🎥Ancestry’s Nicka Sewell-Smith & Lisa Elzey will be watching along live, sharing behind the scenes details and answering audience questions throughout this premiere! Show them some love in the comments.
I am not sure why I am having chills. But this is a spiritual experience. The power of blood lines, the power of family and ultimately love. My mother says, truth can never be hidden under the sun. One man’s desire to bring his family together, could not be hidden under the sun. It took generations but it was accomplished!
Thank You!! This is so spiritual....I feel the ancestors hovering... emotions overflowing; awesome delivery , Nicka Sewell-Smith, looking forward to more related content ❤🍃🌻
2😂🎉🎉🎉GOOD MORNING, all of you God's children!! PRAISE GOD for another day that He has kept us!! Psalm 5:11-12 reads:But let all those who rejoice put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor you will surround them as with a shield." Ain't that GOOD NEWS?!!!! May your day be blessed!! Much love!!♥️ 😘 🙌🏾 🙏🏿 @BlueRaven990
Young Hawkins made sure to store important names and memories as if he KNEW that one day it would bring his family together, and it did! This is a beautiful story.
While watching celebrities find their roots is fascinating, stories like these really bring to life how slavery was not only horrific, but there is an entire segment of families whose stories that have disappeared.
I couldn't help thinking the same thing she was saying in the end, that the prayer he put out in the world was answered 150 years later. That little boy was spiritually led back to his family by his own children.
What an amazing person Hawkins Wilson was. His mind, his memory, his faith. It’s a testament to the effectiveness of his faith that this story can be told. I wish there had been a picture of him, I’d love to see this beautiful person!
I have made it my mission to search every day for a picture of him. I know it's out there. Thank you for watching and embracing those emotions with us! ❤
Very interesting 😎 😅now I wanna go work on my Ancestry acct again 😞 I've put it on the back burner so to speak... I never ever ever heard about FREEMAN Bureau. ❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤
I'm 66 years old and was born in Ohio. My maternal family traces back to the 1700's in this country, that side of the family moved away from the south to Ohio, because as Quakers they were not in agreement with slavery. My paternal side, I'm just a few generations from ancestors who came from Europe. When we were in school, through history classes, we learned the story of African American slavery in this county.... To hear Mr Wilson's words from his letter how he named his family members and shared who they "BELONGED" to, that really struck a chord in my heart. Thank you Dr Gates and your team for reuniting this family and for also bringing history to LIFE with the Finding Your Roots show. !!! 💗
When those ladies stood face-to-face, I saw in my mind Hawkins looking down and smiling, saying they finally made it. Here is my family together. At last, I truly visualized his huge smile❤
Of ALL the episodes I’ve watched, this one has me in (happy) tears! Just like Kelly said, her ancestor wrote a letter about 150 years ago that was NEVER delivered until now… it makes a person think that their forefather KNEW how difficult it would be to receive this letter and how important this letter was going to be; that it would become a verbal MAP to at least direct his family to where they needed to go to find him and/or his descendants!! That letter never made it to his sister, but his descendants found it, then they went and found HER descendants. Kinda bringing everyone in a full circle… I’m sure Mr Wilson is VERY happy now that his family members are hunting and searching for each other.
I'm bawling like a baby, so glad you have found each other and the love that Hawkins Wilson shared with us all, yes even with me a white lady in California feels his love today. Please tell more!!! I want more. My Dad had a dairy, one of his favorite milkers was Herman Taylor, a black man from Mississippi. Herman was like family, Dad took care of him, provideing a home for him to live out his days as he grew old. Blessing everyone, is what Hawkins has done today. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.
Incredible for a young man to remember, to create a family record at a time when others couldn't, blows my mind. God bless Hawkins Wilson's descendants forever!
Breaks my heart and yes I'm crying. The thought that his letter is now in the hands of his family and they both are now connected. The words he wrote are so powerful. A six year old boy, and he remembered his family and kept them with him his whole life. I can't even imagine human beings so cruel, so money hungry, that they enslaved humans for their own benefit. The power of those letters will, and has moved mountains. The power of the written word. Just think about that.
I bet the sister that made the biscuits and prepared him for what was to come gave him this information so he could find her one day (as was his mission in life). I can see them now huddled together as she taught him the information over and over verbally until he could repeat it perfectly back to her and then one day in his letters.
I am 78 years old and I want to pass down to my great granddaughter her legacy, not hide it or not talk about it . I want them to live in our lives with joy and self worth of their legacy.
