1 00:00:05,009 --> 00:00:06,709 GATES: I'm Henry Louis Gates, Jr. 2 00:00:06,709 --> 00:00:09,343 Welcome to "Finding Your Roots." 3 00:00:09,709 --> 00:00:11,376 In this episode, we'll meet 4 00:00:11,376 --> 00:00:14,876 comedians Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash, 5 00:00:14,876 --> 00:00:18,509 two women whose family trees have been obscured 6 00:00:18,509 --> 00:00:20,776 by profound mysteries. 7 00:00:20,776 --> 00:00:23,376 BURNETT: Why would my mama name me 8 00:00:23,376 --> 00:00:27,076 Carol Creighton Burnett if she was a Milton? 9 00:00:27,076 --> 00:00:28,443 GATES: Right. Hmmm 10 00:00:28,443 --> 00:00:30,509 BURNETT: I hope you find out. 11 00:00:30,509 --> 00:00:33,376 NASH: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, my grandmother, 12 00:00:33,376 --> 00:00:34,843 she was already married? 13 00:00:34,843 --> 00:00:36,043 GATES: She was a newlywed. 14 00:00:36,043 --> 00:00:38,776 NASH: So, Mr. Jackson came around to the house 15 00:00:38,776 --> 00:00:40,109 a time or two? 16 00:00:40,109 --> 00:00:41,876 GATES: Well, we don't know if he came to the house or 17 00:00:41,876 --> 00:00:43,176 she came to his house. 18 00:00:43,176 --> 00:00:47,709 NASH: Ooh, dirty pots and pans! 19 00:00:49,009 --> 00:00:52,843 GATES: To uncover their roots, we've used every tool available. 20 00:00:53,809 --> 00:00:56,409 Genealogists combed through paper trails stretching back 21 00:00:56,409 --> 00:01:00,843 hundreds of years, while DNA experts utilized the latest 22 00:01:00,843 --> 00:01:04,676 advances in genetic analysis to reveal secrets that have 23 00:01:04,676 --> 00:01:07,176 lain hidden for generations. 24 00:01:07,176 --> 00:01:09,643 NASH: What do you have, spies working for you? 25 00:01:09,643 --> 00:01:11,276 How did you find this? 26 00:01:11,276 --> 00:01:14,143 GATES: And we've compiled everything into a book of life. 27 00:01:14,143 --> 00:01:15,376 BURNETT: Oh my goodness! 28 00:01:15,376 --> 00:01:17,443 GATES: A record of all of our discoveries... 29 00:01:17,443 --> 00:01:19,376 NASH: Do you see my head blowing off? 30 00:01:19,376 --> 00:01:21,643 GATES: And a window into the hidden past... 31 00:01:21,643 --> 00:01:22,843 BURNETT: Oh my gosh. 32 00:01:22,843 --> 00:01:24,209 GATES: This was like a soap opera. 33 00:01:24,209 --> 00:01:26,743 BURNETT: My heart is going boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 34 00:01:26,743 --> 00:01:28,776 But I'm glad I know. 35 00:01:28,776 --> 00:01:31,776 Yeah. Thank you. 36 00:01:31,776 --> 00:01:33,276 NASH: You know, this is one of the best things 37 00:01:33,276 --> 00:01:35,809 I've ever done, uhm, in my life. 38 00:01:35,809 --> 00:01:37,009 GATES: Uh-huh. 39 00:01:37,009 --> 00:01:39,109 NASH: Even with the hard parts, there's some, 40 00:01:39,109 --> 00:01:41,609 there's an add value to the knowing. 41 00:01:42,576 --> 00:01:45,376 GATES: Niecy and Carol came to me with fundamental questions 42 00:01:45,376 --> 00:01:48,876 about their parents, as well as their grandparents. 43 00:01:49,743 --> 00:01:51,743 In this episode, we're going to give them 44 00:01:51,743 --> 00:01:54,176 the answers they've been searching for, 45 00:01:54,176 --> 00:01:58,609 through a pioneering combination of genetics and genealogy, 46 00:01:58,609 --> 00:02:01,743 revealing for the very first time 47 00:02:01,743 --> 00:02:04,776 where their roots really lie. 48 00:02:10,143 --> 00:02:22,409 (theme music plays). 49 00:02:22,409 --> 00:02:27,943 ♪ ♪ 50 00:02:35,443 --> 00:02:45,509 ♪ ♪ 51 00:02:45,509 --> 00:02:50,909 (chatter) 52 00:02:51,509 --> 00:02:54,709 GATES: Carol Burnett is a living legend. 53 00:02:56,009 --> 00:02:59,209 From her iconic variety show... 54 00:02:59,209 --> 00:03:00,743 BURNETT: Thank you, I saw it in the window and 55 00:03:00,743 --> 00:03:02,343 I just couldn't resist it. 56 00:03:02,343 --> 00:03:04,476 GATES: To her best-selling memoir, 57 00:03:04,476 --> 00:03:08,276 to her innumerable performances on stage and screen, 58 00:03:08,276 --> 00:03:11,176 Carol has been delighting audiences 59 00:03:11,176 --> 00:03:13,776 for over seven decades. 60 00:03:16,176 --> 00:03:19,743 But the woman who has brought so much joy to so many people, 61 00:03:19,743 --> 00:03:24,676 has a personal story that's almost unbearably sad. 62 00:03:27,476 --> 00:03:31,276 Carol was raised in Los Angeles by her maternal grandmother, 63 00:03:31,276 --> 00:03:33,376 whom she called "Nanny", 64 00:03:33,376 --> 00:03:36,043 because her parents could not support her. 65 00:03:38,209 --> 00:03:40,476 Her mother and father, 66 00:03:40,476 --> 00:03:42,609 tragically, were both alcoholics. 67 00:03:42,609 --> 00:03:45,243 Drinking cost them their careers, 68 00:03:45,243 --> 00:03:47,776 as well as their marriage, 69 00:03:47,776 --> 00:03:51,076 and their erratic behavior left deep scars 70 00:03:51,076 --> 00:03:53,176 on their daughter. 71 00:03:53,176 --> 00:03:58,209 BURNETT: My mother was not an amiable alcoholic. 72 00:03:58,876 --> 00:04:02,909 She could be very angry and nasty and so my grandmother 73 00:04:02,909 --> 00:04:06,476 and she would fight all the time over the lack of 74 00:04:06,476 --> 00:04:10,076 money and the booze. 75 00:04:10,576 --> 00:04:15,976 Daddy was an alcoholic, was a drunk Jimmy Stewart. 76 00:04:15,976 --> 00:04:16,976 GATES: Uh-huh. 77 00:04:16,976 --> 00:04:18,009 BURNETT: Sweet. 78 00:04:18,009 --> 00:04:19,176 Nobody sweeter. 79 00:04:19,176 --> 00:04:24,043 And, uh, so sometimes he'd come over to see me. 80 00:04:24,576 --> 00:04:28,709 He'd be a little okay but he would give Nanny a dollar and 81 00:04:28,709 --> 00:04:31,443 then she'd let him come in to see me. 82 00:04:31,443 --> 00:04:33,343 (laughing) 83 00:04:33,343 --> 00:04:34,809 GATES: Price of admission, price of the ticket. 