1 00:00:04,300 --> 00:00:06,566 GATES: I'm Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2 00:00:06,566 --> 00:00:09,233 Welcome to "Finding Your Roots". 3 00:00:09,566 --> 00:00:10,833 In this episode, 4 00:00:10,833 --> 00:00:13,366 we're going to do something we've never done before... 5 00:00:14,166 --> 00:00:18,566 You're about to meet three viewers who reached out to us, 6 00:00:18,566 --> 00:00:21,100 hoping that we could solve mysteries that have haunted 7 00:00:21,100 --> 00:00:23,366 their families for generations. 8 00:00:24,033 --> 00:00:27,000 MORROW: How do you build a life knowing that your mother 9 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,433 left you and never came back? 10 00:00:30,500 --> 00:00:32,300 ROBERTSON: Hearing stories about my dad's side of the 11 00:00:32,300 --> 00:00:35,700 family got me really interested in, in finding out some answers. 12 00:00:36,166 --> 00:00:37,500 GATES: Mmm-hmm. 13 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:39,800 ROBERTSON: And realizing very quickly that there was no way 14 00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:41,733 for me to find out those answers. 15 00:00:41,733 --> 00:00:43,033 WILLIS: It would be awkward. 16 00:00:43,033 --> 00:00:45,133 It would be uncomfortable to find out that I'm carrying 17 00:00:45,133 --> 00:00:46,700 the name of a stranger... 18 00:00:46,700 --> 00:00:47,733 GATES: Mm-hmm. 19 00:00:47,733 --> 00:00:49,600 WILLIS: But it would still settle me, 20 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:51,333 because I would still have the truth. 21 00:00:51,333 --> 00:00:53,033 Whatever that truth is, I would still have that. 22 00:00:53,033 --> 00:00:54,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. 23 00:00:54,300 --> 00:00:57,566 WILLIS: So the truth is really the thing that I crave. 24 00:00:59,100 --> 00:01:00,633 GATES: To uncover their roots, 25 00:01:00,633 --> 00:01:02,833 we've used every tool available. 26 00:01:03,233 --> 00:01:06,366 Genealogists combed through paper trails stretching back 27 00:01:06,366 --> 00:01:08,300 hundreds of years. 28 00:01:08,300 --> 00:01:11,700 While DNA experts utilized the latest advances in 29 00:01:11,700 --> 00:01:14,866 genetic analysis to reveal secrets that have 30 00:01:14,866 --> 00:01:17,266 lain hidden for generations. 31 00:01:17,900 --> 00:01:20,933 And we've compiled everything into a book of life. 32 00:01:21,900 --> 00:01:24,066 A record of all of our discoveries. 33 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:26,200 WILLIS: Thank you already. 34 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,266 GATES: And a window into the hidden past. 35 00:01:29,533 --> 00:01:31,500 MORROW: This attaches me to these people. 36 00:01:31,500 --> 00:01:33,333 And that is a big deal for me. 37 00:01:33,333 --> 00:01:35,500 WILLIS: Okay, down the rabbit hole we go. 38 00:01:35,500 --> 00:01:37,433 ROBERTSON: I'm trying not to cry this whole time. 39 00:01:37,433 --> 00:01:38,666 Whoo. 40 00:01:38,666 --> 00:01:41,500 GATES: My three guests have fundamental questions 41 00:01:41,500 --> 00:01:43,166 about who they are. 42 00:01:43,166 --> 00:01:44,533 And those questions, 43 00:01:44,533 --> 00:01:47,266 at last, are about to be answered. 44 00:01:48,366 --> 00:01:49,700 In this episode, 45 00:01:49,700 --> 00:01:52,366 they're going to meet ancestors whose identities 46 00:01:52,366 --> 00:01:55,033 they never imagined... 47 00:01:55,033 --> 00:01:57,866 hear stories they've only dreamed of hearing... 48 00:01:57,866 --> 00:02:00,633 And see, for the very first time, 49 00:02:00,633 --> 00:02:03,033 where their roots really lie. 50 00:02:09,166 --> 00:02:21,933 (theme music playing) 51 00:02:21,933 --> 00:02:26,266 ♪ ♪ 52 00:02:26,266 --> 00:02:27,300 (book closes) 53 00:02:32,666 --> 00:02:35,233 ♪ ♪ 54 00:02:35,233 --> 00:02:36,333 GATES: Okay, ready? 55 00:02:46,300 --> 00:02:48,933 ♪ ♪ 56 00:02:48,933 --> 00:02:51,966 "Finding Your Roots" is my pride and joy. 57 00:02:52,700 --> 00:02:55,366 Since we premiered in 2011, 58 00:02:55,366 --> 00:02:59,400 we've introduced more than 200 people to their ancestors, 59 00:03:00,633 --> 00:03:03,133 tracing roots all over the world. 60 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:08,166 But for this episode we decided to do something new. 61 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:11,333 We reached out to our viewers, 62 00:03:11,700 --> 00:03:14,900 asking if they had a mystery for us to solve. 63 00:03:15,666 --> 00:03:18,066 The response was overwhelming. 64 00:03:18,733 --> 00:03:21,066 We got over 9,000 submissions, 65 00:03:21,900 --> 00:03:23,933 from a dizzying array of people. 66 00:03:24,766 --> 00:03:27,866 Choosing one turned out to be an impossible task, 67 00:03:28,733 --> 00:03:30,633 so we chose three. 68 00:03:32,033 --> 00:03:35,466 The first is Terrie Morrow, a school bus driver in 69 00:03:35,466 --> 00:03:37,833 Birmingham, Alabama. 70 00:03:38,833 --> 00:03:40,933 GATES: What are you hoping to learn today? 71 00:03:40,933 --> 00:03:43,666 MORROW: Um, my mother's grandfather, 72 00:03:43,666 --> 00:03:49,433 Walter Kirkland Moore Tagger is how we kind of refer to him. 73 00:03:49,733 --> 00:03:52,833 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: Um, we call him Papa. 74 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:54,533 GATES: Mm-hmm. 75 00:03:54,533 --> 00:03:57,233 MORROW: And Papa was old when I was a little girl. 76 00:03:57,233 --> 00:03:58,666 But he was sweet. 77 00:03:58,666 --> 00:04:00,866 And we would talk to Papa and ask Papa questions about, 78 00:04:00,866 --> 00:04:01,900 when he was growing up. 79 00:04:01,900 --> 00:04:02,966 GATES: Mm-hmm. 80 00:04:02,966 --> 00:04:06,333 MORROW: But, his mother, he never got to know. 81 00:04:06,333 --> 00:04:08,800 He knew her up until I think maybe about the age of five. 82 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:10,133 GATES: Mm-hmm. 83 00:04:10,133 --> 00:04:11,800 MORROW: And somewhere in the course of time, she left him. 84 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:13,666 GATES: Mm-hmm. 85 00:04:13,666 --> 00:04:15,200 MORROW: Um, she left him with a family whose last name 86 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:16,733 was Tagger and that's who raised him. 87 00:04:16,733 --> 00:04:17,766 GATES: Mm-hmm. 88 00:04:17,766 --> 00:04:19,133 MORROW: And he never saw her again. 89 00:04:19,133 --> 00:04:21,833 So from the time of about five for the rest of his life into, 90 00:04:21,833 --> 00:04:25,000 I think Papa was somewhere between 105-plus when he passed. 91 00:04:25,233 --> 00:04:26,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 92 00:04:26,433 --> 00:04:27,700 MORROW: He never knew what happened to his mother. 93 00:04:27,700 --> 00:04:29,033 He never saw her again. 94 00:04:29,033 --> 00:04:33,533 And so we've often wondered not just who she was because 95 00:04:33,533 --> 00:04:35,566 we knew her name, but why? 96 00:04:35,566 --> 00:04:37,333 You know, why would you leave a little boy? 97 00:04:37,333 --> 00:04:38,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 98 00:04:38,433 --> 00:04:39,866 MORROW: And I don't know that the family that 99 00:04:39,866 --> 00:04:41,066 she left him with, 100 00:04:41,066 --> 00:04:43,366 I don't know if they were strangers to him or not. 101 00:04:43,366 --> 00:04:44,633 GATES: Mm-hmm. 102 00:04:44,633 --> 00:04:46,000 MORROW: They must not have been strangers to her 'cause 103 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:47,833 I don't think anybody would just abandon their child to 104 00:04:47,833 --> 00:04:50,400 a family and don't know anything about them. 105 00:04:50,400 --> 00:04:53,166 But we want... 106 00:04:54,666 --> 00:04:55,800 Why did she leave him? 107 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:56,833 GATES: Hmm. 108 00:04:56,833 --> 00:04:58,333 MORROW: I mean, he's five years old. 109 00:04:58,333 --> 00:04:59,866 GATES: It's showtime! 110 00:04:59,866 --> 00:05:02,800 My second guest is Megan Robertson, 111 00:05:03,466 --> 00:05:05,866 a speech therapist from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 112 00:05:06,366 --> 00:05:07,500 Are you excited? 113 00:05:07,500 --> 00:05:11,600 Like Terrie, Megan's mystery begins with a child. 114 00:05:11,966 --> 00:05:15,500 According to her family, Megan's great-grandfather, 115 00:05:15,500 --> 00:05:18,266 a man named Green Marshall Church, 116 00:05:18,266 --> 00:05:21,666 was put up for adoption when he was a boy, 117 00:05:21,966 --> 00:05:26,100 and no one knew the identity of his biological parents. 118 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,066 GATES: Now how old were you 119 00:05:28,066 --> 00:05:29,866 when your father told you about this? 120 00:05:29,866 --> 00:05:31,866 ROBERTSON: I was probably 15 or 16. 121 00:05:31,866 --> 00:05:33,133 GATES: And how did he tell you? 122 00:05:33,133 --> 00:05:35,433 ROBERTSON: I just remember, you know, him telling me, 123 00:05:35,433 --> 00:05:37,300 my dad telling me, um, 124 00:05:37,300 --> 00:05:40,966 along with my grandfather, you know, that his name was 125 00:05:40,966 --> 00:05:45,166 Green and that's where my dad's middle name came from, um, 126 00:05:45,166 --> 00:05:47,566 and that they didn't have any information. 127 00:05:47,566 --> 00:05:50,200 That he had passed away and we didn't know who had raised him 128 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:51,500 or where he came from. 129 00:05:51,500 --> 00:05:52,966 GATES: What was your reaction? 130 00:05:52,966 --> 00:05:56,266 ROBERTSON: Uh, I remember being sad. 131 00:05:57,100 --> 00:05:59,633 Sad because I knew all of my grandparents. 132 00:05:59,633 --> 00:06:01,600 I was very close with all of my grandparents, you know? 133 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:02,800 GATES: Mm-hmm. 134 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:03,966 ROBERTSON: I had two sets of grandparents up until 135 00:06:03,966 --> 00:06:04,966 I was in college. 136 00:06:04,966 --> 00:06:06,000 GATES: Really? ROBERTSON: Yeah. 137 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:07,033 GATES: Oh, you were very lucky. 138 00:06:07,033 --> 00:06:08,500 ROBERTSON: I was very lucky. GATES: Mm-hmm. 139 00:06:08,500 --> 00:06:10,000 ROBERTSON: So to know that he had none of that. 140 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:11,866 GATES: Mm-hmm. ROBERTSON: It was heartbreaking. 141 00:06:11,866 --> 00:06:13,033 GATES: What would it mean, 142 00:06:13,033 --> 00:06:15,266 um, for you finally to get the answer? 143 00:06:15,266 --> 00:06:19,733 ROBERTSON: So, in recent years, um, like six years ago, 144 00:06:20,633 --> 00:06:22,966 my dad was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. 145 00:06:22,966 --> 00:06:24,100 GATES: Mm-hmm. 146 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:27,666 ROBERTSON: And, and one of his siblings has 147 00:06:27,666 --> 00:06:28,766 Stage 4 breast cancer. 