I am not crying .........this documentary is the epitome of what it means to be human and that every single one of us , it doesn't matter what colour we are, belong to the same human race.. There should be a a Hawkins Wilson Day .
Slavery disgusts me and how it tore families apart leaves a mark forever. My heart breaks for Hawkins and his family and how slavery kept them apart. However, It never stole his spirit which was lovely to know. These letters had such care and love wrapped in them and they were so reaching. His dream of contact with his family lives with these wonderful women. How very lucky they are to have such an intelligent and caring man as Hawkins Wilson as family.
Hawkins Wilson’s letters are so beautifully written and full of life. Hawkins Wilson is in heaven with his family, reuniting their descendants. Bless their souls ❤🙏🏾
Beautiful story of agency and resilience and the power of oral history! The letters he left were a roadmap for his descendants who were in spiritual contact with him. I Would love to be able to get as far as his descendants got to get full circle! I am from the Dutch Caribbean, and the Dutch archives have very little records from the perspective of the enslaved people. But I do not give up, I will keep on searching.❤ Thank you for this wonderful documentary👌🏿🇨🇼🌺
Are you from the Dutch Islands or from Suriname? My family is from Guyana (formerly British Guiana) and we have Dutch in our heritage. Documenting the enslaved is tricky but you may be able to trace back right to when your family was freed. One thing you could check is ships logs as your family may have travelled from island to island. Good luck in your search.
@@KristineMaitland Both😊 I was born in Aruba 🇦🇼 out of Surinamese parents. Both have passed now🕯️. But when I was seven years old my parents divorced and my Mom left for Curaçao 🇨🇼 were I finished school and went to the Netherlands 🇳🇱 for further study 📚. So I speak Papiamentu, Sranang Tongo and Dutch, next to English and Spanish.
@@KristineMaitland you are right, I found my ancestors in the slave registers, registered as plantation workers on the sugar plantations. Some moved with the slave owners from Curaçao to Surinam. In the ship manifests the slave owners and their family were mentioned by name, but the enslaved of African descent were referred to as ‘equipage’ or as servants, and were not mentioned by name. They were baptized by Moravian missionaries ) German from Herrnhut Germany 🇩🇪)who did stimulate the children to learn how to read and write, so I hope to find something written in the Moravian archive.
Love Henry Louis Gates he puts together so interesting shows (the ones I’ve seen anyway).. I’m the genealogist in my family. I’m the eldest of 3 siblings and I guess after I go, I assume nothing is going to matter as I never married never had children and my sister and her husband don’t have kids and well it’s just my brother and he as a daughter so maybe. All of my elders are gone now except for one auntie nearing 90 and she lives in the United States. We’re Canadian so we don’t see each other. Last I saw her was maybe 10 years ago. I made a special trip down to Houston Tx. So they don’t live anywhere near the Canadian border. Love to see her again but she is up in years and I’m full of arthritis and waiting on joints. I grabbed the box of tissues as this started as l’m just too sentimental, even if it isn’t my family or my story or my pictures it can bring a tear.
Thank you Hawkins for your powerful, heart-felt intentions to have your family reunited. This is a fantastic triumph and speaks to the power of Spirit.
This story moved me so much! I was floored by how much the cousins looked alike! I’m an artist so I am drawn to faces and features. My ancestors are Cherokee. And even tho they tell us we’re not We are Cherokee! My Great Grandmother was full blooded Cherokee. My Grandmother told us we were, and spoke to me in Cherokee when she lived . My Father and uncles and cousins told me stories. With The Trail of Tears the government tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. The stories were passed down. We will not forget!🥰
Wow! Through cries, I rejoice in this family's reunion. May you showcase more stories. Our ancestors deserve to be remembered, their lives celebrated, their names spoken and the American history revealed. Thank you for an excellent presentation.
What an amazing story. Hawkins Wilson was a strong young man who never forgot his family. One of the greatest stories I have heard touched my heart. I have done genealogy for 35 years and this was a great find. A story that needs to be told.
Listen I have cried some tears today! All of them filled with a different emotion from sadness, anger, rage, and finally joy! So glad this family was able to put the family back together. ❤️
This has me in tears. I don't know why the descendants of slaves aren't constantly enraged by what their ancestors endured. Maybe if you felt the full horror of it, it would cripple you.
