Kelly Clarkson Who Do You Think You Are? USA

Singer-songwriter Kelly Clarkson

is on the trail of an heroic Civil War ancestor.

I could not be more proud of this man.

Along the way, Kelly discovers

the extraordinary bravery of her three-times great-grandfather...

Oh, my gosh! He escaped.

..and his wartime sacrifice.

I hope people know, like, what they fought for mattered.

And before her journey is over...

-That's huge.

-Epic.

-Yeah. Wow!

..Kelly discovers a family connection that runs deeper than she ever imagined.

And that's what I find amazing, that we didn't know that,

that we came from that. You know, it's in our blood.

Multiple platinum singing star Kelly Clarkson

sprang from humble Texas roots

before shooting to stardom in 2002

as the first-ever winner of American Idol.

Kelly continues to dominate the charts with the powerful vocals

and outspoken lyrics that have earned her three Grammys,

more than 20 million album sales, and the honour of singing

at the second inauguration of President Barack Obama.

When it comes to something that I really truly believe in

and it's my gut feeling and it's right, I do not sway from that.

I'm a very strong presence as a female

and I totally get that from my mother.

She put herself through...like, after her and my dad got divorced,

put herself through college.

Like, worked really hard, raised three kids,

she's just a very strong individual.

That's why I'm kind of interested about this ancestry stuff too

cos there's got to be a whole line of us in there, you know,

we've got to get that from someone.

I was five years old when my parents divorced

and our family kind of separated.

I didn't really have a relationship with my father after that.

I don't really know a lot about my past,

and I'm just newly engaged

and Brandon knows, you know, quite a bit more than I do about his family.

It'd just be nice to learn about my past

and have that help me for my future.

My mother pretty recently, like, maybe the past two years

has been gravitating and trying to find out more about our genealogy.

I'm really excited to actually use

all the stuff she's, you know, gathered

'so we won't have to start from scratch.'

Come on, Joplin.

'I've invited her to my home from her place in North Carolina

'and it will be super exciting to see what she's put together.'

Well, thanks for coming to Nashville to help me out with this.

I didn't really have much connection,

you know, when I was young, with any of our past family members.

So I was wondering what made you all of a sudden in the last couple years

really get into genealogy?

Well, pretty much the same thing.

I had no connections in my family either.

And I'm at that age where I want to know my ancestors.

I want to know their hopes and their dreams

and what kind of people were they?

-Yeah.

-Now, I did find some things online on the internet.

-OK.

There we go.

You're going to go to the Rose family.

Oh, wow.

OK, so there's me. These are your parents, Nial and Mary.

And then it ends on Isaiah,

-who is my great, great, great-grandfather.

-Yes.

-Right on. Is this as far as you got, right?

-Yes.

-OK, so we can start from there.

-OK.

-Click on Isaiah...

-All right.

..and I'll show you some of the research I found.

So it says 1870.

-The census, I get it here?

-Yes.

All right, so that's Isaiah Rose.

Isaiah Rose, 28,

male, white, coal digger.

Coal miner's daughter!

Coal miner's great, great, great-granddaughter!

OK, so if he was 28 in 1870,

he would have been 18 or 19 when the Civil War started, right?

He would have been the right age to have been in there

so you can always go back to Isaiah.

And if he was in Ohio, then he would have been...

-What?

-..a Yankee?

Could have been, but you never know. You got to go back and check.

I hope he was a Yankee, then.

I don't want the other one.

There's a way you can find out. Go up here to the search.

-Search, OK.

-Search and go down to military records.

-Oh.

-So now put in his name.

-Type his name in.

"Isaiah Rose..."

-and now search.

-Search.

OK.

"Isaiah Rose."

There's two of them at the top.

The side - Union. Score!

18th Regiment, infantry. He was a private.

And the other one, which I think is the same one.

Yep, side - the Union, Ohio, 63rd Regiment.

So it's the same guy, so he was in it twice.

I'm wondering, did he go out and did he go in?

How do you find out more?

The best place to go to find,

you know, to go to find the information is go to Ohio.

