Helen Hunt Who Do You Think You Are? USA


Helen Hunt

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Actress Helen Hunt is going on a journey into her father's

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family history.

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They're zillionaires! Wow!

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She finds tragedy...

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She was killed by a drunk driver.

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..and also great triumph.

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I'm going to strut around here now

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when I walk down the streets of San Francisco.

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And she's humbled to learn that her paternal ancestors played

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important roles in the growth of America.

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That's amazing.

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Accomplished actor, director and screenwriter,

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Helen Hunt has worked on more than 80 films,

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TV shows and Broadway plays in a career that began in childhood.

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She rose to fame playing Jamie on the sitcom Mad About You -

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a role that earned her four Emmys.

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For her performance in the feature As Good As It Gets,

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Helen won an Academy Award and the honour of being the second

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woman ever to earn an Emmy, Oscar and Golden Globe in the same year.

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Helen lives in Los Angeles with her partner Matthew Carnahan,

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her stepson Emmett Carnahan and daughter Makena Lei.

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I was born here.

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I don't know that much about generations before,

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but I have parents from here and grandparents who lived here.

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I have heard more about my mother's parents, maybe because my mother,

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like me, is a talker and a seeker of those things.

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My mother is like me in that she's interested in photographs

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and records. And on my father's side, I don't know if he's less that way.

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I'm sure some of it has to do with the fact that his mother died when he was so young.

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My dad's mother was killed by a drunk driver, I was told, when he was five,

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which is hard to even talk about even though I didn't know her,

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I was named after her and am

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incredibly close to my father and his siblings.

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The thought of them going through that at such a young age, especially

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as I started to raise my daughter and could imagine what that would mean.

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He didn't have a mother to say, "Here are the photographs

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"and here's what happened and here's what my mother was like

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"and my father and my grandmother."

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So, I'm doing this for my daughter.

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Time is speeding up as I get older,

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so I want her to have something in her hand to know where she's from.

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I'm scrapbooking for my life.

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Since I already know a good deal about my mom's family,

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I want to explore my dad's side of the family.

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I've heard we have European Jewish roots

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and ancestors from the East Coast.

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'I'd like to find out more about that.

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'I'm meeting with my father, Gordon, here in Los Angeles,

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'to see if he has any clues to start me off on my journey.'

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-Now, here we are.

-This, I've never seen.

-I love that picture.

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It's amazing.

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There's my mother, Helen, and there's my grandmother,

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the power behind the throne.

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Florence Roberts.

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I remember hearing that name. And when did Rothenberg become Roberts?

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I know it has to do with her Jewishness,

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but was it when they came to New York?

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I don't know the when of that.

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-And her husband, you never knew?

-No.

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She and her husband were immigrants from, I think, Germany.

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They emigrated to New York and then ended up living in Pasadena.

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The building still stands. It's called the Green Hotel.

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-And they lived in a hotel because they could?

-That's exactly right.

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-Because they could.

-Where did the money come from?

-I don't know.

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I would like to find out someday.

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Helen is heading to Pasadena, California, where Florence's

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old home, once called the Hotel Green, still stands.

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Helen's grandmother, Helen Roberts,

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lived here with her great grandmother Florence Roberts.

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Helen has arranged to meet Marc Dollinger,

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a professor of Jewish American history.

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She has asked him to do some research to our ancestors who

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her father thinks are from New York.

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She also wants to find out how her grandmother had enough money

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to be able to choose to live in a hotel.

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I grew up knowing Florence's name and that she lived in this hotel.

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There was a Roberts... Rothenberg to Roberts thing that

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I always knew growing up and was interested in why that was.

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I asked my dad about his grandfather and he didn't know much about him.

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We're going to search for census records.

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We're going to look for 1900.

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Florence Rothenberg.

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Let's search in New York.

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-Is that it?

-That's it.

-OK, Gustav.

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-That's my great-grandfather, right?

-Yes.

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Florence, Alfred, Edwin - not Edward - and Paul.

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Helen, there she is.

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And if you look underneath Helen's name, Rose.

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-Rose.

-And after Rose's name?

-I can't read it.

-Servant.

-Oh, goodness.

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And then Ann, servant. Mary.

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One rich child.

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-So, we can conclude that they were quite well off.