We are. And we are told to get over it. We're told it didn't happen to us, as if we are not entitled to anger over what was done to our families. We still suffer today left and right with the impact of the dehumanization of black people all those years ago. Even today, black Americans in America have to deal with medical professionals assuming that we feel less pain than other races. Think of the implications of that. And that stems from being looked at as chattel, as property, as things and not people. And as much as we want that to just go away, it doesn't.
How dare you assume we are not enraged! Everyday we often wonder what country our ancestors came from before being enslaved. We heard stories from adults talking what so many endured before us. My aunt is 94 she wants to know what happened to her grandfather, my great grandfather. We have learned to hide the pain and move forward. As a black woman I constantly fight the stereotype of the “angry black woman” I’m like any other person I have moments of joy. No one can live everyday in anger. It’s not healthy and it doesn’t help anyone. Our ancestors wanted so much for their descendants to prosper. I honor their sacrifice by being the best I can be.
Oh how many times I dried my face. What eloquent letters he wrote and you really got a sense of his personality and character. He is someone I could sit and listen to him all day. Congratulations on finding such an amazing man in your family. P S I’d love to hear more about his journey.
I really enjoyed reading about Hawkins Wilson and his effort to locate his family. The fact that he knew to go to the Freedmans Bureau was brilliant. I am so happy that his efforts paid off, introducing family members they didn't know they had. I'm close to 80 years old, and have been labeled our family historian. I started digging into our history 47 years ago and have connected family members who were adopted, to their biological families. I haven't been able to find one 3 times great grandfather, but I won't give up. Thank you Dr. Gates for the Finding Your Roots program, it's so encouraging, and I watch it all the time. Melrose Cross.
When God keeps you, you cannot be broken. Thanks for the effort that Dr. Gates and the team put forward in reuniting this family. I am proud of Mr. Hawkins Wilson for the faith and hope he held on to.
One of the most beautiful stories I havevever heard. So sad the letter never reached the correct place. They are truley fortunite to get it at this time.
When I did my Ancestry DNA i was shocked 3 types on indigenous native. Our journeys take us in many directions. It is like opening a history book and seeing it slowly print itself. I am Scandinavian from both Mother and Father. Norway & Sweden. Since doing this I have found relatives previously unknown. Spoke to a cousin in the Philippine's he looks just like my older brother. it is a joy to open the doors of dna unknown to generations. I know my Mothers people were scattered from Alabama & Georgia & Tennessee. My Older Children have a line which extends all the way to New Zealand. Hawkins letter brought tears at the sincerity and love. btw love the show. Please whom ever was responsible for the show please start it up again. BTW my Grandmother was a survivor of the 1906 fire and Earthquake. in San Francisco California. I can not grasp how one person is considered as property . The anger and sadness of a tragedy which have never existed. Yet Native Indigenous persons were lesser in value and traded sold and more. Bless their souls
And not only did he make it possible to connect his direct line relatives but soooo many more folks who may only have a first name and now it is possible through dna to start putting all of those families back together. Amazing!! I always tell my 5 adult children, one person CAN and often does, make a real difference in this world!
This is amazing and encouraging as I am on my journey. Listening to his letter gives me hope to carry on. May their family history information continue to be discovered by them.
I just can’t imagine going through what the 7 year old Hawkins experienced. 💔 The fact that he remembered all those details is amazing itself. I got chills throughout this video. Super special, thanks! ✌️❤️
This is so beautiful. So incredibly moving. It's a time period full of people - real people - and yet we have such a hard time talking about it because of the horrid ways those people were treated. Thank you for creating such a wonderful program and giving voice to such a wonderous story.
This is beautiful. I hope you can connect more of this family. It's so sad that the letter got misdirected, but amazing that the connections were made by a 6-year-old who was sent so far away.
This is so interesting to me!! I think of the thousands of people who this happened to, who were separated from their original families; to think that there are people walking around related to other people, and they don’t even know of them. This story gave me goosebumps, I watched it twice! Would love to see a photo of Hawkins Wilson.
Wow. This is Powerful. Thank you for sharing this history so that Hawkins Wilson can be seen and heard with compassion and humanity. Tears of joy, heartache, hope and heartbreak flowed throughout watching this. The mention of Hawkin's sister making biscuits was especially felt personally as my grandmother would get up early every sunday morning to make pans of homemade biscuits for family to have before and after church. I'm glad Hawkins letter finally reached his family and served its purpose.
Mr Wilson's letter to his sister was so very beautiful! Much love to all his family, living and deceased. Thank you to Proffeser Gates for bringing this story to life!!
