0:00:00 > 0:00:05# BBC Radio Two. #
0:00:05 > 0:00:0713 minutes past eight o'clock on Radio Two.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11This is the Chris Evans Show, but it's Richard sitting in for him. He's back on Monday.
0:00:15 > 0:00:19Richard Madeley, one of the best know faces on daytime television,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22has ditched the comfort of the studio sofa
0:00:22 > 0:00:26which he shared with his wife Judy for more than two decades.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Now in his mid-50s, he's at a turning point in his life.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37I think both Judy and I are very much over a watershed now.
0:00:37 > 0:00:42I do feel in a very, very new place in my life, you know, professionally and personally.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46We spent all those years presenting together,
0:00:46 > 0:00:50and we're never going to do that again, and that's an absolutely clear decision.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53It's 20 past eight. More travel from Lin.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56And having been off that particular hamster wheel for about two years,
0:00:56 > 0:00:58I do find myself, cos I've got the time,
0:00:58 > 0:01:00wondering why I am the way I am.
0:01:02 > 0:01:07Richard was born in Romford, Essex, in 1956,
0:01:07 > 0:01:10the son of an English father and Canadian mother.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14I know a lot about my father's side of the family
0:01:14 > 0:01:18back to the latter stages of the Victorian era, the 19th century.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23But my knowledge of my mother's family and her background is pretty patchy.
0:01:23 > 0:01:28Mum's Canadian, but as far as how the family got to Canada, I don't know.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32So I'm hoping we'll discover something about that side of the family cos I know so little about it.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14This used to be my, er, this used to be my school train.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18We used to get the train from Romford into Stratford
0:02:18 > 0:02:22and then get the tube to Mile End and walk to my East End grammar school.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25It hasn't changed a bit.
0:02:25 > 0:02:26The backs of the houses...
0:02:26 > 0:02:29I mean, there's almost nothing changed at all.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Extraordinary.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41In the early 1950s, Richard's father Christopher went to Canada in search of work,
0:02:41 > 0:02:44where he met Mary Claire, Richard's mother.
0:02:44 > 0:02:47After marrying, they moved back to Essex,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50where Richard was born and grew up.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55I was very lucky, I've been looking at these pictures from all these years ago.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58I had such a happy childhood. I mean, that's my birthday.
0:02:58 > 0:02:59I'm eight.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03That's my sister, Liz, that's Mum in her 60s dress.
0:03:03 > 0:03:06And we're in Epping Forest and I could take you to that clearing today.
0:03:06 > 0:03:08I know exactly where it is.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15Richard is on his way to Norfolk, where his mother now lives.
0:03:16 > 0:03:19His father died in 1977.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Come on, Mum. It's pouring down.
0:03:35 > 0:03:36It's horrible!
0:03:36 > 0:03:38How are you? Are you OK? Let's go in.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43Have you got any pictures of your parents?
0:03:43 > 0:03:45I don't think I've ever seen a picture of them.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47There is a picture of my father and mother,
0:03:47 > 0:03:50and that must've been soon after they were married.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54- She's got a sweet face, hasn't she, your mother?- She was beautiful.- Yeah.
0:03:54 > 0:03:57How did your parents meet? I don't know that story.
0:03:57 > 0:04:00My father had emigrated from Scotland
0:04:00 > 0:04:05- and he went straight to Quebec. - Mm-hmm.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08And he went into northern Quebec where he became...
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Oh, chopped down trees.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12- A logger.- A logger.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16And then he decided, "I want to see the rest of Canada,"
0:04:16 > 0:04:20so in Canada they had gangs of men, or women,
0:04:20 > 0:04:23who collected the strawberries, the fruit
0:04:23 > 0:04:26and they go further and further west as they go
0:04:26 > 0:04:29till finally they get to the wheat country.
0:04:29 > 0:04:34- I see. So they kind of follow the seasons as the different crops and fruits mature?- Yes.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37- And that takes them sort of inexorably west?- Yes.
0:04:37 > 0:04:38So he ended up in the west?
0:04:38 > 0:04:40He ended up in Saskatchewan,
0:04:40 > 0:04:43and my mother was looking after the farm.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46So this is your mum, just a slip of a girl,
0:04:46 > 0:04:50running this huge farm all by herself and basically handling these,
0:04:50 > 0:04:54well, not quite cowboys, but rowdy farm workers?
0:04:54 > 0:04:56Yes. Oh, but they weren't rowdy. Not with my mother!
0:04:56 > 0:04:59And they met, and it was instant.
0:04:59 > 0:05:01They fell in love with each other.
0:05:02 > 0:05:06Richard's mother Mary Claire was born in 1932,
0:05:06 > 0:05:10during the time of the Great Depression.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13When she was growing up, the province of Saskatchewan
0:05:13 > 0:05:16was the agricultural heartland of Canada.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Here, her parents Hector and Barbara
0:05:19 > 0:05:23had run the family's 1800 acre wheat farm.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27And here is their wedding certificate.
0:05:27 > 0:05:28What year would this be?
0:05:28 > 0:05:31- This...- Er, 1926.
0:05:31 > 0:05:331926, and she was 19 then.
0:05:33 > 0:05:35Hector MacEwan.
0:05:35 > 0:05:37Trading profession, farmer.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40And there's your mother's name, Barbara Violet Bailey.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Your mother's occupation is put down as 'living at home'.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45THEY LAUGH
0:05:45 > 0:05:47That's a fine career! Nothing wrong with that.
0:05:47 > 0:05:51- Her father was Harris A Bailey. Was...- Horace.- Horace Bailey.
0:05:51 > 0:05:56We've got the maiden name of your grandmother, Mary Murdock.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58She was Mary Alvenia.
0:05:58 > 0:06:00- Alvenia?- Alvenia.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02She was born in Nova Scotia.
0:06:02 > 0:06:06That is the way she looked when she disapproved.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10That is one heck of a... That's one heck of a disapproving expression!
0:06:10 > 0:06:12- Have you got any other pictures of her...- No.
0:06:12 > 0:06:14- ..when she's not looking quite so stern?- Yes, I have.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17- Now that's what she was like normally.- That's more like it.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21- You were very close to your grandmother?- Very close. Very close indeed.
0:06:21 > 0:06:25As I was going to have dates, you know when I was around 14, 15,
0:06:25 > 0:06:29my grandmother would always, she had a rocking chair
0:06:29 > 0:06:35and the bedroom window looked out on the street where I would come in,
0:06:35 > 0:06:40and she sat there until I came in, and then she slipped into bed.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44- If you were late, did she give you one of those looks? - No, she didn't. She never did.
0:06:44 > 0:06:46She never did. I could do no wrong.
0:06:46 > 0:06:50But I'm sorry to say that my grandmother
0:06:50 > 0:06:53is the furthest back that I can go.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55- Well, that's up to me to see if I can crack that.- Yes.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57- That's my job.- Good luck.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03To trace his Canadian roots further,
0:07:03 > 0:07:08Richard has to start with his mother's grandmother, Mary Alvenia Murdock,
0:07:08 > 0:07:12who he knows was born in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.
0:07:16 > 0:07:21I'll do Mary A Murdock.
0:07:25 > 0:07:27There she is.
0:07:27 > 0:07:30This is from the 1871 Canadian Census.
0:07:30 > 0:07:32Mary A Murdock.
0:07:32 > 0:07:38Birth, about, they're not sure, 1868 in Nova Scotia.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Let's just view the images and see if there's anymore in here.
0:07:42 > 0:07:43Erm, there she is.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46Mary A, and she was three at the time.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51Er, there's Murdock, John, that would've been her father,
0:07:51 > 0:07:56he was 43, and John's type of work, he was a farmer.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58Another Canadian farmer.