-Right.

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I have a document to show you.

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Death record for Gustav Rothenberg. Intestinal and gastric haemorrhage.

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-Yes, related to typhoid fever.

-Typhoid fever.

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1900, oh, my God.

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-I wonder, is that when Florence moved to Pasadena?

-Let's do another search.

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OK. Florence Rothenberg.

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So, in 1910, they're in Pasadena.

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-Which means, after the death of her husband...

-She goes 3,000 miles.

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With four young kids.

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Why don't you stay in New York, where your synagogue is, I wonder?

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We don't know precisely why she chose Pasadena.

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But we know a lot of other people made the same decision.

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The Jewish population in Los Angeles between 1900 and 1915

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-increased eight times.

-Wow.

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It was huge growth and Pasadena was also high society.

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-Shall we see how she progressed?

-Yes.

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Let's do a search for the 1920 census.

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No matches. I know what happened.

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I think. Should I put in Roberts?

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You could try.

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I see her.

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I don't like that she had to get rid of Rothenberg.

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I'm assuming that she was escaping some kind of subtle or overt

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anti-Semitism. Is that a good assumption or a bad assumption?

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It's a good assumption.

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Probably, you don't change from Rothenberg to Roberts for any other reason.

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Due to famine, war and persecution in the late 1800s,

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Jewish refugees were fleeing Europe by the millions,

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as part of a wave of more than 20 million newcomers to America,

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over just four decades.

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Many native-born Americans feared this group.

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In 1921, Congress indirectly targeted Jews by passing

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a law limiting the number of immigrants allowed to enter the US.

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These events fuelled a spike in anti-Semitism

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that also impacted Jews already in America,

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who were suddenly facing discrimination themselves.

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It would be a lot more challenging to go through life

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as a Rothenberg than it would as a Roberts.

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The word "restricted" suddenly...

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..becomes a part of your life.

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We learned before that that Gustav died young.

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What I have here for you is a certificate of death for Florence.

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86 years old. She lived a long life.

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This is a very important historical document for us.

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Most of all because it gives us information on her father.

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-William Scholle.

-Your great-great-grandfather.

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Scholle, I didn't even know that name until right now. At all.

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Through some research,

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we were, in fact, able to find

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an 1845 passenger ship manifest...

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-Oh, my gosh.

-..from Bavaria...

-Germany.

-..to New York City.

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Is he on there?

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His name is a little different, as was often the case.

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He went by the name Wolf Scholy

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Wolf is a typical German-language name,

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William certainly sounds much more American.

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Helen now knows that her great-great-grandfather

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Wolf Scholy, who became William, was the one who came over from Germany.

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But the question remains -

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where did William's or Florence's money come from?

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If you can see here, Wolf Scholy begins as a farmer.

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Economic depression was hitting in this time period and,

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as was typically the case, they would move into the cities,

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looking for work or greater economic opportunity.

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Do we know what William did when he got to America?

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Well, in 1853, the City of New York provides us

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with the business directory. There is William.

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And does that say Abraham? There is an Abraham.

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-Abraham is William's big brother.

-Here we go. Abraham, clothing.

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-That's right.

-William, clothing. Scholle & Brother Clothing.

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They're on Bowery Street. I know Bowery Street!

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Wait a minute. What happened?

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William is in San Francisco.

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Why?

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Your great-great-grandfather, William, arrived

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at an incredibly fortuitous time,

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because within just a few years from 1848 to 1850,

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when they are establishing themselves in New York,

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gold is discovered in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada.

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Fantastic.

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And your great-great-grandfather, William,

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was very well positioned to join the gold rush.

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Do we know what made him well positioned?

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He acquired enough language skills and he had

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enough of a business foundation to afford the journey to the West.

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Wow.

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No idea. I had absolutely no idea.

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I know nothing about the gold rush.

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If that's actually where I'm headed, I will be learning a lot.

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I love San Francisco,

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but I didn't know that that was an important place in my family.

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It's a little tiny clue, but it means something.

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I'm now hot on the trail of my great-great-grandfather, William,

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who moved west at the time of the gold rush.

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Helen is heading to Northern California to see what else

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she can discover about him.

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I'm on the Bay Bridge, going into San Francisco.