148 00:06:28,766 --> 00:06:30,133 GATES: Mmm. 149 00:06:30,133 --> 00:06:33,033 ROBERTSON: And having, um, illnesses and things like 150 00:06:33,033 --> 00:06:35,133 that kind of come at our family. 151 00:06:35,133 --> 00:06:37,800 Um, I... 152 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,100 I think I felt like the time was getting to be 153 00:06:41,100 --> 00:06:46,133 a little shorter than I'd like and I wanted to, like, 154 00:06:46,133 --> 00:06:48,466 to be able to give them this information is, 155 00:06:48,466 --> 00:06:50,200 is the greatest gift. 156 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:51,333 GATES: Mm-hmm. 157 00:06:51,333 --> 00:06:52,400 ROBERTSON: These were their grandparents. 158 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:53,700 GATES: That's right. ROBERTSON: You know? 159 00:06:53,700 --> 00:06:55,066 GATES: This is your father's grandfather. 160 00:06:55,066 --> 00:06:56,100 ROBERTSON: Yeah. 161 00:06:56,100 --> 00:06:57,633 To be able to tell them, you know, like, 162 00:06:57,633 --> 00:06:59,166 "Hey, this is what our last name may have been" 163 00:06:59,166 --> 00:07:00,333 GATES: Uh-huh. 164 00:07:00,333 --> 00:07:01,666 ROBERTSON: You know, or, 165 00:07:01,666 --> 00:07:02,800 "This is when we came over to this country." 166 00:07:02,800 --> 00:07:04,066 GATES: Mm-hmm. 167 00:07:04,066 --> 00:07:05,500 ROBERTSON: Um, because no one ever, 168 00:07:05,500 --> 00:07:07,300 has ever known. 169 00:07:07,766 --> 00:07:10,500 GATES: My third guest is Joyce Willis, 170 00:07:10,933 --> 00:07:13,866 a civil servant in Philadelphia. 171 00:07:13,866 --> 00:07:17,300 Joyce came to me with a with a question about her grandmother, 172 00:07:17,566 --> 00:07:19,933 a woman named Beatrice Willis. 173 00:07:19,933 --> 00:07:22,933 Beatrice grew up in a small family, 174 00:07:22,933 --> 00:07:26,300 closely bonded to her sister Melba. 175 00:07:26,766 --> 00:07:28,333 But late in her life, 176 00:07:28,333 --> 00:07:31,966 she told Joyce that she didn't know if the man who had 177 00:07:31,966 --> 00:07:36,033 raised her was actually her biological father. 178 00:07:36,833 --> 00:07:38,300 The reason? 179 00:07:38,300 --> 00:07:39,800 When she was young, 180 00:07:39,800 --> 00:07:42,433 Beatrice's father had teased her, 181 00:07:42,433 --> 00:07:45,733 claiming that she was not his daughter, 182 00:07:46,033 --> 00:07:49,766 and those words lingered on. 183 00:07:49,966 --> 00:07:52,133 WILLIS: She told me one time, just once, 184 00:07:52,133 --> 00:07:54,366 her father said to her, in joking, 185 00:07:54,366 --> 00:07:55,800 that he might not be her father. 186 00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:56,933 GATES: Mm-hmm. 187 00:07:56,933 --> 00:07:58,500 WILLIS: It stuck with her for the rest of her life. 188 00:07:58,500 --> 00:08:01,766 GATES: Why would a parent, um, tell a child, 189 00:08:01,766 --> 00:08:03,900 “You know, I'm not really your father"? 190 00:08:03,900 --> 00:08:05,100 WILLIS: I can't imagine. 191 00:08:05,100 --> 00:08:06,566 GATES: I mean, what kind of joke is that, right? 192 00:08:06,566 --> 00:08:09,100 WILLIS: Yeah. Yeah. So he had to have some reason. 193 00:08:09,100 --> 00:08:10,366 GATES: Mm-hmm. 194 00:08:10,366 --> 00:08:12,133 WILLIS: I imagine he had to have some reason for doubt, 195 00:08:12,133 --> 00:08:14,833 you know, uh, I don't know what he looked like. 196 00:08:14,833 --> 00:08:16,233 I have never been able to find a picture. 197 00:08:16,233 --> 00:08:17,266 GATES: Mm-hmm. 198 00:08:17,266 --> 00:08:19,900 WILLIS: So I can't compare her, you know? 199 00:08:19,900 --> 00:08:20,933 GATES: Mm-hmm. 200 00:08:20,933 --> 00:08:22,266 WILLIS: Her physical features to either of my 201 00:08:22,266 --> 00:08:23,333 great-grandparents, 202 00:08:23,333 --> 00:08:24,466 'cause I've never seen a picture of 'em. 203 00:08:24,466 --> 00:08:25,633 GATES: Mm-hmm. 204 00:08:25,633 --> 00:08:27,433 WILLIS: So I don't know if he was Melba's dad and 205 00:08:27,433 --> 00:08:28,733 not my grandmother's, 206 00:08:28,733 --> 00:08:30,766 or if he was really my grandmother's dad and 207 00:08:30,766 --> 00:08:33,300 not Melba's, or maybe he wasn't either one of their 208 00:08:33,300 --> 00:08:34,566 father and he was 209 00:08:34,566 --> 00:08:37,033 you know, I, I don't know what the story is. 210 00:08:37,866 --> 00:08:40,233 GATES: My three guests have spent decades trying 211 00:08:40,233 --> 00:08:42,533 to solve their family mysteries, 212 00:08:42,900 --> 00:08:46,033 and each told me that they wanted to know the truth, 213 00:08:46,500 --> 00:08:49,333 even if the truth was painful. 214 00:08:50,933 --> 00:08:54,566 It was time to give them the answers they had been seeking. 215 00:08:56,633 --> 00:08:58,866 I started with Terrie Morrow. 216 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:03,000 Terrie's great-grandfather Walter was abandoned 217 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,066 when he was five. 218 00:09:05,066 --> 00:09:07,333 For a few years after that, 219 00:09:07,333 --> 00:09:10,633 he received letters and money from his mother, 220 00:09:11,133 --> 00:09:13,566 but he never saw her again. 221 00:09:13,933 --> 00:09:16,866 Terrie knows that Walter's mother was named 222 00:09:16,866 --> 00:09:19,100 “Lenora Kirkland”, 223 00:09:19,100 --> 00:09:22,266 and she suspects that Lenora was a White woman 224 00:09:23,233 --> 00:09:27,566 who conceived Walter with a Black man named “Hal Moore.” 225 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:30,333 But beyond that, 226 00:09:30,333 --> 00:09:33,700 Terrie's many efforts to learn about Lenora have 227 00:09:33,700 --> 00:09:35,400 come up empty. 228 00:09:36,800 --> 00:09:39,766 Why do you think the mystery has proven so hard to solve? 229 00:09:41,133 --> 00:09:43,533 MORROW: She left Alabama when, apparently, 230 00:09:43,533 --> 00:09:45,900 I think Papa thought that she went to Georgia when she left. 231 00:09:45,900 --> 00:09:47,166 GATES: Mm-hmm. 232 00:09:47,166 --> 00:09:48,766 MORROW: Maybe that's where the mail came from or whatever. 233 00:09:48,766 --> 00:09:50,600 And I think she cut all ties. 234 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:51,766 GATES: Mm-hmm. 235 00:09:51,766 --> 00:09:53,566 MORROW: So when you cut ties, you, you know, 236 00:09:53,566 --> 00:09:55,866 you end whatever relationships. 237 00:09:55,866 --> 00:09:58,266 And maybe because she knew she had a child back there, 238 00:09:58,266 --> 00:10:00,366 but at some point the money stopped coming. 239 00:10:00,366 --> 00:10:01,533 GATES: Mm-hmm. 240 00:10:01,533 --> 00:10:02,966 MORROW: You know, she didn't forever send, 241 00:10:02,966 --> 00:10:04,400 and I don't know if it stopped coming because she, 242 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,433 she died or her circumstances changed or what. 243 00:10:07,733 --> 00:10:09,900 And so I think that she cut ties and just didn't 244 00:10:09,900 --> 00:10:11,100 wanna be found. 245 00:10:11,100 --> 00:10:13,100 GATES: Why is this question, this mystery, 246 00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:15,133 haunted you all this time? 247 00:10:15,133 --> 00:10:16,966 MORROW: There's few things for me that are more important 248 00:10:16,966 --> 00:10:18,300 than my family. 249 00:10:18,300 --> 00:10:19,566 Papa was important to me. 250 00:10:19,566 --> 00:10:20,766 GATES: Mm-hmm. 251 00:10:20,766 --> 00:10:22,200 MORROW: But he can't be here to solve that mystery. 252 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:23,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. 253 00:10:23,300 --> 00:10:24,733 MORROW: He can't be here to say, you know, 254 00:10:24,733 --> 00:10:26,200 "I would love to know." 255 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:27,466 Because I'm sure, 256 00:10:27,466 --> 00:10:28,833 who wouldn't wanna know what happened to their mother? 257 00:10:28,833 --> 00:10:31,800 You know, and so in his stead, you know, 258 00:10:31,800 --> 00:10:35,500 for me to try to find out as much as I can, uh, you know. 259 00:10:35,500 --> 00:10:39,100 Any answer is better than the answer that he had, 260 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:40,866 which was nothing. 261 00:10:41,900 --> 00:10:43,800 GATES: Turning to the paper trail, 262 00:10:43,800 --> 00:10:47,433 the evidence seemed to confirm what Terrie had suspected: 263 00:10:48,633 --> 00:10:53,233 census records for Alabama show that in 1880, 264 00:10:53,233 --> 00:10:55,766 the year after Walter was born, 265 00:10:56,100 --> 00:10:59,600 a 32-year-old, unmarried White woman named 266 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,366 “Lenora Kirkland” was living in the same county 267 00:11:03,366 --> 00:11:06,733 as a married 19-year-old African American 268 00:11:06,733 --> 00:11:09,100 named “Henry Moore.” 269 00:11:09,366 --> 00:11:12,966 Indeed, the two were practically neighbors. 270 00:11:16,466 --> 00:11:17,633 MORROW: That's what I thought, 271 00:11:17,633 --> 00:11:20,733 "Inhabitants in Beat 4 in the County of Autauga, 272 00:11:20,733 --> 00:11:22,200 State of Alabama. 273 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:26,800 Henry Moore, son, mulatto, age 19, married. 274 00:11:27,500 --> 00:11:30,833 Henrietta Moore, Black, age 18." 275 00:11:31,366 --> 00:11:33,100 And can I just say? 276 00:11:33,100 --> 00:11:34,300 When I was kind of doing... 277 00:11:34,300 --> 00:11:35,400 GATES: Sure. 278 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:37,366 MORROW: A little bit of sleuthing, 279 00:11:37,366 --> 00:11:40,833 "Hal" is a, one of those nicknames 280 00:11:40,833 --> 00:11:42,200 that people give “Henry.” 281 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:43,566 GATES: Mm-hmm, that's right. 282 00:11:43,566 --> 00:11:45,066 MORROW: And so that was like, "Okay." 283 00:11:45,066 --> 00:11:46,266 So, this is him. 284 00:11:46,266 --> 00:11:47,466 GATES: Mm-hmm. 285 00:11:47,466 --> 00:11:48,866 MORROW: That's what I came to the conclusion. 286 00:11:48,866 --> 00:11:50,400 He's 19, she's 32. 287 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,000 GATES: Mm-hmm, right. MORROW: And he's married. 288 00:11:52,000 --> 00:11:53,200 GATES: Mm-hmm. 289 00:11:53,200 --> 00:11:54,633 MORROW: To a Black woman, no less. 290 00:11:54,633 --> 00:11:56,000 GATES: Right. MORROW: It was like, 291 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:58,333 "Okay, what you doing with that White girl?" 292 00:12:01,133 --> 00:12:03,733 GATES: We don't know anything about Lenora 293 00:12:03,733 --> 00:12:05,466 and Hal's relationship. 294 00:12:06,633 --> 00:12:09,733 But we do know that when Walter was born, 295 00:12:09,733 --> 00:12:13,566 interracial marriage, and even interracial sex, 296 00:12:13,566 --> 00:12:17,133 was illegal throughout most of the United States. 297 00:12:18,433 --> 00:12:21,433 So Lenora and Hal could not have stayed together 298 00:12:21,433 --> 00:12:23,933 even if they had wanted to, 299 00:12:23,933 --> 00:12:27,233 a fact that was meaningful to Terrie. 