0:07:58 > 0:08:01So, I guess we need to type him in now.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07Right we've got the register of deaths here from Nova Scotia.
0:08:07 > 0:08:09Name of deceased, John Murdock.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13Date of death, May 14th, 1912.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18The address he was listed at last was South Street, Bridgetown.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20His occupation is given as a gentleman,
0:08:20 > 0:08:21and he is, of course, married.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23So we've found him.
0:08:26 > 0:08:28There is a slight discrepancy here.
0:08:28 > 0:08:32Here, he's listed as a gentleman, whatever that means,
0:08:32 > 0:08:35in the earlier documents he was a farmer,
0:08:35 > 0:08:36so something must've happened.
0:08:38 > 0:08:40So, Novia Scotia.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43A pretty cold, windswept place, I would've thought.
0:08:45 > 0:08:48Richard has discovered that his connection to Canada
0:08:48 > 0:08:51goes back at least four generations
0:08:51 > 0:08:55to his great, great grandfather, John Murdock.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13Richard has come to the snowbound wilds of Nova Scotia
0:09:13 > 0:09:15on the east coast of Canada.
0:09:18 > 0:09:22When John Murdock was born in 1828,
0:09:22 > 0:09:25the formation of modern-day Canada was in its infancy.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33The European discovery in the 15th century
0:09:33 > 0:09:37of what we now know as Canada lead to over two centuries of conflict,
0:09:37 > 0:09:41as Europe's colonial powers vied for territory.
0:09:41 > 0:09:46By 1828, much of Canada was part of Britain's Empire.
0:09:47 > 0:09:49Richard is travelling to Bridgetown,
0:09:49 > 0:09:53where he knows his great, great grandfather died.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59I know so little about him, but there is this central mystery about him
0:09:59 > 0:10:01which was that he's a farmer when he gets married,
0:10:01 > 0:10:04and years later when he dies, he's a gentleman.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06That seems a weird transition out here.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09I can imagine that in the shires of England,
0:10:09 > 0:10:13a prosperous gentleman farmer, but not here. And not in those days.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26Richard is meeting local historian Frances Lowry
0:10:26 > 0:10:28at the James House Museum.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31I'm trying to trace the mother's side of my family
0:10:31 > 0:10:34and one of her ancestors, my great, great grandfather,
0:10:34 > 0:10:36was a guy called John Murdock.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39All I know about him is that he was born in 1828,
0:10:39 > 0:10:41died in 1912, and that's kind of it.
0:10:41 > 0:10:46Well, we have a copy of John Murdock's obituary
0:10:46 > 0:10:48in the Halifax newspaper.
0:10:48 > 0:10:50- That's the capital of the province? - Yes, it is.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53Right, Bridgetown, May 15th,
0:10:53 > 0:10:57"The sudden death of John Murdock at the age of 84 years at 1:30 this morning,"
0:10:57 > 0:11:00gosh, that's precise, "came as a shock to his friends.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03"The deceased was a retired farmer." So he was a farmer.
0:11:04 > 0:11:08"After retiring at eight o'clock last night, and while in his usual health,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10"he was noticed by his wife becoming helpless.
0:11:10 > 0:11:13"A slight shock had touched the strong man
0:11:13 > 0:11:15"and Doctor Deckman was called quickly.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18"He at once said, 'It is only a matter of a few hours.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:21"A staunch supporter of the Methodist church
0:11:21 > 0:11:24"and a warm political friend of the Right Honourable RL Borden.
0:11:24 > 0:11:27"Burial at Bridgetown on Thursday afternoon."
0:11:27 > 0:11:30That was really something that it was in the Halifax paper
0:11:30 > 0:11:34because that had just been, erm, after the Titanic had gone down.
0:11:34 > 0:11:36The previous month, of course, in April.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39Yes, so Halifax was a very busy place
0:11:39 > 0:11:42with the burial of over 150 people in Halifax.
0:11:42 > 0:11:45So it had to be reported big, he was a big guy?
0:11:45 > 0:11:48Well, he was a well respected farmer and you can tell
0:11:48 > 0:11:52in his relationship with Sir Robert Borden there...
0:11:52 > 0:11:54Mmm.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58..that he obviously had some good friends around.
0:11:58 > 0:12:00He was a local politician, Borden?
0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Have you got any money on you? - Er, yes. Why?
0:12:03 > 0:12:06- Why?- Take out your money.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10- OK, I've got about a hundred and... - I'll take this one.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13What are you doing?! What's your game?!
0:12:13 > 0:12:15THEY LAUGH
0:12:15 > 0:12:19- This is Sir Robert Borden. - Oh, is that him?- Yes.
0:12:19 > 0:12:21- He was the Prime Minster of Canada. - What?!
0:12:21 > 0:12:24- He knew the Prime Minister of Canada?!- Yes. Yes.- Wow!
0:12:24 > 0:12:26On good terms? On personal terms?
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Yes, because the families had been friends for quite some time.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Does this mean that my great, great granddad had influence?
0:12:33 > 0:12:36Yes. He was influential in town.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40- OK.- And he was born here, and we have his parents' marriage.
0:12:40 > 0:12:41So here it is, here.
0:12:41 > 0:12:44- Another John Murdock.- Mm-hmm.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46And Harriet Hicks of Annapolis.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51Harriet Hicks' grandfather was John Hicks,
0:12:51 > 0:12:54and he was a settler here.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57He came here in 1765.
0:12:57 > 0:13:03- We're really going back now, then? - Oh, yes.- So, this is early days for Nova Scotia?- This is early days.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06When John Murdock married into the Hicks family,
0:13:06 > 0:13:10he was marrying into one of the most influential families in the area.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17John Hicks established the very first ferry here on the river.
0:13:17 > 0:13:18- There was no bridge.- Right.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21So he established the very first ferry
0:13:21 > 0:13:25and so the local name for the town became Hicks' Ferry.
0:13:25 > 0:13:28- Really? Before Bridgetown? - Yes, before Bridgetown.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Wow. Wow.
0:13:32 > 0:13:38Richard has traced his Canadian family back more than 250 years
0:13:38 > 0:13:43to one of the very first settlers of modern day Nova Scotia,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46his ancestor John Hicks.
0:13:55 > 0:14:02So I've got a great, great, great, great, great grandfather in my gun-sights now,
0:14:02 > 0:14:07John Hicks, settling here in the late 18th century, in the late 1700s,
0:14:07 > 0:14:12and that's a heck of a way further back than I ever thought we'd get in such a short space of time.
0:14:15 > 0:14:18When John Hicks arrived in 1760,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21the province was largely uninhabited,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24with only a few pockets of indigenous tribes
0:14:24 > 0:14:28and some isolated French settlements.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34To find out why his ancestor came to Nova Scotia,
0:14:34 > 0:14:38Richard is travelling to the nearby village of Hall's Harbour,
0:14:38 > 0:14:42where he's tracked down another descendant of John Hicks,
0:14:42 > 0:14:45his distant cousin, Henry Hicks.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50Well, by the size of that sign and the location of this drive,
0:14:50 > 0:14:53I'm expecting quite a special house.
0:14:56 > 0:14:57HE LAUGHS
0:14:57 > 0:14:59This isn't a drive!
0:15:02 > 0:15:04Oh, this is ridiculous.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10Wow!
0:15:10 > 0:15:12Oh, man, this is like something out of the movies.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17What a beautiful house.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20A beautiful house.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37- Henry?- Yes.- Cousin Henry?- Richard.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39I'm Richard. Hi. Good to meet you.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44John Hicks is my great, great, great, great, great grandfather.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47He's my fifth grandfather. Is it the same for you, or...?
