0:00:02 > 0:00:06Academy award-winning Actress Gwyneth Paltrow
0:00:06 > 0:00:08is one of America's leading movie stars.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11She has appeared in dozens of films,
0:00:11 > 0:00:12including Shakespeare In Love,
0:00:12 > 0:00:16for which she won the coveted Best Actress Oscar.
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Although she grew up in New York, Gwyneth spends much of her time in London
0:00:20 > 0:00:23with her husband, Chris Martin, lead singer of Coldplay
0:00:23 > 0:00:25and their two children.
0:00:25 > 0:00:27She was born to a family with deep roots
0:00:27 > 0:00:29in the entertainment business.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Her mother is actress Blythe Danner,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36and her late father was producer-director Bruce Paltrow.
0:00:36 > 0:00:40My dad was the love of my life
0:00:40 > 0:00:42until he died.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45My father really instilled in me...
0:00:45 > 0:00:51the importance of unconditional love and support,
0:00:51 > 0:00:54and to treat your family with love and respect,
0:00:54 > 0:00:57because they're your family, and those are the ties that bind.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Of course there's stories that come through
0:00:59 > 0:01:03that you never know if they were true or not.
0:01:03 > 0:01:06It's hard to know the truth about your own parents, even when they're telling you
0:01:06 > 0:01:12themselves, you know. Everything is subjective and you never really know what the facts are,
0:01:12 > 0:01:15what the fiction is and how the two combine.
0:01:34 > 0:01:37My mother's side of the family, the Danners,
0:01:37 > 0:01:41were completely different to the Paltrows.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46My mother's the kind of classic half-German WASP
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and had some sort of Pennsylvania Dutch roots.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52And then, on my father's side,
0:01:52 > 0:01:55it's Jewish lineage from Eastern Europe.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59I think it's the classic American story of...
0:01:59 > 0:02:03many different backgrounds coming together.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07Gwyneth is back in New York City.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11She is beginning her journey with her mother's side of the family.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14My mother at some point mentioned that somebody
0:02:14 > 0:02:19on her father's side was from Barbados.
0:02:19 > 0:02:23I am curious to find out who was from Barbados
0:02:23 > 0:02:25and why they were there.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27My mom thinks it might have been her grandmother Ida May
0:02:27 > 0:02:30who came from Barbados, but I don't know.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34Given my mom's deep German roots, it seems pretty unlikely.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42My mother has just sent me...
0:02:42 > 0:02:46these beautiful pictures of Ida May Danner.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49Her father's mother.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51She's very elegant-looking.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56I'll go see if I can find any records of any kind
0:02:56 > 0:03:00that prove that she did come from Barbados.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03Gwyneth is starting her search at the New York Public Library
0:03:03 > 0:03:04with Maira Liriano,
0:03:04 > 0:03:08a librarian who's already been researching some records.
0:03:08 > 0:03:09Welcome to the New York Public Library
0:03:09 > 0:03:14- Stephen A Schwarzman building. - Thanks for being here.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16So my mother sent me these photographs
0:03:16 > 0:03:19of her paternal grandmother...
0:03:19 > 0:03:20OK.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22..called Ida Danner.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24I don't know anything about her, but my mother had said
0:03:24 > 0:03:27that there was some connection to Barbados.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32So I wondered if there was any information about her, basically.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34We'll start off with an obituary for Ida...
0:03:34 > 0:03:38- OK.- ..that appeared in a newspaper in Pennsylvania.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43- OK.- She passed away in February of 1967.
0:03:43 > 0:03:46"Mrs Ida M Danner, 82, died Thursday evening
0:03:46 > 0:03:48"at the Broomall Presbyterian Home.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52"Mrs Danner was born..." Oh, born in Montgomery County.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54So where is Montgomery County?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Montgomery County is in Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Hmm. So she's not from Barbados?
0:04:02 > 0:04:04- Interesting. - But this is really helpful,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06because we do get the name of her parents.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11"Daughter of the late David T and Isabel Stout Yetter."
0:04:11 > 0:04:13Gwyneth has discovered the story
0:04:13 > 0:04:15about her mother's grandmother
0:04:15 > 0:04:16coming from Barbados isn't true.
0:04:16 > 0:04:19But learning the names of Ida's parents
0:04:19 > 0:04:21may provide more information.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Maira was able to find Ida's mother Isabel
0:04:24 > 0:04:29living in Pennsylvania on the 1910 census.
0:04:29 > 0:04:30There she is.
0:04:30 > 0:04:32She's the head of the house.
0:04:32 > 0:04:3449.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37The birthplace was in the West Indies.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42Ooh. Her father and mother were both born in the West Indies.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43So that gives us some clues.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46It doesn't completely confirm what we want to know.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51And so this happens to be Isabel's death certificate.
0:04:51 > 0:04:55- OK.- So she died in Pennsylvania.
0:04:55 > 0:05:01- 1914.- OK, so full name, Rosemond Isabel Yetter.
0:05:01 > 0:05:02She was a housekeeper.
0:05:04 > 0:05:06She was born in Barbados, West Indies.
0:05:06 > 0:05:11- That's cool. - So this would definitely be our Barbados connection.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15- OK.- And she's working as a domestic servant.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- So she had to work.- Right. - She didn't come with money.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20- She actually had to earn a living.- Right.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23Um...and is there a way to find out more
0:05:23 > 0:05:25about her and...
0:05:25 > 0:05:28or when she came to the... to America,
0:05:28 > 0:05:31or what she was doing in Barbados, or...?
0:05:31 > 0:05:34- Is there a way to figure that out?- I think what we could try to find out
0:05:34 > 0:05:36- is maybe when she came here.- Uh-huh.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39- And we'll look at passenger lists.- OK.
0:05:39 > 0:05:42Try first with Rosamond.
0:05:42 > 0:05:43Rosamond.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45- Stout.- Stout. Right.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49- There.- OK. So one person comes up.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51Roseman Stoud.
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Or Rosemond Stout.
0:05:53 > 0:05:551868.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57And she was born about 1850.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01So she would be 18 when she came.
