Sophie Raworth Who Do You Think You Are?

I've written that as "international condemnation

-"and outrage and scepticism."

-Yeah.

Family's incredibly important to me.

We need another sort of thought just to round all that up.

I grew up in Richmond,

my parents are still in the house that I grew up in.

And I go back there the whole time.

My family is very central to everything I still do.

-So if we use that in the head and then in the screen as well.

-Yeah.

OK, looks good.

Journalist and broadcaster Sophie Raworth

is best known for presenting the BBC News.

That's two minutes. Two minutes to air.

Thank you very much.

I first started being interested in our ancestors,

where we'd come from, years ago.

Almost 20 years ago now.

And I found some names, but I don't know anything about them.

And it's really frustrating - as a journalist,

you want to be able to create a picture

and to know more about those individual people.

And yet I couldn't.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-Lovely.

I'd love to know more about who these people were

and what kind of lives they led.

15.

One of the reasons I really want to look at it now

is because I have three children who are very young,

my parents who are both in their 70s,

and it sort of feels like pulling it all together.

Ten. Nine.

I don't know where this is going to take me.

My instinct is always to be prepared for what's ahead,

and for the first time in my life, I think I'm not.

Three...two...

one - and cue Soph.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

Sophie's starting in Richmond, where she grew up.

-Hi, Mum.

-Hello.

-Hello, darling, hello.

-What is Dad doing?

-Dad is always up a ladder.

-Always up a ladder.

-Hi, Dad.

Lovely to see you.

Her parents Richard and Jenny have lived here since Sophie was five.

My parents have been in the same house for more than 40 years

and they have created this beautiful garden around it.

It's their shared passion -

it's also something that really brings our family together.

-Can we go and have a cup of tea?

-Have a cup of tea?

-I'd love one.

Or coffee.

I've always been very interested in my father's side of the family,

and in our family kitchen are all these photographs of our ancestors.

I'd love to be able to find out their stories and know who they are.

I grew up around this kitchen table, I spent my whole childhood here -

but with all these portraits.

Where did they come from? Where did you get them from?

Well, we inherited a lot of them.

People come in here and they stand and look at them

and of course they're all such a talking point, you know.

I know, but we don't actually know who half of them are!

No, we don't.

But it just looks nice, I think.

I love these pictures of Granny.

That's Grandpa.

That is your father and then that's your mother, Granny.

She was wonderful - she was so glamorous, wasn't she?

Edna Crowder was her maiden name, wasn't it?

She was a Crowder, because Amy Mott...

-Mott?

-My grandmother.

-Yeah.

Married Edgar Cussons Crowder.

Is he on our wall, are there any pictures of him?

Yes, he's over there.

-Oh, is that him?

-That's him.

So that's Edgar Cussons Crowder, who is my great-grandfather?

Well, he's a very fine gentleman, isn't he!

Smart. And that's the family,

with him in the middle.

He is a bit of a mystery.

On one piece of paper we're told that he was a travelling salesman...

but my cousin also says that he worked at some time at Kew Gardens.

-No way! Doing what?

-I don't know. It's a complete mystery.

If your grandfather really was at Kew Gardens, who would have thought?

That would be incredible, wouldn't it?

Maybe you got all your green fingers from this man.

Sophie's also curious

about her great-grandmother's side of the family.

-The Motts.

-So who is this? That must be Amy Mott,

who is my great-grandmother.

Amy Mott is the daughter of Henry Isaac Mott.

The slightly naughty-looking man with the pipe.

The one with the wonderful beard?

Right, so this is Henry Isaac Mott.

So, my great-great-grandfather.

-Yeah.

-I think he's wonderful.

-Twinkle in his eye.

-Total twinkle in his eye.

He rather liked the ladies, I think, don't you think?

You know that for a fact, do you?!

He just looks like that!

Henry Isaac Mott was the son of Isaac Henry Mott.

-Gosh!

-Just to make it complicated.

And Isaac Henry Mott was a piano maker...

-Really?

-..and a musician,

and created the Sostenente piano.

Wow. And they've got this wonderful thing here, written,

I've never actually read this.

So Isaac Henry, his father, my great-great-great-grandfather,

three times grandfather, Isaac Henry Mott,

"the inventor of the 'Sostenente' action was a resident of Brighton,

"played in the King's band and accompanied George IV..."

I think there is a Sostenente piano in Brighton Pavilion.

Oh, which you've written about here, Royal Pavilion, Brighton.

-Yeah.

-I'm fascinated, actually,

because nobody's really spoken about this side of the family -

and I think Brighton is quite a good place to start.

I'll need to go and find that piano!

I'm amazed to hear there is some rumour that Edgar Cussons Crowden,

my father's grandfather, worked at Kew Gardens,

which, for our family, would be extraordinary.

First, though, I'd love to find out more about the Motts.

Sophie's come to Brighton to investigate a family legend

that she's descended from an illustrious piano maker.

From the back of that photograph, it says Royal Pavilion, Brighton.

Where the piano is that was made by my great-great-great-grandfather,

by all accounts, and I'd love to find out more about that.

The Royal Pavilion was built in 1815 as a seaside pleasure palace

for George IV, then the Prince Regent.

Wow!

The extravagant prince

collected the most fashionable art and musical instruments...

The piano! Wow!

..including a piano made by Isaac Henry Mott.

So this is it? It's rather splendid, isn't it?

Sophie's meeting historian Marie Kent.

So this was made by Isaac Mott?