84 00:04:34,809 --> 00:04:35,909 BURNETT: That's right. 85 00:04:35,909 --> 00:04:41,509 And then he got sober for a year when I was 11 and 86 00:04:41,509 --> 00:04:44,676 he lived with his mother, my paternal grandmother. 87 00:04:44,676 --> 00:04:49,209 And I'd come and visit them every weekend in Santa Monica 88 00:04:49,209 --> 00:04:52,509 and he'd take me to the place where we'd go on 89 00:04:52,509 --> 00:04:55,943 a Ferris wheel and we'd go to a movie every Saturday night. 90 00:04:55,943 --> 00:04:58,643 It was so wonderful. 91 00:04:58,643 --> 00:05:03,709 I just loved him to pieces and then she died... 92 00:05:04,809 --> 00:05:06,843 and he came to the apartment. 93 00:05:06,843 --> 00:05:08,109 And he was weaving. 94 00:05:08,109 --> 00:05:09,309 GATES: Oh. 95 00:05:09,309 --> 00:05:11,476 BURNETT: It broke my heart. 96 00:05:12,543 --> 00:05:14,976 GATES: The hardships of Carol's youth left her with 97 00:05:14,976 --> 00:05:18,543 ambitions that were, initially, quite practical: 98 00:05:19,609 --> 00:05:22,709 after high school, she enrolled at UCLA, 99 00:05:22,709 --> 00:05:25,476 intending to become a journalist. 100 00:05:25,476 --> 00:05:28,643 But then she joined a musical comedy workshop, 101 00:05:28,643 --> 00:05:31,109 and fell in love with it. 102 00:05:31,443 --> 00:05:34,243 Carol knew that the odds were stacked against her. 103 00:05:34,243 --> 00:05:37,309 But one evening, her workshop was invited to perform 104 00:05:37,309 --> 00:05:41,509 at a party, and those odds changed forever. 105 00:05:42,409 --> 00:05:44,843 BURNETT: So we did our scene. 106 00:05:44,843 --> 00:05:47,843 All the kids did our scenes and the audience, 107 00:05:47,843 --> 00:05:50,676 the people there, were sweet and 108 00:05:50,676 --> 00:05:54,776 I'm at the hors d'oeuvres table and I have my purse and 109 00:05:54,776 --> 00:05:57,109 I'm looking and I put a napkin in my purse 110 00:05:57,109 --> 00:05:58,709 and I'm stealing hors d'oeuvres to 111 00:05:58,709 --> 00:06:00,209 take home to Nanny. 112 00:06:00,209 --> 00:06:01,576 GATES: Oh, that's sweet. 113 00:06:01,576 --> 00:06:03,509 BURNETT: And there's a tap on my shoulder and I thought, 114 00:06:03,509 --> 00:06:04,676 "Oh", I'm busted. 115 00:06:04,676 --> 00:06:05,676 GATES: You're busted. 116 00:06:05,676 --> 00:06:07,043 BURNETT: "Oh God." And I turn around, 117 00:06:07,043 --> 00:06:09,976 there's this gentleman and his wife, you know, standing there. 118 00:06:09,976 --> 00:06:13,709 And he said, "We really enjoyed your work." 119 00:06:13,709 --> 00:06:15,876 And I said, "Thank you very much." 120 00:06:15,876 --> 00:06:21,209 He said, "So what do you want to do with your life?" 121 00:06:21,743 --> 00:06:24,409 And I said, "Well, I'm hoping that I, 122 00:06:24,409 --> 00:06:26,143 I want to go to New York. 123 00:06:26,143 --> 00:06:28,476 I want to be on the musical comedy stage like 124 00:06:28,476 --> 00:06:30,709 Ethel Merman and Mary Martin." 125 00:06:30,709 --> 00:06:33,176 He said, "Why aren't you there now?" 126 00:06:33,176 --> 00:06:38,643 I said, "Well, I'm hoping someday to save up enough 127 00:06:38,643 --> 00:06:40,043 where I can." 128 00:06:40,043 --> 00:06:42,143 He said, "I'll lend you the money." 129 00:06:42,143 --> 00:06:43,376 GATES: Hmmm. 130 00:06:43,376 --> 00:06:46,443 BURNETT: And I thought that was the champagne talking. 131 00:06:46,443 --> 00:06:48,876 And his wife said, "No, he means it." 132 00:06:48,876 --> 00:06:50,909 He says, "Here's my card. 133 00:06:50,909 --> 00:06:53,876 Meet me a week from Monday in my office 134 00:06:53,876 --> 00:06:56,143 and I'll lend you the money." 135 00:06:56,143 --> 00:06:57,276 GATES: God. 136 00:06:57,276 --> 00:06:59,209 BURNETT: He said, "There's stipulations. 137 00:06:59,209 --> 00:07:03,243 You pay it back if you can. No interest. 138 00:07:03,243 --> 00:07:05,043 GATES: Mm-hm. 139 00:07:05,043 --> 00:07:07,543 BURNETT: You must use this money to go to New York. 140 00:07:07,543 --> 00:07:08,609 GATES: Mm-hm. 141 00:07:08,609 --> 00:07:10,109 BURNETT: You must never reveal my name. 142 00:07:10,109 --> 00:07:11,509 GATES: Mm-hm. 143 00:07:11,509 --> 00:07:13,176 BURNETT: And if you are successful, you must promise 144 00:07:13,176 --> 00:07:14,676 to help others out." 145 00:07:14,676 --> 00:07:15,809 GATES: Oh my goodness. 146 00:07:15,809 --> 00:07:17,009 BURNETT: "That you believe in." 147 00:07:17,009 --> 00:07:21,309 Now I go home and I've got all this cash and I said, 148 00:07:21,309 --> 00:07:23,976 "Nanny, look," and I threw the cash on the bed. 149 00:07:23,976 --> 00:07:25,576 GATES: Wow. 150 00:07:25,576 --> 00:07:29,309 BURNETT: She went, "Oh my God," and she was like, 151 00:07:29,309 --> 00:07:33,009 "Oh, what we can do with all this money." 152 00:07:33,009 --> 00:07:37,009 I said, "no, uh-uh, I have to go to New York." 153 00:07:39,176 --> 00:07:41,509 GATES: Carol's life was utterly transformed by 154 00:07:41,509 --> 00:07:43,643 that stranger's gift. 155 00:07:45,176 --> 00:07:47,643 But before she could make her trip to New York, 156 00:07:47,643 --> 00:07:50,676 she had to make a far more difficult journey to visit 157 00:07:50,676 --> 00:07:53,276 her dying father... 158 00:07:53,276 --> 00:07:57,243 A visit that still haunts her today, serving as a painful 159 00:07:57,243 --> 00:08:02,009 reminder of a past that she could never truly outgrow. 160 00:08:03,676 --> 00:08:06,109 BURNETT: He had tuberculosis and he was 161 00:08:06,109 --> 00:08:07,476 in a charity hospital. 