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Rosemond Stout... Oh. She's coming with somebody.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10- Martha Stout?- Who's 27.
0:06:10 > 0:06:12She's got an older sister.
0:06:12 > 0:06:15- Aww.- And they're heading to the United States.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18- They're heading to the United States. - This is a very unusual passenger list,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21- because there's only two passengers on this.- Oh!
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Look at the top, and you'll get a little bit more information
0:06:24 > 0:06:25about the ship itself.
0:06:25 > 0:06:29This abbreviation stands for barque.
0:06:29 > 0:06:32And that is, at the time, the 19th century,
0:06:32 > 0:06:34that was a commercial sailing ship.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37- OK.- So they managed to get
0:06:37 > 0:06:39onto this commercial ship...
0:06:39 > 0:06:42- Strange. - ..that was heading to New York,
0:06:42 > 0:06:45and, er, they were the only two passengers on it.
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Wow. That's very adventurous.
0:06:47 > 0:06:49- Yeah.- I wouldn't let my two daughters
0:06:49 > 0:06:52get onto a ship alone with a bunch of men
0:06:52 > 0:06:55going to New York. Sailors.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58So can we find out any more about why
0:06:58 > 0:07:00they were leaving, or what the...?
0:07:00 > 0:07:02For that, you'd have to go to Barbados to...
0:07:02 > 0:07:04What a shame! Damn!
0:07:04 > 0:07:06Especially after a day like today.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11So Gwyneth is heading to Barbados,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14on the trail of her great-great grandmother Rosemond Stout.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20At 18 years old, she went to a foreign land
0:07:20 > 0:07:21with only her sister by her side,
0:07:21 > 0:07:24and that definitely takes guts.
0:07:24 > 0:07:25I'm curious to get to
0:07:25 > 0:07:28the bottom of this mystery. Why would she have left
0:07:28 > 0:07:31this beautiful island in the first place?
0:07:36 > 0:07:41In the late 1860s, at the time Gwyneth's great-great grandmother left for America,
0:07:41 > 0:07:43Barbados was a British colony.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46There had been English settlers on Barbados
0:07:46 > 0:07:47since the early 17th century,
0:07:47 > 0:07:51but it was with the introduction of the sugar crop in the 1640s
0:07:51 > 0:07:53that the island's economy exploded.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55To work the sugar plantations,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58thousands of slaves were imported from West Africa
0:07:58 > 0:08:01and Barbados became a major trading centre,
0:08:01 > 0:08:04exporting sugar and other crops all over the world.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08It's quite a lot to emigrate from somewhere
0:08:08 > 0:08:11into the great unknown.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14I think I would understand that drive,
0:08:14 > 0:08:18or that quest for a better life.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21To try to find out why her great-great grandmother Rosemond
0:08:21 > 0:08:23left her homeland, Gwyneth is heading to
0:08:23 > 0:08:26the Barbados Department of Archives. She's meeting genealogist
0:08:26 > 0:08:28Dr Pat Stafford.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31So they were going to the United States.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34This is a shipping record. They went on a commercial ship. It wasn't a passenger ship.
0:08:34 > 0:08:36Yeah, from 10th October in 1868.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39- Mm-hmm.- Which suggests she would have
0:08:39 > 0:08:42- been born about 1850.- Right.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46- So let's look at this record book here.- OK.
0:08:47 > 0:08:51- Now, what is this? - This is one of the many records
0:08:51 > 0:08:54of everybody who was baptised on the island.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56Wow. OK.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And see if you can find anybody called Rosemond Stout.
0:08:59 > 0:09:05OK... Carter, Godard, Stout?
0:09:05 > 0:09:06Stout, yes.
0:09:06 > 0:09:09And this is... But the child who was baptised...
0:09:09 > 0:09:11OK. Rosemond Isabel.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16- And these are the parents. - Samuel and Sarah Frances Stout.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19And this column here, of course,
0:09:19 > 0:09:20is her father's occupation.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22Her father. "Merchant clerk."
0:09:22 > 0:09:24Wow, OK.
0:09:24 > 0:09:26What does that mean, a merchant clerk?
0:09:26 > 0:09:28By the mid-1800s,
0:09:28 > 0:09:31Barbados was a major centre of trade in the Caribbean.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34And Bridgetown was the main hub for imported goods
0:09:34 > 0:09:37and the export of commodities such as rum,
0:09:37 > 0:09:39sugar and molasses.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41Rosemond's father, Samuel Stout,
0:09:41 > 0:09:43clerked for the port's merchants,
0:09:43 > 0:09:45perhaps someday hoping to become
0:09:45 > 0:09:48a full-fledged merchant himself.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50This was quite a middle-class occupation.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52So it was not the sort of profession
0:09:52 > 0:09:55that one would assume that the children want to run away from home.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58- OK.- Something must have gone wrong within the family
0:09:58 > 0:10:00for two young girls like this to move.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04- So I have taken the liberty of looking up the burial records...- OK.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07..to find if, in fact, there was some kind of tragedy.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16"Burials solemnised in the cathedral
0:10:16 > 0:10:19"and parish church, 1864."
0:10:19 > 0:10:22And again, if you'd like to read down the page...
0:10:22 > 0:10:25- Yes.- Again, you're looking in this...
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Stout. Sarah Frances Stout.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32- 42 years.- She died.
0:10:32 > 0:10:35- So Sarah Frances died.- Oh, dear!
0:10:35 > 0:10:37"Widow of Sam Stout."
0:10:37 > 0:10:39He was dead already.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42So what you have here
0:10:42 > 0:10:44are two girls...
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Losing... They've lost their father already.
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Now they've just lost their mother.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51That's right. So...
0:10:51 > 0:10:53God, she was only 42.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56So...when your, um,
0:10:56 > 0:11:00when your great-great grandmother was left an orphan, she was only 13 years old.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02Oh, no!
0:11:02 > 0:11:04That's so awful.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07- That's so sad.- So it does suggest...
0:11:07 > 0:11:11- So she was left with her... - That may have been...- Yeah.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16- ..one of the reasons that they chose to leave the island.- Yeah.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18So, where do we go from here?