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Many times I've been, but as a child I remember seeing it

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and thinking it was among the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

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I had no idea that anybody in my family had any particular

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connection to it.

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Helen is meeting with Professor Stephen Aron,

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an expert in the American West.

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They are meeting at the San Francisco Public library.

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Hi, Stevie Aron.

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Helen has asked Stephen to investigate William Scholle.

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She wants to know if he made his fortune from the gold rush.

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I was shown a list of merchants that showed William here

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and there was talk of gold rush. That's everything I know.

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And I know nothing about the gold rush.

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We know that he does come to California in the early 1850s,

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because if you look here,

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you will see this is the first census of California in 1852.

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The first census?

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California becomes a state in 1850, right on the heels of the gold rush.

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-Is that him?

-That is him.

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San Francisco had been a small village before gold happened.

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Quickly on the heels, thousands rush in.

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Beginning in 1848, a promise of gold lured

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thousands from around the world to San Francisco.

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The population rocketed, turning this sleepy seaside

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town into a thriving international seaport almost overnight.

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Merchants sought to take advantage of new opportunities that

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gold and the population boom presented.

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While miners searched for gold,

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astute businessmen like William Scholle sought their own

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fortunes supplying, clothing and feeding them.

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But success here was by no means a certainty.

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Competition was fierce,

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logistics difficult,

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and widespread crime threatened the surging city.

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Is there any way to know how struggling or well off he was?

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Yes, if you look at this newspaper from 1855,

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you can see here in this tabulation of the weekly shipment of treasures.

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Scholle Bros? My Gosh. 10,100.

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Roughly, in today's terms,

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that's probably about a quarter of a million dollars.

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That is a significant amount of cargo that he is engaged in.

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If you look then at the 1858 business directory

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for San Francisco.

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-Scholle, (Jacob) & Brother.

-This is the common pattern,

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to send the younger brothers out to work together.

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So, William's older brother Abraham stayed in New York

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and his other brother, Jacob, came out to San Francisco.

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William Scholle, manufacturers and importers of clothing.

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They are now declaring themselves as not just importers of goods.

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They have branched out and seem to be engaged in at least

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some manufacturing enterprise.

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Obviously, from these, we know that they are doing well enough,

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which is no easy feat.

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Here's another census.

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The 1870 census.

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William Scholle. And Rosa.

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-I don't know who that is.

-That is his wife.

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Oh, Albert, Amy. Florence, who was my great-grandmother.

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Clara, aged six, my God. That says Adolf.

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Right, but in the same household here.

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This is the same household, so you can see, also...

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-And Sophia and what is this last name? Walsh?

-Walsh.

-Willis.

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Oh, domestic servant, domestic servant. So they are doing OK.

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They've got three domestic servants and, in fact, here they are.

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Oh, my gosh.

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-OK, there's William Scholle.

-There's William.

-Wow.

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And then Rosa.

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-Here she is.

-That's Florence.

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Just incredible to see that.

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We have one more document over here

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that I think you'll find fascinating.

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-If you can help me open this very big book...

-Oh, my God.

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OK.

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You can see this is the San Francisco newspaper.

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-September 28th, 1874.

-This may come in handy.

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Take a look right here.

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There we go. "The solid men.

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"The following is a carefully prepared list of individuals

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"and firms in San Francisco whose repeated wealth exceeds 1 million.

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"The individual towers of strength

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"are Michael Reese, DO Mills,

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"A Hayward, Levi Strauss, Louis Strauss, Jacob Scholle!

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"William Scholle!" Oh, my God.

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They are zillionaires!

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Wow.

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Really, when you think about it, this is 1874,

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so this is 20-plus years after he first got here.

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What were they made of that they thought they could do it,

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that they thought even maybe they could do it? It's quite incredible.

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This was the dream that brought

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so many hundreds of thousands of people here. They came for gold.

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In some ways, William Scholle, he found the gold.

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I guess, by any measure, it's utterly remarkable.

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It certainly seems like a literally rags-to-riches story in this case.

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We knew there was money in Pasadena.

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I guess the money and the California part of that makes more sense.

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So, you feel like little parts of you are waking up.

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Helen has arranged to meet with Frances Dinkelspiel, a writer

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who has traced her own roots to 19th-century San Francisco.