300 00:12:27,966 --> 00:12:31,500 MORROW: For me, this puts her in the light of... 301 00:12:32,366 --> 00:12:37,700 she made choices outside of what was expected of her, 302 00:12:37,700 --> 00:12:39,600 even for a moment. 303 00:12:39,600 --> 00:12:40,633 GATES: Mm-hmm. 304 00:12:40,633 --> 00:12:42,066 MORROW: Even for a moment. 305 00:12:42,066 --> 00:12:44,766 Because to be honest, 306 00:12:44,766 --> 00:12:49,300 what's wrong with loving somebody of another race? 307 00:12:49,300 --> 00:12:51,166 Nothing has ever been wrong with it. 308 00:12:51,166 --> 00:12:52,200 GATES: Right. 309 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:54,333 MORROW: Not even back to the beginning of time. 310 00:12:54,333 --> 00:12:57,600 Because people made it wrong at that time. 311 00:12:57,600 --> 00:12:58,766 Now, I don't... 312 00:12:58,766 --> 00:13:01,066 Maybe that married man thing, but, 313 00:13:01,066 --> 00:13:04,433 but there's never been anything wrong with loving someone 314 00:13:04,433 --> 00:13:06,000 who doesn't look like you. 315 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:07,366 GATES: Mm-hmm. 316 00:13:07,366 --> 00:13:10,566 MORROW: And for her to make that choice herself, 317 00:13:10,566 --> 00:13:12,400 she didn't let her society, 318 00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:14,900 she didn't let the people around her dictate 319 00:13:14,900 --> 00:13:17,200 that that was what she wanted to do. 320 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,166 Whether it was illegal at the time, 321 00:13:20,166 --> 00:13:22,633 that's a law that should never have ever been 322 00:13:22,633 --> 00:13:24,733 on a book ever anyway. 323 00:13:24,733 --> 00:13:25,766 GATES: Right. 324 00:13:25,766 --> 00:13:26,933 MORROW: You know? 325 00:13:26,933 --> 00:13:29,266 I say she did, it was a brave thing. 326 00:13:29,266 --> 00:13:30,566 GATES: Mm-hmm. 327 00:13:30,566 --> 00:13:32,000 MORROW: You know, it's brave. There's some courage there. 328 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,966 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: There's a, you know... 329 00:13:33,966 --> 00:13:38,266 I've been a little too independent most of my life. 330 00:13:38,266 --> 00:13:40,633 From early childhood. 331 00:13:40,633 --> 00:13:42,800 My brother came along just after I did. 332 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:44,933 And so I had to get off my mother's knee, 333 00:13:44,933 --> 00:13:47,266 and as I tell people, make my own milk bottle, 334 00:13:47,266 --> 00:13:49,333 change my own diaper. 335 00:13:49,333 --> 00:13:53,800 And so to see that she was independent thinking, 336 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:56,666 to the degree that nobody was gonna tell her, 337 00:13:56,666 --> 00:13:58,466 "Because he doesn't look like me..." 338 00:13:58,466 --> 00:13:59,500 GATES: Mm-hmm. 339 00:13:59,500 --> 00:14:01,800 MORROW: "He's not worthy." You know? 340 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:03,300 Now, that he was married, 341 00:14:03,300 --> 00:14:05,100 I'll leave that for a whole ‘nother segment. 342 00:14:05,100 --> 00:14:06,466 But, you know, 343 00:14:06,466 --> 00:14:08,500 but the fact that she could independently say, 344 00:14:08,500 --> 00:14:09,566 "It doesn't matter." 345 00:14:09,566 --> 00:14:10,800 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: You know. 346 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:13,066 "I love, I like," you know, whatever the case may be, 347 00:14:13,066 --> 00:14:14,300 I'm going to make it a love story. 348 00:14:14,300 --> 00:14:15,366 GATES: Mm-hmm. 349 00:14:15,366 --> 00:14:16,366 MORROW: Because that's just what I do. 350 00:14:16,366 --> 00:14:17,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 351 00:14:17,433 --> 00:14:18,666 MORROW: "I love that Black man. I love me some, 352 00:14:18,666 --> 00:14:20,766 some Hal, you know, Moore." 353 00:14:20,766 --> 00:14:24,666 And that shows to me that she was a woman who 354 00:14:24,666 --> 00:14:28,100 would do what she knew in her heart. 355 00:14:28,100 --> 00:14:29,266 GATES: Mm-hmm. 356 00:14:29,266 --> 00:14:31,466 MORROW: Not what society told her. 357 00:14:32,266 --> 00:14:34,433 GATES: Terrie's feelings are supported by the fact that 358 00:14:34,433 --> 00:14:37,233 no one in her family has claimed 359 00:14:37,233 --> 00:14:41,733 that Lenora's relationship with Hal was not consensual. 360 00:14:42,566 --> 00:14:45,400 But this only underscored our question, 361 00:14:45,400 --> 00:14:48,433 why was Walter abandoned? 362 00:14:48,433 --> 00:14:50,833 The paper trail couldn't tell us. 363 00:14:50,833 --> 00:14:54,433 So we turned to DNA, and found a clue. 364 00:14:55,666 --> 00:14:58,200 We knew that Lenora's father was a man named 365 00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:00,633 “Henry Chambers”... 366 00:15:00,633 --> 00:15:04,166 And when we compared Terrie's mother's genetic profile 367 00:15:04,166 --> 00:15:08,766 to millions of other profiles in publicly available databases, 368 00:15:08,766 --> 00:15:14,233 we saw a cluster of matches that only made sense if they were 369 00:15:14,233 --> 00:15:17,800 viewed with the “Chambers” surname in mind... 370 00:15:20,333 --> 00:15:22,966 Now, Terrie, look at that graphic in front of you. 371 00:15:22,966 --> 00:15:25,233 That's a family tree from one of your mother's 372 00:15:25,233 --> 00:15:28,333 maternal DNA matches, a woman named Mary Pitts. 373 00:15:28,333 --> 00:15:30,666 I'm sure you've never heard the name Mary Pitts? 374 00:15:30,666 --> 00:15:31,933 MORROW: I've never heard Mary Pitts. 375 00:15:31,933 --> 00:15:33,800 GATES: Now do you see Mary Pitts at the bottom of the tree 376 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:35,233 in the blue box? 377 00:15:35,233 --> 00:15:37,200 MORROW: I do, matched to my mother. 378 00:15:37,200 --> 00:15:39,533 GATES: Mary was born in 1944. 379 00:15:39,533 --> 00:15:41,566 She's roughly the same age as your mom and 380 00:15:41,566 --> 00:15:45,933 she and your mom share 127 centimorgans of DNA, 381 00:15:45,933 --> 00:15:48,600 which is a fairly significant amount. 382 00:15:48,600 --> 00:15:51,366 So we believe that they are half-second cousins. 383 00:15:51,366 --> 00:15:52,833 Okay? 384 00:15:52,833 --> 00:15:54,733 Now your mother has a number of DNA cousins 385 00:15:54,733 --> 00:15:57,000 like Mary in the DNA databases, 386 00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,733 but Mary became especially important to us 387 00:15:59,733 --> 00:16:01,566 when we built this tree. 388 00:16:01,566 --> 00:16:03,200 Take a look. 389 00:16:03,200 --> 00:16:05,666 The two boxes above Mary represent her parents. 390 00:16:05,666 --> 00:16:06,733 MORROW: Mm-hmm. 391 00:16:06,733 --> 00:16:08,666 GATES: Would you please read their names? 392 00:16:08,666 --> 00:16:12,333 MORROW: “Charles Herman Sims, born 10 June 1907, 393 00:16:12,333 --> 00:16:18,366 and Dee Fant, born about 29th of May, 1915.” 394 00:16:18,366 --> 00:16:21,533 GATES: Now the two boxes above Dee Fant represent 395 00:16:21,533 --> 00:16:25,066 her parents, Mary's maternal grandparents. 396 00:16:25,066 --> 00:16:27,200 Would you please read those names? 397 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:31,000 MORROW: “Lawrence Fant, born about 1863. 398 00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:35,400 Mary Chambers, born about 1885”" 399 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,233 GATES: Any of those surnames ring a bell? 400 00:16:37,233 --> 00:16:39,933 MORROW: Chambers is flagging there. 401 00:16:40,833 --> 00:16:44,500 GATES: This name was a “flag” for us as well. 402 00:16:45,666 --> 00:16:50,366 It turns out that Mary Chambers was Lenora's daughter, 403 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:56,133 and in the 1900 census for Georgia, we found Lenora, 404 00:16:56,133 --> 00:16:58,300 listed as a widow, 405 00:16:58,300 --> 00:17:02,333 living with Mary and a son named John. 406 00:17:03,266 --> 00:17:06,366 All three are described as being “white”, 407 00:17:06,366 --> 00:17:09,933 suggesting that Lenora left Walter behind 408 00:17:09,933 --> 00:17:12,633 to start a family with another man. 409 00:17:12,633 --> 00:17:14,600 A White man. 410 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:18,266 What's more, this same census shows that when Lenora 411 00:17:18,266 --> 00:17:20,933 was asked how many children she had, 412 00:17:20,933 --> 00:17:23,333 she answered “two”, 413 00:17:23,333 --> 00:17:27,800 as if Walter did not even exist. 414 00:17:29,933 --> 00:17:32,700 MORROW: Okay. 415 00:17:36,500 --> 00:17:39,500 GATES: She's run away and invented a new life. 416 00:17:40,666 --> 00:17:43,966 MORROW: Well, you know, what do you do? 417 00:17:43,966 --> 00:17:45,533 If you say a third one, 418 00:17:45,533 --> 00:17:47,666 then somebody's gonna ask where he is, you know? 419 00:17:47,666 --> 00:17:49,633 GATES: Right. MORROW: Where is he? 420 00:17:49,633 --> 00:17:51,166 GATES: But imagine the guilt she harbored. 421 00:17:51,166 --> 00:17:52,933 I mean, when someone looked at her and said, 422 00:17:52,933 --> 00:17:54,833 "How many children..." She said, "Two." 423 00:17:54,833 --> 00:17:57,166 But she knew it was three. 424 00:17:58,033 --> 00:18:00,600 MORROW: You know, people do 425 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,133 what they have to do sometimes, I guess. 426 00:18:03,133 --> 00:18:04,233 GATES: You can forget a lot of things, 427 00:18:04,233 --> 00:18:05,633 but you can't forget a child. 428 00:18:05,633 --> 00:18:07,133 MORROW: Yeah, no. 429 00:18:07,133 --> 00:18:09,433 But for some reason, she had to say two. 430 00:18:09,433 --> 00:18:11,833 Or at least what she thought was the reason. 431 00:18:11,833 --> 00:18:14,333 GATES: Oh well, we know why. In 1900, in Alabama? 432 00:18:14,333 --> 00:18:16,766 MORROW: Yeah I'm out of there and I'm leaving that 433 00:18:16,766 --> 00:18:18,266 whole story behind me. 434 00:18:18,266 --> 00:18:19,700 GATES: How many White men would have married a 435 00:18:19,700 --> 00:18:21,100 White woman who had a Black baby? 436 00:18:21,100 --> 00:18:22,233 MORROW: Not one. 437 00:18:22,233 --> 00:18:23,333 GATES: No, I mean, it was illegal. 438 00:18:23,333 --> 00:18:24,933 MORROW: Not one. GATES: And, and shameful. 439 00:18:24,933 --> 00:18:28,900 MORROW: Yeah. I mean, you know, and I don't... 440 00:18:29,266 --> 00:18:30,500 I'm not mad at her. 441 00:18:30,500 --> 00:18:33,366 I'm not, I'm not. I feel bad for her. 442 00:18:33,366 --> 00:18:34,566 GATES: Mm-hmm. 443 00:18:34,566 --> 00:18:37,733 MORROW: Because as a mother, you don't forget. 444 00:18:37,733 --> 00:18:39,100 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: You know? 445 00:18:39,100 --> 00:18:40,133 GATES: Right. 446 00:18:40,133 --> 00:18:41,900 MORROW: You, you have to forget on paper, 447 00:18:41,900 --> 00:18:43,266 when people question you. 448 00:18:43,266 --> 00:18:45,000 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: You have to pretend. 