Chris O'Donnell Who Do You Think You Are? USA


Chris O'Donnell

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In honour of his late father, actor Chris O'Donnell is

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investigating his paternal family history.

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So he went absent...

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He discovers a legacy of courage...

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-They're digging holes, burying bodies fast as they can.

-Right.

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..patriotism...

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Having them come in and burn down his town.

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-His family's up on the hill watching.

-That's right.

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..and a devotion to family that goes deeper than he ever imagined.

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I mean, who wouldn't be so proud to hear this about your family?

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All right, Charlie, you ready?

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You guys ready? This is championship right here.

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Actor, producer and director Chris O'Donnell currently stars

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in the hit series NCIS Los Angeles.

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It's the latest success in a career

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that's thrived on both big and small screens for more than 25 years.

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Ooh! Curls over him!

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At just 19, Chris earned rave reviews for his debut film

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Men Don't Leave and later for Scent of a Woman.

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Then at 24, Chris shot to fame

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with the breakthrough role of Robin in the blockbuster Batman Forever.

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The first Batman film I did

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just sent things to a different level.

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But I knew when I was working, there was different paths you could take

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and I knew that I could continue to date and never get married

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and enjoy Hollywood and all the benefits of it but that

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really wasn't who I was. It's tough to have it both ways.

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If you know you want to have a great family and a bunch of kids,

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it's hard to run around in Hollywood.

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I think I was 26 and I met the right person.

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And I did always want to have...

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a big family.

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Caroline and I have been married 16 years and we have five kids.

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Until you have children

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you just have no idea what it means to love someone.

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I mean you would literally stand in front of a moving train

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or something for them.

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I'm the youngest of seven. I always had great role model with my parents.

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My dad, William O'Donnell, was born in 1922 in St Louis.

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I think the biggest motivation to learn more about the family history

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was my dad passing away two years ago.

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You just start longing to keep a connection there.

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He was a totally self made man, always put his family first.

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It's funny. I still get very choked up just talking about Dad.

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Even just now, just starting to talk about it,

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but, erm...

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..just to, eh...

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..incredibly solid role model.

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Dad was very proud of me and Mom too.

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I'm lucky enough that she's still alive. I can ask her questions

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about her side but I don't know much about my dad's side

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of the family.

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All right. Let's see what you have found out.

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So Tory Berner is my sister Libby's middle child.

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She's actually out here for the summer living with us.

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I figured with her being a bit of an amateur genealogist herself,

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pick her brain a little bit about what she knows about

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specifically my dad's side of the family.

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-We know that Poppy's parents are Sarah Regina McCabe...

-Right.

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..and John O'Donnell. Here we have the baptism

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for Sarah Regina McCabe.

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1886 is when she was born. Oh, my God. In St Louis.

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Child of Henry McCabe and Mary McEnnis.

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-So I've always heard McCabe.

-Right.

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-But I've never heard that name before.

-Mary McEnnis.

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-I don't know anything about...

-I know.

-..this part of the family.

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So then to find out more about this...

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I looked up the McEnnis name in St. Louis and I found...

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-Census?

-1850 census.

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Wow. Here's McEnnis down here.

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-And there's Mary...

-Right.

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..not even a year old and her parents are Michael McEnnis

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and Eliza McEnnis.

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-So these are Poppy's great- grandparents.

-Great-grandparents.

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The census has taken Chris back four generations and more than 150 years

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to his great-great-grandparents Michael and Eliza McEnnis.

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As Chris is already familiar with the O'Donnells and the McCabes,

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his niece Tory has been researching the McEnnis line.

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-I went on some of the local history St. Louis websites.

-Right.

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And if you go to research,

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search the collections,

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guide to the archival collections.

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-This is what you just typed McEnnis into?

-Mm-hmm.

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McEnnis.

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-Michael McEnnis, 1849...

-Right.

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..which includes an account of the cholera epidemic, 1849,

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by Michael McEnnis.

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He wrote something on the cholera epidemic,

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but there was nothing more about that on this website.

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So where do we go to find out what he wrote about the cholera epidemic?

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You go to St. Louis, Missouri.

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What I learned from Tory was about some account of a cholera epidemic

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that was written about by Michael McEnnis, my great-great-grandfather.

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But this is all news to me.

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I'm not familiar with any cholera epidemic in Missouri

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and I had never heard the family name McEnnis before, so...

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..lot of questions all of a sudden.

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Chris is off to St. Louis.

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He's heading to the Missouri History Museum Library and Research Center.

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He's meeting archivist Dennis Northcott to try to find out

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about his great-great-grandfather's written account

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of the 1849 cholera epidemic.

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-Nice to meet you.

-Yeah, good to see you.

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Trying to find information about my great-great-grandfather

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-Michael McEnnis.

-Right.

-And he wrote about a cholera epidemic.

-Right.

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I wonder if you might have anything in relation to this?

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This is from our online guide.

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Let me take this with me and I'll go run down the stacks

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-and get that for you.

-Appreciate it.

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-Aha. You have something!

-All right.

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So this first item I want to show you are some original

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recollections written by your great- great-grandfather Michael McEnnis.

