facts about my great-grandfather caused this mini reunion today.

I've connected with cousins who I'd never met before, and it's just great for all of us to really get a sense of who he was as a person.

He was a black man, and he accomplished so much here in this country in the early 1900s.

I'm just-- I'm amazed.

I am.

Who are we?

Are we Polish?

Are we something totally different?

How do I find information about the slaves they brought with them from North Carolina to Alabama?

(announcer) Novice researchers continue to seek our genealogists' advice here in the city of brotherly love.

Guest Cheryl Pasil is hoping to make a connection with our country's first president, George Washington.

My great grandmother, she died in 1971.

Okay.

She was born in 1875, and I had her birth certificate, and I saw that her name was Mary Jane Washington.

Right.

And now I want to know, are we from the Washingtons?

From the Washington family as in... George.

As in George Washington, okay.

So, a lot of people come to us thinking they're related to George Washington, but in fact, George Washington had no biological children.

Most of the slaves on his plantation, Mount Vernon, came from his wife, from her inheritance.

Aha.

So, I can no longer say I was related to Washington.

(laughing) No.

Well, that's okay.

But at least I know now.

At least you know.

I've always wanted to know.

(announcer) Josh helps Doug Barber and his family find out if they have a link to the famous Quaker William Penn.

Well, William Penn's a family name.

It was clearly my grandmother's last name, and it's this girl's middle name and my middle name, too, so we were interested in finding out once and for all if there was any connection there.

Now, we looked through a lot of resources, and we weren't able to substantiate the line that you have that links back to William Penn.

Don't worry, you're not alone in sort of having that belief.

It's something that might take more research, so we're not ruling it out, but we couldn't actually make the link between the two.

(announcer) And Kenyatta makes a link between the Bernardini family and a former president.

So, Joseph Eisenhower, your ancestor, is presumed to be the son of Johan Christian Eisenhower, okay?

Your missing link.

Now, Johan Christian is the son of George Philip, who we know has a connection to the president, so that makes your family related to President Eisenhower.

Wow!

Wow, that's great.

That's great!

(announcer) Long-lost letters are the missing link that may connect this woman to an unclaimed fortune from centuries ago.

My name is Melissa McHarg.

I'm from Maryland.

My father's parents passed away, and my parents went down and cleaned out their place in Florida and brought back this box, and when we opened it, there were a lot of letters, and one particular letter started talking about trying to establish a claim to a Whitaker fortune.

I didn't know what this Whitaker fortune was.

I had never heard of it.

Using the names and dates from the letter, I found a John Whitaker from the 1700s and found several stories online about how he had loaned money to the crown of England to fight the colonists in the Revolutionary War, and the legend goes, somewhere along the line he changed his position and became a patriot and the money never was claimed by the family.

My kids were very excited when they heard this story 'cause they thought for sure they were gonna get some money... (chuckles) and I told them, you know, it's just a story right now.

It's never been about trying to collect any money for me.

It's just to know these people's story.

It would be amazing to have answers about this whole mystery, just to know this story is true and it's my family and it's ours and it's something that we'll always have and be able to pass down.

Melissa, welcome to "Genealogy Roadshow."

Thank you for having us.

And who have you brought with you?

I brought my dad, Bill.

Lovely to meet you.

Same.

Nice to meet you.

So, we are actually starting with a letter that was written to your great-grandmother from a cousin.

Yes.

And the letter noted several generations of the Whitaker family, and it was written by a Reverend William Whitaker, and it discussed your ancestors' relation to a John Whitaker.

Yes.

And apparently there was something extra exciting in the letter.

There was something talking about establishing a claim to the Whitaker estate.

And I believe a part of that Whitaker estate, there was something like $96 million available to the descendants of John Whitaker.

Oh, I never heard a number!

That's new to you?

That's new to me.

What if that's true?

I don't know.

I hope you tell me.

(laughter) And it's interesting because when we dive into the family letters, it actually lays out the entire family tree of the Whitaker family.

Right.

So, looking in the Whitaker family tree and doing the research, here is yourself.

And there's Dad.

Yes.

And we can trace the line back to a Hannah Whitaker and a Phinneas Whitaker, and there is that John Whitaker right at the top.

Right.

Your sixth great-grandfather.

Oh, wow.

So, looking into this Reverend Whitaker, who wrote your family the letter...

Right.

...we learned a little more about this claim and the statement that he made about the claim.

Oh, wow.

So, the claim was that your sixth great-grandfather, John Whitaker, sold all of his land except for four acres.

The money was loaned to the British.