449 00:18:45,000 --> 00:18:46,300 But as a mother, you don't forget. 450 00:18:46,300 --> 00:18:47,366 GATES: No, you can't. 451 00:18:47,366 --> 00:18:49,666 MORROW: So it's not like you can ever say, 452 00:18:49,666 --> 00:18:51,633 well, you know, with any, 453 00:18:51,633 --> 00:18:54,100 any sense of, of truth within yourself that, 454 00:18:54,100 --> 00:18:55,733 "I'm the mother of two." 455 00:18:55,733 --> 00:18:57,033 GATES: Right. 456 00:18:57,033 --> 00:18:58,566 MORROW: Because you know you're the mother of more than two. 457 00:18:58,566 --> 00:18:59,633 You're the mother of three. 458 00:18:59,633 --> 00:19:00,966 GATES: Right. 459 00:19:00,966 --> 00:19:02,733 MORROW: At, at the minimum, you're the mother of three. 460 00:19:03,800 --> 00:19:07,033 GATES: We know very little more about Lenora. 461 00:19:07,033 --> 00:19:12,500 She likely died sometime between 1920 and 1926 462 00:19:12,500 --> 00:19:15,333 in Donalsonville, Georgia. 463 00:19:15,333 --> 00:19:20,366 The last record we have for her is the 1920 census, 464 00:19:20,900 --> 00:19:23,900 which shows her living in Donalsonville with 465 00:19:23,900 --> 00:19:26,366 her daughter Mary. 466 00:19:26,366 --> 00:19:27,933 By that time, 467 00:19:27,933 --> 00:19:31,633 her son Walter would have been 40 years old. 468 00:19:33,433 --> 00:19:37,766 Think about this, Walter died in March 1986 at the age of 105. 469 00:19:37,766 --> 00:19:40,433 The family story is that Lenora left him with the Taggers 470 00:19:40,433 --> 00:19:42,133 when he was about five years old, 471 00:19:42,133 --> 00:19:44,300 which means he lived 100 years... 472 00:19:44,300 --> 00:19:45,566 MORROW: 100 years. 473 00:19:45,566 --> 00:19:47,500 GATES: Without ever seeing his mother again. 474 00:19:47,500 --> 00:19:50,766 MORROW: Yup. Yup, yup, yup. 475 00:19:50,766 --> 00:19:52,833 GATES: What do you think he would've felt 476 00:19:52,833 --> 00:19:56,200 learning what you've learned today? 477 00:20:02,366 --> 00:20:06,500 MORROW: He would have longed to see her again, 478 00:20:06,500 --> 00:20:08,700 longed for the possibility of seeing her again, 479 00:20:08,700 --> 00:20:10,800 because what child doesn't want to see their mother? 480 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:13,100 You're always your mother's child. 481 00:20:13,700 --> 00:20:18,400 He would've been pleased that she was being taken care of. 482 00:20:19,366 --> 00:20:21,300 You know, she's with her daughter, 483 00:20:21,300 --> 00:20:24,966 who must be caring for her. 484 00:20:26,133 --> 00:20:29,133 I think that what he would've wanted most 485 00:20:29,133 --> 00:20:30,633 was to know that she was okay. 486 00:20:30,633 --> 00:20:32,933 GATES: Mm-hmm. MORROW: You know, here's 1920. 487 00:20:32,933 --> 00:20:35,166 He's, he's building a family, because at this point, 488 00:20:35,166 --> 00:20:36,433 my grandmother's born. 489 00:20:36,433 --> 00:20:37,466 GATES: Mm-hmm. 490 00:20:37,466 --> 00:20:38,866 MORROW: So he's building his own family. 491 00:20:38,866 --> 00:20:41,766 I would think maybe the desire to present his family may have, 492 00:20:41,766 --> 00:20:44,500 you know, been within him. "These are mine." 493 00:20:44,500 --> 00:20:45,933 GATES: Mm-hmm. 494 00:20:45,933 --> 00:20:48,300 MORROW: But I think that he would've been most happy to 495 00:20:48,300 --> 00:20:51,233 know that she was being taken care of. 496 00:20:52,000 --> 00:20:54,866 GATES: There is a final beat to this story. 497 00:20:54,866 --> 00:20:56,933 According her descendants, 498 00:20:56,933 --> 00:21:00,433 Lenora's daughter Mary had a cerebral hemorrhage 499 00:21:00,433 --> 00:21:03,800 and passed away around 1926, 500 00:21:03,800 --> 00:21:07,500 roughly the same time as Lenora, 501 00:21:07,500 --> 00:21:10,733 throwing her family into chaos. 502 00:21:11,833 --> 00:21:15,566 Indeed, Mary's daughter Dee ended up in an orphanage 503 00:21:15,566 --> 00:21:18,666 following her mother's death. 504 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,133 MORROW: No. 505 00:21:24,133 --> 00:21:28,566 Oh my goodness. That's terrible. 506 00:21:28,566 --> 00:21:30,833 GATES: What's it like to know that Lenora's other family 507 00:21:30,833 --> 00:21:32,700 had such tough going? 508 00:21:32,700 --> 00:21:34,633 MORROW: It was hard for everybody. 509 00:21:34,633 --> 00:21:36,233 I mean, it was hard. 510 00:21:36,233 --> 00:21:38,466 It was hard for her, for choices that she made, 511 00:21:38,466 --> 00:21:39,900 but it was hard for everybody. 512 00:21:39,900 --> 00:21:41,100 GATES: Mm-hmm. 513 00:21:41,100 --> 00:21:42,866 MORROW: But an orphanage? 514 00:21:42,866 --> 00:21:45,066 Boy. 515 00:21:45,066 --> 00:21:47,633 GATES: Unfortunately, remember, there's another sib? 516 00:21:47,633 --> 00:21:49,600 We don't know what became of Walter's half-brother, 517 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:51,000 John Chambers. 518 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:54,400 He disappeared from records after the 1910 census. 519 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:56,166 Not only Black people disappear from it. 520 00:21:56,166 --> 00:21:57,766 (laughing) 521 00:21:57,766 --> 00:21:59,366 Now, I know it's a lot to process, 522 00:21:59,366 --> 00:22:02,233 but does what you've learned change how you feel about 523 00:22:02,233 --> 00:22:05,133 Lenora and about her decision to abandon 524 00:22:05,133 --> 00:22:07,233 your great-grandfather? 525 00:22:07,233 --> 00:22:09,766 MORROW: I think it makes me appreciate her more. 526 00:22:09,766 --> 00:22:13,666 You don't get to... 527 00:22:13,666 --> 00:22:17,166 be on this earth and not make mistakes. 528 00:22:17,166 --> 00:22:20,466 You don't get to be on this earth and not... 529 00:22:20,466 --> 00:22:22,733 make some bad decisions. 530 00:22:22,733 --> 00:22:24,033 GATES: Mm-hmm. 531 00:22:24,033 --> 00:22:26,933 MORROW: But the fact that other people could sit in 532 00:22:26,933 --> 00:22:30,633 judgment of you does not change the decision. 533 00:22:30,633 --> 00:22:32,633 It just changes what other people think. 534 00:22:32,633 --> 00:22:34,733 GATES: Right. MORROW: She made a choice. 535 00:22:34,733 --> 00:22:37,033 She made a choice that was a difficult choice to make. 536 00:22:37,033 --> 00:22:40,366 I mean, how many of us could make the choice. 537 00:22:40,366 --> 00:22:42,100 And what do, what do you do? 538 00:22:42,100 --> 00:22:43,500 You know, you've got this kid. 539 00:22:43,500 --> 00:22:44,933 You love this kid, obviously. 540 00:22:44,933 --> 00:22:46,200 What do you do? 541 00:22:46,200 --> 00:22:47,266 GATES: Right. 542 00:22:47,266 --> 00:22:49,966 MORROW: So she made a choice that, at the time, 543 00:22:49,966 --> 00:22:53,466 she thought was the best choice for him, for her. 544 00:22:53,466 --> 00:22:54,733 GATES: Mm-hmm. 545 00:22:54,733 --> 00:22:56,833 MORROW: And so to know that, 546 00:22:56,833 --> 00:22:58,766 and especially when you take into consideration, 547 00:22:58,766 --> 00:23:00,533 which I do, 548 00:23:00,533 --> 00:23:02,400 but sitting here with you makes me 549 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,466 really think about, the times. 550 00:23:05,466 --> 00:23:09,200 The times were so terrible. 551 00:23:09,200 --> 00:23:11,900 And this was before, you know, 552 00:23:11,900 --> 00:23:15,600 anybody would dare to think that you could make it out alive. 553 00:23:15,600 --> 00:23:16,966 GATES: Right. 554 00:23:16,966 --> 00:23:18,666 MORROW: You know, you wouldn't dare to think you could 555 00:23:18,666 --> 00:23:21,100 make it out alive of this situation. 556 00:23:21,100 --> 00:23:23,300 And so she gave, she gave him a chance too. 557 00:23:23,300 --> 00:23:25,133 GATES: Right. MORROW: She gave him a chance. 558 00:23:25,133 --> 00:23:27,966 She made a choice that no doubt broke her heart. 559 00:23:27,966 --> 00:23:29,100 GATES: Mm-hmm. 560 00:23:29,100 --> 00:23:30,633 MORROW: Because you can't leave your child and 561 00:23:30,633 --> 00:23:32,700 not grieve it, grieve that loss. 562 00:23:32,700 --> 00:23:34,533 But she... 563 00:23:34,533 --> 00:23:35,900 GATES: And guilt, and suffered guilt. 564 00:23:35,900 --> 00:23:38,000 MORROW: And even with the guilt, 565 00:23:38,000 --> 00:23:40,233 that's something she had to live with. 566 00:23:40,233 --> 00:23:41,600 GATES: Mm-hmm. 567 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:43,000 MORROW: And I don't, you know, I don't charge her as guilty. 568 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:44,166 GATES: Mm-hmm. 569 00:23:44,166 --> 00:23:46,133 MORROW: I charge her as a mother who had to 570 00:23:46,133 --> 00:23:47,933 make an impossible choice. 571 00:23:47,933 --> 00:23:49,233 GATES: Right. 572 00:23:49,233 --> 00:23:50,766 MORROW: And what she did, 573 00:23:50,766 --> 00:23:54,700 she made a choice that saved her life, 574 00:23:54,700 --> 00:23:57,400 saved his life, and brought me into the world. 575 00:23:57,400 --> 00:23:58,900 You know? 576 00:23:58,900 --> 00:24:00,633 GATES: That's a lovely way to put it. 577 00:24:00,633 --> 00:24:02,066 MORROW: She made the choice. 578 00:24:02,066 --> 00:24:04,366 And, and I can honestly say I appreciate the choice 579 00:24:04,366 --> 00:24:06,366 that she made. 580 00:24:07,733 --> 00:24:09,333 GATES: Like Terrie, 581 00:24:09,333 --> 00:24:12,333 Megan Robertson was about to confront a mother 582 00:24:12,333 --> 00:24:15,766 who faced an “impossible choice.” 583 00:24:17,033 --> 00:24:20,866 Megan came to me believing that her great-grandfather, 584 00:24:20,866 --> 00:24:23,766 Green Church, was put up for adoption 585 00:24:23,766 --> 00:24:25,600 when he was young. 586 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,033 And she's spent years trying to learn the identity 587 00:24:28,033 --> 00:24:30,933 of his biological parents. 588 00:24:31,633 --> 00:24:33,333 As it turns out, 589 00:24:33,333 --> 00:24:36,600 Megan was searching in the wrong place... 590 00:24:37,533 --> 00:24:40,633 In the 1900 census for North Carolina, 591 00:24:40,633 --> 00:24:44,066 we found Green as a five-year-old boy 592 00:24:44,066 --> 00:24:46,300 living on a farm. 593 00:24:46,300 --> 00:24:49,766 However, he wasn't living with an adoptive family, 594 00:24:49,766 --> 00:24:52,800 he was in the home of his grandparents, 595 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:56,133 as well as a number of other close relatives, 596 00:24:56,133 --> 00:24:59,833 including a brother named Rufus Church. 597 00:25:01,200 --> 00:25:03,233 ROBERTSON: Okay. GATES: Okay. 598 00:25:03,233 --> 00:25:05,666 Did you have any idea that he had any siblings? 599 00:25:05,666 --> 00:25:10,233 ROBERTSON: Like, my aunts had told me that his mom 600 00:25:10,233 --> 00:25:13,600 had remarried or something. 601 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,300 Remarried and had a son named Rufus. 