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Actually, I'm six times removed so he would be...
0:15:51 > 0:15:55- Great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. - That's correct.
0:15:55 > 0:15:58All I kind of know about him at the moment is, John Hicks,
0:15:58 > 0:16:02is that he came here at some point in the mid-to-late 1700s
0:16:02 > 0:16:03and he ran the ferry.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Well, John Hicks actually was an American,
0:16:07 > 0:16:12and most all of the communities that had been settled in America at the time,
0:16:12 > 0:16:16or in the United States, were along the Eastern Seaboard and they couldn't spread west
0:16:16 > 0:16:18because the natives were still very hostile
0:16:18 > 0:16:21and things were crowded there.
0:16:21 > 0:16:27They had very few options in terms of expanding families and land and other things,
0:16:27 > 0:16:31and therefore they left the community where there were churches and schools
0:16:31 > 0:16:34and all things that are civilised,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37to come to a country that was unsettled
0:16:37 > 0:16:41because of the opportunity of having land and being able to expand from there.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46Throughout the 1600s,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50the province of Nova Scotia had been under French rule.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54But, in 1713, the British had finally taken the province,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56and, by the late 1750s,
0:16:56 > 0:17:00almost all the French inhabitants had been brutally deported.
0:17:04 > 0:17:06In the mid-18th century,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10the British settlements on the east coast of America were overcrowded.
0:17:10 > 0:17:15With most of the rest of the country still in the hands of the native Indian population,
0:17:15 > 0:17:19men like John Hicks, in search of new lands to settle,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21saw their opportunity in the north.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27In 1760, Nova Scotia was still largely uninhabited by the British,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30nearly 50 years after they'd taken it.
0:17:33 > 0:17:38The Governor issued a proclamation inviting people to participate in owning land
0:17:38 > 0:17:41which would be ceded to those people who were accepted.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45- And they didn't have to pay a red cent for this?- No, they did not.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48Says, "By His Excellency Charles Lawrence Esq,
0:17:48 > 0:17:52"Captain General and Governor in Chief in his Majesty's province of Nova Scotia,
0:17:52 > 0:17:57"a favourable opportunity now presents for the peopling and cultivating
0:17:57 > 0:18:01"as well as the lands vacated by the..." Vacated by the French!
0:18:01 > 0:18:03Driven out, more like!
0:18:03 > 0:18:07"I shall be ready to receive any proposals that may hereafter be made to me
0:18:07 > 0:18:12"for effectually settling the said vacated or any other lands within the province aforesaid.
0:18:12 > 0:18:14"God save the King."
0:18:14 > 0:18:18So our great, great... Well, my great, great, great, great, great,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22one more great for you, grandfather saw this as a golden opportunity, presumably?
0:18:22 > 0:18:23That's right.
0:18:26 > 0:18:29In 1760, the 45-year-old John Hicks,
0:18:29 > 0:18:32with his wife Elizabeth and their young children,
0:18:32 > 0:18:34along with hundreds of other settlers,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36left New England in America.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42After a 400 mile voyage north, John and his family
0:18:42 > 0:18:45were faced with the challenge of creating a new society
0:18:45 > 0:18:48in the harsh wilds of Nova Scotia.
0:18:49 > 0:18:53What kind of conditions would he have found when he got here?
0:18:53 > 0:18:56Well, there was still a threat from the French,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59those that were not expelled.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03There was also a threat from the native population,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06and therefore there needed to be some protection
0:19:06 > 0:19:07in terms of a garrison, and so on.
0:19:07 > 0:19:09Right.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13The land had actually been vacant for some time,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16- so it was pretty wild.- Mmm.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Those who came, including John, would bring everything.
0:19:19 > 0:19:22Their furnishings, their whole life.
0:19:22 > 0:19:25What did they do? Did they build a log cabin to begin with
0:19:25 > 0:19:28and improve it from there? Were they living in tents?
0:19:28 > 0:19:30They would've built homes,
0:19:30 > 0:19:34- and some of them even brought their structures with them. - What, prefab homes?
0:19:34 > 0:19:37Yes, and so they would've just cut it right out and...
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So this is a little bit like, in later generations, the settlers who went west?
0:19:41 > 0:19:44They put everything in the wagons and lit out?
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Absolutely. In this case they came by boat,
0:19:47 > 0:19:50and it's hard for us to envisage, really, what they came to,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54but it was really very rudimentary in terms of any...
0:19:54 > 0:19:56So, he was an American to begin with,
0:19:56 > 0:20:00so I've come to the end of my Canadian ancestry,
0:20:00 > 0:20:02my Canadian family tree. Where do I go from here?
0:20:02 > 0:20:05- John Hicks had a son.- Mm.
0:20:05 > 0:20:08- Thomas Hicks.- Thomas Hicks, yeah.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11Who would be your great-great- great-great-grandfather.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13- Four greats.- Four greats.- Right.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Er, and he married Sarah Chute.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18Yeah.
0:20:18 > 0:20:25If you check that out, you will find that you can follow your lineage quite nicely, I think.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28- Thank you very much. It's been great talking to you.- Thank you.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44Just look at the difference between what John Hicks set out to do and achieved
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and the environment that he did it in
0:20:47 > 0:20:52and what I've done in my pathetic life, you know, sitting on a sofa in a warm television studio
0:20:52 > 0:20:55asking people a few moderately easy questions.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57I mean, the contrast couldn't be greater.
0:20:57 > 0:21:02Protected, cosseted, overly paid, you know, all of that,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05and you set that kind of modern pampered existence
0:21:05 > 0:21:11against the sort of things that they had to do and had to risk and had to judge,
0:21:11 > 0:21:15knowing it might not come off and knowing that the consequences of failure weren't...
0:21:15 > 0:21:19a P45 and slight public humiliation, but death.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22The contrast couldn't be greater.
0:21:35 > 0:21:43Richard has traced his Canadian ancestry back seven generations to John Hicks.
0:21:43 > 0:21:47To go further back, he must now turn his attention to the family
0:21:47 > 0:21:52of his great-great-great- great-grandmother, Sarah Chute.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59He's on his way to meet archivist Lois York
0:21:59 > 0:22:02who has been researching the earliest records of Nova Scotia.
0:22:07 > 0:22:11So what can you tell me about Sarah Chute?
0:22:11 > 0:22:14Well, now, Chute is an old Nova Scotian name.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17It goes back to the 1760's
0:22:17 > 0:22:21and we have some of the very old records.
0:22:21 > 0:22:24These early settlers set up a register.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29They asked each family for information
0:22:29 > 0:22:30and here you've got Sarah...
0:22:30 > 0:22:33- This is the actual document? - This is the actual document.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35- See the old handwriting?- Yeah.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40Born the 3rd of November 1758,
0:22:40 > 0:22:45and the last of the family born in New England, her parents,
0:22:45 > 0:22:50John and Judith would have been part of the migration around 1760
0:22:50 > 0:22:53from those New England colonies.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56- They would have come up with my five times great-grandfather.- Yes.
0:22:56 > 0:23:00You've found and revealed Sarah to me so I know where she was born.
0:23:00 > 0:23:05But I don't know what to do with this information. Where do I go from here?
0:23:05 > 0:23:08You go southwest.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Leave Nova Scotia, go down to New England.
0:23:11 > 0:23:17You've got Sarah and you have her parents.
0:23:17 > 0:23:24Your answers lie wherever they lived before they came to Nova Scotia.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27- Here we go.- You're off.