All right. Well, thanks for the start.

-You're welcome.

-You did a lot of the work for me.

All right!

-Oh, the journey begins.

-I know!

I'll see what I find and I'll come back and let you know.

You have to come back and tell me what you found.

-I'm going to keep it a secret.

-No.

-You're not allowed to know.

No! I have to know! I started!

Finding out my three-times great- grandfather Isaiah Rose was fighting

on the Union side of the Civil War - that's a relief.

To me, the Union side was fighting for freedom for all Americans.

I think that that's a huge thing to recognise,

like, you know, what it is to be a free man, a free woman.

So I'm curious, why did Isaiah Rose fight

and what was he doing in two different Union regiments?

Because Isaiah began his service in Ohio,

Kelly is heading to the state capital, Columbus.

Kelly has arranged to meet Civil War researcher Vonnie Zullo

at the Ohio Historical Society.

Vonnie has found some records relating to

Isaiah Rose's Civil War service.

-Well, I'm going to be able to give you some information about him.

-OK.

-So why don't we start with this envelope?

-OK!

These are copies of his compiled military service record.

"When enrolled - April 23rd, 1861."

Didn't the war start around then? Like, did he enrol right away?

Yes. He enrolled right after the war started.

-A hero?

-The first shots were fired at Fort Sumter...

-Yeah.

-..like, April 12th of '61.

-Oh, so that was fairly quickly, right?

-And so right after that.

So do you think since Isaiah joined so quickly

that he was, you know, quite the patriot?

Is that like... Was he against slavery?

It's really hard to know

-exactly what would have been in his mind, you know...

-Obviously.

..as an individual solider. But I do know

that there was a lot of patriotic feelings in Ohio, in his home town.

In 1860, Abraham Lincoln's plans to stop the spread of the slave trade

caused Southern states to secede and form their own confederacy.

This ignited fierce opposition in the North,

especially in Isaiah Rose's home state of Ohio.

The state had a history of abolitionism

and a network of safe houses for slaves escaping from the South.

Ohio became a Union stronghold and was one of the top three states

to supply soldiers to the Union lines.

And so he might have been caught up in that movement.

-In the high part.

-Definitely.

So this is the 18th Regiment, and he was there for three months.

And why would you join another one -

like, why would he go to the 63rd?

-Well, let's take a look...

-OK.

..at the records for the 63rd.

Awesome.

All right, so Isaiah Rose,

"term - three years".

Well, he went from three months to three years.

By December of '61,

the reality of the war had sunk in.

So President Lincoln and his generals decided,

you know, "This is not going to be over quickly.

"We need more soldiers and they need to serve for longer."

-Was that a drafted thing?

-No.

-Or they chose?

-No, they chose.

-They chose?

-He chose to go back in and re-enlist.

I'm super proud that Isaiah chose to...

I mean, he chose to enlist.

Yeah. Based on that he was, you know, he was patriotic,

-he was believing in what he was...

-Fighting for.

-..getting involved in,

and very enthusiastic about it.

Well, I love that. OK.

So, 63rd Ohio Infantry, Company F

at Battle of Decatur, Georgia?

I'm horrible at this.

I can't read it. "Taken prisoner"?

Oh, my gosh! No!

That's horrible.

"Taken prisoner at Battle of Decatur, Georgia,

"July 22nd, 1864."

So do we know...? Cos this is the last card, so what happens?

You're going to need to go to Decatur to really learn

about what happened at that battle.

-And what happened to him...

-OK.

-..as a prisoner.

-Thank you for your time.

-You're welcome. It's been fun.

When you're talking about men fighting in wars, you think men, you don't think boys.

My three-times great-grandfather was 19 years old

when he was fighting a war, you know, in his own country.

Civil War is almost worse than, you know, war from afar

cos that's your home, you're fighting the people that you live with.

I imagine being a prisoner of war in that time probably wasn't too cool.

I'm just curious of, you know,

how that went down and what happened afterwards.

I can't wait to find out.

Kelly is heading to Decatur, Georgia, where Isaiah was captured

during the Civil War.