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Frances has been researching William Scholle's career

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in order to find out just how successful he was.

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They are meeting at the old San Francisco Mint.

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I wanted to show you something.

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This is a story from the New York Times,

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Saturday, February 16th, 1890.

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"The Nevada Bank to be sold.

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"Negotiations have been going on recently between the present

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"proprietors and a syndicate composed of the following wealthy capitalists.

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"Levi Strauss, Scholle Brothers, Louis Schloss

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"and the Hellmans bankers at Los Angeles."

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So, there are two names in there. One, of course,

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is a William Scholle, who was your great-great-grandfather.

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And here's a picture of another man on that list,

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-his name is Isaias Hellman. He is my great-great-grandfather.

-No!

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Oh, my God.

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-So, our great-great-grandfathers were friends.

-Rich friends!

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-Rich friends. And they were business partners.

-My goodness.

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That's amazing.

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So, when word got out, millionaires lined up from all over

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the country trying to get shares of stock in the Nevada Bank.

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Here is a list of some of the people who invested in the Nevada Bank.

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-Does that say Lehman Brothers?

-Mm-hm.

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Scholle brothers!

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-Helen, do you ever hear today about the Nevada Bank?

-No.

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Let me show you another article.

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This is also from the New York Times.

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Wells Fargo and Nevada Institutions will become

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one at close of today's business.

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-They became Wells Fargo.

-Right.

-My God.

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I'm going to strut around here now

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when I walk down the streets of San Francisco. It's incredible.

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It's incredible.

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This document shows that your family, the Scholle brothers,

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were part creators of an institution that is now spread

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across the country, that millions and millions of Americans bank at.

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That's amazing.

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So, something that's not well known in history,

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how this group of Bavarian Jews came

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and dug themselves in and said, "This is our country now, we're

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"going to make it a success and dedicate everything to it."

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Right. Well, thank you so much.

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My daughter loves a good story.

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And so the idea that I can say,

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"Your great-great-great-grandfather lived in Germany and came here

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"when there was nothing,"

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it's hard to imagine, but I feel like she'll have a better

0:20:110:20:13

shot at understanding what it means

0:20:130:20:17

to be American,

0:20:170:20:20

because of that story.

0:20:200:20:22

On the trail of her paternal ancestors,

0:20:230:20:26

Helen now wants to turn her attention to her father's

0:20:260:20:28

father's side of the family, the Hunts, and to see what

0:20:280:20:32

she can learn about her

0:20:320:20:34

great-great-grandfather, George Hunt I.

0:20:340:20:38

Helen's father has told her that her great-great-grandfather was from

0:20:380:20:41

Portland, Maine, so she's heading there to begin her investigation.

0:20:410:20:45

I've only been in Portland, Maine one other time. I was

0:20:520:20:54

working in a small town about an hour and a half outside of Portland.

0:20:540:20:59

I was only seven weeks pregnant, not wanting anybody to know,

0:20:590:21:02

because I was so worried that something would happen.

0:21:020:21:07

And so I had a friend who knew a doctor and we heard her heartbeat,

0:21:070:21:12

my daughter's heartbeat, for the first time here, in Portland, Maine.

0:21:120:21:16

All I know about George Hunt is that he was a businessman

0:21:190:21:22

and traded goods. But what did he trade and who was his family?

0:21:220:21:26

Helen has asked local historian Herb Adams to look into George.

0:21:270:21:31

They are meeting at a pub in the same neighbourhood where Helen's

0:21:310:21:34

great-great-grandfather once worked.

0:21:340:21:37

-Nice to see you.

-Pleased to meet you.

0:21:370:21:40

-You, too.

-Welcome to Portland.

-Thank you.

0:21:400:21:45

The little bit that I know, if I have it right, is that

0:21:450:21:49

my great-great-grandfather was from here

0:21:490:21:54

and something about trading.

0:21:540:21:57

Well, as it turns out, your great-great-grandfather,

0:21:570:22:00

who lived in this town, George S Hunt, was a major sugar

0:22:000:22:03

importer and exported a lot of wood in those days.

0:22:030:22:08

You can't grow sugar in Maine, I assure you.

0:22:080:22:11

But we had plenty of wood, and that made his fortune, that exchange.