0:23:43 > 0:23:48I thought we were going to get interesting, quirky stories about smallholdings and farms.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50What we've got is quite epic.
0:23:50 > 0:23:55When I was driving back last night, through a very heavy blizzard and there was nothing to be seen,
0:23:55 > 0:23:59there were no lights, we were in complete isolation in heavy snow,
0:23:59 > 0:24:04with months more heavy snow and isolation to come, and yet we've got a 4x4 car,
0:24:04 > 0:24:06we can come back to a hotel.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09These guys were completely out on limb
0:24:09 > 0:24:14in very, very wild place, and they did what they needed to do to make it work.
0:24:14 > 0:24:18I'm just so full of admiration for them.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26Richard has discovered that his Canadian ancestors migrated from America
0:24:26 > 0:24:29when its east coast territories were part of Britain's Empire.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36Now he must travel to America to find out more.
0:24:36 > 0:24:42The area known as New England was first settled in 1620,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46as English colonists arrived in search of political and religious freedom,
0:24:46 > 0:24:49and economic profit.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54Richard is on his way to Boston, the state capital of Massachusetts.
0:25:03 > 0:25:08Founded in 1630, Boston was named after its English counterpart in Lincolnshire
0:25:08 > 0:25:12and quickly became the most important town of New England,
0:25:12 > 0:25:16attracting thousands of migrants as the city developed.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Richard is hoping to uncover information that will lead him
0:25:24 > 0:25:28right back to the very start of his North American ancestry.
0:25:31 > 0:25:37He's going to the Massachusetts archives to meet genealogist and historian, Diane Rapaport,
0:25:37 > 0:25:41who's traced Sarah Chute's family back to her great-great-grandparents,
0:25:41 > 0:25:46Ezekiel and Ann Woodward, in the mid-17th century.
0:25:46 > 0:25:48Do we know what they did for a living?
0:25:48 > 0:25:56Most people back then were pretty much jacks of all trades, and Ezekiel, he did some carpentry work.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00- Later on her became a tavern keeper.- Ah-ha!
0:26:00 > 0:26:07Ann would have...she would have spent a lot of time cooking, and then another thing,
0:26:07 > 0:26:12you know, if anyone was sick in the family, the women were in charge of generally...
0:26:12 > 0:26:13- Nursing them.- ..nursing them.
0:26:13 > 0:26:19- There were women healers and doctors.- Mm.
0:26:19 > 0:26:25But mostly, women, unless it became serious, they knew how to make herbal remedies.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28She would have been taking care of that.
0:26:28 > 0:26:30And were they midwives as well?
0:26:30 > 0:26:32They were definitely midwives.
0:26:32 > 0:26:37- In fact, they were very important in the community because most people had large families.- Mm.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And anyway I'll moved this out of the way
0:26:41 > 0:26:44because I've found a document involving Ann and a midwife
0:26:44 > 0:26:47that I think you'll find very interesting.
0:26:47 > 0:26:49- How far back does this date?- 1650.
0:26:49 > 0:26:55Ann was involved in what has been called one of the...
0:26:55 > 0:27:01- the first collective political actions of American women.- Really?
0:27:01 > 0:27:06There was a midwife named Alice Tilly, from Boston,
0:27:06 > 0:27:11and Alice Tilly had been arrested and imprisoned and jail...
0:27:11 > 0:27:15and convicted of, basically, medical malpractice.
0:27:15 > 0:27:20Someone under Alice's care must have died in childbirth and...
0:27:20 > 0:27:23And she copped, she copped the blame for it.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27Right, and somebody complained, and so anyway,
0:27:27 > 0:27:33Ann was one of about 130 women who signed a petition on her behalf.
0:27:33 > 0:27:38- So this is an exclusively female-signed petition? - These are all women, right.- OK.
0:27:38 > 0:27:43These women wanted her... wanted her to be released.
0:27:43 > 0:27:45This was a vote of faith by the women in the community.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47They were saying that she's a good midwife.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Right, and I don't know if you can read...
0:27:50 > 0:27:52- I'll try.- This is...
0:27:52 > 0:27:56To the Right Honourable John Endicott, Governor, the...
0:27:56 > 0:28:00- That's Thomas - T-H-O. Thomas Dudley.- Thomas Dudley Esq.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02Deputy Governor.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06- What does it say here? Can you read this to me? I'm very bad at this...- OK.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11"Whereas your petitioners having had manifold experiences
0:28:11 > 0:28:16"of the skill and ability through the good hand of God,
0:28:16 > 0:28:19- "of a useful instrument..." They're talking about Alice.- Alice.
0:28:19 > 0:28:21And we're over here.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24- I'm with you.- "Who by..."
0:28:24 > 0:28:25Oh...
0:28:25 > 0:28:28- Let's see.- Of providence?
0:28:28 > 0:28:34- "By providence has become a prisoner to your worships..." - Namely Alice Tilly.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39"And therein several crimes written on her forehead."
0:28:39 > 0:28:41That's a metaphor. They're not really...
0:28:41 > 0:28:45I think that's a metaphor, although in those days
0:28:45 > 0:28:49- sometimes people would be branded on their forehead...- Be branded. - ..with whatever their...
0:28:49 > 0:28:51Hence that expression.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55"Crimes written on your forehead which God
0:28:55 > 0:29:01- "nor her own conscience made lay to her charge..." They're saying...- She's innocent.
0:29:01 > 0:29:02- She's innocent.- Before God.
0:29:02 > 0:29:08- Right.- So where's my great- great-great-great-great-great- great-great-grandmother's signature
0:29:08 > 0:29:11- in this lot?- All right. Well, she's in the fourth column.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13She's the second from the top.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17- Ann without an E.- Er, yeah. The last name is very hard to read.
0:29:17 > 0:29:22I can see a W and it certainly finishes with R-D, and you're telling me that
0:29:22 > 0:29:28this was one of the first recorded community actions by women in a political context in America.
0:29:28 > 0:29:34Yes, and it was one of the... unprecedented in terms of numbers.
0:29:34 > 0:29:38So, Ann was a feisty woman, clearly.
0:29:40 > 0:29:46The petition Ann signed was one of several delivered to the authorities.
0:29:46 > 0:29:55In total, 217 women stood up against the governors and succeeded in securing the release of Alice Tilly.
0:29:55 > 0:30:01At a time when many women were only allowed the most basic education, had no right to own property,
0:30:01 > 0:30:08and no say in the governing of their communities, this was an unprecedented collective statement,
0:30:08 > 0:30:14nearly three centuries before women were granted the right to vote in the United States.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22Let's talk about her husband, Ezekiel. Have you found out stuff about him?
0:30:22 > 0:30:26All right. I have indeed. So, this is his baptismal record.
0:30:26 > 0:30:30This is back in England, in Poddington, Bedfordshire.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33- Pottington did you say? - Er, P-O-D-D-I-N-G.
0:30:33 > 0:30:38- Oh, Poddington.- Poddington. I may not pronounce it the way... - That's all right. In Bedfordshire.
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Oh, so he actually wasn't born in Massachusetts, Ezekiel. He came from England.
0:30:42 > 0:30:48He was born about 1624 and he is on this document.
0:30:48 > 0:30:53So Ezekiel Woodward, son of Nathaniel Woodward. Is that?
0:30:53 > 0:30:56- Baptised I think. - Baptised something May, anyway.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58- Uh-huh.- So we know it was 1624.
0:30:58 > 0:31:04- 1624.- We know that he was the son of Nathaniel Woodward and he was baptised in May of that year.
0:31:04 > 0:31:11And he came over to New England and he definitely left records as well.
0:31:11 > 0:31:13- Mm-hmm.- And was feisty, like Ann.