Kelly has arranged to meet historian Tim Orr

at the DeKalb History Centre.

She's searching for information on the battle that Isaiah fought in

and what happened to him after he was taken prisoner.

Thank you so much, Tim, for meeting with me.

Just to get you caught up,

I've found out my three-times great-grandfather,

Isaiah Rose, was captured in the Battle of Decatur.

And I was just curious to know if you really knew anything to help...

The Battle of Decatur was a part of much larger military operation

called the Atlanta Campaign.

By 1864, three years of fighting had crushed the morale

of the Northern states, casting doubt on Lincoln's re-election.

In need of a decisive victory, General Sherman of the Union army

launched a major assault on the key Confederate hub of Atlanta,

known as the Atlanta Campaign.

Isaiah Rose's regiment acted in the Battle of Decatur,

one of a series of bloody battles that raged over four months.

But in early September, the Union army captured the city,

inflicting a devastating defeat on the Confederates.

-We do have a battlefield map of...

-Oh, that's cool!

-..the engagement.

-All right.

-Wow.

-Do you see Decatur on the map?

I do. Decatur.

-All right, this where the battle action of July 22nd took place.

-OK.

The battle was kind of an important one

because it was a fight over a supply line

that was supplying the Union army.

-OK.

-One single brigade, which Isaiah's a part of...

-Yeah.

-..is given that task of defending this area.

He was six miles away from the front at this point.

He thought it was light duty,

but in fact the Confederates kind of proved him and his comrades wrong

and on the afternoon of July 22nd sent a force of cavalry,

the horseman of their army - several thousand, in fact -

from the city, around south and they came up behind the Union lines.

And there the Confederates came out of the woods, encircled them,

and it was probably no contest there.

The Union soldiers either had to retreat or surrender.

Wow. OK.

I have the battle report of the 63rd Ohio,

which was Isaiah Rose's regiment.

-Oh.

-It discusses the action at the Battle of Decatur.

OK. Awesome.

So "the enemy attacked on all sides with a very superior force

"and after two hours of hard fighting

"we were finally driven out of the town.

"Ten killed, 44 wounded

"and 31 missing."

He was probably one of the 31.

Yes, almost certainly.

They stood their ground,

and ultimately those Union soldiers that fell as casualties,

killed, wounded or captured, I think made an incredible sacrifice.

And taking on the brunt of everything

-to actually help supply the big huge battle going on?

-Absolutely.

And there's a high possibility that if Atlanta had not fallen,

Lincoln would have not have been re-elected.

-The Confederacy might have won the Civil War.

-That's huge.

-Epically.

-Yeah. Wow!

OK, so he's taken prisoner, so how do I find out which camp

my three-times great-grandfather Isaiah went to?

Well, we can search for that online.

OK. Isaiah Rose...

Let's see what comes up.

OK, there we go. Isaiah Rose, side of the Union.

"Federal prisoners of war confined at Andersonville, Georgia, 1864-65."

So Andersonville, Georgia, that's where... Is that where a camp was?

Yes, indeed. Actually the largest prisoner of war camp in the Confederacy.

Over 45,000 stayed there during 14 months of activity.

-45,000 people were there?

-Mm-hm.

-Wow. OK.

-We have an original document, so let's give that a whirl

and see what comes up.

"View original document."

All right, so what I'm noticing,

"Isaiah Rose, private, Company F, 63rd Ohio" - that's him.

So the column "Died, escaped,

"paroled, exchanged or released."

I'm noticing everybody else has, like, "exchanged", "released".

His column says, "See volumes - miscellaneous records."

How do you find out what happened or what those miscellaneous records are?

I'll tell you what, I'll remain here

-and see what I can find as to the rest of his military career.

-OK.

I think you might want to go to Andersonville,

which is a national historic site, and see if you can determine

a little bit about his prison experience.

Yeah. Well, all right. I'll see you soon.

I love that Tim told me the unsung story, you know,

for the Battle of Decatur.

You know, I grew up playing basketball and sports and everything

and I think that everybody always remembers the Michael Jordans

but nobody remembers the people passing the ball.