602 00:25:16,300 --> 00:25:17,600 GATES: Oh. 603 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,333 ROBERTSON: But I never knew that they lived together at all. 604 00:25:19,333 --> 00:25:20,400 GATES: Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. 605 00:25:20,400 --> 00:25:21,933 ROBERTSON: And so, like, I knew that he... 606 00:25:21,933 --> 00:25:24,133 he probably had a brother named Ru, like, a half-brother. 607 00:25:24,133 --> 00:25:25,366 GATES: Uh-huh. 608 00:25:25,366 --> 00:25:26,766 ROBERTSON: But I, I didn't know that they ever 609 00:25:26,766 --> 00:25:28,133 knew each other, or lived together. 610 00:25:28,133 --> 00:25:29,166 GATES: Mm-hmm. 611 00:25:29,166 --> 00:25:30,833 ROBERTSON: Or anything like this. 612 00:25:30,833 --> 00:25:34,466 Wow. That's amazing. 613 00:25:36,333 --> 00:25:40,500 GATES: Green and Rufus seem to have had an unusual childhood. 614 00:25:41,533 --> 00:25:44,200 Records show that in 1900, 615 00:25:44,200 --> 00:25:47,733 the same year that they were living with their grandparents, 616 00:25:47,733 --> 00:25:51,200 they also spent time in the home of a couple named 617 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,366 Caroline and Solomon Moxley... 618 00:25:55,166 --> 00:25:57,933 Caroline's maiden name was “Church”, 619 00:25:57,933 --> 00:26:01,933 which suggests that she and Solomon were Green's parents. 620 00:26:02,766 --> 00:26:06,100 We wondered if perhaps the boys were simply being raised by 621 00:26:06,100 --> 00:26:09,800 both their parents and their grandparents. 622 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:14,200 If so, that arrangement didn't last. 623 00:26:14,666 --> 00:26:16,200 Within a decade, 624 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:20,133 Caroline and Solomon were living in another state, 625 00:26:20,133 --> 00:26:22,866 with another group of children. 626 00:26:24,033 --> 00:26:27,633 ROBERTSON: "T.S. Moxley, head, age 46, married, 627 00:26:27,633 --> 00:26:29,600 occupation, farmer. 628 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:33,633 Caroline, wife, age 37, married. 629 00:26:33,633 --> 00:26:35,633 Children born, 5. 630 00:26:35,633 --> 00:26:36,800 GATES: Mm-hm. 631 00:26:36,800 --> 00:26:38,633 ROBERTSON: Children alive, 5. 632 00:26:38,633 --> 00:26:42,100 Dora, age 8. Birdie, age 5. 633 00:26:42,100 --> 00:26:45,566 Minnie, age 4. Lloyd, age 2. 634 00:26:45,566 --> 00:26:48,933 Frank, age 2 months." 635 00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,100 I've never heard any of those names. 636 00:26:53,100 --> 00:26:54,600 GATES: Right. 637 00:26:54,600 --> 00:26:57,033 ROBERTSON: Five children. GATES: Five children. 638 00:26:57,033 --> 00:27:00,700 By 1910, Solomon and Caroline had moved out of North Carolina 639 00:27:00,700 --> 00:27:02,966 and settled in Virginia. 640 00:27:02,966 --> 00:27:06,166 And as you can see, neither your great-grandfather Green 641 00:27:06,166 --> 00:27:08,700 nor his brother Rufus are living with them. 642 00:27:08,700 --> 00:27:09,700 ROBERTSON: Yeah. 643 00:27:09,700 --> 00:27:11,833 GATES: But five other children are. 644 00:27:11,833 --> 00:27:15,200 So, what that means is that sometime around 1906, 645 00:27:15,200 --> 00:27:18,633 Solomon and Caroline left your great-grandfather Green and 646 00:27:18,633 --> 00:27:24,100 his brother Rufus in the care of their maternal grandparents. 647 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:26,066 ROBERTSON: They moved. GATES: In North Carolina. 648 00:27:26,066 --> 00:27:29,133 Packed up, headed off to build a new life in Virginia. 649 00:27:29,133 --> 00:27:31,500 We found no evidence that Caroline and Green ever 650 00:27:31,500 --> 00:27:35,066 reconnected or that she ever reconnected with Rufus. 651 00:27:35,066 --> 00:27:37,966 It seems she just left the boys behind forever. 652 00:27:37,966 --> 00:27:40,700 ROBERTSON: Yeah. GATES: Megan Moxley. 653 00:27:40,700 --> 00:27:42,433 [laughing] 654 00:27:42,433 --> 00:27:43,633 ROBERTSON: That doesn't sound right. 655 00:27:43,633 --> 00:27:45,733 GATES: No. I like it. I think it's got a nice ring. 656 00:27:45,733 --> 00:27:48,433 ROBERTSON: Megan Moxley. GATES: Megan Moxley. 657 00:27:48,433 --> 00:27:50,200 ROBERTSON: I don't know about that. 658 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,066 GATES: You think your father would like being a Moxley? 659 00:27:52,066 --> 00:27:54,233 ROBERTSON: No, I don't think so. 660 00:27:56,333 --> 00:27:59,566 GATES: This story was about to take a twist. 661 00:27:59,566 --> 00:28:02,400 Trying to learn more about the Moxleys, 662 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:05,666 we uncovered their marriage register. 663 00:28:05,666 --> 00:28:08,966 And it contains a curious piece of information. 664 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:13,066 The couple married in February of 1898, 665 00:28:13,066 --> 00:28:18,700 but Green was born, three years earlier, in 1895. 666 00:28:19,633 --> 00:28:22,066 So that marriage took place when Green was about 667 00:28:22,066 --> 00:28:23,333 three years old. 668 00:28:23,333 --> 00:28:24,500 ROBERTSON: Okay. 669 00:28:24,500 --> 00:28:26,766 GATES: What do you make of that? And... 670 00:28:27,266 --> 00:28:28,666 ROBERTSON: So, he was three and? 671 00:28:28,666 --> 00:28:30,033 GATES: And Rufus was six 672 00:28:30,033 --> 00:28:31,766 ROBERTSON: Rufus was? Was six. 673 00:28:31,766 --> 00:28:34,300 GATES: Yep. ROBERTSON: Wow. Okay. 674 00:28:34,300 --> 00:28:38,000 So they had two children together, and then got married. 675 00:28:38,466 --> 00:28:41,433 GATES: Well, either they had two children together... 676 00:28:41,433 --> 00:28:43,066 ROBERTSON: Or she had children. 677 00:28:43,066 --> 00:28:44,366 GATES: Or she had two children. ROBERTSON: She had children. 678 00:28:44,366 --> 00:28:45,433 GATES: And then they got married. 679 00:28:45,433 --> 00:28:46,433 ROBERTSON: And then they got married. 680 00:28:46,433 --> 00:28:47,533 GATES: It had to be one or the other. 681 00:28:47,533 --> 00:28:48,566 ROBERTSON: 'Cause we don't know when they met. 682 00:28:48,566 --> 00:28:49,833 GATES: Right. 683 00:28:49,833 --> 00:28:51,766 ROBERTSON: She might've had two children when they met. 684 00:28:51,766 --> 00:28:53,800 GATES: So, this got us to wondering, 685 00:28:53,800 --> 00:28:57,600 was Solomon Moxley in fact Green's father? 686 00:28:57,966 --> 00:29:00,066 ROBERTSON: I'm guessing no. 687 00:29:00,066 --> 00:29:01,700 I'm guessing that she, 688 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:05,133 she had two children and met him and got married. 689 00:29:05,133 --> 00:29:07,433 GATES: Mm-hmm, and then... ROBERTSON: In 1898. 690 00:29:07,433 --> 00:29:09,266 GATES: Part of the deal was she was gonna leave... 691 00:29:09,266 --> 00:29:10,366 ROBERTSON: Yeah. 692 00:29:10,366 --> 00:29:12,366 GATES: The kids fathered by the other guy behind. 693 00:29:12,366 --> 00:29:13,666 ROBERTSON: Okay. GATES: That's your theory? 694 00:29:13,666 --> 00:29:14,900 ROBERTSON: Yeah. Yeah. GATES: Okay. 695 00:29:14,900 --> 00:29:17,100 ROBERTSON: That makes sense to me. 696 00:29:17,100 --> 00:29:22,266 GATES: There was only one way to test this “theory”, DNA. 697 00:29:23,166 --> 00:29:25,833 Megan's father, Eugene Church, 698 00:29:25,833 --> 00:29:29,533 took what is known as a Y-DNA test. 699 00:29:29,533 --> 00:29:34,033 It traces a man's direct male lineage by identifying the 700 00:29:34,033 --> 00:29:38,766 genetic signature that is passed down from father to son 701 00:29:38,766 --> 00:29:41,633 across generations. 702 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,633 If Green was, in fact, the son of Solomon Moxley, 703 00:29:45,633 --> 00:29:49,733 and if descendants of other Moxley men are in the database, 704 00:29:49,733 --> 00:29:53,633 then Eugene's test would match him to those men, 705 00:29:54,866 --> 00:29:57,433 and bring our mystery to a close... 706 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:00,133 GATES: You ready? ROBERTSON: Yes. 707 00:30:00,133 --> 00:30:02,233 GATES: Please turn the page. 708 00:30:02,633 --> 00:30:06,066 Would you read the number of men we found who were Moxleys. 709 00:30:06,066 --> 00:30:08,033 ROBERTSON: Zero. GATES: Zero. 710 00:30:08,033 --> 00:30:09,133 ROBERTSON: None of 'em. 711 00:30:09,133 --> 00:30:10,200 GATES: So you know what this means. 712 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:11,233 ROBERTSON: Not a Moxley. 713 00:30:11,233 --> 00:30:13,300 GATES: Forget, uh, Megan Moxley. 714 00:30:13,300 --> 00:30:14,466 ROBERTSON: Megan Moxley. 715 00:30:14,466 --> 00:30:15,533 GATES: Uh, you don't have to worry about that. 716 00:30:15,533 --> 00:30:16,766 ROBERTSON: Not Megan Moxley. Okay. 717 00:30:16,766 --> 00:30:17,866 GATES: Didn't sound right in your mouth. 718 00:30:17,866 --> 00:30:19,533 Well, it wasn't right in fact. 719 00:30:19,533 --> 00:30:21,866 Solomon Moxley was not Green's biological father. 720 00:30:21,866 --> 00:30:24,800 ROBERTSON: Okay. Wow. Yeah. That's good. 721 00:30:24,800 --> 00:30:26,600 GATES: So, how are you feeling right now? 722 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,666 ROBERTSON: I wanna know who it is. 723 00:30:29,500 --> 00:30:31,266 I wanna know. 724 00:30:33,433 --> 00:30:36,400 GATES: To learn the identity of Green's father 725 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:38,033 we needed some luck, 726 00:30:38,033 --> 00:30:41,633 and, fortunately, we got it. 727 00:30:42,033 --> 00:30:46,866 The same Y-DNA test that showed Megan's father had no matches 728 00:30:46,866 --> 00:30:49,700 to anyone named “Moxley”, 729 00:30:49,700 --> 00:30:52,100 also revealed that he did have 730 00:30:52,100 --> 00:30:54,866 a significant number of matches to men with 731 00:30:54,866 --> 00:30:57,266 a different surname... 732 00:30:57,266 --> 00:31:00,766 The surname of Green's biological father. 733 00:31:01,733 --> 00:31:03,233 You can see it on the right of the chart, 734 00:31:03,233 --> 00:31:06,100 would you please read it out loud? 735 00:31:06,600 --> 00:31:08,466 ROBERTSON: “Halsey.” 736 00:31:08,466 --> 00:31:09,833 (crying). 737 00:31:09,833 --> 00:31:11,633 I've never heard that. 738 00:31:11,633 --> 00:31:14,566 Sorry. 739 00:31:15,166 --> 00:31:17,400 I've never heard that, ever. 740 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:19,333 We, we thought Holtz. 741 00:31:19,333 --> 00:31:21,366 We thought, we had heard a couple different names 742 00:31:21,366 --> 00:31:23,200 but never, never Halsey. 743 00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:24,666 GATES: Mmm. 744 00:31:25,166 --> 00:31:29,433 ROBERTSON: Wow. 745 00:31:30,566 --> 00:31:33,133 Halsey. 746 00:31:34,366 --> 00:31:37,566 Everyone was wrong. We were all wrong. 747 00:31:39,033 --> 00:31:41,233 GATES: How does “Megan Halsey” sounds to you? 748 00:31:41,233 --> 00:31:44,400 ROBERTSON: It sounds. I guess it sounds right. 749 00:31:45,200 --> 00:31:47,933 It sounds right. 