162 00:08:07,476 --> 00:08:08,776 GATES: Mm-hm. 163 00:08:08,776 --> 00:08:11,676 BURNETT: So I went to see him for the last time you know, 164 00:08:11,676 --> 00:08:14,343 and I said, "I'm going to be going to New York." 165 00:08:14,343 --> 00:08:17,676 And he said, "Oh, you know, I'm doing okay." 166 00:08:17,676 --> 00:08:20,109 he said, "If everything's clear, 167 00:08:20,109 --> 00:08:21,476 I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to... 168 00:08:21,476 --> 00:08:24,676 Maybe I'll come and see you in New York", you know. 169 00:08:24,676 --> 00:08:27,109 And I kissed him goodbye. 170 00:08:27,109 --> 00:08:30,643 Again, he's in a room with all these other people, 171 00:08:30,643 --> 00:08:31,943 coughing away. 172 00:08:31,943 --> 00:08:36,076 And as I was leaving, he said, "Carol," and I turned around 173 00:08:36,076 --> 00:08:39,676 and he said, "I wish I could have given you the money." 174 00:08:39,676 --> 00:08:40,909 GATES: Oh my goodness. 175 00:08:40,909 --> 00:08:44,043 BURNETT: That was August 1954 and he died in November. 176 00:08:44,043 --> 00:08:46,276 GATES: Of '54, yeah. 177 00:08:46,276 --> 00:08:47,943 And your mom died four years later. 178 00:08:47,943 --> 00:08:50,743 BURNETT: Yeah. Both in their 40s. 179 00:08:50,743 --> 00:08:52,009 GATES: But he sounds like a good man. 180 00:08:52,009 --> 00:08:54,743 BURNETT: He was. He just had that disease. 181 00:08:56,243 --> 00:08:58,643 GATES: My second guest is Emmy-award-winning actor 182 00:08:58,643 --> 00:09:00,776 and comedian Niecy Nash. 183 00:09:02,309 --> 00:09:05,776 Much like Carol, Niecy overcame daunting obstacles 184 00:09:05,776 --> 00:09:08,176 on her path to success. 185 00:09:09,076 --> 00:09:11,843 Indeed, she even found her calling 186 00:09:11,843 --> 00:09:14,476 in the wake of the worst of them. 187 00:09:15,809 --> 00:09:19,443 In 1993, when she was 22-years-old, 188 00:09:19,443 --> 00:09:21,876 Niecy's younger brother was murdered, 189 00:09:21,876 --> 00:09:25,343 and Niecy sought to comfort her mother, 190 00:09:25,343 --> 00:09:27,909 in a surprising way. 191 00:09:28,509 --> 00:09:30,476 NASH: My mother said I'm getting into bed, 192 00:09:30,476 --> 00:09:31,876 and I'm never getting back up. 193 00:09:31,876 --> 00:09:33,143 GATES: Mm-hm. 194 00:09:33,143 --> 00:09:36,776 NASH: And I did not know what to do at such a young age, 195 00:09:36,776 --> 00:09:39,109 but I knew I could make my momma laugh. 196 00:09:39,109 --> 00:09:40,409 GATES: Right. 197 00:09:40,409 --> 00:09:44,109 NASH: So I started to perform at the foot of her bed every day. 198 00:09:44,109 --> 00:09:46,409 And I would tell her jokes and stories, and do my bits, 199 00:09:46,409 --> 00:09:49,243 and she went from laying down to sitting up in the bed. 200 00:09:49,243 --> 00:09:50,476 GATES: Hmm. 201 00:09:50,476 --> 00:09:52,176 NASH: I got my peanuts in my water, go on and do your 202 00:09:52,176 --> 00:09:54,409 rendition of things. 203 00:09:54,409 --> 00:09:57,409 And then, I remember coming to her house one day, and 204 00:09:57,409 --> 00:10:00,409 she wasn't in the bed, and I'm like the car is out there, 205 00:10:00,409 --> 00:10:02,743 we're in here, and I'm like, who is we? 206 00:10:02,743 --> 00:10:05,276 Well, I went across the street and I got the neighbors, 207 00:10:05,276 --> 00:10:07,943 and I told 'em you was funny, get that karaoke microphone and 208 00:10:07,943 --> 00:10:09,843 tell these people some jokes. 209 00:10:09,843 --> 00:10:12,109 So, I'm standing on the fireplace with 210 00:10:12,109 --> 00:10:13,276 the karaoke microphone. 211 00:10:13,276 --> 00:10:16,309 And I'm saying, is this thing on? 212 00:10:16,309 --> 00:10:18,976 How's everybody doing, in the living room? 213 00:10:18,976 --> 00:10:22,143 And that's when I said, oh, this is something. 214 00:10:23,909 --> 00:10:27,276 GATES: This revelation would change Niecy's life. 215 00:10:27,943 --> 00:10:31,743 Following her brother's death, she finished college, 216 00:10:31,743 --> 00:10:35,076 with a degree in theater arts, and began auditioning for 217 00:10:35,076 --> 00:10:37,143 roles in Hollywood. 218 00:10:38,309 --> 00:10:41,943 She spent years struggling even to get small parts, 219 00:10:41,943 --> 00:10:46,509 but she was sustained by an unwavering belief in herself. 220 00:10:47,376 --> 00:10:49,609 Niecy knew that she had a gift, 221 00:10:49,609 --> 00:10:52,276 even if it was an unusual one. 222 00:10:52,909 --> 00:10:57,043 NASH: I think the thing that made me stand out was that 223 00:10:57,709 --> 00:11:02,476 I did not have a care 224 00:11:02,843 --> 00:11:06,076 about what other people thought about me. 225 00:11:06,076 --> 00:11:07,143 GATES: Really? 226 00:11:07,143 --> 00:11:09,343 NASH: Yeah, you know, typically, you care. 227 00:11:09,343 --> 00:11:10,509 GATES: Right. 228 00:11:10,509 --> 00:11:11,609 NASH: You want to be liked, you want to fit in... 229 00:11:11,609 --> 00:11:12,809 GATES: Yeah. 230 00:11:12,809 --> 00:11:16,209 NASH: You want to do all the things, uhm, and I just, 231 00:11:16,209 --> 00:11:17,609 I just didn't care. 232 00:11:17,609 --> 00:11:18,676 GATES: Uh-hum. 233 00:11:18,676 --> 00:11:21,643 NASH: I was very loud, I mean, I spoke loud. 234 00:11:21,643 --> 00:11:24,476 Just because I wanted to be heard. 235 00:11:24,476 --> 00:11:26,676 "Hey y'all, what's going on?" 236 00:11:26,676 --> 00:11:30,443 Just loud for no reason, and I know people used to say, 237 00:11:30,443 --> 00:11:34,676 they hated my guts, but nobody ever really pressed me about it 238 00:11:34,676 --> 00:11:36,276 because they knew I didn't care. 239 00:11:36,276 --> 00:11:39,043 GATES: How did you envision your future, back then? 240 00:11:39,043 --> 00:11:40,443 NASH: Bright. 