0:11:18 > 0:11:20- I don't know.- Right.- You tell me.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Well, I can only tell you what the records say at this stage.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27They don't really reveal anything else to me.
0:11:27 > 0:11:28Oh, OK.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30But, um, what I suggest you do
0:11:30 > 0:11:32is talk to a historian who specialises
0:11:32 > 0:11:35in this period of Barbadian history.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39- OK, and this is somebody I can find here?- Yes, I believe so.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43- Don't send me back to New York! - No, we're not sending you back to New York.
0:11:43 > 0:11:44OK, good.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47'I know my great-great grandmother'
0:11:47 > 0:11:50was orphaned at a very young age.
0:11:50 > 0:11:52She was 13.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55And then she went to America when she was 18 and became a maid.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57So I'm just wondering what happened.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59I'm really curious to find out
0:11:59 > 0:12:01why she left and...
0:12:01 > 0:12:02just looking forward
0:12:02 > 0:12:05to finding out the rest of the story, really.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09To try to find out what would have driven her great-great grandmother
0:12:09 > 0:12:12to board a commercial ship bound for the US,
0:12:12 > 0:12:14Gwyneth is meeting Professor Pedro Welch,
0:12:14 > 0:12:17an expert on 19th-century Barbados.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18How are you?
0:12:18 > 0:12:20- How are you?- I'm Gwyneth.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23- Yes. Pedro. Pedro Welch. - Pedro, nice to meet you.
0:12:23 > 0:12:24Come in.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29So, Pedro, I was in New York
0:12:29 > 0:12:32and I found this record
0:12:32 > 0:12:35of my great-great grandmother.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37She got on this boat and went to America.
0:12:37 > 0:12:39So I was just wondering
0:12:39 > 0:12:40if you might know
0:12:40 > 0:12:43anything about the family, or...
0:12:43 > 0:12:45or the time, or what happened, or what
0:12:45 > 0:12:49life might have been like? Basically, anything you can tell me.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Um, certainly. It seems to me that you've got
0:12:51 > 0:12:53quite a lot of information here to begin with.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56- Right.- Um, this document
0:12:56 > 0:12:57you have here, um,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00does something for us that many other documents don't do.
0:13:00 > 0:13:02- OK.- You have names.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05You have ages. And you know something about the boat...
0:13:05 > 0:13:08- Right. - ..that they're travelling in.
0:13:08 > 0:13:11Uh, many of the boats that are used in the region
0:13:11 > 0:13:13- are called barques or schooners.- OK.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15So we know something about the boat.
0:13:15 > 0:13:16You know something about the conditions
0:13:16 > 0:13:18that they will be travelling under.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21For example, if you think of the kind of boat
0:13:21 > 0:13:23that they would have travelled in,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25these would have been used to transport salt
0:13:25 > 0:13:28and, um, and colonial produce around the region.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31And why would they have gone on a commercial boat?
0:13:31 > 0:13:35Why would they have been the only two passengers on a commercial ship?
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I think it is quiet possible that this was an option,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41- um, that they chose because it was cheaper.- Oh.- Um...
0:13:41 > 0:13:44But what leads them to travel on a ship in the first place?
0:13:44 > 0:13:46Right, exactly. What is it?
0:13:46 > 0:13:49- I think that part of it is an amalgam of several things.- OK.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52- Emancipation comes in 1834.- OK.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55- Um...- How?- It is conferred by an Act of British...
0:13:55 > 0:13:57of the British Parliament.
0:13:57 > 0:13:59- OK.- What happens thereafter is that, um,
0:13:59 > 0:14:02that many of the white population
0:14:02 > 0:14:06- lose their positions. Their social positions.- Oh.- Um...
0:14:06 > 0:14:10Her occupation. Um, I see that on the list here.
0:14:10 > 0:14:12The occupation is given as seamstress.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15That's certainly for her sister.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- And she's a milliner.- Right.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19These are occupations held largely by black women.
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- Right.- And these young ladies
0:14:21 > 0:14:25- would not have had much of an opportunity after emancipation...- Right.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28The English settlers had imposed slavery
0:14:28 > 0:14:31on black Barbadians for two centuries.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34And although Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807,
0:14:34 > 0:14:36the institution of slavery
0:14:36 > 0:14:38continued within the British Empire until 1834.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44By the time Rosemond Stout left Barbados,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47emancipation had been in place for over 30 years.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50With blacks integrated into the paid work force,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53job opportunities for lower-middle-class white women
0:14:53 > 0:14:54were in short supply,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and many were competing with the free black women,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02who were often willing to work for lower wages.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06And the other issue that faces particularly women is, um,
0:15:06 > 0:15:10- the question of, who are you going to get married to?- Right.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12The female population is larger than the male population.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18- OK.- Proportionately. So that for an 18-year-old girl in this period,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22her marriage prospects are limited.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25- Right.- Um...- So she has no parents. She's competing with
0:15:25 > 0:15:28all the other white women for few available men.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- And some black women as well. - And some black women as well.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Yes.- And then she's also competing with all the young black women
0:15:35 > 0:15:39for the milliner and seamstress jobs.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41- Yes.- So she decides...
0:15:41 > 0:15:43to get on a boat and go to America.
0:15:43 > 0:15:48- Yes.- So...- Because... - She's quite, er...hardy.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51- Quite feisty.- Yeah, feisty. - Oh, yes, yes, yes, um...
0:15:51 > 0:15:53I trust that, um, that she's bequeathed
0:15:53 > 0:15:55that same spirit.
0:15:55 > 0:15:56Right.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58I trust she has done that.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00Thank you.
0:16:00 > 0:16:05'It was interesting to learn kind of her circumstance,
0:16:05 > 0:16:07'and the idea of...'
0:16:07 > 0:16:10these people who you're so closely related to
0:16:10 > 0:16:14having these kind of unbelievable experiences,
0:16:14 > 0:16:18and I think it was very brave of her to leave with her older sister.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21And I really like that, you know, chutzpah
0:16:21 > 0:16:23and sense of, you know,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26"No, I can make something of my life. I have that self belief."
