General Chat

what I like most of all about WDYTYR is when they find details of ancestors or relatives that they put it into context of the time. Eventually I hope to do that with my family.

The first series of WDYTYR was ordinary people. I found it very interesting. I would prefer a mixture of celebrities and ordinary people. I'm sick to death of this celebrity culture.

Well ... that's what we do here. ;) And I know two of us for sure are better than the WDYTYA guy in the UK, anyhow! We easily did in a few minutes what he'd got paid to not do at all. ;)

(All because of a little spelling variation in a birth reg I found, yeesh!)

I think it's the program producers who seek out the celebrities, rather than vice versa. ;)

We genealogy hounds might watch a program about ordinary people tracing their roots, but there's gotta be a hook to attract the general public (and sell advertising ... and keep Ancestry.com's profits flowing in from new customers ...). Celebrities will do it every time.

Celebrities don't pay for anything, don't forget. They get paid to go to parties!

It`s all well and good having famous people on WDYTUA, but you would have thought they had the money to pay someone to do the research for them. If you look at the years it takes us and looking at every £££ we spend, it would be nice to have an "ordinary" person researched for this programme.

You did well there Carol, I think they did say that Robert came from England but didn't say where in England.

So looks like SJP's ancestors were from England.

Children of ROBERT ELWELL and JOANNE DALLIVER are:
2. i. SAMUEL2 ELWELL, b. August 28, 1639, Salem, Massachusetts; d. November 24, 1696, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
ii. SECOND CHILD ELWELL, b. August 28, 1639; d. 1639.
3. iii. JOHN ELWELL, b. January 23, 1639/40, Salem, Massachusetts; d. Abt. 1709.
4. iv. ISSAC ELWELL, b. December 27, 1641, Dorchester, Massachusetts.
5. v. JOSIAH ELWELL, b. Abt. 1644, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. Abt. 1679.
6. vi. JOSEPH ELWELL, b. May 1648, Salem, Massachusetts; d. Bef. September 1701, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
vii. SARAH ELWELL, b. April 20, 1651, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1651.
viii. SARAH ELWELL, b. May 12, 1652, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1655.
7. ix. THOMAS ELWELL, b. November 12, 1654, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1706, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
x. JACOB ELWELL, b. June 10, 1657, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1658.
8. xi. RICHARD ELWELL, b. April 11, 1658.
xii. MARY ELWELL, m. SAMUEL DOLLIVER.

. ROBERT1 ELWELL was born Abt. 1612 in Stoke Abbott, Devonshire, England, and died May 18, 1683 in Massachusetts. He married (1) JOANNE DALLIVER 1638 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She was born Abt. 1617 in Stoke Abbott, Devonshire, England, and died March 31, 1675 in Massachusetts. He married (2) ALICE LEACH May 29, 1676. She was born Bef. 1661, and died April 10, 1691.

Notes for ROBERT ELWELL:
Robert Elwell, first in America, was born in Stoke Abbot, Devonshire, England. According to "Genealogical Gleanings in England" page 171, Robert departed for America on the ship "Recovery of London" on March 31, 1633. Robert is know to have been a resident of Dorchester, in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay (now a part of the city of Boston) in the year 1634. In the Dorchester Town Records for 1 September 1634, reads: "It is ordered that the lot which was granted formerly to John Rocket shall be transferred to Robert Elwell" (Source: Dorchester Town Records). In 1635 he appeared as a witness concerning the outrageous conduct of one Thomas Winnerton. Robert was admitted a freeman in 1640 and was a member of Salem church in 1643. Robert was several times a selectman, the first time in 1649. He was a freeman on the 13th of March 1640, appears an owner of land in Gloucester on the 2nd of April 1642 when he bought of Mr. Milward two acres of upland lying in the harbor between the lots of John Collins and Zebulon Hill and running from his swamp northerly over the next swamp. Robert Elwell was listed as one of the 82 residents of Gloucester from the time of its first permanent settlement. The map shows Robert Elwell living on Easter Point, on the other side of the harbor from Osmund Dutch and William Vinson. Five Pound Island, which belonged to William Vinson lay between them. (Source: "History of the Town of Gloucester" by John T. Babson) In 1651 Robert had a grant of land "Stage Neck", now called "Rock Neck". Robert's will specifies location of other land he owned. Robert was counted a citizen of Salem until he actually resided at Gloucester. His Children were there baptized until the close of 1641, and his name is on the list of members of the church in 1643. (Source: "Elwell Family in America" by Reverend Jacob Thomas Elwell). The term "Goodman" was often given to him. He died 1683 leaving an estate worth two hundred pounds. His first wife, Joanne, died in 1675. In 1676 he married Alice Leach who survived him. His children were Samuel, John, Isaac, Josiah, Joseph, Sara (born and died in 1651), Sarah, Thomas, Jacob, Richard and Mary. (Source: Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, compiled under the editorial supervision of George Thomas Little A.M.).