Yes, that's right. This was made by Messrs Mott and Co.

-Right.

-In about 1820.

For George IV.

And this was the must-have object of the day.

It combined the latest technology, music and fashion.

Much like the iPhone today, except that...

-Like the iPhone!

-Yes! Everybody wanted it!

In the 1820s the piano was a sought-after luxury item,

and no upper-class home was complete without one.

Each piano was handmade by specialist craftsmen,

and London alone was home to 200 piano workshops.

Isaac Mott and his business partner Julius

catered for at the top end of the market.

Their Sostenente piano had a unique, sustained sound

and cost 250 guineas -

£11,000 in today's money.

"IHR Mott, JC Mott and Company.

"92 Pall Mall."

Yes, that's their head office, if you like, in London.

-Where I got married.

-Is that right?

-Yeah!

-Wow.

-Well, there we go.

-Funny, small world.

Isn't it! Most of the piano trade was centred in Soho,

but Isaac Henry Mott had the genius idea

not to bury himself among the other piano makers,

he was going to place himself right up there

with the royalty and the gentry.

So he found premises a few doors away from the Prince Regent.

So if you want to sell to the Royal Family,

go and move next door to them?

-Exactly.

-So what I want to know is,

am I allowed to play a couple of notes, or not?

-I'd love you to.

-How amazing.

So, there you go, my ancestor's piano.

Oh, wow!

SHE PLAYS PIANO

Wow.

Oh! That's amazing.

So, on our wall at home we've got a picture of the son of this man,

who made the piano, and it says on the back of this photograph

that Isaac played with the king.

Indeed, Isaac Henry Robert Mott did that -

but unfortunately, he's not the gentlemen you're thinking of.

-Oh, no!

-I'm so sorry!

-That's all right, don't worry.

-Close, but no cigar!

Definitely a family member.

-Right.

-But not your direct ancestor.

-Wow, OK.

-So, here we have the census of 1861.

And here at the bottom

is your actual three-times great-grandfather.

So Henry Isaac, is that the "I" for Isaac?

Correct, yes, Henry Isaac Mott.

What relationship is he, then, to the piano maker?

Well, I've got some more documents to show you there.

-Shall we see?

-I'd love to see.

Sophie's discovered that there has been a case of mistaken identity.

Her three times great-grandfather is not Isaac Henry Mott,

as the family believed, but the similarly named Henry Isaac.

But Sophie is related to the eminent piano makers

through Henry Isaac's father.

Her four-times great-grandfather, Samuel Mott.

To help Sophie understand the connection,

Marie has drawn up a family tree.

So, Samuel Mott here is my four-times great-grandfather,

married to Ann.

And Samuel's younger brother is Julius Caesar Mott.

Yes. Who was in partnership with Isaac Henry Robert Mott.

So these two are cousins and they go into business together.

All these piano makers!

-Yes!

-They're all in pianos!

-They are!

-And presumably they all worked together?

Yes, indeed. Samuel Mott, your four-times great-grandfather,

did work for his brother, Julius Caesar Mott, and his cousin, Isaac.

So Samuel is a pianoforte hammer coverer,

which doesn't sound quite so glamorous as makers.

As a piano hammer coverer,

Samuel Mott held a lowly position in the family business.

While his entrepreneurial brother and cousin

rubbed shoulders with royalty,

Samuel did skilled but repetitive manual labour in the workshop.

We've got a letter here that tells us a bit more

about the arrangement that they had.

How incredible to have something like this!

"1829.

"Dear Julius, I came up to London to see about Samuel,

"who has been writing to sister Mary Mott for money, as usual,

"and making great complaints about Isaac."

Isaac is Samuel's cousin.

The piano maker, that's right.

-Yes.

-Yes.

-Right. "To know the truth, I called on Isaac

"to know the reason he could not employ him

"and I find that Samuel was so dissatisfactory,

"and made the men so,

"that Isaac could not have him in the workshops any longer,

"and therefore got rid of him."

These are my relations!

So he's fired him, effectively?

Yes, it's pretty sensational, isn't it?

I wonder what happened.

-We have another letter to show you!

-A "but"!

So, now we're going to actually go back in time two years.

This is to Julius again.

So, this is two years before.

"Samuel Mott wrote to me some time ago pressing his old petition..."

On and on it goes. "..of money, to get into business.

"Which I refused.

"He has nothing to do and also he is in debt for rent

"and liable to have his goods seized."

They could take all his possessions off him?

Yes, the bailiffs are at the door.

And then it says here,

"He's such a mule of a chap

"that I'm totally at a loss

"to know what can be done with anyone in his situation,

"unless it be to the workhouse or Van Diemen's..."

Van Diemen's Land was a penal colony.

It's now Tasmania.

So, effectively, they're saying he's fit for the workhouse

or transportation.

Wow, they've really...

They've really given up on Samuel, haven't they?

Mmm. So they've obviously decided not to lend him money,

but they will try and reform him with a job.

So Samuel's been given a job and then lost it.

He's in debt, he has children, so then what happens?

Where does he go from there?

So I came to the Royal Pavilion

thinking I was related to Isaac Mott,

the piano maker who made pianos for the king

and played with the king when he played the cello -

and I discover, actually,

I'm directly related to his cousin who was "a mule of a chap"!

It's not quite the same, is it?

But what about Samuel Mott?

I'm not quite sure

how he fits into this extraordinary musical Mott family.

He's obviously really struggling, he's got no money at all.

I mean, what happens to him next?

Did they send him to the workhouse? I don't know!