Biscuit crumbs totally feel your heart. I have a biscuit crumb too through Ancestry I found Michal my 11th great-grandmother she was African and lived Parish St Sulpice, Faubourg, Paris, France married to Rollain Barbery or Barbary. The way I found out was their daughter Francoise had a marriage contract annulled with Etienne Pasquier. Ever since I found Michal I wonder about her life. Was she happy, where did she come from, was she a slave? So many unanswered questions. Michal Mingray would have been born about 1630. At the time of Francoise marriage shows both of her parents are still alive.
Beautiful story, well-told. I was in tears too. I found a closely related cousin on Ancestry and visited him in Dallas. It was unbelievable and the connected love was instant. We are family! His story is more complicated but we are determined to find out how we are first cousins. Our DNA match is higher than cousins that I've known all of their lives. It is difficult to express how it feels to someone who has not found someone that looks and acts like them because of DNA in this world. I certainly get that Mr. Wilson needed to search for the missing pieces of his life. It is crucial to understanding who we are. His memory of the "biscuits" his sister made for him was loaded with love. It broke my heart hearing his words of gratitude. Thank you Dr. Gates and Ms. Harper.
Oh how this reunion gladdened my heart! I am also a white person from the South with roots in the South that go back at least to 1790 in Elbert County, Georgia. I was always told as a child, "we weren't rich enough to owns slaves." Sadly, while we weren't rich, some branches of my family did own slaves, and the first discovery of that fact many years ago made me sick to my stomach! But, it is an ugly truth that needs to be faced. How little 6-year-old Hawkins was separated from his family in North Carolina and taken to Texas is terrible. And the memories he kept alive and the effort he went through to be reunited to his siblings is so heart-warming. While I am terribly sad that he never was able to reconnect with them, thanks to his excellent documentation of the names of his relatives and who their owners were and then the excellent work of his descendants and his siblings descendants made his dream of reunification finally come true. And all lives are enriched by it - even mine. Thank you for sharing!
🎥Ancestry’s Nicka Sewell-Smith & Lisa Elzey will be watching along live, sharing behind the scenes details and answering audience questions throughout this premiere! Show them some love in the comments.
❤Thank you. ❤
I love Nicka Smiths content she is very informative. She knows research in the south well 👏🏽❤️‼️
I am not sure why I am having chills. But this is a spiritual experience. The power of blood lines, the power of family and ultimately love.
My mother says, truth can never be hidden under the sun. One man’s desire to bring his family together, could not be hidden under the sun. It took generations but it was accomplished!
Thank You!! This is so spiritual....I feel the ancestors hovering... emotions overflowing; awesome delivery , Nicka Sewell-Smith, looking forward to more related content ❤🍃🌻
2😂🎉🎉🎉GOOD MORNING, all of you God's children!! PRAISE GOD for another day that He has kept us!! Psalm 5:11-12 reads:But let all those who rejoice put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor you will surround them as with a shield." Ain't that GOOD NEWS?!!!! May your day be blessed!! Much love!!♥️ 😘 🙌🏾 🙏🏿 @BlueRaven990
Young Hawkins made sure to store important names and memories as if he KNEW that one day it would bring his family together, and it did! This is a beautiful story.
Maybe the LORD told Hawkins that his family would be reunited…
Hawkins Wilson's letter reached forward through time and did what he was unable to do in his lifetime; bring his family together. Beautiful.
Tears are falling. The letter is finally delivered and family gather together due to the biscuit crumbs left along the way.
While watching celebrities find their roots is fascinating, stories like these really bring to life how slavery was not only horrific, but there is an entire segment of families whose stories that have disappeared.
All because of a child's memory. Unreal. Hawkins Wilson, you were a strong man. I want to know more about Hawkins.
I couldn't help thinking the same thing she was saying in the end, that the prayer he put out in the world was answered 150 years later. That little boy was spiritually led back to his family by his own children.
What an amazing person Hawkins Wilson was. His mind, his memory, his faith. It’s a testament to the effectiveness of his faith that this story can be told. I wish there had been a picture of him, I’d love to see this beautiful person!
I have made it my mission to search every day for a picture of him. I know it's out there. Thank you for watching and embracing those emotions with us! ❤
He had hope. Endless hope.
Very interesting 😎
😅now I wanna go work on my Ancestry acct again 😞 I've put it on the back burner so to speak... I never ever ever heard about FREEMAN Bureau.