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This was likely donated to us by Michael McEnnis or perhaps

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some of his family members.

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-And what was the cholera epidemic?

-Oh, so in 1849, St. Louis suffered

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through this devastating cholera epidemic.

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People would take sick and they'd die within a matter of hours.

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In the mid 1800's a deadly cholera epidemic hit

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the United States from Europe.

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By 1849, Michael McEnnis's hometown of St. Louis

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was one of the hardest hit cities in America.

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Cholera claimed the lives of roughly ten per cent of the population.

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And at the height of the epidemic some 88 victims

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were being buried each day.

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-It literally just hit like that?

-Right.

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-It was something that would get in the water and you would drink it?

-Right, right.

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Now we know what causes it -

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human waste contaminating the water supply.

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But at the time they didn't know what caused it.

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Take a look. It's probably going to be a dramatic account,

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because this was one of the worst periods in St. Louis' history.

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"Cholera 1849.

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"My father, John McEnnis, was the Superintendent

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"of the old Catholic graveyard. My father died whilst the writer

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"was in New Mexico in the Mexican War."

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My God, the writer being...

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-my great-great-grandfather.

-Correct.

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"My brother, then 16-years-old, took charge.

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"When the cholera was at its height, my mother wrote me a note

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"stating my brother was very sick and that four of his men had died

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"the night before, that there were eight bodies lying in the graveyard

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"and no-one to bury them or to attend to their remains.

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"That I must come out at once and take charge."

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So they're just literally digging holes and burying bodies

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-as fast as they can?

-Right, right.

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4,500 people died within the space of about three months.

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Oh, my gosh!

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"On a very hot day near the close of the cholera

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"I was standing at the graveyard gate. Coming up the road was a woman

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"carrying a large bundle. I stepped out seeing she was staggering

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"under the load and invited her to come into the shade of a tree and rest.

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"She then handed the writer a poor ticket for a grave for a child

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"12-years-old. I told her that was all right

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"and asked when the remains would be brought.

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"She answered by pointing to the bundle - it is here.

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"She told me her husband and one child had died with cholera

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"and now this child was the last.

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"She told me she was the last of her people and very likely I would

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"bury her remains the following week.

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"I can feel the tears running down my cheeks now."

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Wow.

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Yeah and you can imagine why he wrote these recollections

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that had such an effect on him.

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-Yeah.

-Living through it.

-Jeez.

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Doing all that work for the people.

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Really.

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Brave person to do that. Just amazing.

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-Wow!

-It's a great story.

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I mean you think it's just a great story you're reading

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about and then you realise it's your family

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and it's written by your family. That's unbelievable.

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What am I looking at now, here?

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-Oh, my God, so this is Michael?

-Hm-mm.

-Look at that!

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Michael McEnnis.

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I can't believe there's a photo of him.

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That's pretty early for photography to find a photo of an ancestor

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-back in the 1850's or so.

-Wow.

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I wonder how long he was off fighting in the Mexican War?

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Maybe there's some information on that?

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Yeah I would suggest you go to Washington D.C.

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and meet with an expert on the Mexican American War.

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And maybe you can find out, I mean here it seems to imply that he

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served, maybe you can document that.

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-Thank you so much.

-You're welcome. Great meeting you.

-This is amazing.

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To have that first-hand account of the cholera epidemic

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here in St. Louis

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and understand what he was feeling and what he was going through.

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It was really amazing.

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I don't even have written accounts of my own dad

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and this is my great-great-grandfather.

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He was going to have to be kind of the man for the family

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and he stood up to the test.

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Michael was very brave.

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He's had a pretty amazing life so far

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so I'm curious to find out what else we can about... about Michael.

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Chris's next stop is Washington DC.

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To discover whether or not his great great grandfather,

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Michael McEnnis, served in the Mexican American War,

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Chris is visiting the Georgetown Neighbourhood Library to meet historian, Amy Greenberg.

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-So nice to meet you, Chris.

-Nice to meet you.

-Yeah.

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I'm trying to find out some information

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on my great great grandfather Michael McEnnis.

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I understand you are an expert on the Mexican Amercian War?

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Well I was able to get his compiled military

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records from the National Archives.

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And I think you'll find these interesting.

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-So my great great grandfather served in the Mexican American War.

-He did.

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That's amazing.

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Can you just give me a little synopsis on the Mexican American War

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-just to refresh my memory from senior year of high school?

-Absolutely.

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-So the US Mexico War is about the boundary of the United States at the time.

-Got you.

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In 1846, the western border of the United Sates reached

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only to the region now known as the Midwest.

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Mexico claimed the area from West Texas to California.

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At the time, the US was riding high on a belief known as "manifest destiny" -

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the idea that America was destined to stretch across the continent.

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In May of 1846, President Polk declared war on Mexico

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and young men like Michael McEnnis answered the call to invade,

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claim territory and push the US border west to the Pacific.

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So here are Michael McEnnis' muster rolls from the US Mexico War.

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So this would explain how he got there or...?

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Muster roll is the record of your service.

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McEnnis was one of the 12-month volunteers.

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-Most of the volunteers in this war signed up for a 12-month period.