SAMUEL2 ELWELL (ROBERT1) was born August 28, 1639 in Salem, Massachusetts, and died November 24, 1696 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. He married ESTHER DUTCH June 09, 1658 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, daughter of OSMUND DUTCH and GRACE PRATTE. She was born 1639 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and died September 06, 1721 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

Notes for ESTHER DUTCH:
According to the "Salem Witchcraft Papers," Volume 1, on November 5, 1692, an arrest warrant was issued for Esther Elwell and two others, Abigail Roe and Rebecca Dike, for committing "wickedly and feloniously sundry acts of witchcraft upon the body of Mrs. Mary Fiche of Gloucester." Hester Dutch was taken to Ipswich on October 30, 1692 along with two others for examination on the charge of witchcraft. All were released on November 7, 1692. Hester, due to sickness and poverty was, like her mother, "a poor distressed widow for many years."

Children of SAMUEL ELWELL and ESTHER DUTCH are:
9. i. SAMUEL3 ELWELL, b. March 14, 1659/60, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
ii. JACOB ELWELL, b. August 10, 1662, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. May 11, 1710, Cape Sables, Sherburne, Nova Scotia, Canada; m. ABIGAIL VINCENT, July 05, 1686, Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts; b. May 28, 1668, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. September 17, 1690, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
10. iii. ROBERT ELWELL, b. December 13, 1664, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
iv. ESTHER ELWELL, b. August 25, 1667.
v. SARAH ELWELL, b. March 25, 1670, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1670, Gloucester, Massachusetts.
vi. EBENEZER ELWELL, b. February 28, 1671/72, Gloucester, Massachusetts; d. 1720, Lost at Sea; m. DORCAS LOWE; b. Bef. 1682.
vii. HANNAH ELWELL, b. August 11, 1674; m. JOSEPH GARDNER.
viii. ELIZABETH ELWELL, b. July 30, 1678.
ix. THOMAS ELWELL, b. Abt. 1680.

I also expected her to get on my nerves. However I quite liked her alhough like all the celebrities they have to speak to the camera which seems false at times but I didn't think she was, just the situation.

She didn't get on my nerves at all, I just thought she was very naturally excited, who wouldn't be finding they had such direct connections to the well documented goldrush and Salem witch trials. I thought it was good how she explained she'd rather her ancestor was an accused witch than an accuser. And what a find that she was one of the last group to be accused and therefore was not executed. Wouldn't we all have uttered a few 'wows' at that?
And I liked the enthusiasm of her mother, thought she came over very well.

Pity they couldn't go back further with the English ancestor.

I thought the programme was excellent...SJP was not how I imagined her to be...so down to earth. I really thought she was overwhelmed with her ancestry.

I have certainly made more constant expletives finding something new about my ancestry at the Records Office and have blubbed over finding an expected grave or unexpected.

Linda

It must be cultural. ;) When I saw it a few weeks ago over here, I fully expected that SJP would get badly up my nose, but I thought she was quite human!

I'm pretty sure I've seen them with the gloves in other episodes, or that could have been when they were looking at documents outside the US.

Yes, an hour of TV here in NA is 44 minutes + commercials all through the hour.

That's why there's a half-hour Canadian satirical news show -- named after our first serious investigative journalism program, cancelled for political reasons decades ago, which was called This Hour has Seven Days -- called This Hour has 22 Minutes. ;)

SRS I think you'll find that the show would of been a hour in length when shown in the USA but would of contained advert breaks, so that was why we only saw 45 mins.

I too thought it was good, but her voice does grate, that's why I don't watch SITC.

I thought it was really interesting, however, it seemed to pass quicker than our normal episodes. (Are ours 1 hour instead of 45 mins?) It just seemed lacking in details for some reason, i thought they could have said more.

Brenda, Can you just imagine doing that in our record offices? We'd be lynched by the staff! LOL

Just read Viv's reply and also noticed the absence of gloves.

i wanted to watch it but big brother was on same time lololol,xxxx

OH got really fed up with her saying "Wow" and OMG.
It was interesting though.Did anyone notice that when they viewed old documents that they didn't wear white gloves?