Hi Virginia, Yes, watched it and took notes (always do). Frankly I was relieved that the primary resources they cited [Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank [NYC], US Census, Griffith's Valuation [Ireland]] are the same that I use. On the other hand, there were no surprises or suggested "new" records. The program's researchers were uninformed about Irish culture and history. There was no clarification as to what made the Irish experience unique. I view the Gates' emceed series as "entertainment," not educational. "Irish Famine" is not only an outdated phrase, but is historically revisionist. Let's call a spade a spade once and forever: The era of the potato crop blight was truly the genocide of our Irish-Catholic, tenant-farming ancestors, who were only "allowed" to eat potatoes by the English gentry. On special occasions beets and turnips were dietary supplements. Meanwhile, the English exported thousands of pounds of beef, pork, lamb, etc, while our ancestors died in muddy gutters. Stripped of rights to vote, pray, own property, or be educated, we farmed the rocky landscapes so that the English landowners could thrive. Stories of Irish immigrants to the U.S.A. is deplete without a cause and effect, an answer to WHY our Irish were rebels, literary geniuses, Civil War soldiers, politicians, union activists, widows raising ten children...and, drunks. We are the movers and shakers. Barb [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: VLB via <[email protected] Did anyone see the Irish-focused episode of Finding Your Roots on PBS the other night? It profiled Bill O'Reilly, Bill Maher and Soledad O'Brien. I saw the show and thought it was pretty good tho wish they could have done an hour on each person. There's enough material for that and more. I had a few reservations. Bill Maher was lucky enough to have an ancestor with an Emigrant Bank account with full details of his townland of origin. There was a variant spelling of his townland which he thought was a clerk's careless error. It would have been helpful to point out that spelling of both personal names and place names was extremely variable over time in Ireland and probably elsewhere. So there was no 'wrong' spelling. The show also featured a labor leader ancestor and seemed to indicate that the labor movement started in the early 20c when in fact it was much earlier than that as any high school student should know. The Irish were prominent in the early labor movement, eg Terence Powderly, head of the Knights of Labor, the first national labor union in the US.But I quibble. Wish they had a weekly show about Irish genealogy! Did any of you see this and what did you think? Virginia