241 00:11:40,443 --> 00:11:42,743 I, I would have to put sunglasses on just to 242 00:11:42,743 --> 00:11:45,443 even think about it. 243 00:11:46,509 --> 00:11:50,309 GATES: Niecy's confidence would pay off in a big way. 244 00:11:50,509 --> 00:11:55,409 In 2003, her career exploded when she landed recurring roles 245 00:11:55,409 --> 00:11:59,109 on "The Bernie Mac Show" and Comedy Central's hit series 246 00:11:59,109 --> 00:12:01,409 "Reno 911", 247 00:12:02,676 --> 00:12:06,643 she's been a mainstay of American comedy ever since, 248 00:12:06,643 --> 00:12:09,276 even branching out into drama. 249 00:12:09,976 --> 00:12:14,743 And through it all, Niecy has remained intensely devoted to 250 00:12:14,743 --> 00:12:19,376 the woman who first encouraged her: her mom. 251 00:12:20,476 --> 00:12:23,476 NASH: You know, I don't know that I would have been able to 252 00:12:23,476 --> 00:12:27,609 do anything were it not for my mother. 253 00:12:27,943 --> 00:12:31,843 Any way she could provide provision for the vision, 254 00:12:31,843 --> 00:12:32,976 she did that. 255 00:12:32,976 --> 00:12:34,143 GATES: Uh-hum. 256 00:12:34,143 --> 00:12:35,809 NASH: You know, even way back in the day, she said, 257 00:12:35,809 --> 00:12:38,776 "You know, you're real funny, but if you gonna do this thing, 258 00:12:38,776 --> 00:12:40,543 you going to need to work on a drama. 259 00:12:40,543 --> 00:12:41,843 Momma gonna get you some classes, 260 00:12:41,843 --> 00:12:42,943 give me my checkbook." 261 00:12:42,943 --> 00:12:44,276 You know, so... 262 00:12:44,276 --> 00:12:45,543 GATES: That's great. 263 00:12:45,543 --> 00:12:48,343 NASH: All of the way up and through now, she will still say, 264 00:12:48,343 --> 00:12:50,043 "How can I help you? What can I do? 265 00:12:50,043 --> 00:12:51,276 What do you need?" 266 00:12:51,276 --> 00:12:52,643 GATES: Hm. Oh, that's beautiful. 267 00:12:52,643 --> 00:12:53,676 NASH: Yeah. 268 00:12:53,676 --> 00:12:54,843 GATES: Yeah, to be able to count on that. 269 00:12:54,843 --> 00:12:56,543 NASH: Oh, yeah. 270 00:12:56,543 --> 00:12:59,643 GATES: Niecy and Carol both overcame extreme obstacles 271 00:12:59,643 --> 00:13:02,809 to reach extraordinary heights. 272 00:13:03,576 --> 00:13:07,243 Along the way, they had little time to explore their roots, 273 00:13:07,243 --> 00:13:10,109 so both have much to learn, 274 00:13:10,109 --> 00:13:12,143 even when it comes to family members 275 00:13:12,143 --> 00:13:14,976 whom they thought they knew well. 276 00:13:16,343 --> 00:13:19,576 I started with Carol, and with her maternal grandmother, 277 00:13:19,576 --> 00:13:21,909 Mae Jones. 278 00:13:21,909 --> 00:13:25,443 Mae helped Carol endure her traumatic childhood, 279 00:13:25,443 --> 00:13:28,543 and the two shared an intense bond. 280 00:13:31,843 --> 00:13:35,343 Carol even famously ended every episode of her show 281 00:13:35,343 --> 00:13:37,909 by tugging on her ear. 282 00:13:37,909 --> 00:13:40,809 A secret symbol to her grandmother. 283 00:13:41,709 --> 00:13:43,109 How did the signal come about? 284 00:13:43,109 --> 00:13:45,843 BURNETT: Oh, that came about when I got my very first 285 00:13:45,843 --> 00:13:48,076 television job in New York. 286 00:13:48,076 --> 00:13:51,676 It was the Paul Winchell kiddie TV show. 287 00:13:51,676 --> 00:13:53,243 GATES: Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney. 288 00:13:53,243 --> 00:13:56,376 BURNETT: I was the girlfriend of Jerry Mahoney, the dummy. 289 00:13:56,376 --> 00:14:00,243 And so I called Nanny and I said, "Nanny, I'm going to 290 00:14:00,243 --> 00:14:03,109 be on the Paul Winchell show tomorrow." 291 00:14:03,109 --> 00:14:05,643 And she said, "Well, say hello to me." 292 00:14:05,643 --> 00:14:09,176 I said, "I don't think they're gonna let me say hello, Nanny." 293 00:14:09,176 --> 00:14:13,209 And so we figured out that I would pull my ear, 294 00:14:13,209 --> 00:14:17,876 which would mean, "Hello, Nanny. I love you. I'm fine." 295 00:14:17,876 --> 00:14:20,476 And then I always say later on, when I got successful, 296 00:14:20,476 --> 00:14:23,709 it would be, "Hello, Nanny. I love you. I'm fine... 297 00:14:23,709 --> 00:14:26,043 Your check's on the way." 298 00:14:29,076 --> 00:14:32,243 GATES: While Mae provided Carol with love and stability, 299 00:14:32,243 --> 00:14:35,609 she had a complicated past, 300 00:14:35,609 --> 00:14:40,609 and Carol came to me asking some very basic questions 301 00:14:40,609 --> 00:14:43,376 about her grandmother's romantic life. 302 00:14:45,176 --> 00:14:48,476 BURNETT: Nanny often said that she'd been married three times. 303 00:14:48,476 --> 00:14:49,943 GATES: Mm-hm. 304 00:14:49,943 --> 00:14:53,709 BURNETT: To Mr. Creighton, which is my middle name... 305 00:14:53,709 --> 00:14:54,943 GATES: Mm-hm. 306 00:14:54,943 --> 00:14:56,276 BURNETT: To Mr. Melton... 307 00:14:56,276 --> 00:14:57,376 GATES: Mm-hm. 308 00:14:57,376 --> 00:14:59,576 BURNETT: And to Mr. White. 309 00:14:59,576 --> 00:15:04,676 But there was a scene with my mother, at one point when... 310 00:15:04,676 --> 00:15:08,709 My mother and my grandmother used to argue a lot, 311 00:15:08,709 --> 00:15:14,376 and my grandmother left the room, and my mother said to me, 312 00:15:14,376 --> 00:15:17,743 "She was married six times." 313 00:15:17,743 --> 00:15:19,276 GATES: Six times, okay. 314 00:15:19,276 --> 00:15:22,776 BURNETT: And she made it sound like she was an ax-murderess. 315 00:15:22,776 --> 00:15:26,743 So a few years ago, about 30 years ago, 316 00:15:26,743 --> 00:15:28,609 I was writing a memoir. 317 00:15:28,609 --> 00:15:32,176 So I called my cousin, Janice. 318 00:15:32,176 --> 00:15:35,843 I said, "Cuz, I want to get all these husbands you know, 319 00:15:35,843 --> 00:15:37,243 straight and everything. 