❤🎉❤🎉❤🎉❤
@br.claudelane
Maybe his picture is of these ladies…. His seems to be the picture of an intelligent loving and articulate human being.
I can't stop crying....such a moving tribute to Hawkins Wilson.
This story is one of millions. Thank you for sharing because it is the story of many.
💯💯💯
I'm 66 years old and was born in Ohio. My maternal family traces back to the 1700's in this country, that side of the family moved away from the south to Ohio, because as Quakers they were not in agreement with slavery. My paternal side, I'm just a few generations from ancestors who came from Europe. When we were in school, through history classes, we learned the story of African American slavery in this county....
To hear Mr Wilson's words from his letter how he named his family members and shared who they "BELONGED" to, that really struck
a chord in my heart. Thank you Dr Gates and your team for reuniting this family and for also bringing history to LIFE with the
Finding Your Roots show. !!! 💗
Your Story Is Our STORY !
Hawkins Wilson is Home and ALIVE... Eternally !
The letters STILL got delivered!!! This was powerful reminder that the spirit will never stop until it is fulfilled!!! Simply amazing!
And he remembered so many names and with such accuracy at 6 yrs. old!
What a touching story. My heart aches for that little boy.
When those ladies stood face-to-face, I saw in my mind Hawkins looking down and smiling, saying they finally made it. Here is my family together. At last, I truly visualized his huge smile❤
Of ALL the episodes I’ve watched, this one has me in (happy) tears! Just like Kelly said, her ancestor wrote a letter about 150 years ago that was NEVER delivered until now… it makes a person think that their forefather KNEW how difficult it would be to receive this letter and how important this letter was going to be; that it would become a verbal MAP to at least direct his family to where they needed to go to find him and/or his descendants!! That letter never made it to his sister, but his descendants found it, then they went and found HER descendants. Kinda bringing everyone in a full circle… I’m sure Mr Wilson is VERY happy now that his family members are hunting and searching for each other.
I'm bawling like a baby, so glad you have found each other and the love that Hawkins Wilson shared with us all, yes even with me a white lady in California feels his love today. Please tell more!!! I want more. My Dad had a dairy, one of his favorite milkers was Herman Taylor, a black man from Mississippi. Herman was like family, Dad took care of him, provideing a home for him to live out his days as he grew old. Blessing everyone, is what Hawkins has done today. Thank you for sharing this wonderful story.
Incredible for a young man to remember, to create a family record at a time when others couldn't, blows my mind. God bless Hawkins Wilson's descendants forever!
This made me cry.
Me too 😢
So did I. What a beautiful story about family.
Wish I hadn't decided to watch this at work. Bawling. This is so beautiful!
Breaks my heart and yes I'm crying. The thought that his letter is now in the hands of his family and they both are now connected. The words he wrote are so powerful. A six year old boy, and he remembered his family and kept them with him his whole life. I can't even imagine human beings so cruel, so money hungry, that they enslaved humans for their own benefit. The power of those letters will, and has moved mountains. The power of the written word. Just think about that.
I bet the sister that made the biscuits and prepared him for what was to come gave him this information so he could find her one day (as was his mission in life). I can see them now huddled together as she taught him the information over and over verbally until he could repeat it perfectly back to her and then one day in his letters.
He knew they'd meet in Heaven if they didn't meet again on Earth. Simply beautiful!
Crying through the whole show. I am over whelmed at the strength and courage shown in this show and all families of slaves' .God bless them all!
What a beautiful story. I’m so glad you shared this with us.
That hug ment so much❤
I am 78 years old and I want to pass down to my great granddaughter her legacy, not hide it or not talk about it . I want them to live in our lives with joy and self worth of their legacy.
I am not crying .........this documentary is the epitome of what it means to be human and that every single one of us , it doesn't matter what colour we are, belong to the same human race.. There should be a a Hawkins Wilson Day .
Slavery disgusts me and how it tore families apart leaves a mark forever. My heart breaks for Hawkins and his family and how slavery kept them apart. However, It never stole his spirit which was lovely to know. These letters had such care and love wrapped in them and they were so reaching. His dream of contact with his family lives with these wonderful women. How very lucky they are to have such an intelligent and caring man as Hawkins Wilson as family.
A 6 year old boy's dream, Manifested.