0:31:13 > 0:31:16- What do you mean, feisty? - Well, let me show you.
0:31:16 > 0:31:20He also petitioned, the general court...
0:31:20 > 0:31:22- A couple of rebels, these two!- Right!
0:31:22 > 0:31:27- This is a petition that Ezekiel... - Just a one-man petition?
0:31:27 > 0:31:30- All his own work? - A one-man petition.
0:31:30 > 0:31:31What's he moaning about here?
0:31:31 > 0:31:33- You want to see if you can...?- OK.
0:31:33 > 0:31:41"Tour petitioner... was in the time of the war
0:31:41 > 0:31:46- "bearing the office of a sergeant..."- Mm-hm.
0:31:46 > 0:31:48"..and can get...
0:31:48 > 0:31:50"No more."
0:31:50 > 0:31:54"..no more satisfaction of the treasurer..."
0:31:54 > 0:31:57- It's about money this, isn't it? - It's about money, yes.
0:31:57 > 0:32:04- "..than that which belongs to a common soldier..."- Yes.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06"..as witness my hand."
0:32:06 > 0:32:10And then it says, "The mark of Ezekiel Woodward."
0:32:10 > 0:32:14- He's obviously owed money. - He wasn't paid as a Sergeant should have been paid in, in this war.
0:32:14 > 0:32:15So which war was this?
0:32:15 > 0:32:17This was King Philip's war
0:32:17 > 0:32:20and not too many people really even know about it.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21- Is that Philip from Spain?- No, no.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Philip... This was a native American.
0:32:24 > 0:32:28Indians, native Americans were living amidst the colonists
0:32:28 > 0:32:30in a lot of parts of New England.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34More or less peacefully for many years
0:32:34 > 0:32:39but in June of 1675, tensions erupted.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42And Ezekiel was, was in the thick of it?
0:32:42 > 0:32:47He signed on for to what was called the Narragansett campaign,
0:32:47 > 0:32:52that was fought mostly in Rhode Island.
0:32:52 > 0:32:57One of the most bloody and difficult parts of the war.
0:32:57 > 0:33:01So that's all really I can discover here in Boston.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04I've got to go south to Rhode Island to find out more?
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Rhode Island is where the battle occurred.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10- Diane, thank you so much.- Well, thank you.- Really good. Thank you.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26I've always been attracted to people and particularly women
0:33:26 > 0:33:31who are feisty and stroppy and strong-minded.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33I don't know why, I just am.
0:33:33 > 0:33:38And I remember the very first time that I, that I saw and met Judy.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40It was in the newsroom at Granada Television
0:33:40 > 0:33:42and I walked into the morning news conference
0:33:42 > 0:33:45which can be quite... punch-up sort of affairs.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48And she even though she was relatively junior,
0:33:48 > 0:33:50although she was a presenter,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53she was absolutely steaming in to a rather pompous producer
0:33:53 > 0:33:56who'd said something rather silly, and giving no quarter.
0:33:56 > 0:33:58But she was right.
0:33:58 > 0:34:01And I loved that about her straightaway
0:34:01 > 0:34:04and she is, as anybody who knows her,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06for all her gentle qualities,
0:34:06 > 0:34:08she can be gloriously stroppy and I love that.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11And thinking about Ann and Ezekiel,
0:34:11 > 0:34:13that's exactly what they had.
0:34:13 > 0:34:15They obviously were attracted to each other.
0:34:15 > 0:34:18They were drawn to each other, and were both stroppy mavericks.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26Richard wants to find out more about his ancestors' involvement
0:34:26 > 0:34:29in the Narragansett Campaign of King Philip's war,
0:34:29 > 0:34:33a war between the colonists and the Native Americans.
0:34:33 > 0:34:38He's come to Rhode Island where the campaign took place.
0:34:38 > 0:34:41When the first British settlers arrived in America
0:34:41 > 0:34:43in the early 17th century
0:34:43 > 0:34:45they were ill equipped to survive
0:34:45 > 0:34:50in the harsh and unforgiving conditions of the new colonies.
0:34:50 > 0:34:53Brutal weather, starvation and illness
0:34:53 > 0:34:57decimated the colonial population.
0:34:57 > 0:35:00Within months, the colonists who survived.
0:35:00 > 0:35:04had turned to the Native Indian tribes
0:35:04 > 0:35:06who inhabited New England, for help.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09But as the colonists became accustomed to the new world
0:35:09 > 0:35:14they needed less support from their Indian neighbours
0:35:14 > 0:35:17and their desire for land and power grew.
0:35:17 > 0:35:21The early alliance began to fall apart and wars broke out.
0:35:25 > 0:35:29I'm fascinated by the fact that men like Ezekiel
0:35:29 > 0:35:31on the one hand had to live check by jowl
0:35:31 > 0:35:34with the Native Indian population and get on with them, er,
0:35:34 > 0:35:37but at the same time these wars would suddenly erupt.
0:35:44 > 0:35:49Richard's meeting Professor Lin Fisher at Smiths Castle Museum.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01My great times eight grandfather, Ezekiel, came down here to sort out
0:36:01 > 0:36:03a problem with the Indians and that's kind of all I know.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05What was going on back then?
0:36:05 > 0:36:09It's interesting, when they first arrived, the colonists that is,
0:36:09 > 0:36:10in 1620 here in New England,
0:36:10 > 0:36:13there were about 70,000 Native Americans, so quite a few.
0:36:13 > 0:36:17More than you might expect, and over time, as the English became
0:36:17 > 0:36:20more and more independent and needed Indians less and less,
0:36:20 > 0:36:23they began to take advantage of them in specific ways, and several ways.
0:36:23 > 0:36:26So first of all they began to take a lot of land which caused
0:36:26 > 0:36:29a lot of grievance on the part of the Native American.
0:36:29 > 0:36:34And second of all they put a lot of these native groups under political sort of subjugation
0:36:34 > 0:36:37and then they also, the English that is, the colonists,
0:36:37 > 0:36:40began to evangelise these natives very actively as well.
0:36:40 > 0:36:45And so all of this over the course between 1620, 1630 and the 1670's
0:36:45 > 0:36:47leads up to a lot of disagreements.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49A lot of tensions between the Indians and the colonists.
0:36:49 > 0:36:53So what actually specifically happened then as far as Ezekiel was concerned?
0:36:53 > 0:36:55What specifically was the tipping point?
0:36:55 > 0:36:58King Philip, who we have a little portrait of,
0:36:58 > 0:37:01he was the lead Sachem of the Wampanoag Tribe
0:37:01 > 0:37:04and the English were suspicious that Philip
0:37:04 > 0:37:07was actually planning a pan-Indian uprising.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14In June 1675, three members of the Wampanoag Tribe
0:37:14 > 0:37:19were tried and found guilty for the murder of a Christian Indian
0:37:19 > 0:37:21who was an ally of the colonists.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24The three men were executed by the English.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Many Native Americans believed this act
0:37:30 > 0:37:32was deliberately provocative
0:37:32 > 0:37:34and under their leader, Metacom,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37who the English had renamed Prince Philip,
0:37:37 > 0:37:42several Indian tribes of New England rose up against the colonists.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46As trouble swept through the region,
0:37:46 > 0:37:50all the able-bodied men in the colony were called on to fight.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55Ezekiel Woodward was a sergeant
0:37:55 > 0:37:58attached to a company of nearly 150 men.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02At the age of 51, he was one of the senior men
0:38:02 > 0:38:04in a position of authority.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09In early December the company set off on a 70 mile march south,
0:38:09 > 0:38:11to a meeting point at Smith's Castle,
0:38:11 > 0:38:16in preparation for a battle against the Narragansetts,
0:38:16 > 0:38:19one of the tribes which had turned against the colonists.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23If you can think about it through the eyes of Ezekiel.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26He gets the initial call. He has to inform his family.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29He knows it's gong to be basically a two month campaign
0:38:29 > 0:38:31so he's away from home for two months.