0:22:110:22:15

This comes from a publication called

0:22:150:22:17

Representative Businessman of Portland, Maine,

0:22:170:22:21

and his biography and as much about the company as him is there.

0:22:210:22:26

"This company was incorporated in 1863,

0:22:260:22:30

"located on West Commercial Street", which is a block from here, right?

0:22:300:22:34

-Just about.

-Right.

0:22:340:22:36

According to the biography, Helen's great-great-grandfather,

0:22:360:22:39

George Hunt, was an extremely successful businessman,

0:22:390:22:42

who traded timber for sugar with the Caribbean.

0:22:420:22:45

"Our facilities for the manufacture of sugar should be so extensive

0:22:470:22:51

"and efficient as to be unequalled by those possessed by any other nation."

0:22:510:22:55

Cool. I had no idea sugar was a thing in my family.

0:22:550:23:01

It would interest you, I thought, to see this.

0:23:010:23:03

"George S Hunt, one of the most prominent

0:23:050:23:07

"and enterprising of the Portland citizens,

0:23:070:23:09

"died very suddenly in the office at four o'clock this afternoon.

0:23:090:23:12

"Mr Hunt leaves a widow, who was very well known in education circles,

0:23:120:23:15

"and two sons.

0:23:150:23:17

"On September 22, 1863, he married Augusta, youngest daughter of the

0:23:170:23:21

"late George S Barstow, a well-known and prominent resident of Portland."

0:23:210:23:26

-Wow.

-Your great-great-grandmother, Augusta, the wife of the man

0:23:260:23:30

we have been speaking about, appears in this document,

0:23:300:23:33

which is sort of the women's equivalent of

0:23:330:23:36

the Representative Businessman publication.

0:23:360:23:39

"Augusta M Hunt is a graceful speaker and is identified with

0:23:390:23:42

"various educational and philanthropic institutions.

0:23:420:23:45

"As president of the Home For Aged Women

0:23:450:23:47

"and the Women's Christian Temperance Union and of the Ladies History Club,

0:23:470:23:51

"she has proved herself a wise and efficient leader."

0:23:510:23:54

-I'm guessing she was anti-rum!

-You made a good guess.

0:23:540:23:58

Right up until about 1850, Portland, Maine,

0:23:580:24:02

probably drank more rum than any other seaport in the United States.

0:24:020:24:07

The one great 19th-century reform that is a Maine reform,

0:24:070:24:11

-is the anti-alcohol crusade.

-That started in Maine?

-That started

0:24:110:24:14

-in this town, not far from where you're sitting.

-Oh, my God.

0:24:140:24:18

In the 19th century, the rise of cheap sugar -

0:24:190:24:23

the same commodity being traded by George Hunt before his death -

0:24:230:24:26

also led to a surge in the availability of rum

0:24:260:24:29

and other spirits, especially in New England.

0:24:290:24:32

1830 marked the peak of US per capita alcohol consumption.

0:24:330:24:38

At one time, in a one-mile stretch of Portland,

0:24:380:24:41

some 300 establishments sold alcohol.

0:24:410:24:44

In an effort to curtail the widespread drinking,

0:24:440:24:47

the Maine Law of 1851 was enacted,

0:24:470:24:49

prohibiting the production and sale of alcohol.

0:24:490:24:52

This law made it unlikely that George Hunt's company

0:24:540:24:57

provided sugar to the rum makers.

0:24:570:24:59

This is a national organisation which still

0:25:000:25:04

-exists in Portland, Maine.

-Wow.

0:25:040:25:07

I'm pretty sure the Christian Temperance Society was...

0:25:080:25:12

I don't know what it was.

0:25:120:25:14

It makes me want to go have something warm with rum in it.

0:25:140:25:18

Helen has discovered that her great-great-grandmother,

0:25:180:25:22

Augusta Hunt, was involved with a number of philanthropic

0:25:220:25:24

institutions in Portland, Maine.

0:25:240:25:26

To find out more about Augusta's work,

0:25:280:25:31

Helen is meeting with Professor Carol Mattingly.

0:25:310:25:34

They're meeting at the headquarters of

0:25:340:25:36

the Women's Christian Temperance Union in Maine.

0:25:360:25:38

My great-great-grandfather traded sugar very successfully.