By the time he was fired from the family business in 1829,

Samuel Mott was a married man in his 40s with children to support.

Sophie wants to know what happened next

to her four-times great-grandfather.

She's come to meet genealogist Laura Berry.

What I have now discovered is that Samuel Mott,

my four-times great-grandfather,

was kicked out of the family business in 1829,

but I don't know what happened to him.

Well, I've been looking into what happened

and I've found an insurance policy - this dates from 1834.

So it's five years later.

This shows him renting a place in London.

Not just London. Wow!

On a house at 72 Regent Street.

"In tenure of Samuel Mott.

"A coverer of the hammers of the pianofortes in Regent Street."

That is about as smart as you can get.

Yeah, it's very fashionable.

How can he afford to do that?

Last time I saw, he didn't have any money

-and was begging all his relatives.

-Well, that's a good question...

and one I'm not able to answer, I'm afraid.

But this is from 1834,

so, seven years later is the first census from 1841,

and I've found the family, but they're not in London now.

Island of where? Jersey?

He's gone to Jersey?

St Helier.

And it's Kensington Place, they're living in Kensington Place,

which sounds rather smart?

Unfortunately, it wasn't quite as nice as it sounded.

It was a bit of a rough part of Jersey.

Oh, really?

So there's Ann Mott, so this is Samuel's wife, who's 55.

Three children, but no Samuel.

-Where's Samuel?

-Well, that's what I wondered, as well.

I did a search of the Jersey archives

and there's a newspaper report dating from 1838.

So that is nine years after he's kicked out of the family business.

"On Tuesday morning of this month Mr Mott,

"resident at Kensington Place,

"had for some time been showing symptoms of insanity."

Oh, no!

"At ten in the morning he went upstairs

"and locked himself in his room.

"He then killed himself.

"The gentleman's wife found her husband in a pool of his own blood."

Oh!

-Oh, it's so detailed, this, isn't it?

-Mmm.

-Poor Samuel!

-Oh, how awful.

-It's really shocking, I think.

How awful.

God.

Oh, I was hoping for a happy ending for Samuel.

I'm sorry.

I was hoping something was going to come good.

He must've been so desperate to do that.

My great-great-great-great- grandfather.

What happened to him,

and why did he end up so bitter that he took his own life?

Having found this in Jersey,

we did a comprehensive trawl of the archives,

and haven't found anything else about this stage of Samuel's life.

So I think, in order to perhaps understand better

exactly why Samuel became so desperate,

I think the only real option now

is to go back to the beginning of his life.

So I think maybe your next step would be to go to Birmingham,

-where the family came from originally.

-Birmingham?

Birmingham. And see if you can find anything there for the family.

So, Birmingham might hold the key.

I found that really shocking,

reading that account.

Because it's so brutal.

What fascinates me is the contrast between Julius and Samuel.

Julius, the great entrepreneur, the great success,

and Samuel, the older brother who has made a mess of his life.

What happened early on? What happened to those two brothers?

Was there an event that put them on separate paths?

And maybe Birmingham will hold some of the answers.

When the Motts lived here in the 1790s,

Birmingham was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.

The town was a hub of engineering, manufacturing and invention.

The Silicon Valley of the 18th century.

Sophie's arranged to meet historian Emma Major.

-Hi, lovely to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you.

-Come in.

-Thank you.

So, Emma, I'm trying to find out more

about my four-times great-grandfather.

I've got a family tree here.

Just so you can see where he fits in.

So there he is, Samuel Mott.

Here is his father, William Mott.

Now, I do know that William Mott was from Birmingham.

Yes. The Mott family lived in this area,

as you can see from this lovely Birmingham directory from 1791.

The Pyes Birmingham Directory.

What's this, a sort of Yellow Pages of the 1790s?

-Absolutely.

-Let's find... Must be down there, Mott.

Mott. Mott! William Mott.

-There we go.

-A plated buckle maker.

Ha! He lives in Fleet Street.

Which is just round the corner from here.

Wow. Could they have worshipped here at this church?

They didn't. They took a different path.

Right. "The congregation of the New Church

"signified by the New Jerusalem,

"births and baptisms."

Hang on, where are we? Samuel Mott.

-Here he is.

-Yep.

-That's my Samuel?

Yeah.

There's Julius Caesar.

There he is. But these are all his other siblings.

So, they're all baptised on the same day?

Mm.

April the 15th, 1792.

Samuel was eight.

I mean, they're all quite old, weren't they,

when they were baptised?

But what was the New Jerusalem?

The New Jerusalem Church was the dissenting church,

so it's not part of the Church of England.

Dissenters were Protestants who had rejected the Anglican mainstream

and did not recognise the king as the head of their church.

But their independent thinking was seen as a threat to the status quo,

and dissenters were denied many civil rights.

They could not join the Army, take public office,

or even go to university, unless they renounced their beliefs.

-So here we've got the five Mott children.

-Mm-hm.

Samuel among them.

-But where are the parents?

-The parents are on the next document.

So, this is 1791.

Oh, there you are, Martha, Mrs Martha Mott.

So, oh, on Christmas Day!

She's baptised on Christmas Day.

Where's her husband? 1792.

There he is. So, there's William Mott.

So, Martha Mott gets baptised first.

Four months later, her five children are all baptised together...

and then it's another month until her husband follows suit

and joins the rest of the family.

-So it's Martha Mott leading the way here.

-Mm.

Why would she be so drawn to this?