750 00:31:48,733 --> 00:31:50,700 Wow. 751 00:31:52,100 --> 00:31:56,033 I want to know who he is and how he met her. 752 00:32:00,166 --> 00:32:02,766 That's amazing. 753 00:32:03,533 --> 00:32:05,266 My vision's all blurry. 754 00:32:05,266 --> 00:32:08,033 GATES: Yeah. ROBERTSON: I can't see. 755 00:32:08,500 --> 00:32:10,966 Oh, wow. 756 00:32:12,200 --> 00:32:15,700 GATES: We don't know how Caroline met Green's father, 757 00:32:15,700 --> 00:32:18,733 but we were able to figure out who he was. 758 00:32:20,333 --> 00:32:24,266 Using the same techniques that we'd used with Terrie Morrow, 759 00:32:24,266 --> 00:32:27,800 we searched publicly available databases for people whose 760 00:32:27,800 --> 00:32:31,733 DNA profiles matched Megan's father's. 761 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:36,500 Eventually, we focused on a small cluster of individuals 762 00:32:36,500 --> 00:32:39,366 who had Halsey ancestors, 763 00:32:39,366 --> 00:32:42,833 and who also shared enough DNA with Megan's father 764 00:32:42,833 --> 00:32:46,133 to be a half-second cousin, 765 00:32:46,133 --> 00:32:50,000 meaning they all shared a great-grandfather, 766 00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:55,866 a man who had to have been Green's biological father. 767 00:32:58,233 --> 00:33:01,033 ROBERTSON: “William Cleveland Halsey.” 768 00:33:01,033 --> 00:33:03,400 That's him. Wow. 769 00:33:03,400 --> 00:33:06,400 GATES: You just met Green's father. 770 00:33:09,333 --> 00:33:11,366 ROBERTSON: Wow. William and Caroline. 771 00:33:13,533 --> 00:33:18,633 Hm, I, I'm speechless. I... 772 00:33:19,933 --> 00:33:24,566 We've wondered about that for a long time. 773 00:33:26,033 --> 00:33:29,366 Wow. William Cleveland Halsey. 774 00:33:29,366 --> 00:33:31,333 GATES: Mm-hmm. 775 00:33:31,966 --> 00:33:33,100 What do you think your dad's going to say when 776 00:33:33,100 --> 00:33:35,300 he learns this? 777 00:33:36,666 --> 00:33:40,166 ROBERTSON: He's gonna cry. He's gonna cry. 778 00:33:43,933 --> 00:33:46,833 GATES: Once we'd identified William by name, 779 00:33:46,833 --> 00:33:49,533 we could research his life. 780 00:33:49,533 --> 00:33:52,366 We discovered that he was a farmer who lived in 781 00:33:52,366 --> 00:33:55,433 Piney Creek Township, North Carolina, 782 00:33:55,433 --> 00:33:59,466 just about ten miles from where Caroline was living 783 00:33:59,466 --> 00:34:02,233 when Green was a boy. 784 00:34:02,666 --> 00:34:05,000 And though we don't know anything more about 785 00:34:05,000 --> 00:34:06,666 the two of them, 786 00:34:06,666 --> 00:34:09,833 census records show that by 1900, 787 00:34:09,833 --> 00:34:13,433 William had a wife named Malinda Halsey, 788 00:34:13,433 --> 00:34:16,433 and they had two young sons. 789 00:34:18,100 --> 00:34:20,500 ROBERTSON: He had another family. 790 00:34:24,833 --> 00:34:26,466 What year was this from? 791 00:34:26,466 --> 00:34:27,766 GATES: 1900. 792 00:34:27,766 --> 00:34:31,266 ROBERTSON: 1900. Wow. 793 00:34:31,266 --> 00:34:33,533 So, wait, he, he had another family. 794 00:34:33,533 --> 00:34:36,066 He had a four-year-old and a three-year-old in, in 1900. 795 00:34:36,066 --> 00:34:38,933 GATES: Mm-hmm, that's right. And when was Green born? 796 00:34:38,933 --> 00:34:41,333 ROBERTSON: And Green was born in 1895. 797 00:34:41,333 --> 00:34:43,533 GATES: Right, so Green was five. 798 00:34:43,533 --> 00:34:44,933 ROBERTSON: Yeah. 799 00:34:44,933 --> 00:34:46,466 GATES: So, technically, he had a five-year-old, 800 00:34:46,466 --> 00:34:47,733 a four-year-old, and a three-year-old. 801 00:34:47,733 --> 00:34:49,700 ROBERTSON: Right. And maybe Rufus, so... 802 00:34:49,700 --> 00:34:51,333 GATES: Yeah, and maybe Rufus, we don't know. 803 00:34:51,333 --> 00:34:54,666 ROBERTSON: Wow. Wow. 804 00:34:55,666 --> 00:34:59,733 I was fully prepared to come here and be angry at him. 805 00:35:01,166 --> 00:35:04,300 I was prepared to be angry, you know. 806 00:35:04,300 --> 00:35:06,000 GATES: Are you angry? 807 00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:08,933 ROBERTSON: No. I'm not angry, I'm, I'm curious. 808 00:35:08,933 --> 00:35:11,300 I, I wonder how they met, 809 00:35:11,300 --> 00:35:13,900 I wonder what the nature of their relationship was, 810 00:35:13,900 --> 00:35:15,866 or if, you know, like, that kinda thing. 811 00:35:15,866 --> 00:35:18,633 But, I was fully prepared to come and be angry. 812 00:35:18,633 --> 00:35:21,000 GATES: Mm-hmm. But you're not. 813 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,933 ROBERTSON: No, not at all. GATES: So why aren't you angry? 814 00:35:22,933 --> 00:35:25,766 ROBERTSON: I'm not angry because I, you know, 815 00:35:25,766 --> 00:35:28,166 they may have had two children together, we don't know. 816 00:35:28,166 --> 00:35:29,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 817 00:35:29,433 --> 00:35:31,800 ROBERTSON: You know, it may have been an actual, like, 818 00:35:31,800 --> 00:35:33,300 relationship of some sort. 819 00:35:33,300 --> 00:35:35,733 GATES: Mm-hmm. And then faded away. 820 00:35:35,733 --> 00:35:36,766 ROBERTSON: Yeah. 821 00:35:36,766 --> 00:35:39,100 GATES: Which happens. ROBERTSON: Uh, yeah. 822 00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:44,433 Hmm. That's something. 823 00:35:47,266 --> 00:35:50,833 GATES: We'd now solved our first two mysteries. 824 00:35:51,200 --> 00:35:55,300 Turning to Joyce Willis, we faced our third. 825 00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,700 The story begins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 826 00:35:59,700 --> 00:36:03,300 where Joyce grew up, close to her paternal grandmother, 827 00:36:03,300 --> 00:36:07,033 Beatrice Willis, and proud of their shared surname. 828 00:36:08,433 --> 00:36:12,133 But when Beatrice was nearing the end of her life, 829 00:36:12,133 --> 00:36:17,466 she told Joyce that she might not actually be a Willis. 830 00:36:18,433 --> 00:36:20,233 She said that her father, 831 00:36:20,233 --> 00:36:23,266 once had teased her when she was a child, 832 00:36:23,266 --> 00:36:27,633 telling her that she was not really his daughter. 833 00:36:28,466 --> 00:36:30,400 This shocked Joyce, 834 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,666 who'd never imagined that Beatrice's parents had ever 835 00:36:33,666 --> 00:36:35,933 revealed any secrets at all. 836 00:36:36,900 --> 00:36:38,633 WILLIS: She always talked about them and they were a very 837 00:36:38,633 --> 00:36:40,000 traditional couple of the time. 838 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:41,266 GATES: Mm-hmm. 839 00:36:41,266 --> 00:36:42,433 WILLIS: You know, grown folk's business is 840 00:36:42,433 --> 00:36:43,633 grown folk's business, 841 00:36:43,633 --> 00:36:44,900 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: You know, and even, 842 00:36:44,900 --> 00:36:47,500 she mentioned one time when they had gotten into an argument, 843 00:36:47,500 --> 00:36:50,900 and she was there and she came into the kitchen to, you know, 844 00:36:50,900 --> 00:36:53,633 to take up for her mother, and, um, her mother told her, 845 00:36:53,633 --> 00:36:55,033 turned around and looked at her and said, 846 00:36:55,033 --> 00:36:56,933 "You need to go back to your room and mind your business.” 847 00:36:56,933 --> 00:36:58,000 GATES: Mm-hmm. 848 00:36:58,000 --> 00:36:59,200 WILLIS: “This is between me and your father." 849 00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:00,400 GATES: Uh-huh. WILLIS: You know, 850 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,133 so they were a very traditional family of the time. 851 00:37:02,133 --> 00:37:03,466 GATES: Mm-hmm. 852 00:37:03,466 --> 00:37:05,900 WILLIS: You know, as far as, you know, what they presented to, 853 00:37:05,900 --> 00:37:08,500 to their daughters in the household. 854 00:37:10,466 --> 00:37:13,000 GATES: Beatrice's parents were Robert Willis 855 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:15,766 and Elnora Carrington. 856 00:37:16,433 --> 00:37:19,533 The two may have projected a calm exterior, 857 00:37:19,533 --> 00:37:21,666 but as we looked into their lives, 858 00:37:21,666 --> 00:37:26,033 we discovered a great deal of turmoil beneath the surface. 859 00:37:27,466 --> 00:37:30,333 Records show they married in 1915, 860 00:37:30,333 --> 00:37:33,333 and that they had their first child, a son, 861 00:37:33,333 --> 00:37:36,400 about a year and a half later. 862 00:37:36,833 --> 00:37:40,000 But their happiness did not last. 863 00:37:40,366 --> 00:37:42,666 WILLIS: Wow. “In police court, Robert Willis, 864 00:37:42,666 --> 00:37:44,833 33 years old, colored, 865 00:37:44,833 --> 00:37:48,866 was saved from a term of 60 days in the penitentiary 866 00:37:48,866 --> 00:37:51,533 yesterday by his wife. 867 00:37:51,533 --> 00:37:55,400 Willis was arrested early yesterday after he... 868 00:37:55,400 --> 00:37:57,366 had struck his wife.” 869 00:37:57,366 --> 00:37:58,900 GATES: Mm-hmm. 870 00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:01,500 WILLIS: “Mrs. Willis, carrying a baby, 871 00:38:01,500 --> 00:38:04,466 begged Justice Colmets to be lenient, 872 00:38:04,466 --> 00:38:07,366 so the man was ordered to report to parole agent, 873 00:38:07,366 --> 00:38:09,766 AJ Masters.” 874 00:38:10,766 --> 00:38:14,066 GATES: You never heard anything about this? 875 00:38:20,033 --> 00:38:25,533 WILLIS: That's sad. That's really, really sad. 876 00:38:29,433 --> 00:38:33,766 Just to think that, 877 00:38:33,766 --> 00:38:37,033 the one that he hurt was the one that saved him. 878 00:38:37,033 --> 00:38:38,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 879 00:38:38,433 --> 00:38:39,700 Well, she clearly saved him, 880 00:38:39,700 --> 00:38:42,166 'cause he was going to go in the can. 881 00:38:42,166 --> 00:38:45,166 WILLIS: Whew. Wow. 882 00:38:46,633 --> 00:38:49,366 GATES: This was the only mention we found of anything 883 00:38:49,366 --> 00:38:53,233 involving Robert and Elnora and the law. 884 00:38:53,233 --> 00:38:56,833 So it may have been an isolated incident. 885 00:38:57,666 --> 00:39:01,600 However, it was not the end of the couple's struggles... 886 00:39:04,233 --> 00:39:05,866 WILLIS: “Robert Edgar Willis, 887 00:39:05,866 --> 00:39:08,800 infant son of Robert and Elnora Willis, 888 00:39:08,800 --> 00:39:11,900 died yesterday morning at their home.” 889 00:39:11,900 --> 00:39:15,533 GATES: In March of 1918 Robert and Elnora lost their baby boy 890 00:39:15,533 --> 00:39:19,066 just before he turned eight months old. 891 00:39:19,833 --> 00:39:24,066 WILLIS: Wow. How sad to lose a baby. 892 00:39:25,366 --> 00:39:26,600 GATES: How do you think that might have 893 00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:28,300 shaped their relationship? 894 00:39:28,300 --> 00:39:29,666 WILLIS: Must have strained it. 895 00:39:29,666 --> 00:39:31,333 I can imagine it would have strained, 896 00:39:31,333 --> 00:39:33,000 if they were already going through anything. 