Stories That Connect Us (And Why DNA Isn't Enough) | Episode 120

What if a national TV crew showed up at your door to reveal a family secret?Have you ever felt a missing piece in your family tree that you couldn’t quite place? In this episode, I sit down with Melissa Stafford, who thought her family history stopped with her immediate grandparents until an unexpected email from Ancestry® and a visit from Good Morning America changed everything.From driving past a local statue in her town for 13 years to discovering she is the direct descendant of Revolutionary War hero Deborah Sampson, Melissa shares the emotional moment her lost family line was restored. Tune in to discover how forgotten branches of your tree hold your family's most powerful legacy.〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Shared ancestors make us related. Shared stories make us connected.Can I tell you a secret? My absolute favorite part of family history isn't just discovering people who lived hundreds of years ago—it's what those stories can do for our living relationships right now.Welcome to the Season 3 premiere of Stories That Live In Us!In this episode, I’m sharing a powerful realization I had during a recent, tech-free week at a youth camp in the freezing, wildfire-threatened mountains of Utah. After putting a group of teenagers to the test to see if they could name their own grandparents, I discovered a shocking truth: having your names on the same family tree or sharing DNA makes you related, but it doesn't automatically make you connected.Tune in to hear the difference between a "storytelling household" and a quiet one, how a giant family tree chart can act as the ultimate curiosity spark at your next reunion, and a hilarious story about why my Grandpa Victor drove around Los Angeles treating stoplights as mere suggestions.Plus, stay tuned until the very end for our brand-new segment: One Word, One Story! I’m opening up "The Story Drawer" for the first time to pull a completely random word and share an uncataloged memory involving a bicycle, a local drugstore, and some rock-hard bubblegum ice cream.Connect with me:Follow the show to help me reach more families looking to connect!Share your own memory connected to today's random word on Facebook or Instagram and tag me.〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

What happens when you spend a year chasing family stories across all fifty states?I'm Crista Cowan (known online as The Barefoot Genealogist), and for this special Season Two retrospective, I’m pulling back the studio curtain. I’m sitting down with my longtime friend, producer, and editor, Lisa Elzey, to look back on our epic cross-country journey—from a 150-year-old sourdough starter in Alaska to a gripping witch trial in Connecticut.We’re swapping behind-the-scenes secrets, revealing which interviews left us in tears, and unpacking the moments that surprised us most.Behind the Scenes of Season Two:The Milestones: Celebrating our 100th-episode milestone and the incredible community pitches that brought this season to life.The Discoveries: How a rediscovered ancestor tied to a Utah handcart rescue and a forgotten Oregon cemetery project taught us something new about courage and place.The Bloopers: The reality of eating legacy roadside cheese dip live on camera.Whether you've followed along since Episode One or you're just joining us as we head into Season Three, this retrospective is a reminder that every family—including yours—is carrying treasures worth sharing.Links & Resources Mentioned:Cookbook: To Die For: A Cookbook of Gravestone Recipes by Rosie GrantExplore More: Find A Grave Community ProjectsSupport the Show: If you loved our trip from sea to shining sea, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation in the YouTube comments!〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

How close did America come to losing its foundational words forever? In this episode of Stories That Live In Us, host Crista Cowan (The Barefoot Genealogist) takes us to Delaware—the First State—as our countdown to America’s 250th birthday reaches its finale.Our guest is Anna Crowley Redding, an Emmy Award-winning investigative television reporter turned acclaimed children’s book author. Anna shares the thrilling, forgotten history behind her book, Rescuing the Declaration of Independence: How We Almost Lost the Words That Built America. Together, Crista and Anna unpack the incredible true story of Stephen Pleasanton, an ordinary State Department clerk who risked everything to save the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and thousands of historic documents from British torches during the War of 1812.Beyond the history books, this episode dives deep into the personal. Anna opens up about her own profound trial of courage, balancing the grief of losing an infant nephew and a sudden breast cancer diagnosis at age 39, all while fighting to get her stories out into the world.What You’ll Learn in This Episode:The Midnight Ride You Never Heard Of: How a low-level clerk outsmarted the Secretary of War to pack up three floors of irreplaceable parchment as British troops closed in on Washington, D.C. in 1814.The Power of Primary Sources: Why historical artifacts, old census records, and even 19th-century maps can spark an immediate, tangible curiosity in children.Grief and Resilience: How to find the fortitude to face a blank page (or a major life crisis) and keep moving forward.Family History Tips for Parents: Simple, actionable ways to share your genealogical discoveries with your kids without needing to be a professional writer."You can be a regular person... and yet, an opportunity can arrive in your lap to do something courageous, and you can come through in a way that makes a real difference." — Anna Crowley ReddingHit subscribe to follow along as we journey through all 50 states to uncover the deep connections and stories that live in all of us!Links & Resources:Learn more about Anna Crowley Redding: https://annacrowleyredding.com/Buy Rescuing the Declaration of Independence: https://amzn.to/4xTJfe5〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

