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GENEALOGY AND HISTORY
Questions for the History Channel DVD on Genealogy
Genealogy of William Baldwin:
What were the major sources for tracking down the Baldwins?
How did the Baldwins become Irish-Catholic?
How did patterns of naming help trace the Baldwins back a generation (from great grandfather to great-great grandfather)?
Why did this break-through prove critical?
Once it was established that the Baldwins had been in the New World since the mid-seventeenth century, what was the natural search to make?
What is the SAR?
Naming Practices:
What has characterized names throughout most of human history, something different from names in the modern world?
What is a “name taboo” that makes it harder to do history in some cultures?
What society does the documentary mention that can trace surnames far back into the past?
What is the world’s most common surname?
What are common ways in which surnames are formed?
What is the most common English surname and why?
What was William the Conqueror’s great contribution to genealogical studies?
Statistically, how many people in this room can probably trace an ancestor back to Ellis Island?
Did the Ellis Island officials really tend to change people’s names as they entered the country?
What were the principles
that governed name changes?
Genealogy of the Confino family:
How did the search for the Confino family originate?
What major sources have been used in the search?
Why did the family come to America?
Why does the program refer to them as members of a minority within a minority?
How do the Confinos illustrate the experience of many immigrant families?
What does the search for Rachel Confino’s arrival illustrate concerning major changes in the Ellis Island records?
What are the great problems for African Americans trying to trace their genealogy back before the American Civil War?
What genealogical rule makes this quest decidedly more difficult?
What is the significance of the Sally Hemmings case? How was it finally resolved?
What is the Wes Ford case? Can it be resolved in the same way?
Why is the work of Rohulamin Quander genealogically compelling in a way that the claims for Wes Ford are not?
What is the lasting genealogical significance of the 1799 inventories drafted in George Washington’s own hand?
The Mysterious Genealogy of William Wallace:
What combination of factors led to renewed interest in the Scottish hero, William Wallace?
What important genealogical problem was solved as a result of this interest and what does this show about surnames?
Genealogy and Disease:
What is a medical problem arising from royal marriages in Europe?
What genetic disease affected many of Queen Victoria’s descendants?
Why did the disease call into question the queen’s legitimacy?
What other disease in the English royal family seems to have proven that she was legitimate?
Native American Genealogy:
How did the last great Comanche war chief get the name Kwana Parker?
What is the problem faced by the Gabrielenos Tribe of California?
What are the financial advantages of recognition as a “real” Indian tribe by the United States government?
What are the criteria for recognition?
What are some of the methods a native American like Juan Velazquez can use to establish his “authenticity”?
What is the importance of the year 1771 to the Gabrieleno tribe?
What, according to the video, is the average "ancestor awareness" of most Americans?
What scientific techniques have been used to shore up the pre-1771 history of the Indians of this region?
Who is Dr. Scott Woodward and what is his longterm project?
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