It's the kind of unnoticed sacrifices that Isaiah and his brigade made

that make the big victories even possible.

I am a little hesitant about going to Andersonville Military Prison

because how sad is that, that all these thousands of people suffered

after fighting for our freedom?

To find out about Isaiah's experience as a prisoner of war,

Kelly is visiting the location of the camp where he was held -

the Andersonville Historic Site and Cemetery.

Today, most of the camp's original structures are gone,

but park ranger Chris Barr is here

to tell Kelly what the camp looked like when Isaiah was a prisoner.

-Hello, I'm Kelly.

-Hey, I'm Chris.

I've been looking into my three-times great-grandfather

Isaiah Rose, and he was taken to here, Andersonville Prison.

I was curious, what does that mean? What are the conditions of

a military prison in the Civil War?

I'd be happy to help you out with that.

This would have been the main entry point

for most prisoners coming in here.

Our gates are reconstructed on the original spot

so if you'd like, let's maybe walk through the very gates that he did.

-Yes, sir.

-And let's explore this place.

-All right.

And so as he walked in here,

he'd be looking out across this valley

-and just see a sea of humanity out here.

-Yeah.

One prisoner said it looked like an ant hill that had been stirred up.

Andersonville prison camp was a large fenced-in stockade

completely open to the elements.

No housing was provided.

Isaiah Rose and his fellow POWs

were left to create their own makeshift tents

for shelter from the blazing heat and winter frosts.

With a space for a maximum of 10,000 prisoners, the camp became

home to more than 45,000,

making it a breeding ground for violence, starvation and disease.

The Confederate military prison policy was simply open the gates,

turn the prisoners in, close the gates

-and you're on your own on the inside.

-Oh, my gosh.

I have a first-person account from a prisoner named Robert H Kellogg.

And this is his description of what the place looked like

when he arrived in May of 1864.

Which is two months before my three- times great-grandfather got there?

-Exactly.

-OK.

-But the scene is still going to be pretty similar.

-OK.

"As we entered the place

"a spectacle met our eyes that almost froze our blood with horror.

"Before us were forms that had once been active and erect, stalwart men,

"now nothing but mere walking skeletons,

"covered with filth and vermin.

"Many of our men, in the heat and intensity of their feeling,

"exclaimed with earnestness, 'Can this be hell?'"

-Wow.

-And this is a photograph of a prisoner

who was held here at Andersonville.

And this is what he's talking about by walking skeletons.

-This is what's here.

-Oh, my gosh!

You can see his pelvic bone.

Like, I mean, you can see...

I don't even...

I don't have words right now.

I cannot imagine.

"In the centre of the hole was a swamp

"occupying about three or four acres of the narrowed limits,

"and a part of this marshy place had been used by the prisoners as a sink.

"Excrement covered the ground,

"the scent arising from which was suffocating." Like, what is that?

What is that? That's like, where they washed their hands, their face?

What the sinks are is,

that's kind of the Civil War era term for the latrines.

-They're using...

-Oh, my God!

The restroom was the downstream end of the creek.

Then of course, the upstream end of the creek

is where they're having to get their drinking water from.

Oh, my God, like dysentery, like, there's so much stuff going on there.

Dysentery, diarrhoea, as well as diseases related to nutrition.

But a lot of it stems from that water.

Of the 45,000 men who walked through those gates you came through,

just under 13,000 of them died here.

-Making this really the deadliest place in the Civil War.

-Wow.

Obviously, I'm here, so I know Isaiah survived this

but what happened whenever the war ended?

Like, what, they just opened the doors and people left

-or how did that happen?

-If you just take a second

and tell me what that document says across the top there.

"Record of escaped prisoners of war, USA."

Of escaped...?

Wait, row...

"Isaiah Rose".

Oh, my gosh! he escaped!

"Isaiah Rose, private, F, 63rd Ohio,

"escaped Savannah, Georgia, December 1st '64."

I don't get it. Why does it all of a sudden mention Savannah?

In all likelihood, what happened was

he escaped in transit to another prison.

