WDYTYA: Bill Paxton
This week we discuss the latest episode of Who Do You Think You Are? with Bill Paxton and his journey back to the Revolutionary War. Plus a few genea-news items.
Terri O’Connell is a professional genealogist in the Chicago area, focusing on Midwestern United States Genealogy, with a main focus in Illinois and a special interest in Irish research. She is also the owner of Cruise Planners – O’Connell Cruise and Travel, a full service travel company. Their mission is to encompass the full family: vacations, reunions, and history travel. Terri is a travel enthusiast with a passion for genealogy and enjoys bringing the two together to assist her clients in their travel needs. You can find Terri online at www.facebook.com/cruiseplannersoconnell, www.facebook.com/tracingmyfamily.
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Hi Shannon & Terri,
OMGosh…thought you said your phone hardly ever rings Shannon? Oh yeah right. 3 times. Really? LOL You handled it graciously.
Wished I could’ve been at the Chit-Chat Live. Come to find out the “bug” I thought I had was actually allergies in disguise. Ugh. Oh well.
I loved the Bill Paxton episode of WDYTYA because I love Bill Paxton – can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched the movie “Twister” even most recently!! 🙂 Thanks for giving us the scoop Terri that he’s going to be in a show on the History Channel. 🙂
I’d like to share a couple tidbits with y’all on his episode.
I absolutely loved it when he entered William Paxton into the DAR search box and it came up “No records found” and then again the same thing when he entered Frank Wyatt. Welcome to our world of genealogy!
I thought Bill did a fantastic job reading the documents at the DAR Library. This segment was really good lead into telling people to look for all types of records (depositions are a must find) when researching military.
Oh and then the goosebumps popped up on my arm when he went to Kings Mountain! Those are the kinds of places on my bucket list! And again…another celebrity saying “standing on the spot” where his ancestor was. Now you can relate to how I feel now living where my ancestors actually walked and worked the land.
Loved the 1st account in the book written by his 4x’s great grandfather Benjamin Sharp. When Bill said “fierce and bloody” battle, I could actually imagine being there.
My next favorite scene was the tax records – oooh microfilm! And…love the historian mentioning a genealogy method of writing down the column headings, which Bill did. So important when that is not included on every page.
Of course, love the probate and the will. I love doing Missouri research! I was really touched (emotional moment) when his ancestor was very specific about the care of his slaves Bill and Judy. I had tears in my eyes at the close up of the 1850 census title “Free Inhabitants” – it was really cool to hear how much Bill’s ancestor cared for them. (Note my humble opinion: Get with it peeps, I don’t feel the need to be so disturbed about slaves!” Like Bill said: “it’s history good or bad” and sign of that time period. Thank you for talking about the Afleck thing.)
Lastly, my favorite…the gravestones on the private property of the current owner of the land that Bill’s 4x’s great grandfather owned. A goosebump moment when he laid 3 stones from Kings Mountain on Benjamin Sharp’s tombstone.
Well there’s my 2 cents input. I’m looking forward to Melissa Etheridge’s episode. Without showing my age , her music was from my high school days. Rah-Rah! 🙂
Until next time…
;o) Valerie