0:16:26 > 0:16:30Because I have the same self belief. And I've always credited my father with that,
0:16:30 > 0:16:33because he said to me, "You can do whatever you want to do."
0:16:33 > 0:16:36But it's interesting to see physical examples of family members
0:16:36 > 0:16:39who've done that very thing.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49Gwyneth is back in New York City
0:16:49 > 0:16:52and is now searching into her father's side of the family.
0:16:52 > 0:16:56She is beginning by investigating her grandfather Buster's family background.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02My grandpa Buster was...
0:17:02 > 0:17:06the most loving, effusive...
0:17:06 > 0:17:08incredible grandfather.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11But he was not close to his family at all.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14And there was some real darkness there.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16My grandfather would make comments about...
0:17:16 > 0:17:19his upbringing and how it wasn't a house. It wasn't a home.
0:17:19 > 0:17:23That his mother didn't take care of him.
0:17:23 > 0:17:25That the children would be
0:17:25 > 0:17:27sent home from school for being filthy.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32But I never really pressed too much about what it was.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Gwyneth wants to find out more about Buster's mother
0:17:35 > 0:17:37and the reasons for his unhappy childhood.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40So she's visiting Buster's daughter,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42her dad's sister, Aunt Fran.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44- Hi!- Hi.
0:17:44 > 0:17:48I'm trying to find out more about Buster
0:17:48 > 0:17:52and his childhood. I feel like anywhere
0:17:52 > 0:17:55I was able to get was because of the love of him and my dad, you know?
0:17:55 > 0:17:59He didn't talk that much about his family,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01just in sort of like "I don't want to go there"
0:18:01 > 0:18:04kind of a way. Right. So do you know things?
0:18:04 > 0:18:06Yeah, he was, er,
0:18:06 > 0:18:08- he was born in 1914.- All right.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11He grew up in Bayside, Queens.
0:18:11 > 0:18:15Growing up, his household was not like mine
0:18:15 > 0:18:17and not like yours.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19Ida, his mother,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23she didn't cook, she didn't clean.
0:18:23 > 0:18:25Piles and piles of newspapers,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and...junk.
0:18:28 > 0:18:29She was a hoarder.
0:18:29 > 0:18:31She was a hoarder, basically.
0:18:32 > 0:18:38- Er, but yet, she was very smart. She went to Hunter College.- Really?
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Uh, but she never made a meal. I think this...
0:18:43 > 0:18:46This is Buster with all of his siblings and his parents.
0:18:46 > 0:18:48- Is that Ida?- That's Ida.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- Wow.- And this is Mike.
0:18:51 > 0:18:52Also real name is Meyer.
0:18:52 > 0:18:55- My great-grandfather.- Yes.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58You do know that our name was actually Paltrovitch?
0:18:58 > 0:19:00Yes, that, I did know.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03So...I mean, I really don't know anything about her,
0:19:03 > 0:19:08except that she sounded like she... had mental health problems.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11I would like to know what happened to her
0:19:11 > 0:19:13and where she was from and why she was crazy...
0:19:13 > 0:19:16I do have one other thing.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19The certificate of death of Ida.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21Of Ida.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Let's see. Bronx.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27"Name of father, Joseph Hyman."
0:19:29 > 0:19:32So her maiden name is Hyman.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35Ida Hyman. That's a terrible name.
0:19:35 > 0:19:36Oh!
0:19:36 > 0:19:38OK.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41It's quite an interesting juxtaposition
0:19:41 > 0:19:43that she was kind of a mess at home,
0:19:43 > 0:19:46but she seems to have been going to college, and, you know,
0:19:46 > 0:19:49this is like at the turn of the century, basically.
0:19:49 > 0:19:52So it would be interesting to find out
0:19:52 > 0:19:54who she was before she became a wife
0:19:54 > 0:19:57and an ambivalent mother.
0:19:59 > 0:20:03Gwyneth has arranged to meet Professor Deborah Dash Moore,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06an expert on New York Jewish history,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08who's been researching Ida's background.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12I've brought you down here to the lower East side,
0:20:12 > 0:20:17- which was the heart of the immigrant Jewish neighbourhood.- Right.
0:20:17 > 0:20:24And your great-grandmother grew up here. So we have here a police report.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26I don't know whether... Can you make out the names?
0:20:26 > 0:20:29- Hyman, there.- Hyman, you got it. Keep going.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31- Joseph Hyman, Rebekah, and Ida Hyman. - That's her!
0:20:31 > 0:20:36- OK.- All right. Now, if you notice, where do they live?
0:20:36 > 0:20:39- 37 Allen. - So here we are, on Allen.
0:20:39 > 0:20:43- Oh!- OK. Look around.
0:20:43 > 0:20:4438...
0:20:46 > 0:20:49- ..37.- There, that's it!
0:20:49 > 0:20:51- And that's the building. - Unbelievable.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54- That's the building. - That's where she grew up?
0:20:54 > 0:20:56- That's where she grew up, yes.- Wow.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00I have a really neat document here to show you.
0:21:00 > 0:21:03- But I think it's really cold out here.- It's cold.
0:21:03 > 0:21:07- We should go to a cafe to take a look at it. - OK, that's a great idea.- OK.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13So I want to give you a sense of
0:21:13 > 0:21:16what Ida achieved,
0:21:16 > 0:21:17which is pretty impressive.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21- And, in fact, we have here...- 1897.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Annual Report of The Normal College.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25"A catalogue of students."
0:21:25 > 0:21:28Normal College is what Hunter College was called.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31- Oh.- The goal is, er,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34to have young women train to be public school teachers.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38It didn't matter what your ethnic background was.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40Um, that was very important,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42because there certainly were,
0:21:42 > 0:21:45er, colleges that didn't admit Jews.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48She could be a poor Russian, Jewish immigrant and...
0:21:48 > 0:21:50And get into the Normal College,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52and have open to you these vistas.
0:21:52 > 0:21:56The opportunity of a career. All these things within her reach.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59- Yeah.- Cos in New York City,
0:21:59 > 0:22:04- teaching was the top career for a young women.- Which is great.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08So let's see where she is.