They'd started to evacuate prisoners to other places around

and Savannah was one of the places they were taking prisoners to.

Where did he go? If he escaped, like, what happens afterwards?

The circumstances of his escape, we don't know.

For all we know, you know, he joined up with runaway slaves.

For all we know, he hid in the swamp somewhere. We just don't know.

All right. I guess that means I need to go back to Tim Orr in Atlanta.

Thank you so much for all of this. This has been incredible.

-Thank you for visiting us today.

-All right, have a good one.

-You too.

I think the most powerful thing about Isaiah Rose's character

was the fact that he never gave up.

So many people died in the 14 months here at Andersonville.

Still he persevered and he pushed through

and survived this horrible circumstance.

I know that Isaiah escaped in December of 1864

but where did he go? Like, did he return home?

Did he stay in hiding until the war ended?

To find out, Kelly is heading back to Atlanta

to see what new information Tim Orr has been able to turn up.

So I learned a ton at Andersonville

and then I kind of ended there learning that he escaped.

I remember you saying you were going to do some research.

I was curious if you found anything.

Well, the best source we have, that are called the pension files,

they are sources that describe soldiers' infirmities after the war.

And I have a document that I think you'll find interesting.

Very cool.

"Declaration for an invalid pension.

"On or about January 11th, 1865,

"while making his escape from the rebel prison

"and while approaching the Union lines,

"Isaiah Rose was wounded by a member of the 33rd Indiana infantry..."

-Oh, my God, he's shot?

-So it would seem.

Oh! "..who mistook him for a rebel soldier or scout."

He was shot by his own. That sucks.

And then trying to get back, that is horrible.

It is a spot of bad luck.

Oh, man, this shows you exactly where the bullet went in.

-Yep.

-This is an examining surgeon certificate.

"The examination reveals the following conditions.

"We find the scar of the gunshot wound of the left leg,

"scar three inches long,

"ball entered about four inches above the knee."

He says he has "pains when walking or standing,

"disability permanent."

Man, to be so young and be disabled, you know, so quickly.

And then you have your whole life kind of ahead of you,

that would have been really intense.

There's this Patty Griffin song, like, I Will Never Give Up.

That's the name of the song and it totally reminds me,

that's one of my favourite songwriters.

And it's cool, like, that was him.

Quite a being I'm related to, so...

-Mm-hm.

-Whew!

Yeah, I mean, he seems fairly indestructible.

You know, and I often like to think about it this way.

Also, we want to remember

-the accomplishments that generation made...

-Yeah.

-..for the long run.

They freed 4 million Americans kept in bondage,

and they preserved a government

where the people decide who leads them.

And, you know, the fact that that government still stands today...

-Yeah.

-..where you and I can participate in it

is an incredible legacy.

I think what's really amazing and why I'm so emotional about it is

I just got to perform at an inauguration for a man...

..that would have never been able to be President

if it weren't for, you know...

Mm-hm.

..the sacrifice of my, you know, three-times great-grandfather.

-Mm-hm.

-I'm so crying about it, but it's happy tears.

I'm just so emotional because it's like... I wish and I hope,

you know, somewhere, not only my three-times great-grandfather

but all those people know, like, what they fought for mattered.

I think if he were alive today,

Isaiah Rose would be quite proud

-of his great, great, great-granddaughter.

-Yeah. Pff!

Isaiah Rose was a patriot from '61 when he first volunteered

whenever Lincoln called for volunteers. He did it.

He stayed in the war the entire time.

He mustered out in, you know, '65 and mustered out a hero.

You know, he survived so much

and helped keep these United States these United States.

I'm definitely starting to feel the connection, and feel like, you know,

I am Isaiah Rose's three-times great-granddaughter.

Because I'm still a patriot in my own sense.

Like, I still feel like I know what is right

and what is wrong in my heart, and I go for it regardless.

And that had to have come from a long line, you know,

of people that believe like that.

I'm just really grateful that that's my past.

To begin exploring Isaiah's life after the Civil War,

Kelly is following his trail home to Washington County, Ohio.