0:25:400:25:46

I learned that his wife was very active in

0:25:460:25:49

the Women's Christian Temperance Union. It does give me

0:25:490:25:52

a slight bit of anxiety to say all those words pushed together.

0:25:520:25:56

Why are you so nervous about this?

0:25:570:25:59

I don't know.

0:25:590:26:02

-Tell me more.

-OK.

0:26:020:26:04

I'm going to tell you why I think you're nervous.

0:26:040:26:08

Because the WCTU is associated with

0:26:080:26:13

a prudish movement that failed.

0:26:130:26:16

The reason women joined the WCTU in such huge numbers is

0:26:160:26:22

because alcohol abuse was so rampant in the 19th century.

0:26:220:26:27

The primary result, women felt, was the physical

0:26:270:26:33

and sexual abuse of women and children.

0:26:330:26:38

And so they rallied around the temperance topic.

0:26:380:26:41

There was a dark side

0:26:420:26:44

to the 19th-century love affair with alcohol.

0:26:440:26:47

Alcoholism spiked, even in children,

0:26:470:26:50

and domestic violence took its toll on families and society as a whole.

0:26:500:26:55

Married women like Augusta had few legal rights at the time.

0:26:550:26:59

They couldn't vote or sign contracts

0:26:590:27:02

and divorcing was difficult at best.

0:27:020:27:04

But women became a powerful force for social change when they

0:27:040:27:07

pulled together to fight against alcohol abuse and other social ills.

0:27:070:27:12

-They were all about getting a voice for women.

-That's amazing.

0:27:130:27:17

Your great-great-grandmother did the welcoming address

0:27:170:27:20

at the 11th annual convention.

0:27:200:27:24

-If you would start reading...

-Here?

0:27:240:27:27

"When we consider the well-known and sad fact that woman has always

0:27:270:27:32

"been the greatest sufferer from the misery caused by intemperance,

0:27:320:27:37

"does it not seem strange that nearly 90 years of such suffering

0:27:370:27:41

"were required to reveal to women their duty upon this question?"

0:27:410:27:46

That's an amazing thing to have done.

0:27:460:27:49

These are pictures of your great-great-grandmother,

0:27:490:27:52

Augusta Barstow-Hunt.

0:27:520:27:54

She was really active in the WCTU in the 1880s and 1890s,

0:27:590:28:06

which would have been their heyday.

0:28:060:28:09

The organisation was huge and very powerful

0:28:090:28:12

and influential by that time.

0:28:120:28:13

We've surmised that this might be your grandfather

0:28:150:28:22

because these are probably her grandchildren.

0:28:220:28:26

And then her grandson's wife is Helen, right?

0:28:260:28:33

-My grandmother. And she was killed by a drunk driver.

-Is that true?

0:28:330:28:37

It's just interesting to watch your own snap judgements rise up

0:28:400:28:45

and crumble away.

0:28:450:28:47

I knew nothing about her

0:28:470:28:48

and I heard she had been in these organisations, I heard the word

0:28:480:28:51

"temperance" and I have an utterly uneducated idea about what that is.

0:28:510:28:56

And then to have it sort of blossom in this beautiful,

0:28:560:28:59

painful way, that she was involved in excruciating issues.

0:28:590:29:07

And then how my father's mother was killed

0:29:070:29:09

and that I have a real connection to because I have grown up with

0:29:090:29:12

my dad and wondered or imagined or glimpsed what the effect of that was.

0:29:120:29:16

Pretty amazing.

0:29:170:29:19

I don't know how long she lived,

0:29:220:29:24

so I don't know where in the span of her life this happened.

0:29:240:29:26

Was this last thing she did? Was this the beginning?

0:29:260:29:30

It impresses me that, even as a widow with children,

0:29:300:29:33

my great-great-grandmother, Augusta,

0:29:330:29:35

still made it a priority to be involved in social change.

0:29:350:29:38

Helen has come to the Maine Historical Society to meet

0:29:400:29:43

with Professor Shannon Risk and to find out what else Augusta was

0:29:430:29:47

able to accomplish for women's rights.

0:29:470:29:50

I just came from the WCTU...