320 00:15:37,243 --> 00:15:39,909 I said, "Okay now, Nanny was married to Mr. Creighton 321 00:15:39,909 --> 00:15:43,909 first, and he had your mother", we called her "Aunt Dodo", 322 00:15:43,909 --> 00:15:48,509 "He had Dodo first, and then my mama later and 323 00:15:48,509 --> 00:15:51,409 my cousin said, "No," 324 00:15:51,409 --> 00:15:53,509 I said, what? 325 00:15:53,509 --> 00:15:55,376 She said, "No. 326 00:15:55,376 --> 00:15:58,476 Your mama was my mama's half sister, 327 00:15:58,476 --> 00:16:02,543 and that your mama was Mr. Melton's daughter." 328 00:16:02,543 --> 00:16:03,943 GATES: Oh my goodness. 329 00:16:03,943 --> 00:16:06,209 BURNETT: Well, I said, "That can't be" you know 330 00:16:06,209 --> 00:16:07,576 "I never knew." 331 00:16:07,576 --> 00:16:09,843 She said, "Oh, everybody knew." 332 00:16:09,843 --> 00:16:15,043 But why would my mama name me Carol Creighton Burnett... 333 00:16:15,043 --> 00:16:16,276 GATES: Right. 334 00:16:16,276 --> 00:16:17,576 BURNETT: If she was a Melton? 335 00:16:17,576 --> 00:16:18,909 GATES: Right. 336 00:16:18,909 --> 00:16:20,309 BURNETT: Which then made me think, 337 00:16:20,309 --> 00:16:25,443 "Did my mother know that she wasn't a Creighton?" 338 00:16:26,076 --> 00:16:29,243 So I kind of just would love to find out 339 00:16:29,243 --> 00:16:31,409 if I'm a Creighton or a Melton. 340 00:16:32,543 --> 00:16:34,276 GATES: To answer Carol's question, 341 00:16:34,276 --> 00:16:37,343 we turned to the archives. 342 00:16:37,343 --> 00:16:40,509 We saw that Mae was born in Belleville, Arkansas 343 00:16:40,509 --> 00:16:43,476 in July of 1885. 344 00:16:44,376 --> 00:16:47,643 She married William Creighton when she was 20 years old, 345 00:16:47,643 --> 00:16:50,143 and gave birth to Carol's mother, Ina, 346 00:16:50,143 --> 00:16:53,443 roughly six years later. 347 00:16:53,443 --> 00:16:56,876 Since William and Mae didn't divorce until Ina was four, 348 00:16:56,876 --> 00:17:00,209 it seemed likely that William Creighton 349 00:17:00,209 --> 00:17:01,609 was Ina's father. 350 00:17:02,709 --> 00:17:06,309 But then we read the transcript of William and Mae's divorce. 351 00:17:07,809 --> 00:17:10,176 BURNETT: "William H. Creighton denies that he 352 00:17:10,176 --> 00:17:11,909 abandoned plaintiff. 353 00:17:11,909 --> 00:17:14,376 Plaintiff has bestowed her love and affections and 354 00:17:14,376 --> 00:17:17,509 her person, as defendant verily believes, 355 00:17:17,509 --> 00:17:19,543 on numerous other men. 356 00:17:19,543 --> 00:17:22,509 Kept up a correspondence with them, entered into 357 00:17:22,509 --> 00:17:26,509 questionable relations of undue intimacy with them. 358 00:17:26,509 --> 00:17:28,209 Whoa. 359 00:17:28,209 --> 00:17:32,143 Represented herself as being a widow. 360 00:17:32,143 --> 00:17:37,376 Made love and became engaged to diverse and sundry men and boys, 361 00:17:37,376 --> 00:17:40,343 all of this while the wife of and receiving 362 00:17:40,343 --> 00:17:42,809 support from the defendant. 363 00:17:42,809 --> 00:17:46,909 Oh my God, that she has been engaged in correspondence and 364 00:17:46,909 --> 00:17:50,343 an undue familiarity with a young man at Belleville and 365 00:17:50,343 --> 00:17:52,843 they have engaged to become married as soon as she is 366 00:17:52,843 --> 00:17:55,076 released by divorce." 367 00:17:56,143 --> 00:17:58,376 Woo. 368 00:17:58,376 --> 00:18:00,976 She was a trip. 369 00:18:01,843 --> 00:18:06,043 GATES: The young man mentioned in William's testimony 370 00:18:06,043 --> 00:18:08,609 was Herman Melton, whom Carol's grandmother 371 00:18:08,609 --> 00:18:12,043 did indeed marry almost immediately 372 00:18:12,043 --> 00:18:14,809 after divorcing William. 373 00:18:14,809 --> 00:18:19,776 Herman was 24 at the time, six years younger than Mae, 374 00:18:19,776 --> 00:18:22,909 and while it's possible that he had an affair with Mae while 375 00:18:22,909 --> 00:18:27,043 she was still married, and fathered Carol's mother, 376 00:18:27,043 --> 00:18:29,509 no records could tell us that. 377 00:18:30,243 --> 00:18:33,009 Moreover, it seems that Herman and Mae had 378 00:18:33,009 --> 00:18:35,276 troubles of their own. 379 00:18:36,476 --> 00:18:39,909 BURNETT: I had heard that Herman's mother and father 380 00:18:39,909 --> 00:18:44,609 did not like the fact that Nanny married their son. 381 00:18:44,609 --> 00:18:47,743 And the mother went to San Antonio, when they moved to 382 00:18:47,743 --> 00:18:52,343 San Antonio, and she grabbed Herman, they said, by the ear 383 00:18:52,343 --> 00:18:54,476 and brought him back to Arkansas. 384 00:18:54,476 --> 00:18:56,376 GATES: Said are you crazy? 385 00:18:56,376 --> 00:18:58,976 BURNETT: So it's evident, that's what I heard that his 386 00:18:58,976 --> 00:19:02,943 parents stepped in and got him away from Nanny. 387 00:19:02,943 --> 00:19:05,643 GATES: Well, we wanted to see how that marriage went. 388 00:19:05,643 --> 00:19:07,376 Would you please turn the page? 389 00:19:07,376 --> 00:19:08,676 BURNETT: Oh-oh. 390 00:19:08,676 --> 00:19:10,243 GATES: Carol, this is a record from Yell County, Arkansas, 391 00:19:10,243 --> 00:19:13,143 dated November 13th, 1919. 392 00:19:13,143 --> 00:19:15,709 Would you please read the transcribed section? 393 00:19:15,709 --> 00:19:18,143 BURNETT: "My name is Herman D. Melton, 394 00:19:18,143 --> 00:19:19,576 I am the plaintiff... 395 00:19:19,576 --> 00:19:21,576 (laughing) 396 00:19:21,576 --> 00:19:23,243 Sorry. 397 00:19:23,243 --> 00:19:25,209 I have to laugh or I'll cry. 398 00:19:25,209 --> 00:19:27,043 I'm the plaintiff in this case. 399 00:19:27,043 --> 00:19:30,243 I was married to the defendant and lived as husband and wife 400 00:19:30,243 --> 00:19:33,709 until September 1918, at which time I left the defendant. 