Now, when Reverend Whitaker visited London, he was told that there was an account somewhere.

Oh, my goodness.

The reverend claimed through additional letters that when he returned to England to make good on the claim, to basically cash it out...

Right.

...he was told there wasn't an account.

Oh.

Wow.

Now, he wrote letters to various descendants of the Whitaker family, which included your great-grandmother in this case, asking cousins to help because he believed that the English government was trying to prevent someone from actually rightfully claiming the funds plus the interest.

Now, the question is, is there any truth to it?

Did John Whitaker actually sell all of his land but four acres?

Right.

You know, is there any truth to what he's saying?

Okay.

So, let's look into the life of your sixth great-grandfather, John Whitaker.

He was born in the 1720s in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

Okay.

His father came from England.

John is the first generation of the Whitaker family that's born in America.

Okay.

So, here we see tax records for your ancestor, John Whitaker, and in 1768, so this is just before the revolution...

Right.

...he is being taxed for four acres of land.

So, he only had four acres.

Yes.

When we jump forward to just after the revolution, to the year 1781, here we see that your ancestor, John Whitaker, is taxed for 60 acres.

60 acres.

So, he acquired more.

Oh, he did.

So, the tax records give us a little different picture of your ancestor's property.

Interesting.

Now, we know more about John Whitaker.

John was a member of the Society of Friends.

And what is that?

Those were the Quakers.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

So, he was a Quaker.

And the Quakers leave some amazing records.

The Quakers keep what are called monthly meeting minutes.

Okay.

And so we learn a bit about John Whitaker through this 1755 document.

We learn that John had gotten himself involved with the association in order to instruct each other in military discipline.

Now, that presented a bit of a problem for John.

'Cause it was something to do-- I don't know very much about the Quaker religion, but they're kind of passive?

That's right, but the Quakers are pacifists.

Okay.

And he was going against their teachings.

Right.

Looking in September of 1755, there is a statement made about John Whitaker, and it says that in as much as he continues to breach our discipline, we think ourselves under necessity to declare that we have no unit with him until he shall make suitable acknowledgement or satisfaction for his disagreeable conduct and behavior.

So, he was kicked out.

He was kicked out.

In March of 1756, an issue of "The Pennsylvania Gazette" actually lists him as a captain of the East Caln militia.

Was he actually involved in any battles or...

It's interesting you ask that.

The United States, or the colonies at that time, were involved in the French and Indian War.

Okay.

Okay.

Now, the French and Indian War is the largest and one of the last colonial wars before the American Revolution.

Oh.

Wow.

And the colonial militias, which we just identified John Whitaker being a part of, played a vital role.

There are many who believe that it was this war that actually planted that seed of discontent that comes forward 12 years later when the American Revolution breaks out.

So, truly, your ancestor is involved in a moment in the history of this country.

I would say so.

Absolutely.

Wow!

So, let's loop back to this Reverend Whitaker right in the beginning and this big myth about your family.

Yes.

In 1899, there was a book written called "A Handbook of Practical Suggestions for the Students in Genealogy," and the author actually outlines a couple of reasons why people used to do genealogy and beliefs that people held in family history.

And one of them, number 3, is that somewhere in Great Britain and in the British Lion's keeping there was an immense fortune awaiting its American heirs.

Oh, so there's the seed that got planted.

Yeah.

It's very possible.

Interesting.

To follow Reverend Whitaker's story, we actually can trace him through newspapers.

(gasps) Wow!

Oh, look at that.

And we see a headline that might seem a bit surprising.

Ooh.

Found guilty of what?

Found guilty of what?

For putting on an elaborate hoax trying to gather descendants of John Whitaker to claim this money that really didn't exist.

Oh, wow!

Huh!

Wow!

So.

your family actually isn't alone in these elaborate hoaxes.

There are newspaper accounts that document a lot of different families who are trying to claim money that's sitting overseas.

Oh, wow.

Huh.

So, this is very similar to those e-mails we get every once in a while from money waiting for us in a bank account in Nigeria.

Absolutely.

It's the genealogy of the hoax.

There you go.

The genealogy of the hoax.

I like that.

I like that.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.

It was wonderful to meet you both.

Thank you very much.

Nice to meet you.

Wow.

I wasn't expecting money.

You know, I wanted to find out a story, and I most definitely found out a story, even if it was one way different than what I thought it might be.

(announcer) From stories of bravery to intrigue, everyone has a tale to tell.

Join us again next week as we hit the road to bring these stories to you on "Genealogy Roadshow."