-OK.

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Michael McEnnis, so June 11th to August 31st 1846.

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He's probably 21 years old. So he went in June 11th.

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This is less than a month after Polk first calls for volunteers so...

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-This war has just begun.

-The war has really just begun,

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I'm imaging Michael McEnnis being

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one of the thousands of men are extremely, extremely excited.

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-And as soon as they hear this call for troops, they turn out.

-They're out there, OK.

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McEnnis was under orders to march through New Mexico

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capture New Mexico and march all the way to California and capture California.

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Oh, really?

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-This is two months in the summer marching through Oklahoma and New Mexico.

-Hot.

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It was, it was brutal. Everybody would have been sunburned.

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Everybody would have been parched.

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-Wow. OK, January and February now we're into 1847.

-Right.

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This is St Louis. He's back in St Louis.

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His remarks, "absent on furlough since the last muster."

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So he went absent.

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-So he signed up in June of 1846 for a year...

-Right.

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..and then all of sudden after seven months he disappears

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and he's on furlough, he's back in St Louis.

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That's right. In fact he's back in St Louis just a few months after he musters into service.

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-He got there and then they sent him back?

-Pretty much right away.

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So what could that...? I mean I wonder why he was sent back?

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-Or what he went back for?

-Well, I think we may be able to determine that from looking online.

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Letters from the Adjutant General 1822 to 1860.

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All right, so I'll open that.

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"Washington, December 21st 1846.

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"Discharge of Michael McEnnis." OK.

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"On the 7th of June, last I left St Louis."

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-Oh, this is a letter from Michael.

-Yeah.

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"If after leaving Fort Leavenworth and arriving at Santa Fe

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"I received intelligence of the sudden death of my father."

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He just got there and he finds out his dad died.

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"Leaving me a large and helpless family to...

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"protect and see after."

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-He just gets there and he gets word that his dad has passed away.

-Yeah, and he's 21 years old.

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Wow. That's a lot of responsibility.

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"I immediately apply for a discharge."

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So that's what happened so he got to Santa Fe,

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he'd signed up for a year he was only there for a couple months.

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And immediately he gets a letter that his father's passed away

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-who's the head of the whole family.

-Right.

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So is that a dishonourable discharge or is that...?

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No, it isn't a dishonourable discharge because at the end of the letter that you were just reading

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-he was applying for a discharge and he got one.

-He got one.

-So he was honourably discharged.

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-So he was honourably discharged.

-Right.

-The family obligation was more important to him

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and it pulled him back to St Louis.

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You know there's an amazing collection of Mexican War artefacts at the Smithsonian Museum.

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We should probably go check that out...

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-That would be great.

-..while you're here.

-Yeah, absolutely.

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Seems like Michael was, you know, the ultimate eagle scout or something.

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I mean an amazing amount of character.

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He signed right up to fight in the Mexican American War.

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And then when he found out his dad had died he, you know,

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felt obligated to go back and take care of the family.

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And then serve his city by burying all the dead during the cholera epidemic.

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I mean, he had a real sense of duty and obligation.

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'Family obviously was such a priority for him

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'and it's always been a priority for me.'

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I mean, I always knew I always wanted to have a big family

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and, you know, even with my career taking me

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everywhere I've been filming and that sort of thing.

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It's always just been, you know, my family first

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and even above my career.

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I've been to the Smithsonian before, I've taken my kids there.

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So this will be kind of fun to have a real interest in seeing

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something that directly relates to my family history.

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-Here's the Mexican War.

-Aha!

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Amy has arranged for Chris to meet one of the curators

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of the Smithsonian, David Miller.

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-David, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

-How's it going?

-All right.

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Wow, look at this.

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What do we have here?

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We have here a letter that came in with

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one of our items in the collections, I think you'd like to read it.

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"June 5th, 1905. My dear friend and comrade

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"I have thought over your request to place my old sabre in your hands.

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"These arms were given to men to be used,

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"either as Calvary or Infantry as occasion might it require.

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"Neither arms were handsome

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"yet the one I carried and accidentally retained..."

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accidentally retained,

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"..is valued as a souvenir of a war that won high honour on the United States.

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"If you still think it's worthy of placing with other souvenirs

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"of the Mexican War in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC

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"I am not disposed to refuse your request.

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"Very truly your friend and comrade, Michael McEnnis."

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That's unbelievable.

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This is his, this was his sabre?

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That was his sabre.

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I can't believe that you've got his sabre.

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Oh, my God. Are you kidding me?

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It is a model, an 1813 horseman sabre.

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-And this was in storage here in the...?

-Yes, it was.

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..Smithsonian?

0:18:200:18:22

Who would have thought that 107 years later his great great grandson

0:18:220:18:26

would come in here and be looking at this?

0:18:260:18:29

He somehow ended up with it, he said. HE LAUGHS

0:18:300:18:34

It's funny I have a sword from when I did the Three Musketeers, I kept my sword.

0:18:340:18:38

-I somehow accidentally kept it.

-Must run in the family.

0:18:380:18:41

Must run in the family.