Thanks for letting us be with you and starting your voyage
Hawkins Wilson’s letters are so beautifully written and full of life. Hawkins Wilson is in heaven with his family, reuniting their descendants. Bless their souls ❤🙏🏾
Beautiful story of agency and resilience and the power of oral history! The letters he left were a roadmap for his descendants who were in spiritual contact with him. I Would love to be able to get as far as his descendants got to get full circle! I am from the Dutch Caribbean, and the Dutch archives have very little records from the perspective of the enslaved people. But I do not give up, I will keep on searching.❤ Thank you for this wonderful documentary👌🏿🇨🇼🌺
Are you from the Dutch Islands or from Suriname? My family is from Guyana (formerly British Guiana) and we have Dutch in our heritage. Documenting the enslaved is tricky but you may be able to trace back right to when your family was freed.
One thing you could check is ships logs as your family may have travelled from island to island. Good luck in your search.
@@KristineMaitland Both😊 I was born in Aruba 🇦🇼 out of Surinamese parents. Both have passed now🕯️. But when I was seven years old my parents divorced and my Mom left for Curaçao 🇨🇼 were I finished school and went to the Netherlands 🇳🇱 for further study 📚. So I speak Papiamentu, Sranang Tongo and Dutch, next to English and Spanish.
@@KristineMaitland you are right, I found my ancestors in the slave registers, registered as plantation workers on the sugar plantations. Some moved with the slave owners from Curaçao to Surinam. In the ship manifests the slave owners and their family were mentioned by name, but the enslaved of African descent were referred to as ‘equipage’ or as servants, and were not mentioned by name. They were baptized by Moravian missionaries ) German from Herrnhut Germany 🇩🇪)who did stimulate the children to learn how to read and write, so I hope to find something written in the Moravian archive.
I'm crying tears of joy for their ancestors 😭 ❤
Beautiful Family Story
So sad, haunting, beautiful, hopeful What a fine man he was
"Biscuit Crumbs" would be a good title for the family tree book.
I am in tears! How eloquent was Hawkins! What a miracle that the letters were preserved, and they finally reached family! What a moving story. ❤
Love Henry Louis Gates he puts together so interesting shows (the ones I’ve seen anyway).. I’m the genealogist in my family. I’m the eldest of 3 siblings and I guess after I go, I assume nothing is going to matter as I never married never had children and my sister and her husband don’t have kids and well it’s just my brother and he as a daughter so maybe. All of my elders are gone now except for one auntie nearing 90 and she lives in the United States. We’re Canadian so we don’t see each other. Last I saw her was maybe 10 years ago. I made a special trip down to Houston Tx. So they don’t live anywhere near the Canadian border. Love to see her again but she is up in years and I’m full of arthritis and waiting on joints. I grabbed the box of tissues as this started as l’m just too sentimental, even if it isn’t my family or my story or my pictures it can bring a tear.
This is so powerful. Thank you!
Thank you Hawkins for your powerful, heart-felt intentions to have your family reunited. This is a fantastic triumph and speaks to the power of Spirit.
My family also came from Virginia and Georgia. This story is our story. Beautiful family reunion!
I held on until that hug between the cousins. This is incredible.
Hawkins hopes came true, generations later❣️
Beautiful
This story moved me so much! I was floored by how much the cousins looked alike! I’m an artist so I am drawn to faces and features. My ancestors are Cherokee. And even tho they tell us we’re not We are Cherokee! My Great Grandmother was full blooded Cherokee. My Grandmother told us we were, and spoke to me in Cherokee when she lived . My Father and uncles and cousins told me stories. With The Trail of Tears the government tried to wipe us off the face of the earth. The stories were passed down. We will not forget!🥰
Beautiful. His purpose was to bring his family together, and he succeeded. Gives me hope.
my goodness.. the hug made the tears flow... what a beautiful story
Look at this miracle! Beautiful 🥲 Crying tears of joy for your family!
Wow! Through cries, I rejoice in this family's reunion. May you showcase more stories. Our ancestors deserve to be remembered, their lives celebrated, their names spoken and the American history revealed. Thank you for an excellent presentation.
I can't quit crying. God blessed you all for 150 years and beyond.❤😂
Hawkins Wilson was a true time traveler! Heartwarming story!
What an amazing story. Hawkins Wilson was a strong young man who never forgot his family. One of the greatest stories I have heard touched my heart. I have done genealogy for 35 years and this was a great find. A story that needs to be told.
Listen I have cried some tears today! All of them filled with a different emotion from sadness, anger, rage, and finally joy! So glad this family was able to put the family back together. ❤️
This has me in tears. I don't know why the descendants of slaves aren't constantly enraged by what their ancestors endured. Maybe if you felt the full horror of it, it would cripple you.