0:29:500:29:55

..the name of which filled me with fear and dread

0:29:560:29:59

until I found out what they did and it humbled me

0:29:590:30:02

and moved me that what they were doing was about much more than

0:30:020:30:06

I ever bothered to learn about or imagine.

0:30:060:30:11

What else can you tell me about Augusta?

0:30:110:30:14

Not only was Augusta involved in the WCTU...

0:30:140:30:17

We have pulled out some things about your great-great-grandmother

0:30:170:30:21

and the first is a biography.

0:30:210:30:23

It starts here and goes on to the next page,

0:30:230:30:25

-so she was about 62 when they are writing about her.

-Wow.

0:30:250:30:30

"Mrs Hunt remained president of the

0:30:300:30:32

"Portland Women's Christian Temperance Union for 15 years.

0:30:320:30:36

"Under her direction, the Coffee House and Friendly Inn, day nursery

0:30:360:30:40

"and free kindergartens were adopted

0:30:400:30:42

"as branches of the work of this organisation."

0:30:420:30:45

The biography reveals that Augusta was

0:30:450:30:47

instrumental in starting nursery schools, bringing female

0:30:470:30:51

guards to mixed prisons and getting women elected to school boards.

0:30:510:30:56

"Under her leadership, the council was instrumental

0:30:570:30:59

"in having a law passed which

0:30:590:31:01

"gives to a mother an equal right with the father in the care

0:31:010:31:04

"and guardianship of minor children." Wow.

0:31:040:31:07

This was a way for Augusta and her cohorts to be

0:31:070:31:11

political in a society that did not accept women in politics.

0:31:110:31:15

I know many women have had to choose between being present

0:31:150:31:19

with their children and getting something done in the world

0:31:190:31:22

that's going to affect generations and generations.

0:31:220:31:25

To the extent that she did both at once, I think that's a big deal.

0:31:250:31:31

It was so important to her. This work was so important.

0:31:310:31:34

Again, they have turned outwards into society.

0:31:340:31:38

That's huge.

0:31:390:31:40

As the temperance movement gained strength, women shifted

0:31:420:31:46

their focus to larger issues and the Women's Rights Movement was born.

0:31:460:31:50

Some 40 years before Augusta got involved,

0:31:530:31:56

the American movement for women's rights burst onto the national stage

0:31:560:32:00

in 1848, with a two-day event called the Seneca Falls Convention.

0:32:000:32:04

Here, Elizabeth Cady Stanton made international

0:32:060:32:09

headlines by declaring that women deserved the right to vote -

0:32:090:32:12

a shocking and controversial idea at the time.

0:32:120:32:16

Soon after, Stanton joined forces with Susan B Anthony to focus

0:32:170:32:21

the women's movement on this key issue - voting rights for women.

0:32:210:32:25

And so, I want to show you this document that is

0:32:290:32:33

the proposal from 1917 to be signed into law, they hope,

0:32:330:32:38

giving women the right to vote.

0:32:380:32:40

-So, this is demanding that they put this up to vote.

-Right.

0:32:400:32:44

And so Augusta and her colleagues gather

0:32:440:32:47

thousands of signatures on petitions

0:32:470:32:50

and the Maine State Legislator agrees, but now

0:32:500:32:52

they must turn it out into male voting society

0:32:520:32:56

to see what will happen.

0:32:560:32:58

It's thrilling and enraging all at once.

0:32:580:33:00

At this point, Augusta is in her mid-70s,

0:33:000:33:04

but we know that she remains active in the fight for the women's vote.

0:33:040:33:08

The referendum returns come back and, in most communities,

0:33:080:33:13

they vote the resolution down. The ratio is about 2:1.

0:33:130:33:17

I think about women having daughters

0:33:190:33:21

and having to explain that to your daughter.

0:33:210:33:25

My daughter, I'm not looking forward to having her even begin

0:33:250:33:29

to understand that there was a day when women were treated differently

0:33:290:33:33

than men were in such a...

0:33:330:33:35

huge and radical way.

0:33:350:33:38

Although suffrage did not pass in Maine,

0:33:390:33:42

women were making headway elsewhere in America.

0:33:420:33:45

By the start of World War I, full suffrage had passed in 12 states.