I think that Martha's attracted to this church

because it presents itself as a new church of hope,

of future, of improvement.

The New Jerusalem was the newest dissenting church in Birmingham,

spreading a message of optimistic spirituality.

Its worshippers believed in free will,

and that humankind could be improved through hard work,

piety and education.

But what has she converted from?

So, we think that they belong to a different dissenting sect

called the Baptists,

which is a much more traditional, established denomination -

but the New Jerusalem is a cutting-edge denomination

that sees itself as shaping the future,

and she's going to be part of that future with her family.

-So it was a really bold thing to do?

-It was a bold thing to do.

-She's my five-times great-grandmother.

-Mm.

I get a real sense of a very strong woman,

who was sort of before her time, really.

I'm still really confused, though, how Samuel,

who comes from this very strong mother,

I still don't quite understand what has gone wrong for him.

That's a really good question -

because six months before she is baptised

into the New Jerusalem Church,

things are just beginning to change in Birmingham.

There are big riots targeting dissenters.

-Oh, really?

-Yes, the Priestley Riots, as they became known.

The Priestley Riots?

Birmingham had long been a magnet for dissenters

attracted by the town's reputation for tolerance and opportunity...

..but in the 1790s,

faultlines appeared when dissenters tried but failed

to have the laws which discriminated against them repealed.

With the French Revolution gathering pace across the Channel,

the dissenters' push for equality

was now seen as politically dangerous.

In Birmingham, this volatile situation was made even worse

by an outspoken dissenting minister, Joseph Priestley,

and on the 14th of July, 1791, the town exploded into violence.

Mobs turned on Birmingham's dissenters.

Martha converted to this cutting-edge New Jerusalem Church

just six months after the riots against the dissenters.

So I wonder what impact that could have had,

not just on Martha and William, but also on the children.

I'd to love to find out.

The funny thing about Martha Mott is,

it almost deepens the mystery that surrounds Samuel.

This little boy who is being led by a very strong mother.

And yet his life ends in complete tragedy.

Samuel ended up committing suicide.

What happened to Samuel?

At the time of the Priestley Riots,

the Motts were part of Birmingham's dissenting community,

but had not yet converted to the more radical New Jerusalem Church...

..but in the riots, any dissenter was a target.

Sophie's meeting historian Jonathan Atherton

in the centre of Birmingham.

-You must be Jonathan.

-I am indeed.

-Very nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, Sophie.

Now, what I want to know is all about the Priestley Riots,

and also how those riots affected my family, the Motts.

We're meeting here on Newhall Street.

As you can see, this is a busy, bustling street,

just as it would have been in the 18th century.

Just down there would be Fleet Street.

That is the street where the Motts lived and worked.

This is also the street where the New Jerusalem Church was located.

Here?! Was it?!

-Indeed, here.

-Really? Right here?

And this is also the street where the Priestley Riots took place -

and I have a very brief account for you.

So this is "An Authentic Account of the Dreadful Riots in Birmingham."

"The mob have been marking and pulling down houses the whole day.

"And the riot is greater than ever.

"We are in very great apprehension

"that every dissenter's house in Birmingham will be destroyed."

Large crowds are moving through the streets of Birmingham,

attacking dissenting meeting houses and the homes of dissenters.

That must have been terrifying.

What happens to the Motts in all of this?

It's a really good question, and it's something I can help you with -

-but it might be best to go inside, where it's warm.

-Let's go.

The Priestley Riots were some of the most violent of the 18th century.

For three days and nights,

Birmingham's dissenters were under attack.

The homes of 27 dissenting families were destroyed.

I've got this with the Motts on it, and they've got five children.

So if we have a look down at the dates of birth,

they might have had a particular reason

to be even more concerned than normal.

'84, '86, '88.

'91.

July 23rd, 1791.

I had missed that. That's literally ten days after the riots.

It's ten days after the riots began.

So, Martha Mott is heavily pregnant with her fifth child

-when these riots are taking place.

-Yes.

-It must have been frightening for them.

-It really must have been.

So she gives birth just after those riots.

But even so,

despite that, despite the fear, despite what was going on,

she still converts to this church.

-Yep.

-Six months later.

That's a really brave thing to do, isn't it?

It's a very brave thing to do.

I mean, the New Jerusalem Church

is one of the more radical dissenting denominations.

In many ways, by making that move,

she is bringing herself in more danger.

She's not going to be cowed.

Martha Mott is not going to be cowed.

Incredible woman.

The riots changed Birmingham fundamentally.

It would had been a very tense atmosphere in the aftermath.

Dissenters continued to be subjected to violence.

The New Jerusalem Church, where the Motts would have worshipped,

was attacked in 1793 - it was firebombed.

The poor Motts. What happened to them?

Do we know what happened to them?

Well, we have some insight into what the Motts are thinking at this time,

and what they do next -

and I have a letter for you.

A letter? Who's it from?

William Mott.

I can't believe, I can't even read it,

I can't believe we have a letter.

This is, what, my great-grandfather times five?

"The 18th of June, 1793.

"I have been conversing with Mr Foster, one of my intimate friends,

"settled in the American business.

"Mr Humphreys' two sons, who were sufferers in the late riots,

"sailed from England on the 28th of March.

"They speak favourably of the country.

"I have thoughts of fixing in or near New City.

"My boys are coming up daily now.

"I hope to settle them somehow

"so that their minds may expand themselves

"and learn, with others, to be happy

"in any country where peace, liberty and plenty is found."

William Mott is going to America?

He is indeed.