0:18:410:18:42

It's amazing that he kept all these letters

0:18:420:18:44

and these documents writing about the history that he experienced

0:18:440:18:48

and yet somehow nobody in the family had all this.

0:18:480:18:52

So I was doing some research on Michael McEnnis and I also found this.

0:18:520:18:55

Let me see what we got here.

0:18:550:18:58

Holy cow! What year do we think this was probably?

0:18:590:19:03

He's about 80 there.

0:19:030:19:04

So probably when he wrote this letter.

0:19:050:19:08

There are little resemblances to my own father, William.

0:19:080:19:11

That's got to be the same bloodline, there's something too it.

0:19:110:19:15

Boy, his hair was white. I mean does that mean I'm going grey?

0:19:150:19:20

"St Louis Post Dispatch May 14th, 1911.

0:19:240:19:28

"Michael McEnnis is the only man living in St Louis of 8,600

0:19:280:19:32

"who marched away from here to the Mexican War 65 years ago.

0:19:320:19:36

"The sword he carried to the Mexican War is

0:19:360:19:38

"preserved as a relic in the Smithsonian Institution.

0:19:380:19:41

"McEnnis comes of fighting stock.

0:19:410:19:43

"He is of the ninth generation of his family in this country."

0:19:430:19:47

The ninth generation of his family in this country

0:19:470:19:49

and this is back in 1900.

0:19:490:19:52

Oh, my God, that's unbelievable.

0:19:520:19:55

"In the War of 1812, there were 88 members of his family.

0:19:550:19:59

"His grandfather, George McNeir,

0:19:590:20:01

"was a Lieutenant in the Sea Fencibles at the bombardment of Fort McHenry."

0:20:010:20:07

-The War of 1812, are you...?

-That's right.

0:20:070:20:10

Oh, my God, that's just outrageous.

0:20:100:20:13

According to the newspaper article, Chris's family history

0:20:140:20:18

in the United State goes back much further than he thought.

0:20:180:20:22

Michael McEnnis's father was John McEnnis.

0:20:220:20:25

It seems he married the daughter of George McNeir,

0:20:250:20:28

Chris's four times great grandfather.

0:20:280:20:30

Looks like I'm going to find out something about George McNeir.

0:20:300:20:34

Where would I do that?

0:20:340:20:35

Because they mention George McNeir by name in here it's quite

0:20:350:20:39

possible that the National Archives might have some

0:20:390:20:41

records of his service in the War of 1812.

0:20:410:20:44

-That sounds like that's my next stop. Thank you so much.

-You're welcome.

-I appreciate it.

0:20:440:20:49

'I think that Michael McEnnis wanted his family to be

0:20:490:20:51

'proud of their history and to pass that along to everybody.'

0:20:510:20:54

And I think if he knew that his great great grandson all these years

0:20:540:20:58

later was holding that sword in the Smithsonian

0:20:580:21:00

he would be pretty amazed and pleased.

0:21:000:21:03

'Michael McEnnis is the ninth generation in this country,'

0:21:040:21:07

which means I am the 13th generation,

0:21:070:21:11

which means my children are 14th generation.

0:21:110:21:13

It's hard to even fathom.

0:21:140:21:16

But, obviously, the big news we learn about George McNeir,

0:21:180:21:21

my four times great grandfather, fought in the War of 1812.

0:21:210:21:26

And I'm curious to learn more about George now.

0:21:270:21:30

Chris is heading to the National Archives to meet historian

0:21:310:21:35

Vonnie Zullo who has been researching George McNeir's service in the War of 1812.

0:21:350:21:41

You're in luck I have right here his compiled military service record for the War of 1812.

0:21:410:21:48

This is the real one. This isn't even a copy.

0:21:480:21:50

No, this is the real thing.

0:21:500:21:51

-That's unbelievable, from the War of 1812.

-1812, yes.

0:21:510:21:56

It was at a time when the future of America, of that young nation,

0:21:560:22:00

really hung perilously in the balance.

0:22:000:22:03

They had earned their...

0:22:030:22:04

freedom from Britain but not their total independence.

0:22:040:22:08

In 1812, Britain was at war with Napoleon's France.

0:22:080:22:12

To gain the upper hand, Britain crushed America's sea trade

0:22:120:22:16

with France and used its powerful navy to force US sailors to fight for Britain.

0:22:160:22:21

American citizens like George McNeir rallied to defend their nation as it

0:22:210:22:26

declared war on the same empire from which it had just won independence.

0:22:260:22:31

I can't believe this.

0:22:310:22:33

So this shows you.

0:22:330:22:35

"George McNeir, third lieutenant Captain John Gill's company of Sea Fencibles."

0:22:350:22:40

I've never heard of a Sea Fencible.

0:22:400:22:42

The Sea Fencibles were groups of local men that were

0:22:420:22:47

-brought into the existing forts at key port cities, to protect them.

-Got you.

0:22:470:22:55

So what exactly would a third lieutenant do?

0:22:550:22:58

He would have been in charge of the men who actually fired

0:22:580:23:04

the cannons, the cannoneers.

0:23:040:23:05

-It was a pretty big job.

-Got you.

0:23:050:23:09

-So he probably had really bad hearing?

-Probably. Probably.

0:23:090:23:13

"February 28th to March 31st, 1814."

0:23:140:23:17

This is when he enlisted. 1814, by then it was not a good year for our military.

0:23:170:23:24

We were not doing well in this battle.

0:23:240:23:27

-The British Royal Navy has a lot more ships, a lot more men.

-So they send him over.

0:23:270:23:31

-A lot more supplies. Yeah, they destroy entire towns, burn them to the ground.

-Wow.

0:23:310:23:36

Take anything that they wanted and they kept doing this with

0:23:360:23:40

the idea that this was gonna destroy our willingness to fight.

0:23:400:23:45

-Right.

-That we would just give up.

0:23:450:23:47

And then they had their sights, you know, on the capital, Washington DC,

0:23:470:23:52

why not? They burned the capital, they burned the White House.

0:23:520:23:55

-That's unbelievable.

-It is unbelievable. It was an outrage.

0:23:550:23:58

Imagine if you saw the destruction on villages all around you.

0:23:580:24:03

It would definitely motivate you to fight

0:24:030:24:06

-if suddenly it's threatening your safety.

-Yes.

0:24:060:24:09

-Wow.

-Yeah.

-That's amazing.

0:24:090:24:11

And then we go to April 30th to June 30th, Fort McHenry.

0:24:130:24:17

Where's Fort McHenry?

0:24:170:24:19

Fort McHenry is in Baltimore.

0:24:190:24:23

-So would that mean that he was from that area?

-Yes.

0:24:230:24:25

Got you.

0:24:270:24:28

"August 31st to October 31st, 1814."

0:24:290:24:33

That's the last muster roll card that was available for him.

0:24:330:24:37

Does that mean that he left at that point or was discharged or...?

0:24:370:24:40

Well, there were a few more documents in his service record.

0:24:400:24:44

You are really lucky, this is not common.

0:24:440:24:46

-Really?

-Almost 200 years old.

-Oh, my God. All right.

0:24:460:24:49

"Sir, the situation on my family is such that is calls

0:24:510:24:56

"imperiously for my continual presence.

0:24:560:25:00

"I therefore solicit you to have the goodness to

0:25:000:25:04

"prevail on the secretary of war.

0:25:040:25:08

"To accept my resignation as third lieutenant. Your obedient servant...

0:25:080:25:14

-Obedient servant, that's it.

-"..George McNeir, October 22nd, 1814."

0:25:140:25:19

So just like my great great grandfather who had to leave because of his family.

0:25:190:25:24

-That's...

-Wow.

-..crazy coincidence.

0:25:250:25:27

-Coincidence, huh?

-Yeah.

0:25:270:25:29

So what happened? Was the resignation granted?

0:25:290:25:33

There's one more document that you can look at.

0:25:330:25:37

The suspense.

0:25:370:25:38

"It appears by the records of this office that George McNeir

0:25:410:25:46

"of Sea Fencibles accepted his appointment on the 22nd of March 1814

0:25:460:25:54

"and resigned on the 24th of November 1814."

0:25:540:26:00

-So his resignation was accepted.

-It was accepted.

0:26:000:26:04

Was this normal for someone to request something like this and...?

0:26:040:26:07

No, it's not necessarily totally normal.

0:26:070:26:10

And you often don't find this sort of thing in a service record,

0:26:100:26:14

the letters like this from the 1812 time period, so pretty lucky.

0:26:140:26:19

Wow. That's unbelievable.

0:26:190:26:21

-So he, as of November 24th, 1814 was back home with the family.

-Back home with the family.

0:26:210:26:26

So I wonder what the situation of the family is.

0:26:270:26:31

Why he had to go back and what was going on?

0:26:310:26:34

Now since we know he was from Baltimore area, right, Baltimore County.

0:26:340:26:41

-The Maryland State Archives would be the best place for you to look, in Annapolis.

-OK.

0:26:410:26:46

Because they would have the records of citizens that

0:26:460:26:49

lived in Baltimore or Baltimore County.

0:26:490:26:51

-I've got to find out more.

-I know. I know. You're not done yet.

0:26:510:26:54

-I'm on my way.

-Yeah. you are.

0:26:540:26:56

So there's a trend here.

0:26:570:26:58

McEnnis and McNeir made choices.

0:26:580:27:00

It was they chose family, which, you know,

0:27:000:27:03

is definitely a pattern I've seen in our lives.

0:27:030:27:05

My dad always put our family first

0:27:050:27:07

and it's for sure the choice I've always made in life.

0:27:070:27:10

I don't know why George McNeir needed to leave.

0:27:120:27:14

Maybe someone got sick, maybe somebody died.

0:27:140:27:17

Maybe he was just sick of hearing all these cannons blast all day.

0:27:170:27:21

I don't know, but I want to find out.

0:27:210:27:23

Chris's four times great grandfather wrote that a family situation

0:27:230:27:27

was the reason for his resignation from the Sea Fencibles.

0:27:270:27:31

To try to find out more, Chris has come to the

0:27:310:27:33

Maryland State Archives to meet genealogist Michael Hait.

0:27:330:27:38

-Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you.

0:27:380:27:40

So I've got some muster rolls here on my four times great grandfather...

0:27:400:27:45

-OK.

-George McNeir.

0:27:450:27:47

It says something in here that he had to leave

0:27:470:27:50

the War of 1812 for some family reasons

0:27:500:27:53

-and I'm trying to kind of figure out what that might have been.

-OK.

0:27:530:27:57

I've actually done a little bit of research already

0:27:570:28:01

and I have a few things to finish up.

0:28:010:28:03

But why don't you take a look at the US Federal Census

0:28:030:28:08

since he was serving in Baltimore in 1814.

0:28:080:28:12

You should take a look at the census in Baltimore in 1810,

0:28:120:28:15

which will give you an ideal of the household, composition,

0:28:150:28:18

the family dynamics and that sort of thing.

0:28:180:28:20

-OK, great. I'll check it out.

-I'll be back in just a minute.

-OK. Great.

0:28:200:28:24

1810 Federal Census. OK, so I got a little something here.

0:28:280:28:34

That's McNeir, George McNeir.

0:28:360:28:38

Looks like right now there's two, there's the parents

0:28:380:28:41

and they look like they've got four kids.

0:28:410:28:43

Well I found in the 1810 census I've got George McNeir down here.

0:28:440:28:48

It says that he and his wife seem to have four kids, three young ones.

0:28:480:28:53

So he's got a full house at home.

0:28:530:28:55

One place you can go to get a little bit more detail about George

0:28:550:28:59

would be the Baltimore City directories.

0:28:590:29:01

I was able to find a city directory from 1812

0:29:010:29:05

and I printed out the page here.

0:29:050:29:07

City directory from 1812.

0:29:070:29:12

McNeir, George - he's a tailor.

0:29:120:29:17

So he's a tailor and they were saying that he was a Sea Fencible

0:29:170:29:21

and that... So he was... He probably answered the call to duty

0:29:210:29:25

because if the British came in it'd destroy his business.

0:29:250:29:28

-Right.

-It would be tough if he's got a little tailor shop right in town.

0:29:280:29:31

Is this do you know where this address is?

0:29:310:29:33

-Is that somewhere near the water?

-Baltimore is a port city.

0:29:330:29:36

-So...

-So everything's right around it.

-..everything's, you know, kind of around the water.

0:29:360:29:40

It didn't have to be right on the water to be affected by the war.

0:29:400:29:43

Also found another record.

0:29:450:29:47

These are core papers.

0:29:470:29:49

-Take a look at these.

-Oh, my God.

-Each...

-Are these the originals?

-These are the originals.

0:29:490:29:54

-And you're allowed to touch them?

-Yes, you are.

0:29:540:29:56

Really?

0:29:560:29:57

So, you want to find '72.

0:29:570:29:59

'71.

0:29:590:30:03

'72.

0:30:030:30:05

I see George McNeir for house rent 21, 10.

0:30:050:30:09

April of 1813.

0:30:130:30:15

So this is before he signs up to become a Sea Fencible.

0:30:150:30:18

Right, exactly.

0:30:180:30:20

"A schedule of the goods and chattels of George McNeir."

0:30:200:30:23

-Chattels? What are chattels?

-Personal property.

0:30:230:30:25

OK. "Seized and taken for house rent."

0:30:250:30:29

So someone came in and seized all his stuff.

0:30:310:30:34

These were people who were empowered by William Smith who owned the property.

0:30:340:30:38

-He obviously wasn't paying his bills.

-Right.

0:30:380:30:42

Wow. OK.

0:30:420:30:44

All right, so it says here 88 great coats

0:30:440:30:48

and 704 dollars, is that considered a lot of money?

0:30:480:30:51

704 dollars was about 11,000 dollars.

0:30:510:30:54

-Today?

-Today.

0:30:540:30:55

So he was a tailor so he had made these coats,

0:30:550:30:58

-so they took his inventory, basically.

-Right, exactly.

0:30:580:31:00

He's in tough shape business wise, obviously. But I wonder why?

0:31:000:31:05

Well, a lot of the trade was with Europe

0:31:050:31:08

and great coats in particular, you know, were more for kind of the upper classes.

0:31:080:31:13

And so lot of those would have being going to Europe.

0:31:130:31:16

The war with Britain obviously would have cut off trade to Britain.

0:31:160:31:21

Which would be devastating to someone like George McNeir?

0:31:210:31:24

-So it sounds like the war destroyed his business.

-Right.

0:31:240:31:28

And he's got a household full of people at least four kids, a wife.

0:31:280:31:33

William Smith has just taken all of his inventory of coats

0:31:330:31:36

so he's really in a tough, tough place.

0:31:360:31:40

So in April of 1813, suddenly he's had everything seized

0:31:400:31:46

and then a year later, almost a year later,

0:31:460:31:49

-he enlists and we see him in the muster records.

-Right.

0:31:490:31:52

-So he needs a job.

-Exactly.

0:31:520:31:54

So he started in February of 1814.

0:31:550:31:58

What how much would a Sea Fencible be paid for something like this?

0:31:580:32:01

They would have been paid about 23 dollars a month,

0:32:010:32:05

which was in today's terms probably about 300 or 400 dollars a month.

0:32:050:32:11

-OK. I guess it's something.

-Yeah.

0:32:110:32:13

So he was, he probably answered the call to duty

0:32:150:32:18

because he's got a real vested interest to go join

0:32:180:32:21

the Sea Fencibles if suddenly his livelihood is endangered.

0:32:210:32:25

George McNeir obviously had a lot going on in his life at this point.

0:32:250:32:29

But why he left the Sea Fencibles, I'm confused about.

0:32:290:32:33

I still don't understand exactly why.

0:32:330:32:35

The papers we looked at yesterday said that he resigned

0:32:350:32:38

-November 24th of 1814.

-OK.

0:32:380:32:41

Now one thing I noticed is the time frame that he served.

0:32:410:32:46

He was serving during September of 1814

0:32:460:32:49

-at the Garrison of Fort McHenry.

-OK.

0:32:490:32:52

And a very significant military event occurred there.

0:32:520:32:56

-Really?

-Yeah.

0:32:560:32:57

-During September?

-During September.

0:32:570:32:59

So that would have been just a couple months before he officially resigned from the Sea Fencibles.

0:32:590:33:05

OK, well that, maybe that can give me some more information on what was going on.

0:33:050:33:09

-All right.

-All right.

-Thank you very much for helping me out.

-Sure.

0:33:090:33:13

It seems pretty clear from what we've seen that George McNeir had a lot on his plate.

0:33:130:33:18

And having a house full of kids at home.

0:33:180:33:21

I mean, I could imagine in my own life, how crazy that is.

0:33:210:33:24

Anybody with a, you know, a family and kids,

0:33:250:33:28

it's always your first priority to make sure you're providing for them.

0:33:280:33:33

It seems like McNeir's gonna fight for them and literally.

0:33:330:33:36

I'm not sure why he resigned from the Sea Fencibles, hopefully

0:33:380:33:43

visiting Fort McHenry will help us to understand more of that.

0:33:430:33:47

To get to the heart of George McNeir's experience in the War of 1812, Chris is heading to Baltimore.

0:33:480:33:55

Two months before resigning as a third lieutenant

0:33:590:34:01

Chris's four times great grandfather was involved

0:34:010:34:04

in a significant military event that took place at Fort McHenry.

0:34:040:34:08

So to find out what happened there, Chris is meeting historian Vince Vaise.

0:34:080:34:12

So my four times great father, George McNeir joined as a Sea Fencible

0:34:130:34:16

-and that he was in charge of the guys running the cannons and things like that.

-That's right.

0:34:160:34:20

McNeir was stationed what we call on the water battery.

0:34:200:34:25

That's the front row sea.

0:34:250:34:27

By late 1814, the war with Britain had taken a terrible toll on the United States.

0:34:270:34:33

Washington DC had been burned and the British set their sights on Baltimore.

0:34:330:34:39

On September 12th, the powerful Royal Navy appeared on the horizon

0:34:390:34:43

forcing George McNeir and the other soldiers at Fort McHenry to take up

0:34:430:34:47

arms and prepare for a bombardment of legendary proportions.

0:34:470:34:52

Six in the morning on the 13th, it's overcast, it starts to rain

0:34:520:34:57

the ships come within the gunnery range of the fort.

0:34:570:35:00

It sounded like thunder when the fort's cannons opened up.

0:35:000:35:04

But the British had a secret weapon that the American's could not use here.

0:35:040:35:09

-What was that?

-They called them the bomb vessels.

0:35:090:35:11

200 years ago they had the technology to throw a 194-pound shell two miles.

0:35:110:35:16

-Oh, so that was further than our range.

-Right.

-So that's the... Off a ship.

-Off a ship.

0:35:160:35:20

So think about how the defenders of the fort

0:35:220:35:25

and your ancestor would have had to feel.

0:35:250:35:27

Here it's pouring down rain -

0:35:270:35:29

you're standing between the city of Baltimore and here.

0:35:290:35:31

-You don't know you're gonna win or not.

-Your bullets aren't reaching them.

0:35:310:35:35

And then, as a matter of fact, knowing that the orders are passed down the line,

0:35:350:35:38

"cease-fire don't waste your ammunition."

0:35:380:35:40

-So all these guys can do is just hunker down and take it.

-They said cease-fire.

-Cease-fire.

0:35:400:35:44

And they're sitting here and these guys are drilling them with 190-pound missiles.

0:35:440:35:47

That's why one captain who was in the fort said,

0:35:470:35:49

"We felt like pigeons tied by the legs to be shot at."

0:35:490:35:53

Oh, my God.

0:35:540:35:56

They said you could hear the concussion of the shells in the city of Baltimore.

0:35:560:36:01

Theoretically if George McNeir was out here in this battle,

0:36:010:36:05

-his family is up on the hill watching what's going on.

-Yeah, that's right.

0:36:050:36:08

Wow. So how long did the battle last?

0:36:080:36:10

25 hours. The next morning they're out around 7.00am

0:36:100:36:14

on the morning of the 14th.

0:36:140:36:16

The British cease-fire, and then there's this ominous silence.

0:36:160:36:20

The people in Baltimore sit here like, "OK, did the fort win?

0:36:220:36:25

"Or are the British moving in the fort?"

0:36:250:36:27

The silence could mean that the British won.

0:36:270:36:29

If you're in the fort you're like, "OK, what's next?

0:36:290:36:32

"I survived the night. Are the British gonna come up and we got a bigger battle on our hands?

0:36:320:36:36

-"Are we gonna make it through this day?"

-And so what was our plan at that point?

0:36:360:36:41

The British, they're the ones essentially holding the cards.

0:36:410:36:44

They're like, "OK, we wasted all this ammunition."

0:36:440:36:48

-They don't have infinite stockpiles.

-That's right.

0:36:480:36:51

So the second option was to bring the ships in close

0:36:510:36:54

-but they figured, "Man, they're gonna tear us up."

-Sure.

0:36:540:36:57

So the only option left is to turn and sail away.

0:36:570:37:00

-You know, it kind of showed the British you threw your best at us and we took it and...

-That's right.

0:37:020:37:06

Then as the British ships are sailing away at nine in the morning,

0:37:060:37:10

the morning cannon fires probably from this bastion right here.

0:37:100:37:14

Boom! The small sopping wet American flag is taken down

0:37:140:37:18

-and a gigantic American flag...

-No way.

-Yeah.

0:37:180:37:21

30 feet high, 42 feet long is hoisted as the fifes and drums played Yankee Doodle.

0:37:210:37:27

So your ancestor would have seen that huge American flag go up.

0:37:270:37:31

That had to be an amazing sight.

0:37:310:37:33

I would say the most recognisable individual who saw the flag

0:37:340:37:38

and immortalized what happened, is a lawyer.

0:37:380:37:41

He was negotiating a release of a prisoner.

0:37:410:37:43

He defines the whole experience. He writes this poem.

0:37:430:37:47

'Tis the Star Spangled Banner Oh long may it wave.

0:37:470:37:51

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

0:37:510:37:53

And that lawyer was Frances Scott Key

0:37:530:37:56

and those words would become the National Anthem of the United States of America.

0:37:560:38:00

That's amazing!

0:38:000:38:01

Yeah. Part of your family history is part of the National Anthem.

0:38:010:38:05

Jeez. My gosh. I had no idea.

0:38:050:38:07

But I mean this was huge turning point in the War of 1812 and it

0:38:070:38:11

really had a major impact on the treaty that ended the War of 1812.

0:38:110:38:16

-Wow.

-Saved the city of Baltimore.

0:38:160:38:18

So I would like to invite you to change the flag,

0:38:190:38:22

just like they did on the morning of September 14th.

0:38:220:38:26

-That would be amazing. I thank you so much.

-I'll see you down there.

-All righty. I'll be there in a sec.

0:38:260:38:30

I never knew what the National Anthem was written about.

0:38:320:38:36

And to learn that it was written about this incident, the Battle of Baltimore in 1814.

0:38:360:38:41

And that one my relatives was out here, is pretty amazing.

0:38:410:38:45

-OK.

-You ready?

-Yeah.

-All right, haul away.

0:38:460:38:48

'I can only imagine what those 24 hours must have'

0:38:480:38:51

seemed like a lifetime,

0:38:510:38:53

that night, for the kids, for his wife,

0:38:530:38:56

and for him, wondering what's going on back home. Are they gonna survive?

0:38:560:39:00

On the one hand, you know, he was answering that call to duty

0:39:020:39:04

'for his country and for his city and for his family and their safety.

0:39:040:39:09

'This was important to serve, but he figured it was in good hands here'

0:39:100:39:14

and he needed to get back to more important things.

0:39:140:39:17

To me that makes sense that maybe that's why he made his way back to Baltimore, to his family.

0:39:170:39:21

Well I will never hear the song and not think about this.

0:39:230:39:26

-That's pretty good.

-That's awesome, isn't it?

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

0:39:260:39:30

'To hear these stories of great grandparents that

0:39:320:39:35

'served in the cholera epidemic'

0:39:350:39:37

and being a part of the battle that inspired the National Anthem, that's insane.

0:39:370:39:42

My dad would be so excited to know this.

0:39:440:39:46

I know he would have been very proud.

0:39:460:39:48

I mean, who wouldn't be so proud to hear this about your family?

0:39:480:39:53

They're amazing stories.

0:39:530:39:54

McNeir and McEnnis both answered the call to service,

0:39:570:40:00

but you know, what's the most important thing to them in life?

0:40:000:40:04

Your family.

0:40:040:40:06

'I think there is a through line as far as,

0:40:060:40:08

'these guys putting their families first,'

0:40:080:40:10

maybe that's part of why it feel so natural to me, or so right to me.

0:40:100:40:14

That that is your instinct, maybe it comes from past generations

0:40:160:40:20

that have kind of instilled that in you without you even knowing.

0:40:200:40:23

That's amazing, yeah, really amazing.

0:40:250:40:27

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