401 00:19:33,709 --> 00:19:37,376 I was good and kind to her, but she did not seem to love me. 402 00:19:37,376 --> 00:19:40,843 She told me that she married me just to spite my father and 403 00:19:40,843 --> 00:19:44,643 mother, and she also informed me that she did not love me, 404 00:19:44,643 --> 00:19:46,809 and that the only man that she ever loved was her 405 00:19:46,809 --> 00:19:49,176 former husband, whom she had separated from 406 00:19:49,176 --> 00:19:50,976 before she married me. 407 00:19:50,976 --> 00:19:53,276 During the fall of 1918, 408 00:19:53,276 --> 00:19:56,776 this first husband, Creighton, died, 409 00:19:56,776 --> 00:19:59,176 and she made a trip of several hundred miles to 410 00:19:59,176 --> 00:20:00,943 attend his funeral. 411 00:20:00,943 --> 00:20:03,843 While at the services, declared that he was the 412 00:20:03,843 --> 00:20:06,376 only man she ever loved." 413 00:20:06,376 --> 00:20:08,643 Wow. 414 00:20:08,643 --> 00:20:09,776 GATES: Yeah, there you go. 415 00:20:09,776 --> 00:20:12,143 BURNETT: Wow. Wow. 416 00:20:13,843 --> 00:20:18,309 At this point, we didn't know who Carol's grandfather was. 417 00:20:18,309 --> 00:20:21,776 Though the paper trail made William seem more likely, 418 00:20:21,776 --> 00:20:24,609 we couldn't rule Herman out. 419 00:20:24,609 --> 00:20:27,009 So we turned to DNA. 420 00:20:28,076 --> 00:20:31,543 We compared Carol's genetic profile to that of millions of 421 00:20:31,543 --> 00:20:35,576 other people in publicly available databases. 422 00:20:35,576 --> 00:20:37,243 When we found matches, 423 00:20:37,243 --> 00:20:40,209 we compared their family trees to hers, 424 00:20:40,209 --> 00:20:43,076 trying to see how they might be related. 425 00:20:43,076 --> 00:20:46,209 And, eventually, we made a breakthrough. 426 00:20:47,109 --> 00:20:48,376 BURNETT: Wow. 427 00:20:48,376 --> 00:20:51,109 GATES: So with DNA alone, we were able to solve this mystery, 428 00:20:51,109 --> 00:20:54,509 we found out which one is your biological grandfather. 429 00:20:54,509 --> 00:20:56,009 Are you ready to meet your grandfather? 430 00:20:56,009 --> 00:20:57,009 BURNETT: Yeah. 431 00:20:57,009 --> 00:20:58,843 GATES: Could you please turn the page? 432 00:20:58,843 --> 00:21:00,943 BURNETT: William Henry Creighton. 433 00:21:00,943 --> 00:21:03,009 GATES: William Henry Creighton, 434 00:21:03,009 --> 00:21:04,809 is in fact your biological grandfather. 435 00:21:04,809 --> 00:21:06,309 BURNETT: Whoa. 436 00:21:06,309 --> 00:21:07,676 GATES: There is no doubt about it. 437 00:21:07,676 --> 00:21:09,876 BURNETT: Wow. I'll be darned. 438 00:21:09,876 --> 00:21:11,743 GATES: You came by your middle name honestly... 439 00:21:11,743 --> 00:21:13,909 BURNETT: Honestly. Yeah. 440 00:21:13,909 --> 00:21:15,143 GATES: Could you please turn the page? 441 00:21:15,143 --> 00:21:17,143 BURNETT: Uh-huh. There's Bill Creighton. 442 00:21:17,143 --> 00:21:19,143 GATES: There's your grandmother and Bill Creighton. 443 00:21:19,143 --> 00:21:20,709 Those are your grandparents. 444 00:21:20,709 --> 00:21:22,409 Those are your biological grandparents. 445 00:21:22,409 --> 00:21:24,076 What's it like to see that now, knowing that this 446 00:21:24,076 --> 00:21:26,609 mystery, finally has been put to rest? 447 00:21:26,609 --> 00:21:28,876 BURNETT: I'm still, my heart is going 448 00:21:28,876 --> 00:21:31,109 boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. 449 00:21:31,109 --> 00:21:32,509 But I'm glad I know. 450 00:21:32,509 --> 00:21:34,076 Yeah. 451 00:21:34,076 --> 00:21:36,376 Thank you. 452 00:21:36,676 --> 00:21:38,543 GATES: There was a final beat to this story. 453 00:21:38,543 --> 00:21:41,609 As we combed through records in Texas and Arkansas, 454 00:21:41,609 --> 00:21:45,976 we discovered that, all told, Carol's grandmother was 455 00:21:45,976 --> 00:21:49,776 married at least five different times, 456 00:21:49,776 --> 00:21:55,909 including three times between the years 1922 and 1926. 457 00:21:56,909 --> 00:21:58,776 BURNETT: Wow. 458 00:21:58,776 --> 00:22:01,009 GATES: I mean, she's like a Hollywood actress. 459 00:22:01,009 --> 00:22:02,076 BURNETT: It's like Elizabeth Taylor. 460 00:22:02,076 --> 00:22:03,109 GATES: Yeah, you got it. 461 00:22:03,109 --> 00:22:04,309 BURNETT: Yeah. 462 00:22:04,309 --> 00:22:06,176 GATES: But think about this, think about your mother. 463 00:22:06,176 --> 00:22:08,143 BURNETT: Momma, yeah. 464 00:22:08,143 --> 00:22:09,776 GATES: Your mother was a child when this was happening, 465 00:22:09,776 --> 00:22:13,176 between her 10th birthday and her 14th birthday, 466 00:22:13,176 --> 00:22:15,109 her mother married three different men. 467 00:22:15,109 --> 00:22:16,343 BURNETT: Right. 468 00:22:16,343 --> 00:22:17,676 GATES: Does learning all of this change anything about 469 00:22:17,676 --> 00:22:19,309 how you think of your grandmother? 470 00:22:19,309 --> 00:22:20,543 BURNETT: No. 471 00:22:20,543 --> 00:22:26,009 Well, I didn't know she was quite as friendly as they 472 00:22:26,009 --> 00:22:29,743 make her out to be, but that's about the only thing. 473 00:22:29,743 --> 00:22:32,043 You know, I knew she was pretty... 474 00:22:32,043 --> 00:22:34,009 You know, she was pretty... 475 00:22:34,009 --> 00:22:40,343 She was still flirting with people when I was grown up. 476 00:22:40,343 --> 00:22:45,343 I remember when I came from New York at one point to 477 00:22:45,343 --> 00:22:50,509 visit her and she was in an apartment, I moved her to. 478 00:22:50,509 --> 00:22:55,576 And she had a green lantern over her couch, 479 00:22:55,576 --> 00:22:57,676 you know, like a Japanese kind of thing. 480 00:22:57,676 --> 00:23:01,743 And I wanted to show her some pictures I had of 481 00:23:01,743 --> 00:23:04,243 my new daughter. 482 00:23:04,243 --> 00:23:06,176 And I said, "Nanny, can I take this off, 483 00:23:06,176 --> 00:23:07,909 because the light is inside." 484 00:23:07,909 --> 00:23:09,776 Because she said, "Don't touch that. 485 00:23:09,776 --> 00:23:12,243 It's my love light." 