897 00:39:33,000 --> 00:39:34,233 GATES: Uh-huh. 898 00:39:34,233 --> 00:39:36,233 WILLIS: If there was already discord in the marriage, 899 00:39:36,233 --> 00:39:37,633 losing a child is, 900 00:39:37,633 --> 00:39:39,366 it could either go one of two ways. 901 00:39:39,366 --> 00:39:41,300 It could either bring them closer together, 902 00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:43,066 or it could push them further apart. 903 00:39:43,066 --> 00:39:44,200 GATES: Mm-hmm. 904 00:39:44,200 --> 00:39:45,800 WILLIS: You know, so, I imagine since there was 905 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,800 already some marital discord, 906 00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:49,666 that it may have pushed them further apart from each other. 907 00:39:49,666 --> 00:39:53,033 GATES: Mm. Okay. Could you please turn the page? 908 00:39:54,033 --> 00:39:56,566 Can you read the transcribed section of that document 909 00:39:56,566 --> 00:39:58,400 in front of you? 910 00:39:58,400 --> 00:39:59,833 WILLIS: “Certificate of birth, 911 00:39:59,833 --> 00:40:02,433 name of child, Beatrice E. Willis, 912 00:40:02,433 --> 00:40:05,833 date of birth, November 20th, 1919, 913 00:40:05,833 --> 00:40:08,666 name of father, Robert Willis, 914 00:40:08,666 --> 00:40:11,833 name of mother, Elnora Carrington.” 915 00:40:11,833 --> 00:40:13,233 GATES: Now, I know you've seen that before, 916 00:40:13,233 --> 00:40:14,266 WILLIS: Yes, I have. 917 00:40:14,266 --> 00:40:15,866 GATES: But what's it like to see it now, 918 00:40:15,866 --> 00:40:18,233 in the context of this story, and think of your grandmother 919 00:40:18,233 --> 00:40:20,366 as a young girl? 920 00:40:20,366 --> 00:40:23,000 WILLIS: Well, it looks like they're trying to stick it out. 921 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. 922 00:40:24,300 --> 00:40:26,300 WILLIS: You know, her parents are trying to stick it out. 923 00:40:26,300 --> 00:40:28,266 You know, they're trying to make things work maybe. 924 00:40:28,266 --> 00:40:30,500 At least I hope that that's what that means for them. 925 00:40:30,500 --> 00:40:33,600 And I hope that, 926 00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:39,033 I hope that my grandmother's childhood as an infant, 927 00:40:39,033 --> 00:40:42,100 as a little one, as a newborn in this world, 928 00:40:42,100 --> 00:40:44,166 I hope that there was peace there for her. 929 00:40:44,166 --> 00:40:45,333 GATES: Mm-hmm. 930 00:40:45,333 --> 00:40:46,500 WILLIS: You know, that there was a, 931 00:40:46,500 --> 00:40:49,100 a safe place and a calmness there for her. 932 00:40:49,100 --> 00:40:50,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: I would hope. 933 00:40:50,433 --> 00:40:53,000 GATES: Security. WILLIS: Yeah. I would hope so. 934 00:40:56,100 --> 00:40:58,466 GATES: We don't know if Beatrice was born into 935 00:40:58,466 --> 00:41:00,633 a peaceful home. 936 00:41:00,633 --> 00:41:03,833 There are no further records even to suggest 937 00:41:03,833 --> 00:41:08,300 why Robert might have said that she wasn't his daughter. 938 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:12,566 To learn that, we had to turn to DNA. 939 00:41:13,666 --> 00:41:16,966 But first, we needed to know more about Robert. 940 00:41:16,966 --> 00:41:19,333 As we'd seen with our other guests, 941 00:41:19,333 --> 00:41:23,300 genetic genealogy requires a family tree 942 00:41:23,300 --> 00:41:26,766 to make sense of DNA relationships, 943 00:41:26,766 --> 00:41:30,866 and nobody knew anything about Robert's family tree. 944 00:41:31,766 --> 00:41:34,233 Joyce herself had made significant efforts to 945 00:41:34,233 --> 00:41:37,200 reconstruct it, but she didn't even know 946 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:40,500 Robert's parents' names. 947 00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:44,233 We set out to change that... 948 00:41:44,233 --> 00:41:47,933 And after combing through a maze of documents, 949 00:41:47,933 --> 00:41:52,100 we discovered that Robert was the child of a couple named 950 00:41:52,100 --> 00:41:56,233 Howard Willis and Francis, or “Fannie”, Steward. 951 00:41:58,166 --> 00:42:03,466 This discovery led us to the 1870 census for Virginia, 952 00:42:03,466 --> 00:42:06,666 where we saw Robert's family tree 953 00:42:06,666 --> 00:42:09,533 begin to grow exponentially... 954 00:42:11,533 --> 00:42:15,900 WILLIS: "Matt Steward. Age 45. Male, Black. 955 00:42:15,900 --> 00:42:20,433 Occupation: Farmhand. Place of birth: Virginia. 956 00:42:20,433 --> 00:42:24,500 Sarah Steward. Age 35. Female, Black. 957 00:42:24,500 --> 00:42:28,766 Occupation: Keeps home. Place of birth: Virginia. 958 00:42:28,766 --> 00:42:33,600 Frances Steward. Age 13. Female, Black. 959 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,700 Place of birth: Virginia.” 960 00:42:35,700 --> 00:42:37,966 GATES: Recognize any names on that census record? 961 00:42:37,966 --> 00:42:39,700 WILLIS: Frances Steward. GATES: Frances Steward. 962 00:42:39,700 --> 00:42:41,100 WILLIS: Okay. GATES: Right. 963 00:42:41,100 --> 00:42:43,333 That's Frances Steward in the household of her parents 964 00:42:43,333 --> 00:42:46,266 whose names are Matt, and Sarah Steward. 965 00:42:46,266 --> 00:42:50,433 If Frances or Fannie was in fact Robert's mother, 966 00:42:50,433 --> 00:42:53,033 then Matt and Sarah were his grandparents. 967 00:42:53,033 --> 00:42:55,000 So what's it like to learn that? 968 00:42:55,000 --> 00:42:58,066 WILLIS: That's really cool. 969 00:42:58,833 --> 00:43:01,800 I never thought I would ever get to see these names. 970 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,900 GATES: Hm. WILLIS: I was just so stuck. 971 00:43:04,900 --> 00:43:07,066 I've, I never thought I would ever see these names. 972 00:43:07,066 --> 00:43:08,533 GATES: Well, that's why the Lord sent you here. 973 00:43:08,533 --> 00:43:11,366 WILLIS: Ex, Yes. Exactly. 974 00:43:13,133 --> 00:43:16,200 GATES: Now that we knew more about Robert's roots, 975 00:43:16,200 --> 00:43:19,533 we could see what genetics had to say about his relationship 976 00:43:19,533 --> 00:43:22,300 to his children... 977 00:43:22,300 --> 00:43:24,300 Before she passed away, 978 00:43:24,300 --> 00:43:28,366 Joyce's grandmother Beatrice took a DNA test. 979 00:43:28,366 --> 00:43:32,633 We used it to create what's called a genetic network, 980 00:43:32,633 --> 00:43:37,033 a map of DNA matches who all descend from a common 981 00:43:37,033 --> 00:43:40,233 individual or couple. 982 00:43:40,233 --> 00:43:43,566 It allowed us to trace Beatrice back to 983 00:43:43,566 --> 00:43:46,433 a familiar pair of names... 984 00:43:48,066 --> 00:43:51,500 WILLIS: “Matt Steward Sr. and Sarah.” 985 00:43:51,500 --> 00:43:53,266 GATES: So you know what this means? 986 00:43:53,266 --> 00:43:54,733 Your grandmother, Beatrice, 987 00:43:54,733 --> 00:43:57,333 descends from Matt and Sarah Steward. 988 00:43:57,333 --> 00:43:59,700 WILLIS: Awesome. GATES: Right? 989 00:43:59,700 --> 00:44:01,966 You see how the connection goes? 990 00:44:01,966 --> 00:44:04,200 WILLIS: Yeah, it's awesome. Oh, my goodness. 991 00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:06,500 GATES: So this is the very link you've been searching for. 992 00:44:06,500 --> 00:44:07,866 WILLIS: Yes, it is. 993 00:44:07,866 --> 00:44:10,533 GATES: Matt and Sarah were Fannie's parents. 994 00:44:10,533 --> 00:44:12,800 Fannie was Robert's mother, 995 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:16,300 and Beatrice was Robert's daughter. 996 00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:17,633 WILLIS: So... 997 00:44:17,633 --> 00:44:19,166 GATES: So you know what this means. 998 00:44:19,166 --> 00:44:23,266 WILLIS: That means that I am 999 00:44:23,266 --> 00:44:25,566 Robert G. Willis' great-granddaughter. 1000 00:44:25,566 --> 00:44:27,066 GATES: That means Robert is your 1001 00:44:27,066 --> 00:44:28,400 biological great-grandfather. 1002 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:29,900 WILLIS: He's my great-grandfather. 1003 00:44:29,900 --> 00:44:31,066 (sighs). 1004 00:44:31,066 --> 00:44:32,733 See, you was teasing her for nothing. 1005 00:44:32,733 --> 00:44:34,733 Mmm. 1006 00:44:34,733 --> 00:44:37,400 Oh, I feel she's so justified and vindicated now. 1007 00:44:37,400 --> 00:44:39,233 GATES: How does... 1008 00:44:39,233 --> 00:44:40,233 (sighs). 1009 00:44:40,233 --> 00:44:41,733 How does it make you feel, finally, 1010 00:44:41,733 --> 00:44:43,500 to have this mystery solved once and for all? 1011 00:44:43,500 --> 00:44:44,700 WILLIS: Relieved. 1012 00:44:44,700 --> 00:44:48,933 I feel so relieved to know that this is the truth. 1013 00:44:48,933 --> 00:44:51,200 GATES: You are a Willis. WILLIS: I'm a Willis. 1014 00:44:51,200 --> 00:44:54,366 GATES: For real. So what does that mean to you? 1015 00:44:55,266 --> 00:44:59,266 WILLIS: My grandmother always used to say, you know, 1016 00:44:59,266 --> 00:45:01,133 whenever we were trying to cut up, 1017 00:45:01,133 --> 00:45:02,733 "You're a Willis." 1018 00:45:02,733 --> 00:45:03,833 GATES: Hm. 1019 00:45:03,833 --> 00:45:05,700 WILLIS: "You know, you go out in the streets, 1020 00:45:05,700 --> 00:45:07,500 however you act, you are a Willis. 1021 00:45:07,500 --> 00:45:09,400 “You carry that Willis name. 1022 00:45:09,400 --> 00:45:11,833 So you have to carry yourself with some dignity." 1023 00:45:11,833 --> 00:45:13,933 That was the, the thought and the feeling behind her saying, 1024 00:45:13,933 --> 00:45:15,166 "You're a Willis." 1025 00:45:15,166 --> 00:45:16,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: And she meant that. 1026 00:45:16,300 --> 00:45:17,566 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1027 00:45:17,566 --> 00:45:19,600 WILLIS: And so growing up, my siblings and I, you know, 1028 00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:21,300 when we're ever, we're feeling kinda, a little, 1029 00:45:21,300 --> 00:45:23,333 you know, cock of the walk, 1030 00:45:23,333 --> 00:45:25,166 "Yeah, I'm a Willis." "You know, we're, we Willises. 1031 00:45:25,166 --> 00:45:27,200 Hey, we Willises. The Willises." 1032 00:45:27,200 --> 00:45:28,900 You know? So it... 1033 00:45:28,900 --> 00:45:31,666 Knowing that that's actually legitimate, I mean, 1034 00:45:31,666 --> 00:45:33,700 not to have inordinate pride 'cause I don't like that, 1035 00:45:33,700 --> 00:45:37,233 but just, just to know that this really is my name. 1036 00:45:37,233 --> 00:45:38,533 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1037 00:45:38,533 --> 00:45:41,200 WILLIS: After so many other areas of my family line where 1038 00:45:41,200 --> 00:45:44,500 it's big question marks, this is an ex, 1039 00:45:44,500 --> 00:45:47,500 this is not even a period, this is an exclamation point. 1040 00:45:48,666 --> 00:45:51,766 GATES: There was still a question in front of us: 1041 00:45:51,766 --> 00:45:55,433 why had Robert teased Beatrice? 1042 00:45:56,466 --> 00:46:00,033 We don't know for certain, but we have a theory... 