0:33:450:33:50

Women like Augusta famously mocked

0:33:500:33:52

an address made by President Woodrow Wilson

0:33:520:33:54

when he claimed that the Great War was a struggle for democracy.

0:33:540:33:59

Suffragists contended that the United States was not itself

0:34:000:34:03

a democracy, since women couldn't vote.

0:34:030:34:06

By 1918, President Wilson was swayed,

0:34:060:34:09

and began publicly supporting voting rights for women.

0:34:090:34:14

The tide was turning

0:34:140:34:15

and, in 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified,

0:34:150:34:19

granting all American women the power to vote.

0:34:190:34:23

So, we don't know a tremendous amount about her later years,

0:34:230:34:29

but we do know that she witnessed the passing of the 19th Amendment

0:34:290:34:35

and we have a copy of that here.

0:34:350:34:38

-And she was alive.

-She was alive. She's about 77.

0:34:380:34:43

"Proposing an amendment to the Constitution extending

0:34:430:34:46

"the right of suffrage to women."

0:34:460:34:48

She had lived to see the day.

0:34:480:34:50

Thank God.

0:34:530:34:55

Did she live to vote?

0:34:550:34:57

-This is the voter registration book from 1920.

-Oh, my God.

0:34:580:35:02

I thought perhaps we might look for Augusta's name.

0:35:050:35:07

Hopkins, Hutchins.

0:35:100:35:12

That's not a good sign. Am I looking in the right place?

0:35:120:35:16

-What we're looking for is District 6.

-District 6.

0:35:160:35:19

She worked so hard for so long,

0:35:210:35:23

this is her first chance to register to vote. I hope she's in here.

0:35:230:35:27

Hopkins, Hoppin, Howes, Hume.

0:35:290:35:33

I don't see her.

0:35:350:35:36

Oh, wait.

0:35:360:35:37

Augusta M.

0:35:390:35:40

So, this means she registered to vote.

0:35:430:35:45

After a lifetime of fighting for women's right to vote.

0:35:450:35:50

And these are almost all women.

0:35:500:35:52

Delia and Catherine and Mary and Helen.

0:35:520:35:56

And Augusta.

0:35:560:35:57

Incredible. So, she registered, but did she actually cast a ballot?

0:35:590:36:05

I have one last thing to show you.

0:36:050:36:07

It is an article featured in the Portland Sunday Telegram,

0:36:070:36:11

talking about Augusta.

0:36:110:36:13

"Mrs George S Hunt, identified through the years with

0:36:140:36:17

"the organisation and administration of many institutions for social

0:36:170:36:20

"service, including the WCTU, of which she is a charter member,

0:36:200:36:25

"will celebrate her 90th birthday Monday." My goodness. Longevity.

0:36:250:36:30

"And the story of Mrs Hunt's long and useful life is in great part

0:36:300:36:35

"a history of the development of the social agenda of the state.

0:36:350:36:39

"It was indeed fitting that she should be made the first woman

0:36:390:36:42

"member of the Lincoln Club and that when woman's suffrage was last

0:36:420:36:46

"granted, the first woman's ballot to be passed was that of Augusta."

0:36:460:36:50

That's amazing.

0:36:560:36:57

It turns out that Augusta passed away 10 days after this article

0:37:020:37:06

was published.

0:37:060:37:08

"Her name will live long and her work will live always."

0:37:090:37:12

That's incredible.

0:37:140:37:15

It's very moving to see your own name...

0:37:200:37:23

reflected back at you.

0:37:230:37:25

That alone is very moving.

0:37:250:37:28

It's not about being first,

0:37:280:37:30

but it took me a minute to really get that that's a forever thing.

0:37:300:37:35

She is forever the first one in this place to have stepped over that line.

0:37:350:37:41

That's amazing.

0:37:410:37:43

I say to my daughter all the time, "You're a strong woman"

0:37:480:37:51

and I mean it, because she already seems strong,

0:37:510:37:54

but she doesn't yet know,

0:37:540:37:56

but will now know that her great-great-great-grandmother was

0:37:560:38:00

part of this group of women that paved the way for everything.

0:38:000:38:05

Definitely, if I think about carrying this daughter's heartbeat in

0:38:080:38:12

this same place, that's a little...

0:38:120:38:15

A tiny little woman who will vote one day.

0:38:150:38:17

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