Researchers From Ancestry.com Help Explore the Oregon Trail, Klondike Gold Rush, & More on New Season of TLC Series "Who Do Y...
24 July 2014 - 8:00AM
In the new season of TLC's Emmy-nominated series "Who Do You Think
You Are?" Ancestry.com researchers mined thousands of historical
documents to help producers make new family history discoveries for
an all-star line up of celebrities. The new season premieres
tonight and will feature Cynthia Nixon, Rachel McAdams and Kayleen
McAdams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Valerie Bertinelli, and Kelsey
Grammer.
Amassing thousands of hours, Ancestry.com researchers explored
18th and 19th century America, Canada, and even Victorian England,
to research topics that range from women's rights, Italian
heritage, and an American Loyalist who sided with the crown. There
was even exploration of the Oregon Trail and adventure through the
freezing temperatures of the Klondike Gold Rush.
"We are thrilled to again sponsor this new season of 'Who Do You
Think You Are?' and provide research support that helped
celebrities experience a family history journey that connected them
to new ancestors and new discoveries," said Jennifer Utley, Lead
Researcher for the project at Ancestry.com. "It's always exciting
to see where records will lead you when researching your family
history. This season we explored stories that were at times tragic,
and others uplifting, as life, no matter place or time, can
be."
Every day on Ancestry.com, members discover their family history
through billions of historical records spanning different places
and time. On this season of "Who Do You Think You Are?,"
celebrities become acquainted with a variety of ancestral stories
spanning historic moments.
- While embarking on a journey to learn about her father's side
of her family Cynthia Nixon discovers that the
harrowing experiences of an ancestor in mid 19th century Missouri,
played a pivotal role that improved the future lives of women in
prisons.
- While looking to learn more about his father's side of his
family, Jesse Tyler Ferguson travels from Maryland
and New York to the far reaches of Alaska where his great
grandfather embarked on an ambitious gold expedition across the
Klondike.
- Rachel McAdams and her sister Kayleen explore
the history of two ancestors: one a Loyalist/Tory during the
American Revolution, and the other a butler in Devon with a
"downstairs" romance.
- California's social history and letters from the Oregon Trail
are examined while exploring the ancestors of Kelsey
Grammer.
- Valerie Bertinelli embarks on a journey that
will connect her to Quaker ancestors and English heraldry, while
exploring her Italian heritage.
The new season is the second time Ancestry.com has teamed up
with TLC as a sponsor, and the fifth time it has worked with the
program. As part of sponsoring the show, Ancestry.com provides
exhaustive family history research on each of the featured
celebrities, which is used to build out the story of each
episode.
For more about Ancestry.com and weekly recaps for each episode,
including research approach and topic explored visit
http://www.ancestry.com/who-do-you-think-you-are.
About Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com is the world's largest online family history
resource with approximately 2.7 million paying subscribers across
all its websites. More than 14 billion records have been added to
the Ancestry.com sites and users have created more than 60 million
family trees containing more than 6 billion profiles. In addition
to its flagship site www.ancestry.com, the company operates several
global Ancestry international websites along with a suite of online
family history brands, including Archives.com, Fold3.com,
Newspapers.com, and offers the AncestryDNA service via its
subsidiary, Ancestry.com DNA, LLC, all of which are designed to
empower people to discover, preserve and share their family
history.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such
risks and uncertainties include a variety of factors, some of which
are beyond the company's control. In particular, such risks and
uncertainties include the company's ability to find appropriate
opportunities to publicize our products and services and its
ability to provide value to satisfy customer demand. Information
concerning additional factors that could cause events or results to
differ materially from those projected in these forward looking
statements is contained under the caption "Risk Factors" in our
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2014,
which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May
7, 2014, and in discussions in other of our Securities and Exchange
Commission filings. These forward-looking statements should not be
relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date and
we assume no obligation to publicly update or revise these
forward-looking statements.
CONTACT: Media Contact:
John Paolo Canton
Sr. Public Relations Manager
Phone: (415) 744-1795
Email: jpcanton@ancestry.com