0:22:11 > 0:22:15- There she is. Ida Hyman.- Yeah.
0:22:15 > 0:22:16"Average percent - 82."
0:22:16 > 0:22:19- That's pretty good.- Yeah, that's pretty good. That's correct.
0:22:19 > 0:22:22- "Number of days present - 66." - Mm-hmm.
0:22:22 > 0:22:25"Number of days absent - 27."
0:22:25 > 0:22:27- A lot of days.- That's a lot of days.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29So that's an indicator of something strange.
0:22:29 > 0:22:31That's right. That's right.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35She's obviously smart, but she's having problems making it to school.
0:22:35 > 0:22:36- Yeah.- Yeah, yeah.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Um, and, in fact,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44if we check the following year, this is one of the registers.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46OK.
0:22:46 > 0:22:49It says, "Dis September 16th, 1898."
0:22:49 > 0:22:50What does that mean?
0:22:50 > 0:22:52She didn't graduate. She was discharged.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55Ah. Kicked out?
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Probably.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01I wonder what was going on with her.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05If we take a look here, we may begin to figure out
0:23:05 > 0:23:07what may have been happening.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11- OK.- This is the 1900 census.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13- Edith...- Edith.
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- Edith is also Ida.- Oh, OK.
0:23:16 > 0:23:19And who was the family?
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Edith, Isaac...
0:23:21 > 0:23:23- And...- Joseph Hyman.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25That's right.
0:23:25 > 0:23:30So who was in the family ten years earlier?
0:23:30 > 0:23:32So they were Joseph...
0:23:32 > 0:23:34Rebecca, Isaac,
0:23:34 > 0:23:37Samuel, Ida.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39Right.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41So we're missing someone. Someone has died.
0:23:41 > 0:23:44- Uh-huh, or something.- Or something.
0:23:46 > 0:23:48In 1890, Ida was living with
0:23:48 > 0:23:51her parents and two brothers.
0:23:51 > 0:23:52But ten years later,
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Ida's mother and one of her brothers
0:23:55 > 0:23:57have disappeared from the census records.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59So where's the mother?
0:23:59 > 0:24:02- OK, so where's the mother? - And we're missing Samuel.
0:24:02 > 0:24:04And we're missing Samuel.
0:24:05 > 0:24:11- Oh, dear.- This is the mother. - Oh, that's sad.
0:24:11 > 0:24:14- Yeah, this is very sad. - Cirrhosis of the liver.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16She was an alcoholic.
0:24:16 > 0:24:17Not necessarily.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21You can get cirrhosis of the liver from other things as well.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23"I hereby certify I attended deceased
0:24:23 > 0:24:26"from February 10, 1897..."
0:24:26 > 0:24:281897?
0:24:28 > 0:24:31That was just a year before Ida was discharged from college.
0:24:31 > 0:24:36So that's probably why Ida was, um...
0:24:36 > 0:24:38not at school so much.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41I think so. I think that she had to help her mom.
0:24:41 > 0:24:43- OK.- Yeah, yeah.
0:24:43 > 0:24:44- Oh...- And...
0:24:44 > 0:24:48Here, we find Samuel, Ida's brother.
0:24:48 > 0:24:51Oh, dear.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54It says 1897 as well.
0:24:54 > 0:24:55That's right.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59Just after the death of Rebecca, of his mom.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00So his mom died...
0:25:00 > 0:25:02She died in April, yeah.
0:25:02 > 0:25:05- And he died in June.- Yeah.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10- Mm. That's a blow. - So it's a real blow.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16She's gone from seemingly having some kind of ambition
0:25:16 > 0:25:21and going to college and heading towards a career to be a teacher,
0:25:21 > 0:25:23and then her mother and older brother die.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25And I feel like...
0:25:25 > 0:25:28it caused, you know, sort of planted the seeds
0:25:28 > 0:25:31for some resentment later in her life.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33Just based on the type of mother she was
0:25:33 > 0:25:36to my grandfather, and...
0:25:36 > 0:25:37It's sad.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41I've lost my father.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45And, you know, the idea of... any more grief on top of that,
0:25:45 > 0:25:47I just...I think it would break me in half.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50So if she felt the way about her mother
0:25:50 > 0:25:52that I felt about my father,
0:25:52 > 0:25:54or she felt the way about her brother
0:25:54 > 0:25:58that I feel about my brother, I mean, it's amazing that she was able to
0:25:58 > 0:26:00ever get out of the house again.
0:26:00 > 0:26:04So I'm very curious to find out
0:26:04 > 0:26:07about the next stage of her life,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12and why my grandfather had such an unhappy home.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14Gwyneth is meeting Michael Lorenzini
0:26:14 > 0:26:16at the New York Municipal Archives
0:26:16 > 0:26:18to look for more records
0:26:18 > 0:26:21that reference her great-grandmother Ida or her grandfather Buster,
0:26:21 > 0:26:24whose given name was Arnold.
0:26:24 > 0:26:28I want to find out about my grandfather's mother.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32Kind of what her early adulthood was like and her marriage.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35Michael is starting with the 1920 census,
0:26:35 > 0:26:39the first one after Gwyneth's grandfather, Arnold, was born.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43- It was originally Paltrovitch.- OK.
0:26:45 > 0:26:46Ah, there you go.
0:26:48 > 0:26:49OK.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54"Paltrowitz. Paltrowitz. Meyer, Edith.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58"Harold, Ruth, Marion, Arnold P."
0:26:58 > 0:27:01- There it is.- And Dorothy.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04If we look down at the ages, Harold's the oldest.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08He's 16. So obviously, they've been together a while.
0:27:08 > 0:27:09- Mm-hmm.- Um...
0:27:09 > 0:27:13So we could go back to the 1910 census
0:27:13 > 0:27:15- and see if we can find the family there.- OK.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18Arnold wouldn't have been born yet. We could look for Meyer.
0:27:18 > 0:27:21- His dad.- Mm-hmm.
0:27:24 > 0:27:27Um, but I think he seems like the only one who came up.
0:27:27 > 0:27:31- "Meyer Paltrowitz. Wife..." - Ida Paltrowitz.