Wow!

I cannot...

That's amazing, I can't believe that.

Wow!

Where's New City?

-New York.

-They go to New York?

They go to New York.

They go to New York.

SHE LAUGHS

That's incredible!

They went to New York.

So, I mean, this bit,

"My boys are coming up daily now," they're growing up,

"their minds may expand themselves in any country

"where peace, liberty and plenty is found."

That's what they want. That's what he wants for his family -

peace, liberty and plenty.

The reference to peace and liberty I think is very significant,

because it's almost saying that we no longer have that in Britain.

-No, it's totally saying that, isn't it?

-Yep.

I can't imagine doing it.

I've got three children of my own,

I can't imagine picking my three kids up and saying, "Right,

"we're going to some place I know so little about,

"but we're going to have to risk everything

"because this is what I have to do for you to give you a future."

The courage that they show, and the determination to pursue

what they think is right.

I think the family is extraordinary.

I'm shaking, you can see the letters moving!

SHE LAUGHS

But there are still...

It still leaves so many more questions,

because I know certainly Samuel came back here, Julius came back here.

Something's happened to Samuel along the way,

something has happened to him...

and I still don't know what that is.

In 1793,

New York was the second city

of the newly independent United States of America.

Just ten years earlier,

America had defeated Britain in the War of Independence -

and, in 1789, elected their first President, George Washington.

I love these Motts.

They are a family looking to the future.

There they were, the American Revolution had just happened,

the French Revolution was underway,

and the Motts decide that they want those freedoms.

I've got so many questions about what happened to the Motts.

What was the New City, as William Mott calls it in his letter,

what did the New City looked like?

It certainly didn't look like this.

People who can just go against the grain,

risk everything for what they really believe in, I really admire them.

I think they're an extraordinary family.

Sophie's four-times great-grandfather, Samuel,

was just nine years old when the Motts landed in America in 1793.

To find out what this young democracy held for the family,

Sophie's meeting historian Brett Palfreyman.

-Hello. You must be Brett.

-Hi, Sophie, how are you?

Very well. Lovely to meet you.

-Welcome to New York.

-Thank you very much.

Now, I've got so many questions for you.

So the Motts, they get off the ship, and what happens?

And they would have arrived right here where we are standing, almost.

Right at the East River docks in Lower Manhattan.

In fact, this gives you the flavour of it,

the feel of what it would have been like to step off the boat.

It gives you the sense of the energy, the bustle,

the movement that characterised the port at this moment.

And that's the way we're looking, is it?

-Correct.

-And where would they have lived?

I mean, they come off the ship, do we know where they lived?

-As a matter of fact, we do.

-Oh!

Is this their address?

Oh, look at this!

"The New York Directory and the Register for the Year 1794."

Mott, where are you? Mott, Mott, Mott...

Here they are! William Mott, merchants, 240 Water Street.

-Which is where?

-This is Water Street right here.

And we imagine 240 would have been right where those red cars are.

-Water Street, there it is!

-Yeah.

240 Water Street.

-Isn't that wonderful?

-You can tell how much a part of his life

-the port was.

-He's right there.

-He's right here on the water.

This is the beating heart of New York City in the 1790s.

When the Motts arrived, New York was a city of around 40,000 people,

clustered around the southern tip of Manhattan.

New York had sustained heavy damage during the War of Independence,

but just ten years later, the city was booming,

as new trading routes opened up

and vast fortunes were made in finance and commerce.

It was a money town in the 1790s, and it's a money town still.

It's a place of opportunity and a place of promise.

A place where someone with initiative, like William,

could have come and started a business very quickly.

It's a real chance for a better, more secure future -

not only for him...

but for the next generations, too, for his children as well.

Because William writes about how he wants to find somewhere

for his sons,

a country where they can have peace, liberty and plenty.

We in America, I mean, we love to talk about an American dream.

And the actual concept, the term "American dream,"

doesn't really come too much later on,

-but you can hear it right there, almost...

-Yes, you can!

..in William's voice, in his words.

It's wonderful, isn't it? William Mott,

an early pioneer of the American dream.

Yeah. Well, there's certainly more I'd like to show you.

-Why don't we step inside?

-Even more?

-Yeah, there's more.

-SHE LAUGHS

-Go on, then.

For immigrants like the Motts,

New York promised not just economic opportunity,

but also religious liberty.

Freedom of worship was guaranteed

by the newly written Constitution of the United States.

We actually know a little bit about the Motts' religious life

in early New York City. If you look closely at this document.

What is this? I'm going to have to stand up to see it.

Oh, the New Jerusalem again, here we go!

Right, so this is a record of the New Jerusalem Church,

put together a little later on.

OK, "In the year 1793, Mr and Mrs Bragg came from Birmingham, England,

"to reside in New York.

"They found not a single member of the New Church there,

"but in a short time came Mr Mott and family from Birmingham.

"And one poor man whose name is not remembered."

-Who was this?

-Poor man!

"These persons met at Mr Bragg's house for worship."

They are the pioneers of the New Jerusalem Church here.

The First Amendment guarantees religious freedom in America,

and William Mott, Martha Mott, are absolutely in great position

to take place of this relatively new legal freedom.

And they're all meeting and worshipping in Mr Bragg's house.

It seems clear that they'd be interested

in more than a private group of ten, worshipping together -

and New York City is a place where there's enough people out there,

there's enough religious fervour for them to see potential opportunities

to build a church,

to build the community that they were looking for.

It says here, "Mrs Bragg..."