0:38:31 > 0:38:33His family doesn't know if he's returning.
0:38:33 > 0:38:34It's a very poignant moment
0:38:34 > 0:38:38and then when the actual day comes, they strap on all their gear
0:38:38 > 0:38:42and then they have to actually march the whole way down to this location
0:38:42 > 0:38:44exactly at Smith's Castle.
0:38:44 > 0:38:46- So Ezekiel would have been here? - Right here.- Wow!
0:38:46 > 0:38:49So he arrived here on December 13th.
0:38:49 > 0:38:50They began roving around,
0:38:50 > 0:38:53they find a few native villages and they burn them to the ground
0:38:53 > 0:38:56and there's a really fascinating description,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59that is captured in a letter by Joseph Dudley
0:38:59 > 0:39:02who is one of the chaplains for the militias.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05"May it please Your Honour,
0:39:05 > 0:39:07"I am commanded by the General
0:39:07 > 0:39:10"to give Your Honour account of our proceeding..."
0:39:12 > 0:39:13Lets do this together.
0:39:13 > 0:39:17Well, actually we have a transcription that will little bit if that's OK with you.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18Yes, please. Yeah.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21"We have burned two of their towns,
0:39:21 > 0:39:26"many of them large wigwams, and seized or slain 50 persons.
0:39:26 > 0:39:28"In all, our prisoners being about 40.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32"The whole body of them we find removed into their great swamp,
0:39:32 > 0:39:34"and hope tomorrow a march towards them.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37"Peter, who we have found very faithful,
0:39:37 > 0:39:43"will make us believe that they are 3,000 fighting men."
0:39:43 > 0:39:45What's interesting, several things.
0:39:45 > 0:39:48First of all, as you'll find in this letter I want to show you as well,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52that describes the actual fight, Indian Peter plays a critical role.
0:39:52 > 0:39:55The other thing that's interesting is how sort of casually
0:39:55 > 0:39:58- Joseph Dudley mentions going out and pillaging local Indian towns.- Yeah.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01- Yeah.- I mean so it gives you a sense of the broader context
0:40:01 > 0:40:03in which Ezekiel was working.
0:40:03 > 0:40:07It would have been horrific to perpetuate these kinds deeds,
0:40:07 > 0:40:10but at the same time, this was a matter of life and death
0:40:10 > 0:40:14and Joseph Dudley is simply reporting what was taking place.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18On December the 19th, 1675,
0:40:18 > 0:40:24in deep winter, Ezekiel's company join nearly a thousand other men
0:40:24 > 0:40:29who, helped by a native guide the colonists knew as Indian Peter,
0:40:29 > 0:40:32marched to an area known as the Great Swamp.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37Here, the troops believed,
0:40:37 > 0:40:39members of the Narragansett Tribe
0:40:39 > 0:40:42had taken shelter in a palisaded fort.
0:40:45 > 0:40:50The Great Swamp fight depends on your perspective.
0:40:50 > 0:40:51It's a Great Swamp Massacre
0:40:51 > 0:40:53and it involves a very specific campaign
0:40:53 > 0:40:55that took months to plan, prepare.
0:40:55 > 0:40:58What's interesting is the palisaded fort in the swamp
0:40:58 > 0:41:03was designed to be inaccessible, except by one or two little paths,
0:41:03 > 0:41:05and you had to know precisely where you were going to get there.
0:41:05 > 0:41:09- Indian Peter did know.- Indian Pete, this is where he comes in.
0:41:09 > 0:41:11Right, but the swamp was also frozen.
0:41:11 > 0:41:13So you put together these two pieces.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16- They have Indian Peter and the swamp is frozen.- Yeah.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18And suddenly this fortress, becomes very vulnerable,
0:41:18 > 0:41:23and there is again actually a letter that comes from Joseph Dudley
0:41:23 > 0:41:27- and it starts down here, sort of at the bottom.- OK.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30"A tedious march in the snow without intermission
0:41:30 > 0:41:34"brought us about two of the clock in the afternoon
0:41:34 > 0:41:37"to the entrance to the swamp, by the help of Indian Peter.
0:41:37 > 0:41:42"Within the cedar swamp we found some hundreds of wigwams.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47"They entertained us with a fierce fight and many thousands shot
0:41:47 > 0:41:52"for about an hour, when our men valiantly sealed the fort.
0:41:52 > 0:41:55"The Indians fell on again re-carried,
0:41:55 > 0:41:56"and beat us out of the fort."
0:41:56 > 0:41:58So there was a real pitched battle.
0:41:58 > 0:42:01- It was a tough fight. - To-ing and fro-ing.
0:42:01 > 0:42:03- It was a tough fight.- Yeah, yeah.
0:42:03 > 0:42:06"We reinforced and very hardily into the fort again
0:42:06 > 0:42:11"and fired the wigwams with many living and dead persons in them.
0:42:11 > 0:42:13"Great piles of meal and heaps of corn.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17"The ground not admitting burial of their store were consumed."
0:42:17 > 0:42:19So they burnt the lot. They torched it.
0:42:19 > 0:42:22- Bodies, people, living, dead.- Yeah.
0:42:22 > 0:42:24- Corn, meat, the whole thing. - The whole thing to the flame.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26- About 500 wigwams.- Wow.
0:42:26 > 0:42:29Think about Ezekiel taking part in all that.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31It's one heck of an encounter.
0:42:31 > 0:42:35Do you think that, that my ancestor Ezekiel was lucky to survive it?
0:42:35 > 0:42:36I think he was.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38The Great Swamp Fight, or Massacre,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41was the bloodiest battle within King Philip's war.
0:42:41 > 0:42:43And King Philip's war is the bloodiest war
0:42:43 > 0:42:45ever fought on US soil,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48as a proportion of the population compared to those who died.
0:42:48 > 0:42:51- Really. Wow.- Very, very bloody set of events.
0:42:51 > 0:42:56The great thing about being here in Rhode Island is that the Great Swamp isn't that far away.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59- OK.- And I highly recommend that you actually go out to the Great Swamp,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02whether you drive, or march like Ezekiel, did is up to you!
0:43:02 > 0:43:04But to go there and to see it
0:43:04 > 0:43:08- and to experience the expanse, the closeness.- Yeah.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10Everything, in the snow, it would be terrific.
0:43:10 > 0:43:12And I will be on the very spot
0:43:12 > 0:43:15that my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather was
0:43:15 > 0:43:18- and fought and went into combat. - You'll be right there.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34Richard has come to the Great Swamp
0:43:34 > 0:43:40where a monument was erected in 1906 to commemorate the battle.
0:43:40 > 0:43:41Hello, are you John?
0:43:41 > 0:43:43- John.- I'm Richard.- Richard.
0:43:43 > 0:43:45- Very pleased to meet you. - Nice meeting you.- Hi, can we get in?
0:43:45 > 0:43:48- Oh, yes.- Go round. Thank you.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52John Brown is a member of the Narragansett Tribe,
0:43:52 > 0:43:54and historic preservation director.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02You're about 300 yards away from the actual encampment.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06- Where the battle, where the battle happened?- Yeah.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08So I only learned two hours ago
0:44:08 > 0:44:13that my great times eight grandfather was in this battle.
0:44:13 > 0:44:16This was not a battle or a war.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19This was a massacre.