0:27:31 > 0:27:35"Harold Paltrowitz and Helen..."
0:27:35 > 0:27:39Helen. She wasn't in the 1920 census.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41So in 1920, Gwyneth's
0:27:41 > 0:27:44great-grandparents, Ida and Meyer,
0:27:44 > 0:27:45had five children.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48But ten years earlier, in 1910,
0:27:48 > 0:27:50they had a sixth child,
0:27:50 > 0:27:52a daughter named Helen.
0:27:52 > 0:27:56So I'm wondering what happened to Helen.
0:27:56 > 0:27:59- Did she die too? - That's probably what happened.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04- We could pull the death certificate. This will have more information.- OK.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Certificate 4129.
0:28:07 > 0:28:0941...
0:28:10 > 0:28:12..29.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Helen Paltrowitz.
0:28:14 > 0:28:16Three years old.
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Oh, that's terrible.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20What does it say?
0:28:20 > 0:28:23"Fractured..."
0:28:23 > 0:28:25- "Shock fracture."- Shock fracture.
0:28:25 > 0:28:28"Ribs punctuated lung..."
0:28:28 > 0:28:31"And run over..."
0:28:31 > 0:28:34- By a wagon?- By a wagon. - Oh, my God. That's horrific.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37Oh.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42So because of the nature of this death,
0:28:42 > 0:28:45um, there would be a coroner's inquest as well.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48- Right.- Because it's an accidental death.
0:28:48 > 0:28:52- Right.- So that may have more information.- Right.
0:28:57 > 0:28:59This is the notice of death.
0:28:59 > 0:29:01"Deceased three years old.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03"Was in street when wagon came along.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06"Driver was driving slow. Driver didn't know anything about accident
0:29:06 > 0:29:09"until attention was attracted by scream."
0:29:09 > 0:29:11Oh...
0:29:11 > 0:29:13"When he stopped, witness testified
0:29:13 > 0:29:16"deceased went between front and rear wheel."
0:29:16 > 0:29:18Oh, God.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25That's...terrible.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28That's like your worst nightmare.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30As a mother, you just...
0:29:31 > 0:29:34..do not want to read this.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38Yeah, it's pretty... It's pretty horrific.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Even worse is if we look at Arnold's older sister.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Marion, she was seven-and-a-half in 1920.
0:29:46 > 0:29:49- OK.- So...
0:29:49 > 0:29:51- This is her social security... - Right.
0:29:51 > 0:29:52..record,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55which is going to actually have her birth date on it.
0:29:55 > 0:29:57August 12th, 1912.
0:29:57 > 0:30:02OK, so...Helen dies July 20th, 1912.
0:30:02 > 0:30:06And she's born August 1912.
0:30:06 > 0:30:10So my great-grandmother was pregnant...
0:30:10 > 0:30:16when her older daughter died.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19Yeah, just three weeks, gave birth three weeks later.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21Wow.
0:30:22 > 0:30:24That's devastating.
0:30:24 > 0:30:28It makes me feel so bad for my great-grandmother.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31I could only imagine that, you know,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34it's the loss of her daughter that...
0:30:34 > 0:30:37really...spun her out.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40And the hormones of having the baby right away,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42while still being in the depths of grief and depression
0:30:42 > 0:30:45over the loss of a child
0:30:45 > 0:30:49really made her incapable of caring for them.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54I wish I could share this information with my grandfather.
0:30:54 > 0:30:57He didn't have compassion for her at all,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00and maybe this would have changed that.
0:31:00 > 0:31:01I'm relieved to finally
0:31:01 > 0:31:02have some resolution
0:31:02 > 0:31:04to the dark stories I'd heard
0:31:04 > 0:31:05about my grandpa Buster's mother.
0:31:05 > 0:31:07And given how he was raised,
0:31:07 > 0:31:11it's amazing how loving he was to his own family.
0:31:11 > 0:31:12But it does make me wonder more
0:31:12 > 0:31:15about his father Meyer's side of the family.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18The only thing I know is that Meyer's father,
0:31:18 > 0:31:19my great-great grandfather,
0:31:19 > 0:31:22was a rabbi from eastern Europe named Simon.
0:31:22 > 0:31:24There's a story in my family
0:31:24 > 0:31:28that we came from generations of rabbis.
0:31:28 > 0:31:29So I wonder if this is true,
0:31:29 > 0:31:34if I have any great rabbis in my lineage.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38I have a very spiritually curious soul,
0:31:38 > 0:31:42and if it is true, it would be amazing.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46To begin her research into her Jewish heritage
0:31:46 > 0:31:50and to try to find out more about her great-grandfather Meyer's family background,
0:31:50 > 0:31:55Gwyneth is heading out to Long Island to visit her cousin, Barbara Paltrow.
0:31:58 > 0:32:00- Hi!- Come in! I'm so glad to see you.
0:32:00 > 0:32:05It's so good to see you. It's been such a long time.
0:32:05 > 0:32:09- How are you? Really well. How are you?- And those two gorgeous
0:32:09 > 0:32:13- little babies?- Amazing, great. I'll show you pictures before I go.
0:32:13 > 0:32:14I want to see them. Come.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18So this has been really interesting because
0:32:18 > 0:32:22I've been finding out a lot about my grandpa Buster,
0:32:22 > 0:32:26starting with his mother, so I know a lot more about her now.
0:32:26 > 0:32:32But I don't know anything about Buster's father, Meyer.
0:32:32 > 0:32:36Well, I didn't know your great-grandfather that well,
0:32:36 > 0:32:42- but he did come to visit, and we...- Is this him?
0:32:42 > 0:32:45- This is him.- This is Meyer?- This is Meyer, and if you look on the back,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48he has written a note which is partly cut off,
0:32:48 > 0:32:50but that's in his hand.
0:32:50 > 0:32:53"A likeness of myself which will be a souvenir.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58"Love and regards to all, your brother, Meyer."
0:32:58 > 0:32:591909.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07And was his father a rabbi?
0:33:07 > 0:33:12Yes, Simon or Simcha Paltrowitz.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16Also known as Paltrovitch. These names all had many pronunciations.