What happens when a simple hint on your family tree uncovers a decades-old secret?In this episode of Stories That Live In Us, host Crista Cowan (The Barefoot Genealogist) sits down with nurse, history lover, and content creator Jessica Rae to discuss a discovery that changed her life forever. While researching her maternal line, Jessica stumbled across a U.S. federal census record that listed her great-great-grandmother, Susan, not in a household, but as an "inmate" at Mayview State Hospital—a historic mental institution in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.What followed was a deep dive into an incredible story of immigration, extreme poverty, domestic abuse, heartbreaking loss, and a system that often silenced vulnerable women. Jessica shares how Susan immigrated alone from Slovakia at just 17, lost four babies to the hardships of early 20th-century Pittsburgh, and was ultimately committed to an institution for over 30 years—a fact hidden from her own grandchildren.In this episode, you’ll discover:The Census Clue: How a routine search on Ancestry unspooled a massive family secret.Susan's Resilience: The harsh realities faced by immigrant women in the Pittsburgh steel mill era.The Stigma of Mental Health: How the 1930s medical and legal systems dealt with trauma, abuse, and poverty.Healing Generational Trauma: Why breaking the silence and sharing these difficult stories on social media breeds healing rather than shame."I come from thousands of years of women who have survived and overcome the odds that were against them... I have found myself in this work." — Jessica RaeWhether you are hitting a brick wall in your own genealogy research or hesitant to wade into the "messy" branches of your family tree, Jessica’s journey will inspire you to reclaim your ancestors' truth with empathy and courage.Links & Resources:Follow Jessica Rae on TikTok/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/its_jessica_rae/Learn more about Stories That Live In Us and celebrate America's 250th birthday with us: https://www.cristacowan.com/blog?tag=podcast〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Imagine diving into your family tree to discover that your ancestors left you a secret message more than 300 years ago, encoded into the literal names of their children. I follow a trail of meticulous Quaker records from a genealogy brick wall in Ohio all the way back to 17th-century Boston to discover the story of Richard and Abigail Lippincott, my 10-times-great-grandparents. Together, they survived public excommunication in colonial Boston, two imprisonments in Devonshire, England, and relentless persecution. After crossing the Atlantic Ocean a third time, they finally found a home in New Jersey that guaranteed "free liberty of conscience without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever." The children they had along the way bore names that aren't just unusual; they're a sentence of survival written across two decades, three ocean crossings, two continents, and three colonies. If you're fighting your own family tree brick wall right now, this one's for you.Links & Resources Mentioned:Stuck on your own brick wall? Listen to Episode 1 to hear the exact step-by-step journey of how I broke through and found Carrie Inman at https://www.cristacowan.com/blog/finding-carrie-a-30-year-quest-to-keep-one-simple-promise.Get the Full Story: For the complete list of names, historical deep-dives, and conversation starters to unlock your own family stories, check out the full companion blog post at https://www.cristacowan.com/blog/new-jersey-a-sentence-of-survival.〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

A dapper playboy, a broken plantation safe, an embezzlement scheme, and a grandfather who completely vanished. What happened to William H. Wheeler? 🕵️‍♂️🔍When an 83-year-old client named Jane came to Julie Merrill, an accredited genealogist with Ancestry ProGenealogists, looking for clues about her missing grandfather, she had no idea the search would lead away from Washington state, straight past California, and deep into a high-society scandal in 1890s Georgia. Armed with DNA clusters and old newspaper archives, Julie chased down this 100-year-old family history mystery and uncovered a jaw-dropping double life.〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!

Four months pregnant, two babies already buried in German soil, Anna Maria Niccum boarded a wooden ship in 1749 and crossed an ocean she'd never seen. Not for a revolution but for a foothold. My six-times great-grandmother made an extraordinary journey from the exhausted Rhineland Palatinate to the wild red-earthed frontier of Maryland's Toms Creek, where she would hold the line for nearly two decades so her children could inherit something no tyrant had ever offered her family: a new kind of American identity. Her story is one that history almost forgot, but your family tree may be hiding one just like it. Somewhere in your ancestry, a woman who signed nothing and appears in almost no official records made your existence possible. It’s time to find her.〰️ 🌳 🧬 〰️  🎧 Ready to discover more stories that could transform your family connections? Subscribe to 'Stories That Live In Us' wherever you get your podcasts, and leave a review to help other families find their path to deeper connection through family history. Together, we're building a community of families committed to preserving and sharing the stories that matter most. 🖼️  Ready to get your family tree out of your computer and onto your wall? Visit FamilyChartmasters.com to create a family tree chart that will help your family share stories for generations.♥  Want more family history tips and inspiration? Follow me @CristaCowan on Instagram where I share behind-the-scenes looks at my own family discoveries and practical ways to uncover yours!