0:44:19 > 0:44:23The combatants that they were looking for,
0:44:23 > 0:44:24were not here.
0:44:24 > 0:44:29The people that were here in this forest were the old men,
0:44:29 > 0:44:32old women, women and children.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36They came in with several thousand troops.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39When they could not gain entrance into the compound,
0:44:39 > 0:44:43they then burned it and killed the people in there.
0:44:43 > 0:44:44There was...
0:44:44 > 0:44:51None of the people that you would consider soldiers were here.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53None of the actual defenders were here.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56They were on a campaign in the Boston area.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58Why do you think then, that when the militia men,
0:44:58 > 0:45:00including my great times eight grandfather,
0:45:00 > 0:45:03when they got here, why do you think when they realised that
0:45:03 > 0:45:04the people they were looking for weren't here,
0:45:04 > 0:45:07why carry on anyway and kill and destroy the place?
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Their purpose was to colonise,
0:45:10 > 0:45:11and when you colonise,
0:45:11 > 0:45:16you remove the indigenous species no matter what those species are
0:45:16 > 0:45:19and you replace them with that which you bring.
0:45:19 > 0:45:22And we were in the way of them wanting the land.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26It was an attempt to break our life cycle.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29And using terms of this and the last century,
0:45:29 > 0:45:32would you describe it as genocide what happened here that day?
0:45:32 > 0:45:34Oh, certainly. That was the attempt.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36- They didn't come in the middle of the day.- No.
0:45:36 > 0:45:39They snuck in in the middle of the night
0:45:39 > 0:45:40and they used a trader to do it.
0:45:40 > 0:45:42So you tell me how you'd look at it?
0:45:42 > 0:45:44If I came to your house
0:45:44 > 0:45:47with all your family there and your extended family there,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49in the middle of the night,
0:45:49 > 0:45:53and said "come out," and I came there with a bunch of guys with guns
0:45:53 > 0:45:56and will you come out and say "Hey, I'm not coming out, you've got guns.
0:45:56 > 0:45:58"Go away." I start shooting.
0:45:58 > 0:46:02And when that doesn't get the job done, I'd start burning.
0:46:02 > 0:46:03How would you look at me?
0:46:03 > 0:46:07I'm the direct descendant of one of the more senior soldiers
0:46:07 > 0:46:10who came down here that day and did what they did.
0:46:10 > 0:46:12Er, and you're a direct descendant
0:46:12 > 0:46:14- of some of the people who were here. - Were here.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16So, er, we're looking at each other,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20er, separated by about 350 years but through the same genetic material.
0:46:20 > 0:46:23- Yes, exactly right.- Right. - Across the face of time.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28Absolutely. So it makes me feel a little guilty after all this time.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Er, and I'm not being politically correct in saying that.
0:46:31 > 0:46:34I does, I mean, I do feel a sense of visceral guilt
0:46:34 > 0:46:35that that happened to your people.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38How do you feel about me?
0:46:38 > 0:46:40You're not a bad person.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44- And you cannot change what was done back then.- No.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47The only thing that we can do in this time and this place
0:46:47 > 0:46:48is attempt to live our lives
0:46:48 > 0:46:52in such a way that we give back to those who gave to us.
0:46:52 > 0:46:54And that's what we do.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58Why should you be my enemy and why should I be yours?
0:46:58 > 0:47:00If I could conjure up
0:47:00 > 0:47:05the spirit, the person of my ancestor right here and now,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09would you be in a position to offer him forgiveness for what happened?
0:47:09 > 0:47:12Would you understand possibly that he was himself in a bind,
0:47:12 > 0:47:17in a position where he felt he had no alternatives as a simple...
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Not a politician, just a simple militiaman
0:47:20 > 0:47:22told to do what he was told to do?
0:47:22 > 0:47:27I think you've said it in a most eloquent way that, er,
0:47:27 > 0:47:31these people really didn't have a whole lot of choices.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35They either were in for that penny or they were in for that pound,
0:47:35 > 0:47:38and no matter whether it was a pound or a penny,
0:47:38 > 0:47:42- they were in and there was no getting out.- Mmm.
0:47:47 > 0:47:51This is an interesting one. I've just spoken to a modern-day historian
0:47:51 > 0:47:56whose take on what happened here was effectively that it was a battle,
0:47:56 > 0:48:00but from the Indian perspective it was just a slaughter
0:48:00 > 0:48:03and it was genocide, and it was cold-blooded murder
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and if that's true, then my direct ancestor
0:48:07 > 0:48:09was part of something pretty horrible.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12Having said that, that tends to be what happens
0:48:12 > 0:48:16when there are great population migrations anywhere in the world.
0:48:16 > 0:48:17You get these terrible clashes
0:48:17 > 0:48:21between an indigenous population and the incomers, and bad stuff happens.
0:48:21 > 0:48:25And I can't really, I can't make a moral judgment against
0:48:25 > 0:48:30my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather at this distance.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32It doesn't seem reasonable.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36This was pretty bad, though, I have to say.
0:48:40 > 0:48:47King Philip's war devastated the Native American population of New England,
0:48:47 > 0:48:52with an estimated death toll of 3,000 from a population of just 20,000.
0:48:55 > 0:48:58Many of those Indians who survived were enslaved or transported
0:48:58 > 0:49:02from their tribal lands and forcibly resettled
0:49:02 > 0:49:04in other areas of New England.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10In 1676, when the war ended,
0:49:10 > 0:49:12the English colonists had effectively
0:49:12 > 0:49:15gained total control of New England.
0:49:21 > 0:49:25Richard knows that his ancestor Ezekiel Woodward
0:49:25 > 0:49:27was born in England in 1624
0:49:27 > 0:49:32and migrated to America when he was a teenager.
0:49:32 > 0:49:35But to see if this American line goes any further back,
0:49:35 > 0:49:37he has to turn to Ezekiel's wife, Ann.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50Richard has come back to Boston
0:49:50 > 0:49:53to find out where Ann's family were from.
0:49:55 > 0:50:01He's meeting historian Bob Anderson in the City Hall archives.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04So I know that Ezekiel was born and christened
0:50:04 > 0:50:09in England round about 1624, but I know very little about his wife Ann.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11What can you tell me about her and her parents?
0:50:11 > 0:50:13Well, Ann was born right here in Boston.
0:50:13 > 0:50:18Her father had come to Boston at least as early as 1632.
0:50:18 > 0:50:22We know that in fact because Ann's birth is recorded here.
0:50:22 > 0:50:26It's one of the earliest births recorded in the town of Boston.
0:50:26 > 0:50:30- Really?- Boston had been settled in the fall of 1630.
0:50:30 > 0:50:32So just two years after the settlement.
0:50:32 > 0:50:37Two years after the settlement. And we do have a record of, er,
0:50:37 > 0:50:38Ann's birth right here.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42So these are genuine originals?
0:50:42 > 0:50:45Genuine originals. Written by the first town clerk of Boston.
0:50:49 > 0:50:511635.
0:50:51 > 0:50:541636. I can see the numbers OK.
0:50:54 > 0:50:56It's the names that are difficult to read.
0:50:56 > 0:50:59- No, I can't find it.- All right.
0:50:59 > 0:51:02It's right here. There's Ann,
0:51:02 > 0:51:06the daughter of William, and William is abbreviated Wm.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Beamsley, and Ann his wife was born
0:51:10 > 0:51:15- the first of the 12th month, 1632.- Gosh, you're good at this.
0:51:15 > 0:51:18- So she was born in that winter of 1632-33.- OK.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21And just a half a mile from here.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23Their house was in the north end of Boston.