Kelly knows from her mother's research

that Isaiah was a coal miner -

a difficult profession for a man with a war injury.

To find out if his disability affected his livelihood,

Kelly is visiting the Washington County Archives

to meet genealogist Josh Taylor.

-Ooh, I'm so excited.

-So you're looking at a family folder,

which is basically a folder of documents gathered by

potential other relatives, people who visited and did research here,

-all about Isaiah Rose.

-Oh, cool! OK.

"The Leader, Marietta, Ohio,"

"Tuesday, August 31st, 1886."

So he'd be about 43, 44 by now?

"Sheriff Rose, during his official career..."

That can't be him, right? Or...

What do you think?

He's a sheriff?!

He's like Tombstone?! He's a sheriff?

What does that mean? I'm so excited!

Oh, my God, OK, wait.

"So say we, Sheriff Rose during his official career the past two years

"has made hosts of friends.

"He believes that public office is a public trust.

"That he will be re-elected by a larger majority than two years ago

"is a conclusion accepted by both political parties."

So sometime around 1884,

he ran for office, he ran to become the county sheriff,

won the election, so now he's being re-elected.

Because he's so popular! Right on.

All right. "The Daily Register,

"Marietta, Ohio, Wednesday, November 8th, 1905."

-So he's probably 63, 64?

-Mm-hm.

OK.

Oh, my gosh! Is this his picture?

Oh, my God!

I didn't know that was his picture!

Oh, my gosh, that's what he looked like.

Senator IR...

Senator?! He was a senator?

Mm-hm, state senator.

I'm sorry, I can't...

"Late advices from the district show

"the election of the Republican candidate for Senate, Isaiah R Rose."

This is Lincoln's party,

I mean, he's a state senator as part of Lincoln's party.

Oh, my gosh!

So he fought for Lincoln as a kid,

like, grew up, became a man in the military in the Civil War,

then back to the same party just still believing in the Union

and became a senator, a state senator?

I could not be more proud of this man.

What in the world...?

And you can just see in his eyes in this picture - like, what a life.

Oh, my goodness.

So is there a way to find out what he was a part of politically?

-Like, what kind of laws he was part of?

-Absolutely.

For the next step, you can visit a colleague of mine

-actually in Columbus, Ohio.

-Oh, OK.

At the state house there. And keep in mind when you're there,

you'll be walking literally in his footsteps.

Well, I can't wait to find out. Oh, my goodness.

-Thank you very much, Josh.

-OK.

I just love how much drive I'm seeing.

I mean, he was this young kid in the war and he's shot, he has a bum leg.

And he just still was a survivor.

And then worked his way up, you know, to be a sheriff, and then a senator.

I'm very driven, and I think that's because of my family.

And it's cool to find out how far back that strength comes from.

I'm really just curious to know what laws he got behind.

Because I'm very, you know, hardcore in my beliefs.

And I hope I can stand behind,

you know, what he believed in politically as well.

Kelly is heading back to Columbus, to the Ohio State House,

where she's meeting political historian Tom Pegram.

Tom has been doing some research on Isaiah Rose's Senate career.

Would you be interested in seeing his office?

-Oh, definitely, yes, please.

-Let's go.

-Yeah.

-Let's go see it.

All right! Is it this way? OK.

I can't believe I'm going to see where his office was. That's so cool.

-This was his office, this is where he worked.

-Thank you.

Are you kidding me?

SHE LAUGHS

Yeah, not too shabby.

Oh, my goodness.

That is amazing.

This is, like, extremely intimidating.

I sing in front of people all the time

but I would be scared to death to talk in this room.

This is where he sat in 1906

at the beginning of his three-year term as senator.

That is so weird that I'm, like,

sitting in a room where he was. That's super weird!

So is there any way to find out, like around that time,

what laws he was, you know, for?

Or like, what he was trying to pass

or what kind of legislation he was involved in?

These are newspapers from Ohio in the early part of the 20th century.

-OK.

-Those are the best records of political debate

and political issues in the state.

"The Repository, Friday, March 1906."

-So this is pretty early on in his political career?

-Yes.