486 00:23:12,243 --> 00:23:15,243 (laughing) 487 00:23:15,243 --> 00:23:17,676 GATES: Whoa. 488 00:23:17,676 --> 00:23:19,676 BURNETT: So, I'm not surprised. 489 00:23:19,676 --> 00:23:21,843 I'm not really surprised. 490 00:23:21,843 --> 00:23:23,876 But it doesn't change my feelings toward her because 491 00:23:23,876 --> 00:23:25,743 she was wonderful to me. 492 00:23:25,743 --> 00:23:26,776 There for me. 493 00:23:26,776 --> 00:23:28,676 GATES: No, of course not. 494 00:23:29,643 --> 00:23:31,609 BURNETT: That's the one. 495 00:23:33,543 --> 00:23:36,809 GATES: Just like Carol, Niecy Nash was about to 496 00:23:36,809 --> 00:23:40,809 confront a mystery that was hidden in her own chromosomes. 497 00:23:43,343 --> 00:23:47,243 When we tested her DNA, we saw that she didn't have any 498 00:23:47,243 --> 00:23:51,009 matches to anyone related to the man who she believed to 499 00:23:51,009 --> 00:23:53,076 be her paternal grandfather. 500 00:23:55,176 --> 00:23:59,476 Meaning that Niecy's father did not know the true identity 501 00:23:59,476 --> 00:24:03,576 of his own biological father... 502 00:24:04,309 --> 00:24:07,976 It was such a deeply personal discovery that I called Niecy 503 00:24:07,976 --> 00:24:11,243 before our interview, so that she could convey the news 504 00:24:11,243 --> 00:24:14,743 to her father in private. 505 00:24:15,676 --> 00:24:20,109 So, what was it like when I told you this on the telephone? 506 00:24:20,109 --> 00:24:22,676 (laughing) 507 00:24:22,676 --> 00:24:24,476 NASH: I was in a state of shock. 508 00:24:24,476 --> 00:24:28,943 I think I said "Uh say what now?" 509 00:24:28,943 --> 00:24:33,176 Uhm "What exactly does that mean?", 510 00:24:33,176 --> 00:24:36,043 Um, and then I realized 511 00:24:36,043 --> 00:24:40,143 what you were saying was that the man that not only 512 00:24:40,143 --> 00:24:44,709 I believed to be my grandfather on my father's side but it's 513 00:24:44,709 --> 00:24:48,409 also the man that my father and his twin brother believed 514 00:24:48,409 --> 00:24:52,776 was their father, and now that whole theory was defunct. 515 00:24:52,776 --> 00:24:54,476 GATES: Right. That's right. 516 00:24:54,476 --> 00:24:56,143 Their daddy wasn't their daddy. 517 00:24:56,143 --> 00:24:57,809 NASH: Yeah. 518 00:24:57,809 --> 00:25:00,943 GATES: And I said to you, we got to let him know because 519 00:25:00,943 --> 00:25:02,876 this is not "Jerry Springer", 520 00:25:02,876 --> 00:25:04,509 he can't be sitting watching the show. 521 00:25:04,509 --> 00:25:06,876 NASH: Yeah, and when you said we got to let to him know, 522 00:25:06,876 --> 00:25:08,709 I didn't think you meant me. 523 00:25:08,709 --> 00:25:11,009 And you did, and I was like, oh, I got to call him and 524 00:25:11,009 --> 00:25:13,843 tell him, oh jeesh. 525 00:25:14,876 --> 00:25:17,343 GATES: Perhaps unsurprisingly, 526 00:25:17,343 --> 00:25:20,609 Niecy did not call her father immediately, 527 00:25:20,609 --> 00:25:24,209 her parents had separated when she was a child, 528 00:25:24,209 --> 00:25:25,609 and her mother had been 529 00:25:25,609 --> 00:25:28,376 the dominant force in her upbringing, 530 00:25:28,376 --> 00:25:30,709 so when she was done talking to me, 531 00:25:30,709 --> 00:25:33,476 Niecy turned to her mom. 532 00:25:34,143 --> 00:25:36,609 NASH: I had to call the rock first. 533 00:25:36,609 --> 00:25:38,209 And then, I called my father. 534 00:25:38,209 --> 00:25:39,743 GATES: Okay. What did your mom say? 535 00:25:39,743 --> 00:25:42,043 NASH: Uhm, uhm, uhm, what you say? 536 00:25:42,043 --> 00:25:43,843 What? 537 00:25:45,009 --> 00:25:46,909 What? 538 00:25:46,909 --> 00:25:48,243 You know they thought, you know they thought 539 00:25:48,243 --> 00:25:50,943 your father's daddy was a big deal. 540 00:25:50,943 --> 00:25:53,176 Ain't that something. 541 00:25:53,176 --> 00:25:55,043 I said, girl, you are no help at all. 542 00:25:55,043 --> 00:25:57,476 Let me call my daddy and I'll call you back. 543 00:25:57,476 --> 00:25:58,943 GATES: Your mom's sticking pins in that balloon. 544 00:25:58,943 --> 00:26:00,209 Boom, boom, boom. 545 00:26:00,209 --> 00:26:02,643 NASH: Yes, I'm like what are you, what is happening? 546 00:26:02,643 --> 00:26:05,909 So that was that on that, and then I called my dad. 547 00:26:05,909 --> 00:26:09,476 GATES: Can I ask you: dad says, "Hello?", what do you say? 548 00:26:09,476 --> 00:26:11,943 NASH: I said, what I'm going to do is rip this Band-Aid. 549 00:26:11,943 --> 00:26:13,276 I said, "Hey listen." 550 00:26:13,276 --> 00:26:14,576 I said, "The people from the show called. 551 00:26:14,576 --> 00:26:16,043 And what they say." 552 00:26:16,043 --> 00:26:19,543 And he said, "What?" 553 00:26:19,543 --> 00:26:23,076 And I said, "Uh-hum." 554 00:26:23,076 --> 00:26:25,176 I mean, that was, that what they said, and then I quickly 555 00:26:25,176 --> 00:26:27,276 was like, "And they said you can call." 556 00:26:27,276 --> 00:26:28,309 GATES: Yeah. 557 00:26:28,309 --> 00:26:30,476 NASH: "The people say you can call." 558 00:26:30,476 --> 00:26:33,076 I, I, I, I, and I was just kind of stumbling a little bit. 559 00:26:33,076 --> 00:26:34,343 GATES: Sure. Sure. 560 00:26:34,343 --> 00:26:36,276 NASH: And he said, "Let me call you back in 15 minutes." 561 00:26:36,276 --> 00:26:37,576 GATES: Uh-huh. 562 00:26:37,576 --> 00:26:39,876 NASH: And then, that was the longest 15 minutes of my life. 563 00:26:39,876 --> 00:26:42,876 Uhm, I don't even know what he did in that 15 minutes, 564 00:26:42,876 --> 00:26:45,543 but he did call me back, and he said, 565 00:26:45,543 --> 00:26:49,076 "Well Pumpkin, the journey continues." 566 00:26:51,543 --> 00:26:53,476 GATES: The "journey" would lead us back to the 567 00:26:53,476 --> 00:26:55,909 DNA databases. 