It's not easy.... We've learned to suppress and manage our anger and frustrations, as expected by EVERYONE except US... THE DESCENDANTS!
We are. And we are told to get over it. We're told it didn't happen to us, as if we are not entitled to anger over what was done to our families. We still suffer today left and right with the impact of the dehumanization of black people all those years ago. Even today, black Americans in America have to deal with medical professionals assuming that we feel less pain than other races. Think of the implications of that. And that stems from being looked at as chattel, as property, as things and not people. And as much as we want that to just go away, it doesn't.
It's why we're seeking our deserved reparations.
How dare you assume we are not enraged! Everyday we often wonder what country our ancestors came from before being enslaved. We heard stories from adults talking what so many endured before us. My aunt is 94 she wants to know what happened to her grandfather, my great grandfather. We have learned to hide the pain and move forward. As a black woman I constantly fight the stereotype of the “angry black woman” I’m like any other person I have moments of joy. No one can live everyday in anger. It’s not healthy and it doesn’t help anyone. Our ancestors wanted so much for their descendants to prosper. I honor their sacrifice by being the best I can be.
Oh how many times I dried my face. What eloquent letters he wrote and you really got a sense of his personality and character. He is someone I could sit and listen to him all day. Congratulations on finding such an amazing man in your family. P S I’d love to hear more about his journey.
Nothing happens by chance. The letter brought healing and a reunion to a family line of people who were once strangers but are now family. 🥰😇😇🥰
😭🎉💐thank you for sharing your life story with us. Give me hope also to follow my ancestors story!
I really enjoyed reading about Hawkins Wilson and his effort to locate his family. The fact that he knew to go to the Freedmans Bureau was brilliant. I am so happy that his efforts paid off, introducing family members they didn't know they had. I'm close to 80 years old, and have been labeled our family historian. I started digging into our history 47 years ago and have connected family members who were adopted, to their biological families. I haven't been able to find one 3 times great grandfather, but I won't give up. Thank you Dr. Gates for the Finding Your Roots program, it's so encouraging, and I watch it all the time. Melrose Cross.
It is American history! Love these stories!
Im ĺiterally bawling my eyes out. This is a painful and yet very beautiful story ❤😭
When God keeps you, you cannot be broken. Thanks for the effort that Dr. Gates and the team put forward in reuniting this family. I am proud of Mr. Hawkins Wilson for the faith and hope he held on to.
One of the most beautiful stories I havevever heard. So sad the letter never reached the correct place. They are truley fortunite to get it at this time.
When they finally met their long lost family, I teared up. That was powerful. Thank you for this❣️🙏🏽
When I did my Ancestry DNA i was shocked 3 types on indigenous native. Our journeys take us in many directions. It is like opening a history book and seeing it slowly print itself. I am Scandinavian from both Mother and Father. Norway & Sweden. Since doing this I have found relatives previously unknown. Spoke to a cousin in the Philippine's he looks just like my older brother. it is a joy to open the doors
of dna unknown to generations. I know my Mothers people were scattered from Alabama & Georgia & Tennessee. My Older Children have a line which extends all the way to New Zealand. Hawkins letter brought tears at the sincerity and love. btw love the show. Please whom ever was responsible for the show please start it up again. BTW my Grandmother was a survivor of the 1906 fire and Earthquake. in San Francisco California. I can not grasp how one person is considered as property . The anger and sadness of a tragedy which have never existed. Yet Native Indigenous persons were lesser in value and traded sold and more. Bless their souls
And not only did he make it possible to connect his direct line relatives but soooo many more folks who may only have a first name and now it is possible through dna to start putting all of those families back together. Amazing!! I always tell my 5 adult children, one person CAN and often does, make a real difference in this world!
This is amazing and encouraging as I am on my journey. Listening to his letter gives me hope to carry on. May their family history information continue to be discovered by them.
I just can’t imagine going through what the 7 year old Hawkins experienced. 💔 The fact that he remembered all those details is amazing itself. I got chills throughout this video. Super special, thanks! ✌️❤️
This is so beautiful. So incredibly moving. It's a time period full of people - real people - and yet we have such a hard time talking about it because of the horrid ways those people were treated. Thank you for creating such a wonderful program and giving voice to such a wonderous story.
I love what this show is doing for America
Whew! Got my crying tears of happiness for this family. God is so good.