0:51:23 > 0:51:25- Half a mile from where we're sitting? - Yes.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28Gosh. This document is truly remarkable, isn't it?
0:51:28 > 0:51:30And you know, my relatives,
0:51:30 > 0:51:34- my blood ancestors are on this page. - Right there.- I've found them.- Yes.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37I've gone right back to the founding of the colonies
0:51:37 > 0:51:39and my first American relative.
0:51:39 > 0:51:41So your family is part of the absolute founding
0:51:41 > 0:51:43of this part of the world.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46Absolutely, and I'm so proud of them, actually.
0:51:46 > 0:51:47- You should be.- So proud of them.
0:52:03 > 0:52:05It's almost impossible, isn't it,
0:52:05 > 0:52:09to imagine what Boston would have looked like, what, 400 years ago?
0:52:11 > 0:52:14I mean, these people had travelled
0:52:14 > 0:52:16a couple of thousand miles over the Atlantic,
0:52:16 > 0:52:19and when they got here there was nothing for them.
0:52:19 > 0:52:22Nothing except the space and the land that they craved.
0:52:28 > 0:52:32I can just imagine as the boats pulled in and they looked at this,
0:52:32 > 0:52:35this wilderness, really, covered in trees,
0:52:35 > 0:52:40with just a few people moving around, putting up shacks, chopping wood,
0:52:40 > 0:52:42and the sound of hammering
0:52:42 > 0:52:46as people started to put together their very, very basic shelters,
0:52:46 > 0:52:52and the smell of raw sawn wood hanging in the air, resin,
0:52:52 > 0:52:55but basically pretty chaotic.
0:52:57 > 0:53:01I think they would have been pretty daunted at first
0:53:01 > 0:53:06at seeing just how brand new and fundamentally undeveloped Boston was.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Before leaving Boston,
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Richard wants to find out why his family came to America.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17He's meeting Professor Brendan McConville.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22How should I think of this couple as they step off the boat?
0:53:22 > 0:53:26As Boston's founding fathers amongst them or founding families?
0:53:26 > 0:53:27What phrase would you as a historian
0:53:27 > 0:53:29use to describe them, to categorise them?
0:53:29 > 0:53:32They were certainly among the original settlers,
0:53:32 > 0:53:34original founders of the society,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37but the true leader in a sense of this migration was this person,
0:53:37 > 0:53:39- John Winthrop.- I've heard of him.
0:53:39 > 0:53:42Winthrop was a leading Puritan gentleman
0:53:42 > 0:53:44from the south-east of England.
0:53:44 > 0:53:48He had substantial resources and was widely respected in Puritan circles,
0:53:48 > 0:53:51which allowed him to organise this voyage.
0:53:51 > 0:53:55So it's entirely probable, if not absolutely certain,
0:53:55 > 0:53:57that William and Ann were on one of his ships,
0:53:57 > 0:54:00and possibly conversed with him, saw him?
0:54:00 > 0:54:03They certainly saw him when they were in Boston. It was a small town.
0:54:03 > 0:54:05- They had to have seen him. - They had to have seen him.
0:54:07 > 0:54:10In 1630, a fleet of 11 ships
0:54:10 > 0:54:12left England carrying migrants to America.
0:54:12 > 0:54:14On board were the men and women
0:54:14 > 0:54:17who would become the first settlers of the city of Boston.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21Amongst them were William and Ann Beamsley.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24They were led by the Puritan John Winthrop,
0:54:24 > 0:54:28who'd gathered these families together to settle the New World.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32Though some migrants were making the journey for economic reasons,
0:54:32 > 0:54:36many made the journey in search of religious freedom.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40In the early decades of the 1600s,
0:54:40 > 0:54:42the Church of England was under pressure.
0:54:42 > 0:54:45It had separated from Rome nearly a century earlier,
0:54:45 > 0:54:51but many followers believed it remained too steeped in Catholicism.
0:54:51 > 0:54:53As separatists split from the official church,
0:54:53 > 0:54:58a new religious movement emerged, known as Puritanism.
0:54:58 > 0:55:05And by 1630, New England had become a safe haven for its followers.
0:55:05 > 0:55:08So were William and Ann Puritans themselves, do you think?
0:55:08 > 0:55:11Most of the migrants who came were of Puritan leanings,
0:55:11 > 0:55:13but in the case of your ancestors,
0:55:13 > 0:55:15we know for certain that they weren't Puritans.
0:55:15 > 0:55:16How do you know that?
0:55:16 > 0:55:20By examining the early church records of First Church in Boston,
0:55:20 > 0:55:24we can determine that Ann's husband became a church member in 1635.
0:55:24 > 0:55:27- And you've got that here?- Right here. - Fantastic.
0:55:27 > 0:55:30Well, I'm looking for a William here,
0:55:30 > 0:55:33and I'm not sure how I'm going to find him.
0:55:33 > 0:55:34Er, is that a William there?
0:55:34 > 0:55:37I think..
0:55:37 > 0:55:39- that is.- Is that him?
0:55:39 > 0:55:41- I believe it is.- This isn't a set-up, honestly.- No, I know.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44This is the first time I've gone more or less straight to
0:55:44 > 0:55:46an entry that is of my ancestor.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49It says "William Beamsley, labourer,"
0:55:49 > 0:55:52- and it looks like March 1635.- It is March. You're right. March 1635.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56So he was accepted into the church in the spring of 1635,
0:55:56 > 0:55:59- about two or three years after coming here.- Yes.
0:55:59 > 0:56:03The two key things he would have gained by coming to America,
0:56:03 > 0:56:05The first is a status in a new church community
0:56:05 > 0:56:09that he might not have achieved in an English parish in the same way.
0:56:09 > 0:56:10Church membership in Boston,
0:56:10 > 0:56:13full church membership in the Boston First Church
0:56:13 > 0:56:16is an extremely important thing, socially and spiritually.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18The second thing he would have gained
0:56:18 > 0:56:20is the opportunity to own his own land.
0:56:20 > 0:56:22Because of the abundance of land in America,
0:56:22 > 0:56:25there would have been an opportunity for him to gain land
0:56:25 > 0:56:28that would not have existed for him had he remained in England.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31You know, I started this personal journey of mine a couple of weeks ago
0:56:31 > 0:56:34thinking I was going to go back maybe 150, 200 years,
0:56:34 > 0:56:36and it was going to be Canadian and Scottish ancestry,
0:56:36 > 0:56:37and it's lead me to America,
0:56:37 > 0:56:41it's lead me to one of the first Americans and her parents
0:56:41 > 0:56:42who came from England.
0:56:42 > 0:56:45You've put the icing on the cake for me. Thank you very much.
0:56:45 > 0:56:46- Great to see you.- Great to see you.
0:56:56 > 0:57:00It's still filtering into my consciousness,
0:57:00 > 0:57:02but I feel almost redefined
0:57:02 > 0:57:04by what I've discovered over the last couple of weeks.
0:57:04 > 0:57:08Knowing where I come from and knowing what my ancestors did
0:57:08 > 0:57:12and how they handed what they'd achieved down to the next generation
0:57:12 > 0:57:15has given me an extra dimension, I think,
0:57:15 > 0:57:18in the way that I regard myself and what I am, you know,
0:57:18 > 0:57:20what I've become.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29My ancestors came with burning hope in their heart.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31With extraordinary optimism,
0:57:31 > 0:57:34and with a determination to face down the fears
0:57:34 > 0:57:36that must have gripped them from time to time.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42They tried and they did it. They succeeded.
0:57:42 > 0:57:45I hope I've got something in me that they had in them in such abundance.
0:57:45 > 0:57:47I hope a little bit of it has been passed on.
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