0:33:16 > 0:33:18Right.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21An Orthodox rabbi, imagine that.
0:33:24 > 0:33:28- And where was his father a rabbi? - He was from...
0:33:28 > 0:33:34from the area that's on the border of Poland and Russia.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38- Right.- I have a couple of pictures...
0:33:38 > 0:33:40to show you...
0:33:40 > 0:33:43This is very old.
0:33:43 > 0:33:49..taken on the occasion of the 50th wedding anniversary
0:33:49 > 0:33:52of Simcha and his wife Zipporah
0:33:52 > 0:33:55or Zippy, as I was told she was called, Zippy!
0:33:55 > 0:33:56Zippy, that's so great!
0:33:56 > 0:33:58What a great name.
0:33:58 > 0:34:02So this is Meyer's father.
0:34:02 > 0:34:03That's Meyer's father, yes.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07So Meyer is my great-grandfather. This is my great-great grandfather.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10- OK.- It's hard to keep track of them!
0:34:10 > 0:34:17An Orthodox rabbi. I had heard this, but I never really knew if it was true, or...
0:34:17 > 0:34:21- Right. It really is amazing.- Wow.
0:34:21 > 0:34:27- Do you know any more about Simcha's...- Predecessors?- Yes.
0:34:27 > 0:34:30I really don't know a great deal of that.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34It'll be interesting to see what we find.
0:34:34 > 0:34:36Yes, indeed!
0:34:36 > 0:34:38Amazing.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41'It was great to come out here and learn about...'
0:34:41 > 0:34:44Simcha, my great-great grandfather.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47It was very interesting to have it confirmed
0:34:47 > 0:34:50that he was an Orthodox rabbi
0:34:50 > 0:34:57and that his father before him, and on and on, all the predecessors were apparently these Orthodox rabbis.
0:34:57 > 0:35:02So I'm very curious to find out who they were and when they came to America,
0:35:02 > 0:35:09and kind of what they studied and wrote about, and so we'll see. We'll see what we learn.
0:35:10 > 0:35:14Gwyneth's next stop is the Eldridge Street Synagogue in Lower Manhattan,
0:35:14 > 0:35:17the first synagogue erected in New York
0:35:17 > 0:35:20by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28The only rabbi I know of is my great-great grandfather,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31Simcha, or Simon Paltrovitch, who emigrated from Eastern Europe.
0:35:31 > 0:35:33But given the family stories I've heard,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36I wonder if he's the only rabbi in my lineage.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42Gwyneth is meeting Professor Glenn Dynner,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45who specialises in Eastern European Jewish history.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49- Well, we have some extraordinary documents here.- OK.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51- This is in Polish.- OK.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54- And it says... - HE SPEAKS IN POLISH
0:35:54 > 0:35:56"A promise of marriage."
0:35:56 > 0:35:58Now, this is a betrothal between...
0:35:58 > 0:36:01Can you read it at all?
0:36:01 > 0:36:02No.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04- Simon...- OK.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05- Szymon in Polish.- OK.
0:36:05 > 0:36:07..Paltrovitch.
0:36:07 > 0:36:11- My great-great grandfather?- Right. - OK.- OK.
0:36:11 > 0:36:16And he's marrying somebody by the name of Czypa Levitinska.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19The ceremony is presided over
0:36:19 > 0:36:22by the rabbi of the Nowogrod district.
0:36:22 > 0:36:25- What's Nowogrod?- It's a small town,
0:36:25 > 0:36:27- in the northeast of Poland.- OK.
0:36:27 > 0:36:31And in 1862, we have a signature by...
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Her... Herve...
0:36:34 > 0:36:37- Hirsch. Hirsch Pelterowicz. - Hirsch Pelterowicz.
0:36:37 > 0:36:40Simcha's father.
0:36:40 > 0:36:44- And he's also the rabbi of Nowogrod. - Wow. That is so cool.
0:36:44 > 0:36:48- So now this tells us that we have another rabbi in the family.- Right.
0:36:50 > 0:36:51Gwyneth has discovered that
0:36:51 > 0:36:54her third great-grandfather, Tzvi Hirsch,
0:36:54 > 0:36:55was also a rabbi,
0:36:55 > 0:37:00confirming one of the family stories.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03There are two additional pieces of information
0:37:03 > 0:37:05- which I think you'll find really interesting.- OK.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11- Now, I have here in my hands a memorial book...- OK.
0:37:11 > 0:37:15- ..from the community of Nowogrod. - Oh, my gosh.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19- The vast majority of these communities were destroyed during the Holocaust.- Right.
0:37:19 > 0:37:20Nowogrod is no exception.
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Yet the survivors,
0:37:22 > 0:37:24or those who had left before the Holocaust,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27would get together after the war
0:37:27 > 0:37:30and they would write what is called a memorial book.
0:37:30 > 0:37:34- Wow.- And this is the memorial book that they came up with.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37- And they mention Tzvi Hirsch. - Really?
0:37:37 > 0:37:39- Translation...- Translation.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43"The rabbis of Nowogrod were famous for their learnedness
0:37:43 > 0:37:46"and personal qualities.
0:37:46 > 0:37:48"The rabbi Reb Hershele was a great holy man
0:37:48 > 0:37:51"and master of Kabbalah.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54"Once, a great fire erupted outside the town.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57"The fire approached the Jewish neighbourhood.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59"A great panic ensued. However, Rabbi Hershele
0:37:59 > 0:38:01"went out to the balcony of his house,
0:38:01 > 0:38:03"waved his handkerchief towards the fire,
0:38:03 > 0:38:06"and the fire was extinguished.
0:38:06 > 0:38:09"Since then, they say, a fire that erupts in the town
0:38:09 > 0:38:14"will not spread very much, for the blessing of R Hershele protects us."
0:38:14 > 0:38:16Wow.
0:38:17 > 0:38:19So that was my...
0:38:19 > 0:38:20That was Simcha's father.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24- That was Simcha's father. - Tzvi Hirsch.- Oh, my gosh.
0:38:24 > 0:38:27And, um, he was... a master of Kabbalah.