This is beautiful. I hope you can connect more of this family. It's so sad that the letter got misdirected, but amazing that the connections were made by a 6-year-old who was sent so far away.
What beautiful letters written by Hawkins. So, so touching and eloquent.
Very poignant. One cannot help cry for Hawkins. Bless him.
This is so interesting to me!! I think of the thousands of people who this happened to, who were separated from their original families; to think that there are people walking around related to other people, and they don’t even know of them. This story gave me goosebumps, I watched it twice!
Would love to see a photo of Hawkins Wilson.
Incredibly amazing and beautiful at the same time. The amount of strength and hope is immeasurable.
Wow. This is Powerful. Thank you for sharing this history so that Hawkins Wilson can be seen and heard with compassion and humanity. Tears of joy, heartache, hope and heartbreak flowed throughout watching this. The mention of Hawkin's sister making biscuits was especially felt personally as my grandmother would get up early every sunday morning to make pans of homemade biscuits for family to have before and after church. I'm glad Hawkins letter finally reached his family and served its purpose.
Excellent account of this history. Happy for the gift this family received.
Mr Wilson's letter to his sister was so very beautiful! Much love to all his family, living and deceased. Thank you to Proffeser Gates for bringing this story to life!!
This was awesome I want to know what happened to the sisters
Wow. Bless him. I’m glad to know his story. ❤
Wow, that was touching, family means a lot to me so this just made me tear-up😢
Thank you for sharing this. I’m over here crying now. I’m so happy that you were able to connect the dots and meet some of your family. 💜
We American Descendants of Slavery thank you for this beautiful episode of Ancestry; we are owed many, many more.
What an amazing story of hope and faith. Thank you . Hawkins Wilson was a man who never gave up.❤
What a beautiful story ! One I will never forget ! Thank you
Wow!!! What an amazing story. Thank you.
We need more shows like this! What an amazing story. I was in tears. Thank you for sharing!
Best thing I’ve seen on YT in a very long time. Thanks Dr. Skip. Remember our old friend Paul Southerly.
Biscuit crumbs totally feel your heart. I have a biscuit crumb too through Ancestry I found Michal my 11th great-grandmother she was African and lived Parish St Sulpice, Faubourg, Paris, France married to Rollain Barbery or Barbary. The way I found out was their daughter Francoise had a marriage contract annulled with Etienne Pasquier. Ever since I found Michal I wonder about her life. Was she happy, where did she come from, was she a slave? So many unanswered questions. Michal Mingray would have been born about 1630. At the time of Francoise marriage shows both of her parents are still alive.
Thank you Mr. Gates 😊
Thank you for sharing this awesome beautiful story
This was fascinating touch my heart. We must always remember our ancestors and speak what we know. Say their names. Tell their stories.❤
Beautiful story!
I cried the whole time!!😢
😢This story touches my heart.
Beautiful story, well-told. I was in tears too. I found a closely related cousin on Ancestry and visited him in Dallas. It was unbelievable and the connected love was instant. We are family! His story is more complicated but we are determined to find out how we are first cousins. Our DNA match is higher than cousins that I've known all of their lives. It is difficult to express how it feels to someone who has not found someone that looks and acts like them because of DNA in this world. I certainly get that Mr. Wilson needed to search for the missing pieces of his life. It is crucial to understanding who we are. His memory of the "biscuits" his sister made for him was loaded with love. It broke my heart hearing his words of gratitude. Thank you Dr. Gates and Ms. Harper.
Wow this story is breath taking. thanking you
My heart is full. It was an amazing journey. DNA research is the best thing that has come into our lives.
Oh how this reunion gladdened my heart! I am also a white person from the South with roots in the South that go back at least to 1790 in Elbert County, Georgia. I was always told as a child, "we weren't rich enough to owns slaves." Sadly, while we weren't rich, some branches of my family did own slaves, and the first discovery of that fact many years ago made me sick to my stomach! But, it is an ugly truth that needs to be faced. How little 6-year-old Hawkins was separated from his family in North Carolina and taken to Texas is terrible. And the memories he kept alive and the effort he went through to be reunited to his siblings is so heart-warming. While I am terribly sad that he never was able to reconnect with them, thanks to his excellent documentation of the names of his relatives and who their owners were and then the excellent work of his descendants and his siblings descendants made his dream of reunification finally come true. And all lives are enriched by it - even mine. Thank you for sharing!
So, so beautiful! 😭🙏🏾💕