Monday, March 15, 2010

Happy Birthday

Have you seen Dr. Henry Louis Gates' current PBS series on tracing family history and how the use of genetics makes discovering your family's roots almost an exact science? I find it riveting.

In the course of the series Dr. Gates' researchers have traced the family tree of six or seven people you have all heard of. Meryl Streep, Yo Yo Ma, Eva Longoria, Steven Colbert, et al.

The stuff he found! If you haven't seen it look for it. I promise you will enjoy it.

One of my hobbies is an interest in the other than Anglo history of North America. Taught history relies almost exclusively on who, how and what the British did. Others were here first, and yet we are taught almost nothing of it.

Dr. Gates includes the history of today's birthday girl's family back to, and including, a petition, her many times great grandfather made to the King of Spain asking to be allowed to join his uncle in the new world. The request was granted. Ancient relative arrived 10 years before the Mayflower.

This young Latina chica's family has been here longer than ANY New England founding family, and today is her birthday.



By the time the Mayflower landed ancient relative had been granted land in what is now Texas. The family has been there since. A more recent great grandfather, without moving off the family property, lived under 5 flags in his lifetime. Spain, Mexico, Texas, the Confederacy and the US.

Recognize her now?


Happy Birthday, Eva Longoria.

Toad

4 comments:

Shelley said...

Great photo of Eva - you can see all the natural beauty underneath the make up and it's refreshing.

Ancestry.com offers DNA testing, but somehow I don't plan to go there. It's all well and good if it confirms what you already know, but just on the off chance that there is something my mom never got around to telling me, well, I don't want to know now! Besides, I see a conspiracy behind everything and with the website being connected to the Morman church, connected to the CIA and probably all the insurance companies...I'm just kidding... sorta.

JMW said...

I've only seen the previews of this show, but it looks fascinating. I'll have to tune in!

James said...

Very interesting, I join you in wishing her a happy birthday.

LPC said...

Ha! I love this!