-This is like, freshman year?

-Yes.

-OK.

"Hot Talk From Rose - Senator Rose of Washington County,

"the strongest temperance advocate in the senate."

-What is the temperance?

-The temperance movement at this time

was a large movement in Ohio and elsewhere

-to restrict or even eliminate the liquor industry.

-Oh!

So he's a part of the people that don't want liquor?

He is indeed a part of that.

Oh! Hiccup in the ancestry department!

So he's, like, trying to wipe out all liquor?

Actually saloons, retail saloons.

They didn't attack individual drinkers so much. The idea was

that the liquor industry, and that saloons, were for men mainly.

Woman were generally not allowed.

Yeah.

Pay cheques were cashed in saloons

and men spent a lot of time drinking in saloons.

There was a great deal of domestic violence that accompanied drinking.

This was also seen as a women's issue.

The argument was, the saloon then was hampering their family life,

their children's lives, health, safety.

Well, right on. I'm glad he's for women. That's awesome.

"Senator Rose several weeks ago introduced a county option bill."

So what is the county option bill?

County option gets the issue down to the local level.

It allows the people themselves

to decide whether they want to regulate saloons or not.

OK. "Thursday morning,

"February 27th, 1908."

Yes, this is the last year of his term. He has to act.

Yeah. I bet he's pushing hard. OK.

"After more than two hours' debate,

"the house this evening passed the county option bill

"introduced and championed by Senator Isaiah R Rose of Washington County.

"The measure will now go to the governor

"and it is generally expected that he will sign it."

Oh, my gosh, he actually got it to pass.

He got it through the legislature. Now it's up to the governor.

There would be a ceremony here,

there would be a lot of rejoicing from the temperance people.

It would go to the governor's desk, the governor was co-operative

-and he did sign it.

-He did?

-Yes.

That is so exciting. And he's a freshman senator,

-you know, when he started this.

-Yep.

And being a freshman senator, I'm imagining that would be unheard of?

-They are usually very unassuming. They don't rock the boat.

-Yeah.

He put a motor on the boat.

I love it!

He has fire! That's awesome.

OK, so I'm imagining since he is a freshman senator

and he was kind of rocking the boat,

he made a lot of enemies on the other side.

How do you know, like, if he continued in his political career?

-Did he get re-elected?

-Well, let's see.

"The Marion Weekly Star, Saturday, November 11th, 1908."

So November, so this is election time.

"Senator Rose Down And Out."

Oof! Not a good headline.

"The official count is in for the Ninth and Fourteenth districts

"and Senator IR Rose, father of the Rose county option bill, is defeated.

"Semi-official returns proclaimed Rose's election,

"but the count beats him by 32."

Not a lot.

So wait, it's saying that people thought he won

so they were already saying, like, congratulations?

The original reports were that he had won.

They were celebrating, and then the formal count came out

and he had lost by, you know, less than three dozen votes.

-Oh, my goodness!

-Isaiah Rose became the particular target

of the organised liquor industry and its supporters.

They pooled their resources, and they got him out of office.

Yeah. Well, you know, it's funny, it doesn't surprise me

that he went down fighting for something he believed in

because he kind of had that whole past.

He definitely was the guy that, like,

stood up for what he believed in and fought for.

So what did he do now?

-Well, we have one more document.

-Oh, the book.

"Washington County, Ohio to 1890."

"The grandparent I remember best was Isaiah R Rose."

So this is just like an account book

of people putting together all their knowledge?

-Yes.

-Of their families?

-Local communities would do that.

Oh, my gosh!

"Isaiah R Rose family."

-So that's Isaiah Rose right here?

-Yes, it is.

In the middle? Oh, my goodness!

"In 1866, he married Melissa Ellen Crawford.

"They made their home in Coal Run and raised a family of seven children."

Man, they had some kids, didn't they?

-Yes, they did.

-Whew!

"His death came on Thanksgiving Day,

"November 26th, 1916 at his home.

"He lies in historic Round Bottom Cemetery near Coal Run."

(Wow!)

That's Coal Run, Washington County, that's not far from here, right?

