# "Who do you think you are?" (celebrity Genealogy series on NBC) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585 "2010-03-15T21:42:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/81 "2011-02-21T17:16:28Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Even in the 20th century it can be hard to know. Two well known cases: singer Bobby Darin and Jack Nicholson were both grown before they learned the woman they knew as their older sister was actually their birth mother. I didn’t realize until a friend legally adopted her stepdaughter that the birth certificate is re-issued in cases of adoption with no mention of the birth mother or of the fact it’s a reissue.[/SIZE] Yeah, it’s weird. My mom (who is only in her late 60’s) was adopted as an infant. It looks like there may be no record at all of her birth mother. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/82 "2011-02-21T19:30:50Z")
> [@Moirai](#): > > Yeah, it’s weird. My mom (who is only in her late 60’s) was adopted as an infant. It looks like there may be no record at all of her birth mother. :mad: Was she born during WW2 by any chance? There were lots of illegitimate babies born then (sometimes to married women, usually to unmarried) fathered by flings with GIs who were dropped off at hospitals and orphanages and even literally on doorsteps. (James Michener, who was born a generation before then, was literally left in a basket on a doorstep; the spinster sisters whose house it was raised him.) ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/83 "2011-02-21T22:02:09Z")
Possibly- I think she was born in 1946… Maybe '45. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/84 "2011-03-05T21:47:00Z")
Did anybody see the Lionel Richie episode? That was an incredible find. And the white doctor definitely looks like the picture of Lionel’s great-grandfather. I’ve known several black people over the years who can relate to living “in the bubble” as Richie termed it (him for living in Tuskegee and his great-grandfather for being half-white and of privileged birth compared to most slaves). Many grew up in the military. Of course Malcolm X’s daughter wrote a great book about it (_Growing Up X_)- if they have another season they should do her. I wish they’d gone more into his great-grandfather’s marriage to such a young girl. I wonder if he had an earlier wife. ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/85 "2011-03-05T22:53:11Z")
I watched last night and it was a compelling episode, though not quite as compelling as the Rosie O’Donnell one, imho. That was very interesting about the great grandfather’s birth, although in the picture they had found of him he did appear very light skinned so it was not a surprise that his father was probably the son of the slave owner. I believe the Brown family “took care of” John Louis, though; he was educated and also quite literate. It’s too bad that the fraternal organization, really more of a business that he helped found and run, ended up going under. It was a shame too that Richie couldn’t really find his grave. I too would have liked more exploration about the marriage–50 is fairly old to be getting married for the first time, and having children…imnsho! He may have married before, though, and they just didn’t tell about it. One small note that I thought was kind of jarring - when Lionel Richie went back home to share what he found with his sister and his two kids, his kids just kind of sat there with little to no reaction. _shrugs_ Maybe they’re not used to having cameras in their home and being expected to act themselves in front of the cameras, so understandable, but it still seemed a bit odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/86 "2011-03-05T23:10:33Z")
> [@tarragon918](#): > > I too would have liked more exploration about the marriage–50 is fairly old to be getting married for the first time, and having children…imnsho! He may have married before, though, and they just didn’t tell about it. Yeah, that was puzzling. Lionel and the historian/librarian (I forget) tried to fill in the gaps, but it was mostly speculation. My speculation would be that the young girl married an older man for the usual reasons – financial security, or getting away from a bad home life. > [@](#): > > One small note that I thought was kind of jarring - when Lionel Richie went back home to share what he found with his sister and his two kids, his kids just kind of sat there with little to no reaction. _shrugs_ Maybe they’re not used to having cameras in their home and being expected to act themselves in front of the cameras, so understandable, but it still seemed a bit odd to me. I think it’s just that kids that age don’t care about their ancestors. They’ll appreciate knowing this stuff when they’re older. Another bit of weirdness was Lionel saying that his grandmother never talked about her father, so he thought there was a mystery there. I don’t remember my grandparents ever talking about their parents. I think by the time you’re a grandparent, your focus changes to your grandkids, and it’s not at all unusual to push the older generation into the background (especially if they’re dead). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2011, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/87 "2011-03-05T23:14:32Z")
As with Rosie, I’d have been curious to see him address the issue of how this ties in to adoption. He mentioned to his two younger (biological) kids that this was their genes and blood, which I wonder if Nicole would find offensive or exclusive (not that she needs an excuse to be a drama queen). ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/88 "2011-03-06T00:10:40Z")
When they showed him holding his great-grandfather’s birth certificate, you could clearly see that his father’s race was given as “white.” Yet they had to go into that whole long story about him “learning” about the will and being “surprised.” Why didn’t he say “Hey, it says here that his father was white – who was he?” I like learning about the genealogy process, but I hate the reality show BS. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585/89 "2011-03-06T00:56:39Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagir] I like learning about the genealogy process, but I hate the reality show BS. [/QUOTE] Ditto. Plus the picture of his great-grandfather was enough in and of itself to show he obviously had a lot of white blood. It would have been interesting to look for more information on Mariah. There are ways it might have been possible to find her, especially if she was freed, and while I wouldn’t expect Lionel Richey to walk straight to the shelf and pull the files the people who prepare the show could have. For one thing, check his ancestor’s census records- free people of color were listed by name in the 1850 Census, and if not look for other plantation records since obviously a lot survived from this family. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-do-you-think-you-are-celebrity-genealogy-series-on-nbc/532585.md?page=4)