1043 00:46:00,966 --> 00:46:03,966 Beatrice had a younger sister named Melba, 1044 00:46:03,966 --> 00:46:07,166 and Melba's daughter took a DNA test. 1045 00:46:07,166 --> 00:46:11,133 It shows that Beatrice and Melba were half-siblings. 1046 00:46:12,566 --> 00:46:16,266 They shared a mother, but they had different fathers. 1047 00:46:17,433 --> 00:46:21,000 And since we knew that Robert was Beatrice's father, 1048 00:46:21,000 --> 00:46:25,366 that means Melba was the child of another man. 1049 00:46:26,433 --> 00:46:30,933 Which made Robert's behavior more understandable to Joyce... 1050 00:46:32,766 --> 00:46:35,533 WILLIS: He must've known. He must've had some kinda inkling. 1051 00:46:35,533 --> 00:46:36,800 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1052 00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:38,200 WILLIS: For him to say what he said to my grandmother. 1053 00:46:38,200 --> 00:46:39,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1054 00:46:39,300 --> 00:46:41,266 WILLIS: Now, I don't know why he said that to her, 1055 00:46:41,266 --> 00:46:43,566 but maybe because Melba was still just a kid and maybe 1056 00:46:43,566 --> 00:46:46,700 he didn't want to, maybe he was blowing off steam and 1057 00:46:46,700 --> 00:46:48,633 he didn't wanna blow steam in that direction. 1058 00:46:48,633 --> 00:46:50,566 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: You know, um... 1059 00:46:50,566 --> 00:46:52,100 GATES: Or maybe he sussed out. 1060 00:46:52,100 --> 00:46:53,700 WILLIS: Yeah. 1061 00:46:53,700 --> 00:46:56,566 GATES: That infidelity that led to Melba, 1062 00:46:56,566 --> 00:46:58,800 and then wondered how long the relationship had gone on. 1063 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:00,266 WILLIS: It could be, it could be. 1064 00:47:00,266 --> 00:47:01,533 GATES: Right. 1065 00:47:01,533 --> 00:47:02,633 WILLIS: You know, "Was this something longstanding that 1066 00:47:02,633 --> 00:47:04,166 I'm just now finding out about?" 1067 00:47:04,166 --> 00:47:06,600 GATES: What do you think your grandmother would have said? 1068 00:47:06,600 --> 00:47:08,666 WILLIS: She would've been shocked. 1069 00:47:08,666 --> 00:47:11,466 This would have completely shocked her. 1070 00:47:11,466 --> 00:47:13,066 GATES: Mmm. 1071 00:47:13,066 --> 00:47:14,700 WILLIS: It's always been Beatrice and Melba. 1072 00:47:14,700 --> 00:47:15,800 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1073 00:47:15,800 --> 00:47:17,466 WILLIS: You know, there was never a question. 1074 00:47:17,466 --> 00:47:19,300 They've, grew up with Robert G. Willis 1075 00:47:19,300 --> 00:47:20,300 in the same household. 1076 00:47:20,300 --> 00:47:21,100 He raised them both. 1077 00:47:21,100 --> 00:47:22,400 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1078 00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,266 WILLIS: So there was never a question in Nana Bea's mind 1079 00:47:24,266 --> 00:47:26,700 that that was just her full sister. 1080 00:47:26,700 --> 00:47:27,866 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1081 00:47:27,866 --> 00:47:29,500 WILLIS: You know? 1082 00:47:29,500 --> 00:47:32,833 So to find this out, I think it really would have 1083 00:47:32,833 --> 00:47:35,166 knocked her outta her chair. 1084 00:47:36,966 --> 00:47:41,133 GATES: Robert Willis passed away in 1955, 1085 00:47:41,133 --> 00:47:44,866 17 years after his wife Elnora. 1086 00:47:45,833 --> 00:47:48,600 We were not able to learn anything more about their 1087 00:47:48,600 --> 00:47:53,233 relationship, but we did discover something about 1088 00:47:53,233 --> 00:47:57,000 Robert's life that seemed relevant. 1089 00:47:57,433 --> 00:48:00,966 In the archives of Rockingham County, Virginia, 1090 00:48:00,966 --> 00:48:04,800 we found the death certificate for his father, Howard Willis. 1091 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:10,533 It shows that Howard died six months before Robert was born. 1092 00:48:13,366 --> 00:48:16,300 WILLIS: He grew up without his father. 1093 00:48:16,300 --> 00:48:18,666 Never even got to see the man. 1094 00:48:18,666 --> 00:48:21,366 He never got to be held by his father. 1095 00:48:22,366 --> 00:48:25,066 Never got to know him. 1096 00:48:25,900 --> 00:48:28,966 GATES: And Robert's mother, your great-great-grandmother, 1097 00:48:28,966 --> 00:48:32,600 Fannie, would've been just about three months pregnant... 1098 00:48:32,600 --> 00:48:34,000 WILLIS: Oh, my gosh. 1099 00:48:34,000 --> 00:48:35,700 GATES: When her husband died. 1100 00:48:35,700 --> 00:48:37,533 Can you imagine? 1101 00:48:37,533 --> 00:48:40,100 WILLIS: No. 1102 00:48:40,366 --> 00:48:42,700 She must've been devastated. 1103 00:48:42,700 --> 00:48:44,800 GATES: Hmm. 1104 00:48:45,600 --> 00:48:48,800 WILLIS: She must've been... devastated. 1105 00:48:49,166 --> 00:48:51,666 GATES: Does knowing this change how you feel 1106 00:48:51,666 --> 00:48:53,633 or think about Robert? 1107 00:48:53,633 --> 00:48:58,900 WILLIS: Well, I was bothered by that, um, 1108 00:48:58,900 --> 00:49:02,200 that, that news article. 1109 00:49:02,200 --> 00:49:04,533 That troubled me. That, that hurt. 1110 00:49:04,533 --> 00:49:06,100 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1111 00:49:06,100 --> 00:49:09,766 WILLIS: Uh, but this informs it a little. 1112 00:49:09,766 --> 00:49:11,366 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: You know? 1113 00:49:11,366 --> 00:49:12,700 So, it, you know, there, 1114 00:49:12,700 --> 00:49:15,066 there's always room for grace and mercy, you know? 1115 00:49:15,066 --> 00:49:16,733 There should be room for grace and mercy. 1116 00:49:16,733 --> 00:49:18,233 GATES: Should be, right. Yeah. WILLIS: You know? 1117 00:49:18,233 --> 00:49:22,033 So it's, it's humbling, um, to see this, to see this, 1118 00:49:22,033 --> 00:49:26,733 to understand a little bit more about what made this person. 1119 00:49:26,733 --> 00:49:28,066 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1120 00:49:28,066 --> 00:49:29,833 WILLIS: You know, the adult version of each, 1121 00:49:29,833 --> 00:49:32,433 of ourselves that we see didn't occur in a vacuum. 1122 00:49:32,433 --> 00:49:33,433 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1123 00:49:33,433 --> 00:49:34,600 WILLIS: You know? 1124 00:49:34,600 --> 00:49:36,433 There's history behind every person that we meet. 1125 00:49:36,433 --> 00:49:37,466 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1126 00:49:37,466 --> 00:49:39,000 WILLIS: You know? And not all of it's good. 1127 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:40,133 GATES: Mm-hmm. WILLIS: You know? 1128 00:49:40,133 --> 00:49:41,966 But it definitely shapes us. 1129 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,833 GATES: My guests' mysteries had now been solved... 1130 00:49:47,833 --> 00:49:50,600 It was time to show them their full family trees... 1131 00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:52,433 ROBERTSON: Oh, my gosh. 1132 00:49:52,433 --> 00:49:56,566 GATES: Filled with new branches they'd been yearning to see. 1133 00:49:56,566 --> 00:49:59,600 WILLIS: Oh my goodness. Look at this. Oh my goodness. 1134 00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:01,366 GATES: For Joyce and Terrie, 1135 00:50:01,366 --> 00:50:04,266 these branches led back into the slave era 1136 00:50:04,266 --> 00:50:06,333 in the American South. 1137 00:50:06,333 --> 00:50:09,266 MORROW: I feel all these people. They are really beautiful. 1138 00:50:09,266 --> 00:50:10,533 ROBERTSON: This is amazing. 1139 00:50:10,533 --> 00:50:12,766 GATES: For Megan, they led to England... 1140 00:50:12,766 --> 00:50:14,100 ROBERTSON: I'm speechless. 1141 00:50:14,100 --> 00:50:17,266 GATES: And contained at least one slave owner... 1142 00:50:17,566 --> 00:50:21,100 But for all three, they were a source of wonder. 1143 00:50:21,100 --> 00:50:22,266 WILLIS: Wow. 1144 00:50:22,266 --> 00:50:25,133 GATES: Offering the chance to see themselves, 1145 00:50:25,133 --> 00:50:29,266 and their families, in an entirely new way. 1146 00:50:29,266 --> 00:50:31,133 ROBERTSON: Oh my gosh. 1147 00:50:31,766 --> 00:50:34,733 MORROW: I now have a fuller picture of who I am, 1148 00:50:34,733 --> 00:50:37,833 where I come from, the people that... 1149 00:50:37,833 --> 00:50:39,966 I like to say who are my people. 1150 00:50:39,966 --> 00:50:40,966 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1151 00:50:40,966 --> 00:50:42,800 MORROW: To be able to put a name, 1152 00:50:42,800 --> 00:50:45,033 to know that these were real people. 1153 00:50:45,033 --> 00:50:46,366 To know. 1154 00:50:46,366 --> 00:50:48,700 You always know that they're there, but to name them... 1155 00:50:48,700 --> 00:50:50,300 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1156 00:50:50,300 --> 00:50:52,300 MORROW: You know, I talk a lot, 1157 00:50:52,300 --> 00:50:54,600 but it's something to share now. 1158 00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:56,966 It really is something to share. 1159 00:50:57,433 --> 00:50:59,000 ROBERTSON: It is overwhelming. 1160 00:50:59,000 --> 00:51:00,266 It is overwhelming, 1161 00:51:00,266 --> 00:51:02,433 it's gonna take a lot of time to kind of digest, 1162 00:51:02,433 --> 00:51:04,833 but it's absolutely fantastic. 1163 00:51:04,833 --> 00:51:06,566 GATES: You are the first person in your family 1164 00:51:06,566 --> 00:51:08,066 to know the truth, how does that feel? 1165 00:51:08,066 --> 00:51:10,300 ROBERTSON: To know. A little selfish. 1166 00:51:10,300 --> 00:51:13,100 That I, that I know and no one else knows yet. 1167 00:51:13,100 --> 00:51:17,000 Um, but I, I'm very excited for them to know too. 1168 00:51:17,300 --> 00:51:18,466 WILLIS: I'm over the moon. 1169 00:51:18,466 --> 00:51:22,733 I feel like life for any person is a puzzle. 1170 00:51:22,733 --> 00:51:24,066 GATES: Mm-hmm. 1171 00:51:24,066 --> 00:51:26,066 WILLIS: You know, and pieces fall into place whenever they 1172 00:51:26,066 --> 00:51:27,800 happen to fall into place. 1173 00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:30,133 But these are pieces that I've been looking for 1174 00:51:30,133 --> 00:51:32,333 for a very long time. 1175 00:51:32,333 --> 00:51:35,933 So I just, I could just breathe now knowing th, 1176 00:51:35,933 --> 00:51:39,866 this bit of information and it's... 1177 00:51:39,866 --> 00:51:41,533 DNA don't lie. 1178 00:51:41,533 --> 00:51:45,233 It's, it's verified and valid and it is the truth. 1179 00:51:45,233 --> 00:51:47,666 And that is what I've been seeking, 1180 00:51:47,666 --> 00:51:50,733 and thank you for helping me find that truth. 1181 00:51:50,733 --> 00:51:53,733 GATES: That's the end of our journey with Joyce Willis, 1182 00:51:53,733 --> 00:51:57,300 Megan Robertson, and Terrie Morrow. 1183 00:51:57,833 --> 00:51:59,866 Join me next time, 1184 00:51:59,866 --> 00:52:02,733 when we unlock the secrets of the past 1185 00:52:02,733 --> 00:52:05,866 for new guests, on another episode of 1186 00:52:05,866 --> 00:52:08,233 "Finding Your Roots."