What happened to Mrs and Mr..? What?!

"Mrs Bragg, having buried her husband and three children..."

They all died! "..returned in 1796 to England.

"What became of the other families?"

I wonder what happened to them,

-and I wonder whether the Motts were involved as well.

-Right.

Could it be that the Motts went back quickly as well?

I know for sure that at least two of the children, my direct ancestor,

Samuel, and his brother Julius,

were definitely back in England by the 1820s.

I wonder whether something happened to Samuel whilst they were here.

Did something happen to the family?

STILL so many questions.

I need some more answers.

I am alarmed by the reference to Mrs Bragg

losing her husband and three children

and returning very soon after she arrived here.

So, clearly something has happened.

I really hope it doesn't end badly for William and Martha Mott.

They've given everything up that they know.

I can't bear the idea that it goes badly for them.

-Hi.

-Hi. Great to meet you.

-Very nice to meet you.

Sophie's come to meet historian Kathryn Olivarius

at New York City's Municipal Archives.

She wants to know what happened to the Bragg family,

and whether the Motts were also affected.

So, a good place to sort of start looking for the answer to this

are in the city newspapers from the time.

This is an article which might shed some light on what was going on.

"August the 31st, 1795.

"The epidemic fever,

"which has of late affected the upper part of Water Street..."

Oh, that's where they lived.

This epidemic was yellow fever, which is a tropical disease,

spread by mosquitoes,

and the modern analogue I would use to describe it is akin to Ebola.

The common symptoms are delirium, bleeding from the gums, eyes,

and then vomiting black blood.

And where they live in New York

is just prime territory for this terrible disease.

In Lower Manhattan, where the Motts lived,

ships from around the world

constantly reintroduced infected mosquitoes

into the port's hot and packed streets.

The perfect breeding ground for an epidemic.

Do we know what happened to the Motts? Did they survive?

There is a register of people that died of yellow fever in 1795.

Give it to me.

I've been dying to find out.

Oh!

Oh, no, how many of them survived?

Oh, I can't bear it.

William Mott.

How sad.

Oh, there's John Bragg.

That's the husband of the woman who goes home.

But there's no record of the other Motts in here?

-There's no record.

-So they survived?

Well, if you take a look at this...

Is this another letter?

Another letter!

"Birmingham, 26th of March, 1798.

"My brother, William Mott, and his wife..."

Oh, no, Martha, too!

"My brother, William Mott, and his wife both died at New York.

"Julius and Patty are with my brother, Robert Mott, in Sussex.

"Jemima and Samuel at present are with Mr Sherwood of this town.

"The youngest, a girl named Mary, is with me."

Oh, so the whole family is split up.

Oh, the poor Motts.

William and Martha came in search of their American dream,

and two years later they're dead.

Their children completely split up.

Everybody else has been settled with members of the family,

but Samuel and Jemima go and live with Mr Sherwood.

Who is Mr Sherwood?

We don't know very much about who Mr Sherwood was,

but what we do know, I think you can probably find here.

"1796...bankrupts.

"Jonathan Sherwood of Birmingham."

So, Samuel is sent to live with somebody who is bankrupt.

Poor Samuel. He's only 11.

Oh, he's been through a lot in that very short life, hasn't he?

Riots in Birmingham,

a really perilous journey across the Atlantic...

..and then he's lost both his parents.

I mean, you would have been made, by this,

he would have been made to feel like a complete outsider, wouldn't he?

This orphan, living on the extremities of his family.

I understand it now. I understand what happened to Samuel.

The family call him "a mule of a chap,"

and they're really damning about him,

and actually you just want to go to the rest of the Motts and say,

"Give him a break, give him a chance!"

-He really did draw the short straw.

-Mm-hm.

My view of Samuel has completely, completely changed.

And now I just feel so sorry for him.

He was 11 years old.

He was 11. That's the age of my oldest child.

William and Martha brought those children here

in the hope of a better life,

and, actually, completely the opposite happens,

they end up as orphans - and as a parent,

that's, for me, my ultimate nightmare

is leaving my children, leaving my children behind.

I've travelled a very, very long way, full of hope...

..and I've found a tragic ending.

I have been enchanted by the Motts, actually.

Like hands reaching out from the past, they really came alive.

To read people's fears and hopes and great dreams from the 1790s

is something I never thought I'd be able to do, never.

There's a spirit in the Motts

that I can still see filtering through to my own family now -

my grandmother, my sister, my dad.

I'm in awe of what they did, the risks they took.

And I'm very proud to be one of their descendants.

Back in England, Sophie's come to Kew.

What I now want to find out about is my great-grandfather,

Edgar Cussons Crowder.

There is some rumour that he worked at Kew Gardens.

The particular reason I'd like to know about the Kew connection

is because gardens, for my family, are everything.

My parents have spent 40-plus years

creating this garden where I grew up.

Horticulture is so central to our family.

To find out that that went back generations would be incredible.

Sophie's meeting head of horticulture Tony Kirkham

in the archives of Kew Gardens.

So, Tony, this is Edgar Cussons Crowder,

who is my great-grandfather.

My question to you is, what, if anything, did he do at Kew?

OK, well, we have an incredible archives department here,

and we have found a file.

Oh, there he is!

"Edgar Cussons Crowder, date of application 21st of October, 1891."

So he was applying to what?

To become a student gardener.

To be a student at Kew!

We have students from the Gardens working at my parents' garden!

Well, there you go.

There is a link, then.

How funny! So, he was 22, it says here.