0:38:27 > 0:38:32- Wow.- A miracle worker. - This is kind of blowing my mind.
0:38:32 > 0:38:35Because I study Kabbalah.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40You can just feel how... his spirituality coming off the page.
0:38:40 > 0:38:43And this is somebody very, very special,
0:38:43 > 0:38:45very holy...
0:38:45 > 0:38:47that you have in your family line.
0:38:47 > 0:38:49- That's quite remarkable.- Yeah.
0:38:49 > 0:38:51OK? Would you like to see more?
0:38:51 > 0:38:53Oh, gosh, yes. Like, there's more?
0:38:53 > 0:38:55It gets better. The next thing I want to show you
0:38:55 > 0:38:58is a book called Kettert Tzvi,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00"The Crown of Tzvi."
0:39:00 > 0:39:03- OK.- This is a book that Simon wrote.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06- And guess who he named it after? - His father.- Tzvi Hirsch.
0:39:06 > 0:39:08- Tzvi Hirsch.- His father. - His father, OK.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Now, the reason why it's so interesting is...
0:39:12 > 0:39:14there's a reflection
0:39:14 > 0:39:17on his father in here.
0:39:17 > 0:39:21- And I'll give you the translation. - OK.- OK?- Cool.
0:39:21 > 0:39:25"For my Lord and father, the genius of blessed memory,
0:39:25 > 0:39:27"was always on call at his study house
0:39:27 > 0:39:31"with legal discussions and cases that they brought before him.
0:39:31 > 0:39:33"And they came from all the communities
0:39:33 > 0:39:36"where people knew the reputation of my Lord and father.
0:39:36 > 0:39:38"And they sought Torah from his mouth."
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Oh. This is going to make me cry.
0:39:41 > 0:39:43That's so sweet.
0:39:49 > 0:39:51"..From his mouth,
0:39:51 > 0:39:53"as from the mouth of one of the angels
0:39:53 > 0:39:56"of Lord of Hosts."
0:39:56 > 0:39:57That's so sweet.
0:40:01 > 0:40:04You have a long line of people loving their fathers
0:40:04 > 0:40:06in my family.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10Just incredible reverence for his father.
0:40:10 > 0:40:13That is amazing.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16It's funny, because...
0:40:16 > 0:40:19you... I mean, are you here
0:40:19 > 0:40:22as, like, echoes of your own relationships?
0:40:22 > 0:40:25You know, it's just, it's amazing to
0:40:25 > 0:40:28see so many parallels that keep coming together
0:40:28 > 0:40:31over...through all these different themes.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34It's just...
0:40:34 > 0:40:37That's very... That's amazing.
0:40:38 > 0:40:41There are a lot of people who I want to talk to about this.
0:40:43 > 0:40:50'I was amazed that Simcha, my great-great grandfather's father
0:40:50 > 0:40:52'was this rabbi of great importance.
0:40:52 > 0:40:55'And it was amazing for me to see Simcha
0:40:55 > 0:40:56'write about his father'
0:40:56 > 0:40:58the way that I would speak about my father.
0:40:58 > 0:41:00And just the whole idea that...
0:41:00 > 0:41:04you know, there is this energy in your ancestry.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06It's more than just facts
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and who was born where.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11Even we got to see through my great-grandmother's side,
0:41:11 > 0:41:13you know, in a much darker way,
0:41:13 > 0:41:16this kind of depression being passed down.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18Um, but on...
0:41:18 > 0:41:22on the other side of the family, to see this amazing light coming through
0:41:22 > 0:41:24and this amazing, you know,
0:41:24 > 0:41:28quest for knowledge and spirituality,
0:41:28 > 0:41:31and seeing both sides of the family in myself.
0:41:31 > 0:41:34You know, it's just...amazing.
0:41:34 > 0:41:36Now that her journey is over,
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Gwyneth is back home to visit her mother, Blythe Danner,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43and to share all she's learned about both sides of her family.
0:41:43 > 0:41:46OK, so this is your grandmother.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50Ida May Yetter.
0:41:50 > 0:41:54- And you had heard that she was born in Barbados. - Yeah, nobody knew more than that.
0:41:54 > 0:41:56She wasn't.
0:41:56 > 0:41:59Her mother was born in Barbados.
0:41:59 > 0:42:00Wow.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04This has been a really valuable experience,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07in that I've come to understand all of these pieces of myself.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10And that's very impactful to me.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13One of the most interesting things about doing this
0:42:13 > 0:42:15in general is, you see traits
0:42:15 > 0:42:18- going through, you know?- Right.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21Like you'll see Grandpa's grandfather adoring his father.
0:42:21 > 0:42:26And one of the things that I loved in Rosemond
0:42:26 > 0:42:28was this, like, wildness and this drive
0:42:28 > 0:42:32that she seemed to have. Like, "I'll leave this place,
0:42:32 > 0:42:35"because I can't find a husband, I can't find a job.
0:42:35 > 0:42:39"There's something better out there for me." That kind of self belief
0:42:39 > 0:42:41that I think that I feel in myself,
0:42:41 > 0:42:42and that I think you have.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It's cool, it was interesting to track...
0:42:45 > 0:42:49to see those things in a really tangible way come down.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Yes, and that you have, to me, the wisdom of the rabbis
0:42:53 > 0:42:55and the smarts of your dad, and...
0:42:55 > 0:42:58I wish that I could have told Daddy all of this stuff,
0:42:58 > 0:43:00because I think he would have been...
0:43:00 > 0:43:02not only fascinated,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05but I think he would have found it really illuminating.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08- This was quite a journey, huh? It's pretty wonderful.- Yeah.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12- I'm so happy you had this opportunity.- Yeah.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15'The most interesting and important lesson that I've learned
0:43:15 > 0:43:18'is that we need to take responsibility for all of our stories,
0:43:18 > 0:43:23'and teach our children about where we come from in both the good ways and the bad,
0:43:23 > 0:43:25'because the most meaningful thing about our histories
0:43:25 > 0:43:27'is what we learn from them.'
0:43:38 > 0:43:41Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd