Have you seen this Ancestory ad?

[DURHAM D]

A must watch -

More on this - https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/303615/ancestrycom-tv-ad-features-declaration-of-indepen.html

[targetpractice]

1. It's stunningly brilliant. n/t

[KT2000]

2. That's great!

hope they play it a lot.

[a kennedy]

3. Yes.....and it's just perfect for these times. eom

[Squinch]

4. Gave me chills. Thanks for posting.

[nolabear]

5. That is absolutely fantastic. I teared right up.

THANK YOU.

[forgotmylogin]

70. Me too.

What a great ad to run for July 4.

[Solly Mack]

6. :)

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Yet today, some of them would be told by Ellis Island descendents to "go back to Africa"

[DURHAM D]

8. Given that Ellis Island didn't open until the 1890s

I assume they would say "You go back. We were here 250+ years before you."

[BumRushDaShow]

10. And unfortunately the cultural conditioning hasn't encouraged folks to do just that.

That's what's so fucked up about this country sometimes.

I think the whole "multiculturalism" debate of the '90s attempted to get that type of history into the curriculum but it was eventually diluted because people embraced and weaponized the idiotic term "politically correct".

[rpannier]

60. You have the dumbass at youtube

...anyone come from Chicongo?
Some people are idiots, racists and definitely not as clever as they think they are

[Grammy23]

9. Cool ad. Makes you think. Nt

[HAB911]

11. Rightwing knuckledragger's heads explode all up in here

[NastyRiffraff]

12. Beautiful. Simply beautiful

And Dump will hate it, which makes me love it even more.

[Hekate]

13. Well damn. That brought us both to tears...

While Trump and his RW goons are trying to rip this nation apart, someone remembered what we always thougt we were striving for.

My eyes seem to still be leaking.

[GeoWilliam750]

14. Excellent!

[KrazyinKS]

15. It is inspiring-

I think we all needed that these days. So much derogatory bull, so much what's in it for me crap. I got mine so the hell with you.

[workinclasszero]

16. Bet that triggered a **it load of reich wing snowflakes!

Great ad!

[47of74]

31. Yeah probably

And if it did. Good. Fuck those snowflakes.

[Hieronymus]

47. No doubt

[DURHAM D]

19. We are probably related - 13th and 14th generation American here.

Don't have any that moved south as far as I know. However, have a couple of ancestors that returned home to fight in the English Civil War.

[Pacifist Patriot]

29. Undoubtedly

Hi Cuz!!!

[Duppers]

34. Wow!

Btw, my husband's family have records back to Capt. John Smith's entourage in Jamestown, then later in Philadelphia, but he feels as you do.

[malaise]

18. I loved it the first time I saw it

Sent it to my folks

[Silver Gaia]

20. Oh wow. Tears. Beautiful. Love it! Thank you.

[Achilleaze]

21. "Our sacred honor" - that's a concept the republicans piss all over

all the time, through their misbegotten Draft-Dodger-in-Chief, and in myriad other ways.

[jb5150]

22. It is a good ad ....

but I know several people who have some rather unpleasant things to say about the company.

[flamingdem]

23. Do tell

Would like to know about the company, they seem to be getting rave reviews lately

[DURHAM D]

30. They seem to have produced some really good programmers.

[flamingdem]

32. Those little flapping leaves draw me in..

.. always some new relative popping up, yes the programming is well done but is the devil in the details?

[markpkessinger]

35. The way I see it . . .

. . . is that Ancestry.com, irrespective of who owns it, provides an invaluable service. And if it makes the Mormons happy to imagine they are "baptizing" my long-dead relatives, then hey, knock yourselves out!

[Ligyron]

43. Baptize them and even marry them if they were living in sin.

Saw it happen.

Wonder what that cost the rubes?

[Hekate]

36. Their genealogy projects are a mixed blessing. Mom used their library extensively...

...in writing her four thoroughly-sourced books on the family, in addition to obtaining old family letters and documents, plus a wide correspondence by US Post and later by email with all kinds of places that keep vital statistics. She included ships' manifests and Census records in her books, among other things.

I didn't know Ancestry.com was a Mormon project, but in a way it figures. It looks to me like a really neat place to go if you don't want to spend a couple of decades on this hobby, and probably a fun place to start if you do.

[markpkessinger]

49. Very much on point . . .

I have used Ancestry, and have found it to be incredibly helpful, but you are right: it is critically important to examine those "hints" carefully. In my case, I had a lot of information when I started, since my family, on both sides, has lived in central PA (Clinton and Centre counties) since before the Revolutionary War, and I grew up knowing where most of them are buried. So I started out on a more reliable footing than a lot of folks are able to start with.

[Pacifist Patriot]

51. That was my advantage as well.

One of my grandfather's younger brothers got into genealogy as a hobby when he retired...thirty years ago. The assistance of a reputable professional geneaologist helped blaze the trail way before Ancestry.com. Also helped that my ancestors were fairly sedentary and stayed in PA until my grandfather met with grandmother in Alabama courtesy of the USO in WWII.

If you're from pre-Revolutionary War PA, I wouldn't be at all surprised if we were to have a common ancestor somewhere in the mix.

[markpkessinger]

54. I found errors in the Mormon database early on . . .

. . . and have avoided making use of it without corroborating documentary evidence. In my family, there were two William Frederick Kessingers -- one was my great grandfather, and the other was his uncle. The Mormon database has information for both of them conflated into a single person.

[csziggy]

56. The user has to know how to do research

You don't EVER rely on other people's information.

I use Ancestry to get scans of original documents to verify my research into family history. If I reach a brick wall I might look at other people's trees to check out what records they have to see if they have found something I missed. Sometimes that can help, more often I find a heap of garbage.

While I am an amateur genealogist I have plenty of experience - I helped my Mom with her research in the 1960s, and digitized the records from both parents' sides. My current project is to scan all the old documentation that has been held out of sight in my family's hands and to get that and the hundreds of family photos online. Now we have inherited my mother in laws' research and cache of family photos and documents and my husband is scanning those.

My father's great grandfather was doing family research in the 1870s - we have a letter from his cousin discussing the problems caused when their great grandfather changed the spelling of his last name. Because my grandmother had his research she never bothered with such modern documents as census or deeds though her great uncle the county judge did obtain every will with that last name in the county they came from in New York.

I know the problems with the trees on Ancestry.com - one of my branches has a string of Aaron Harlans. There are at least four or five of them, not a one with a Sr, Jr or III after their names. So many of the trees on Ancestry have them,their wives and their children hopelessly entangled it is amazing.

The new problem is with DNA results - while I trust the science, I don't always trust the deductions made from the results. I have an ancestor whose father we've never verified. Most people think they know who the father is and that his second wife is the mother. I was recently contacted by someone who is descended from the second wife and her first husband. Apparently our DNA shows a link and that was the only common element he could find. Problem is, we're talking six generations back and he has not fully researched his tree and what he has researched is not documented. I don't trust his results as verification for this parentage for my ancestor.

[csziggy]

55. No, Ancestry has never belonged to the Mormon Church

It was started as Infobases, Inc. by Paul B. Allen and Dan Taggart. They got their start by putting LDS genealogical information on floppy diskss and selling them out of the back seat of their car. LAter they upgraded the digital format to CDs and finally went online in 1994.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry.com#Infobases.2C_Inc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"In October 2012, Ancestry.com agreed to be acquired by a private equity group consisting of Permira Advisers LLP, members of Ancestry.com's management team, including CEO Tim Sullivan and CFO Howard Hochhauser, and Spectrum Equity, for $32 per share or around $1.6 billion.[45][46] At the same time, Ancestry.com purchased a photo digitization and sharing service called 1000Memories."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry.com#Ancestry.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LDS has their own database, FamilySearch.org which has some overlap with Ancestry.com but which offers some information not on Ancestry. FamilySearch.org is free while Ancestry is pretty expensive.

[DURHAM D]

64. I did not know about FamilySearch.org.

Looks like they have a lot of international records. Thanks.