"The wages are 18 shillings per week."

So, 18 shillings would have been equivalent

to just over £50 per week today. Which wasn't a lot of money.

We have a photograph here.

-Of him?

-Well, we don't know.

This is the class of 1892.

You brought this photograph,

and it would be really interesting to see if we can find him on there.

-Oh, that looks like him!

-I think you're right.

There he is.

But what will he have been doing at Kew, day to day?

We've got this book here, this will tell us where he worked.

'90,'92...

-Crowder, there we go.

-Palm House!

He worked in the Palm House.

I love the Palm House. I've been in the Palm House so many times.

It is an iconic building, isn't it?

It's wonderful.

I mean, it is probably one of the most famous buildings in Kew.

Yes, probably one of the most famous buildings in horticulture, actually.

So he's working in the Palm House.

-Yes.

-And then he leaves.

-So it could well be that he needed more money.

As you saw, the salary's quite low,

and it appears that he's dropped out of horticulture from about 1900.

Oh, what a shame. He probably got married by then.

However, I have come across the name Crowder before.

There is a dictionary of botanists and horticulturalists

in the reference collection here,

and I certainly think it's worth having a look in there

to see if there are any links through the Crowders.

It's extraordinary to think that my great-grandfather worked here.

I have been here so many times over the years.

I literally grew up a mile away from here,

and I've been brought here by my parents as a child,

I've brought my own children here over and over and over again,

and none of us had any idea.

I'll never think of this place in the same way again.

Before leaving Kew,

Sophie wants to investigate

if there are any more horticultural connections in the Crowder family.

"Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists."

Right, Crowder.

Crowder.

Crowder, lots of them.

"Abraham Crowder, Anderson Crowder, Henry Crowder, Michael Crowder,

"Rowland Wood Crowder, William Crowder..."

Wow! So, this dates right back to 1734.

I don't quite know where I fit into this,

but I think I need to go and have a look -

and they are mostly in Doncaster, actually.

That must be the best place to start.

Sophie's on her way to Doncaster

to investigate a potential line of green-fingered ancestors.

I mean, my family have got this huge connection with gardens,

I now present the Chelsea Flower Show.

It's almost too strange to be true

that this deep-rooted horticultural connection

possibly dates back centuries to the 1700s.

Can it be in your DNA?

I'm fascinated to see what's ahead, though.

As is my father, who keeps texting me saying, "What have you learned,

"what have you learned? How far back does it go?"

Oh! Now, that is a beautiful house.

She's arranged to meet garden historian Stephen Smith

at Cusworth Hall,

a stately home near Doncaster which dates back to the 1700s.

So, I have found this at Kew Gardens,

and this is a list of all the Crowders.

I don't know who's connected to me, I don't know who my ancestors are.

I'm presuming one of them.

Definitely. And it's actually this one here.

-The first one?

-The first one, Abraham Crowder.

He is one of your ancestors.

He is your great-grandfather times five.

He's gardener to a local landowner in the Doncaster area.

Being a gardener was a very prestigious activity.

It was a prestigious activity?

Oh, absolutely. It's not just somebody pulling a few weeds,

he's actually somebody who is probably the equivalent

of the butler on the outside staff.

-Why was that?

-Because the garden is where your wealth is shown off.

And when you come through the front gates,

that's the first impression that people are going to have

of you and your standing in society.

So we're talking about somebody

who's right at the very top of his profession

to be employed by one of the landed gentry.

Abraham was also a nurseryman.

So he was working in somebody's garden,

but he also had his own nursery?

That's right, that's right.

So he's producing plants for sale for these gardens,

and the sort of thing that he's producing, we might find here.

-What is this?

-This is an invoice that's been sent by Abraham Crowder.

-Look at that.

-There's his signature at the bottom there.

"December, 1783.

"To William Wrightson, from Abraham Crowder.

"For four trained morello cherries."

We're actually talking about plants here, the actual trees.

-That's right.

-"Four figs at three shillings each."

What does that say? 18...

Something, what does that say?

-Pine...

-It does say that.

-Pines. "18 pines."

-What, as in trees? Or no, can't be...

-No, it's not.

The pines that he's talking about are pineapples.

-Pineapples?!

-Pineapples, yes, yes.

Your ancestor is supplying William Wrightson with pineapple plants.

That is extraordinary.

William Wrightson is who?

William Wrightson was the owner of this house.

-This house here?

-This house here.

-What? This one?

-This is the house that William Wrightson lived in.

-Oh, wow. He supplied pineapples here?

-He did indeed.

Right, my great-grandfather times five

was a pineapple grower in Yorkshire -

now, that I would never, ever have guessed!

First grown in Britain around 1715,

the exotic pineapple was a coveted status symbol

throughout the 18th century.

A pineapple centrepiece at a party

showed off the wealth and sophistication of the host.

They could be rented for a guinea apiece,

with an extra guinea to pay if it was eaten.

For high society,

the aspiration was to cultivate pineapples on their estates.

Sophie's five-times great-grandfather, Abraham Crowder,

was one of the few gardeners in the country with the specialist skills

to grow this desirable fruit.

They are very difficult to grow, because they are tropical plants.

They needed a hot and damp climate.

-How did they create that here? It's freezing.

-So here we are,

here's the sort of house that they would have been grown in.

-This is what we call a pinery vinery.

-Great name, pinery vinery.

It's brilliant.

There were two methods of heating for a pineapple house.

There was a stove, which would have supplied hot air.