No, that's not far. It's outside of Marietta.

Well, this is his story. I just finished it up.

Thank you so much. Now I know, like, where he's buried.

And I would really love to go see it.

-All right, well, thank you very much, Tom.

-OK.

Good day!

'It's cool to know and relay back with my family that

'my three-times great-grandfather did not abandon anything.'

You know, he was so relentless in his morals and in his beliefs.

It makes me feel just really proud,

and know why, you know, I stand up for things.

It's because it's in my blood.

The coolest part now is, you know, I'm at the end of his journey

and now I get to see where Isaiah, you know, rests in peace.

And I get to go visit his grave, and I'm pretty stoked about that.

'Just to like, you know, have a cool ending to such an amazing journey

'that I've been on, you know, finding out about his life.'

Oh, my God, this is like, my whole family.

Prentice C Rose...

Prentice C Rose.

Oh, my goodness!

Leslie Rose! That's my two-times great-grandfather!

I did not expect to find you here.

So it's like a Rose graveyard.

Mary Rose. Melissa Rose...

Oh, my goodness.

Isaiah R Rose.

I'm your three-times great-granddaughter. What's up?

I brought you these.

Oh, my gosh.

I just took a long journey, man.

You have had a well-lived life.

Thank you so much for being just such a...a hero.

'You know what, you would think that coming to pay respects'

would be a sad part of this journey

but oddly enough, it's been just a celebration for me.

All right, love you.

'My mother and I, you know, I started this journey off,

'we're not really connected to our families.

'I mean, her maiden name is Rose, so to walk into this cemetery'

and see just what a life and legacy that name is, it's pretty amazing.

This whole thing has made me just kind of feel like, way more connected

than I thought I was going to be.

I think everybody should do this because it has just lit a fire in me

and I'm very excited and it's just cool to know your story.

You know, not your own, but your family's.

Kelly's journey was started by her mother's research.

So she's heading back to Nashville, to tell her what she's discovered.

I can't wait to show her

the strength and perseverance that exist in our family line.

-Hi, Mom!

-Hey, sweetheart.

'And I'm hoping my discoveries about Isaiah will give her

'the sense of family connection that she's been looking for.'

At the beginning of this, I was like, my mother's so strong

and I'm a pretty strong individual,

there must have been people in our past that were just as strong.

And what's funny is to find out that

your two-times great and my three-times great-grandfather

Isaiah Rose is really the pillar of strength with our family.

He signs up to be in the Civil War.

-He got taken prisoner. Have you ever heard of Andersonville Prison?

-Yes.

You have?!

Yes. That was a horrible place.

-It is mind-blowing when you go there.

-You went there?

-Yeah.

One in three soldiers that went into Andersonville died.

I mean, you have to really want to live

-to get through something like that.

-Yeah.

-That is amazing.

'I think my mother and I, we're both really very honest with the fact

'that we don't feel really connected at all with our families.'

And I think it was cool to be able to show her a story of how,

you know what, we come from a long line of strugglers

but at the end of the day, we survive.

And then he ends up running for Senate.

I know.

Just amazing, this guy that is always kind of up against the odds,

you know, and just... and doesn't get knocked down.

But you see, that's why I wanted to look.

-I wanted to know about our ancestors.

-Yeah.

I wanted to know, do we have any of those traits?

Yeah. And we do.

-I know.

-And that's what I find amazing, that we didn't know that,

that we came from that. You know, it's in our blood.

'It's innate that you need family.'

Although I've tried a couple times previously in my life

to mend some fences either with my father or other people in my family,

like, I think it's just time... You know what,

maybe it's that thing where it's like Isaiah, you just don't give up.

You just keep trying and keep trying.

I think that that's a very powerful thing.

I'm glad you got to do this.

This was the coolest thing I've by far done in my life,

finding out, like... I think it's the coolest thing anybody can find out.

Finding out where you come from.

-And I can't wait to figure out what else we can find out.

-I know.

-Yeah. You want to hug it out?

-Yes.

-Bring it in, team hug.

-Thank you, baby.

-All right.