[csziggy]

72. There is a Mormon link - the people who started Ancestry.com

Were probably Mormon - they graduated from Brigham Young University and their base of operation has always been in Utah, Orem and Provo.

But FamilySearch.org is the "official" LDS genealogy site.

[Heaven Sent]

68. The way Ancestry.com works is that if you give them a sample, the LDS own the rights to your DNA

Read the fine print. I won't go with Ancestry.com for that very reason. There are other options like 23andme.com

[Pacifist Patriot]

73. My DNA test was part of the National Geographic project.

[LiberalLovinLug]

24. Beautiful

[BlancheSplanchnik]

25. omg, it actually brought me to tears.

Beauty overload.


I loved the music too.

[Mickju]

26. That gave me chills

and tears to my eyes as I watch the destruction of my country. I am despondent right now.

[trocar]

28. Nice nt

[pansypoo53219]

33. need to test. said we are cousin's of abe lincoln. have secretary of state on another side.

maybe prove the lincoln thing.

[LAS14]

37. Thanks!

Have e-mailed and Facebook shared. I wish stuff like this got as much press as that damned NRA ad.

[ailsagirl]

38. Excellent!! Thank you for posting this

[Mountain Mule]

39. That is wonderful!

I'm a true blue American Heinz 57. I can trace my ancestors back to Massachusetts in the 1600's and we have plenty of Native American and Afro-American blood as well. My mother got here from Switzerland via airplane in the 1950's. So we came by land, by air, and by sea - Americans all! I am proud of the diversity of my heritage. Thanks for that! Something Trumpf supporters should be forced to watch at least 3X per day!

[sheshe2]

42. Beautiful

And just in time for the 4th.

[Cha]

44. Mahalo for that, Durham!

[zentrum]

46. Kick.

[panader0]

48. Recommended!

[Books_Tea_Alone]

50. We did the Ancestry DNA test..

My family always thought it was mostly of Italian descent with some German and Scandinavian mixed in (traced back to Revolutionary War on that side).

My parents and siblings are ardent Trumpinistas and overt racists- hated Obama with a passion because of his race and buy into the Fox News propaganda about Muslims and anyone from the Middle East needs to be banned.

So we do the Ancestry DNA test and guess what?? We are 12% of Middle Eastern and 5% African descent They were very interested in the results until I told them what the report showed - then I heard how much of a scam it was and they didn't believe it lol! Typical!
It is a pretty cool thing to find out!

[warmfeet]

52. That is a world I can be proud of, and proud to be part of.

[TheDebbieDee]

53. Is this the one with the Jefferson decendents? I saw it for the first time earlier today...

I thought it was cute that the man boasts that he and senior Jefferson has the same nose...

[dflprincess]

61. The ad linked to has descendants from 26 of signers

reading lines from the Declaration. They managed to find descendants of all races the intent, in part, to show that we are and never have been a nation of just old white guys. It being Ancestry.com they also want to lure people in by reminding us you'll never know who may show up in the family tree until you look.

The Ancestry site does have the man you're referring to & his comments. And I think he's right, he does appear to have Tom's nose.

[Cha]

57. KICK!

[peggysue2]

58. That . . .

is a 4th of July gift, so appropriate for this moment of time.

Made my heart swell. Thank you. We need these reminders.

[magicarpet]

59. Wow...... Just Wow.

Some of the nicest stuff gets posted here at DU.

A very diverse family of collaborators seeking to inform one another.

Thank you for this post.

And Happy July Fourth to all the co-conspirators here who endeavor to make America a better place.

[DURHAM D]

63. Nice message. Thanks. nt

[elleng]

62. AND, 1776

TCM, 10:15 PM
1776 ( 1972) on the 4th

[mahatmakanejeeves]

66. Yes, once. I was wondering what they were trying to sell me.

The answer was at the end. It's worth watching.

[cwydro]

67. K and r. nt

[AllaN01Bear]

69. saw this the other day

https://www.democraticunderground.com/101896371

[niyad]

71. tears here for that beautiful ad!

may all the haters' heads (and other parts) explode in rage.