And also we've got something called tanner's bark.

It gives off a steady heat so you've got a real steamy tropical house,

just right for the pineapples to root in.

I mean, they are such great fruits.

Already, you get a pineapple and you think, "That's a bit of a treat."

But 200 years ago...

Pineapple culture was really at the top of the tree

-when it comes to horticulture.

-Oh, that's amazing.

I'm going to have to get my dad to follow the family footsteps

and put some pineapples in the conservatory at home!

The ruins of the pinery are still in Cusworth's gardens.

Oh, isn't that beautiful?

Oh, that is a proper walled garden.

So this is the remains of the pinery.

This is the exact spot

where your forbear would have brought those cuttings.

So this is where the pineapples would have been grown?

Absolutely. And if you look, I'll show you here, this is the flue,

which would have brought the hot air in,

which came from the other side where there was a boiler.

It's such a shame, though, isn't it, that there is so little left of it.

There is a place in the north of England which still has a pinery,

and that's Tatton Park.

Tatton Park? I've got to see a proper pinery vinery.

Hi, Dad.

I've got the next instalment for you.

I love it, I love it.

I've always felt I've come from a gardening family,

I just never realised it went back that far.

It does feel like something that's in the DNA.

It's lovely. It's a bond with us,

you feel like you are touching the past,

you ARE touching the past.

TEXT TONE

From my dad, I only spoke to about five minutes ago!

"See if you can bring back suckers or slips." Cuttings. basically,

"They look easy to grow as long as frost-free.

"Can be grown in pots and brought in. It's on. Dad."

Didn't take him long, did it?

There are just two surviving pineries in the country,

and Sophie's come to Tatton Park

to see how her five-times great-grandfather

would have cultivated pineapples.

Head Gardener Simon Tetlow has hands-on experience

of growing pineapples.

What better place to kind of come and see

a little view of the Caribbean?

So this is a real pinery.

Ah, there is a pineapple!

There's one growing. Oh, yeah! Lurking amongst there.

I was just looking at the plants, and there is actually a pineapple.

That little pineapple there

is the first pineapple I have ever seen grow -

and I'm in Cheshire, and my ancestors grew them in Yorkshire.

-It's amazing.

-I mean, how ridiculous is that?

I know, but in the 1780s, you may as well have come from Mars.

It was just kind of, "Wow," you know.

What do you think it was like for Abraham in those days?

Just phenomenally hard work.

To produce a Caribbean climate in the middle of Yorkshire...

It just sounds silly!

That in itself, you take your hat off to him.

He's probably spent half his life shovelling coal,

but he's also, you know, for a gardener, a nurseryman,

it's that kind of intuitive knowledge

of light, temperature and humidity.

You know, this is the days before any kind of monitors or meters.

He's got a feel for it, he knows how things are growing.

The question I have to ask you on behalf of my father,

now he's discovered his ancestors grew pineapples,

is how difficult it's going to be to grow one,

because he determined he's going to do it! How difficult is it?

Well, would you like to start off?

Would you like a pine slip to take him?

You know what, I didn't dare ask, but if you're offering,

-I would love one!

-Go for it. Come on through.

-Go on, then.

-I'll show you how.

Now then, I've got a couple of these what we call slips here.

-Slips are cuttings, aren't they?

-Yeah. The key is a lot of drainage.

Just get some crocks in the bottom, there.

There's nice old clay there you can take him.

We'll just fill some of these here.

You take that, Sophie.

So, literally, you are just putting it on the soil?

Yeah, yeah, this is the smooth, cultivated version.

I say smooth, you know, it's still quite a spiny little devil,

and there's still little spines down here and here.

Abraham's plants would have been like barbed wire, you know?

There would have been bristles all the way down here.

A lot of cursing and cussing as he was kind of moving plants around,

-as well, I dare say.

-Repotting them.

They were much harder plants to manage than this.

I wonder if Abraham, my great-grandfather times five,

is looking down from above and laughing,

thinking, "What is she doing?!"

-He'd love it.

-It just makes me smile.

Every time I see a pineapple now, I just smile.

You can some home-grown ones...

You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to give one of these

to my father and I'm going to give one to my son, who's eight,

who already loves doing this.

He pots up stuff with my mum and dad.

He can have one of these, look after it.

-Is that about right?

-That's lovely.

-That is brilliant!

-Before you go,

I've got a little bit more information about Abraham for you.

-Have you? Even more?

-Yeah, indeed.

We've found his obituary from the Doncaster Gazette.

-Have a good read of that.

-Thank you so much!

Oh, that's wonderful. I'll be back.

-I'll let you know about my pineapples.

-You must do.

-Whether or not they grow!

-Put it on the news for us.

-Thank you so much.

-Bye-bye.

"Mr Abraham Crowder, nurseryman, in the 98th year of his age."

He lived till 98!

Wow!

"To the lovers of flowers and plants he was a great favourite.

"And he closed his long, kind and simple life respected,

"beloved and lamented by all to whom he was known."

Oh, what a wonderful obituary!

It's really funny, there's Abraham Crowder,

pioneering nurseryman of the late 1700s,

and yet it's still continuing,

and horticulture, gardens, plants is so central to our family.

I really hope that I will be able to continue that, actually,

and keep that going through the generations.

From the tragedy of yellow fever and suicide

to pineapples and pianos -

but there's been one theme that has pulled all of these people together,

and that has been a real drive and passion.

I'm very proud of them as ancestors.

I think they're wonderful ancestors to have,

and great examples to follow.