568 00:26:55,909 --> 00:26:59,276 Our genetic genealogist, CeCe Moore, discovered that 569 00:26:59,276 --> 00:27:03,309 Niecy had numerous matches to people who could only be related 570 00:27:03,309 --> 00:27:07,043 to her through her unknown biological grandfather. 571 00:27:09,043 --> 00:27:12,876 Sifting through them, CeCe then noticed something else: 572 00:27:13,343 --> 00:27:16,809 one of these matches shared enough DNA with Niecy to be 573 00:27:16,809 --> 00:27:18,876 her second cousin. 574 00:27:18,876 --> 00:27:21,776 Which meant that Niecy's grandfather and one of 575 00:27:21,776 --> 00:27:24,743 this person's grandparents were siblings. 576 00:27:25,943 --> 00:27:28,743 The solution to our mystery was at hand. 577 00:27:30,143 --> 00:27:33,676 Please find your new cousin at the bottom center of the page. 578 00:27:33,676 --> 00:27:35,276 Okay? You see him? 579 00:27:35,276 --> 00:27:36,609 NASH: Yes. 580 00:27:36,609 --> 00:27:39,276 GATES: Now follow the boxes up to your cousin's grandparents. 581 00:27:39,276 --> 00:27:40,709 Do you see that name? 582 00:27:40,709 --> 00:27:41,843 NASH: Lesley Jackson. 583 00:27:41,843 --> 00:27:43,376 GATES: You got it. 584 00:27:43,376 --> 00:27:46,709 Lesley Jackson had a brother, and his brother is your 585 00:27:46,709 --> 00:27:48,576 biological grandfather. 586 00:27:48,576 --> 00:27:50,676 NASH: Shut the front door. 587 00:27:50,676 --> 00:27:53,476 GATES: That is, it, that's how we do it, then when you turn 588 00:27:53,476 --> 00:27:56,209 that page, you're going to find out his name. 589 00:27:56,209 --> 00:27:57,209 You ready to meet him? 590 00:27:57,209 --> 00:27:59,443 (laughing) 591 00:27:59,443 --> 00:28:02,609 NASH: Yes, this is crazy town. 592 00:28:02,609 --> 00:28:04,476 GATES: Please turn the page. 593 00:28:04,476 --> 00:28:07,809 Niecy, would you please read the name of your biological 594 00:28:07,809 --> 00:28:10,709 grandfather, your father's father? 595 00:28:10,709 --> 00:28:15,209 NASH: Oh my god. 596 00:28:15,209 --> 00:28:19,376 My grandfather is...his name is Frank Jackson. 597 00:28:19,376 --> 00:28:21,909 GATES: Frank Jackson is your father's father. 598 00:28:21,909 --> 00:28:23,443 NASH: Frank. 599 00:28:23,443 --> 00:28:26,043 GATES: You just met your biological grandfather. 600 00:28:26,043 --> 00:28:29,143 NASH: Frank Jack... ol' Frank Jackson. 601 00:28:29,143 --> 00:28:30,676 GATES: What's it like to see this? 602 00:28:30,676 --> 00:28:33,276 NASH: So many things are going on in my mind, right now. 603 00:28:33,276 --> 00:28:37,443 I'm like, I wonder if my father ever met him or 604 00:28:37,443 --> 00:28:41,409 if he ever knew him, in his life, you know. 605 00:28:41,409 --> 00:28:42,643 GATES: Uh-hum. Sure. 606 00:28:42,643 --> 00:28:43,976 NASH: I, I, I wonder... 607 00:28:43,976 --> 00:28:45,609 If he ever saw him before in his life. 608 00:28:45,609 --> 00:28:47,009 GATES: Right. 609 00:28:47,009 --> 00:28:50,243 NASH: Wow. 610 00:28:51,076 --> 00:28:53,843 Frank Jackson. 611 00:28:53,843 --> 00:28:57,043 GATES: There's no evidence that Niecy's father ever met 612 00:28:57,043 --> 00:29:02,309 Frank Jackson, but we have a theory as to how Frank met 613 00:29:02,309 --> 00:29:06,543 Niecy's grandmother, a woman named Alice Mitchell. 614 00:29:08,043 --> 00:29:12,909 In 1944, Alice married a man named Arthur Ensley 615 00:29:12,909 --> 00:29:16,009 and settled in St. Louis. 616 00:29:16,009 --> 00:29:19,209 She gave birth to Niecy's father two years later. 617 00:29:20,409 --> 00:29:24,109 And a map of the city shows that Frank was less than 618 00:29:24,109 --> 00:29:26,376 a mile away. 619 00:29:26,376 --> 00:29:28,409 Take a look at that blue arrow. 620 00:29:28,409 --> 00:29:30,409 That's where your grandmother Alice, 621 00:29:30,409 --> 00:29:32,009 who was about 30 years old, 622 00:29:32,009 --> 00:29:34,776 and Arthur, the man who was presumed to be your grandfather, 623 00:29:34,776 --> 00:29:36,809 were living as newlyweds. 624 00:29:36,809 --> 00:29:38,743 NASH: Ooh. 625 00:29:38,743 --> 00:29:42,276 Oh, oh.... 626 00:29:42,943 --> 00:29:46,543 (laughing) 627 00:29:46,543 --> 00:29:47,709 GATES: And... 628 00:29:47,709 --> 00:29:49,576 NASH: Oh, Lord have mercy. 629 00:29:49,576 --> 00:29:50,576 GATES: And Niecy? 630 00:29:50,576 --> 00:29:51,609 NASH: Uh-hum. Uh-hum. 631 00:29:51,609 --> 00:29:52,643 GATES: Do you see that red arrow? 632 00:29:52,643 --> 00:29:54,309 NASH: I see it. I see it. 633 00:29:54,309 --> 00:29:56,609 Mr. Jackson was right on up the way. 634 00:29:56,609 --> 00:29:57,643 GATES: That is... 635 00:29:57,643 --> 00:29:58,843 NASH: Right, right, right around the way. 636 00:29:58,843 --> 00:30:00,843 GATES: That is where your biological grandfather 637 00:30:00,843 --> 00:30:02,443 Frank was living. 638 00:30:02,443 --> 00:30:03,809 They were living very close. 639 00:30:03,809 --> 00:30:06,376 NASH: So, but wait, wait, wait, let me just make sure, 640 00:30:06,376 --> 00:30:09,076 let me just walk this down to make sure I, I'm following it. 641 00:30:09,076 --> 00:30:11,009 GATES: Okay. 642 00:30:11,009 --> 00:30:14,476 NASH: When my grandmother, when my nanny, was living on, 643 00:30:14,476 --> 00:30:15,943 uh, Dickson Street... 644 00:30:15,943 --> 00:30:16,976 GATES: Right. 645 00:30:16,976 --> 00:30:18,609 NASH: She was already married? 646 00:30:18,609 --> 00:30:20,009 GATES: She was a newlywed. 647 00:30:20,009 --> 00:30:21,443 NASH: She was a newlywed. 648 00:30:21,443 --> 00:30:23,543 And, and the, and the, and the, and the... 649 00:30:23,543 --> 00:30:25,243 GATES: The red arrow... 650 00:30:25,243 --> 00:30:26,843 NASH: That's where Mr. Jackson lived. 651 00:30:26,843 --> 00:30:28,143 GATES: That's where Mr. Jackson lived. 652 00:30:28,143 --> 00:30:30,976 NASH: So, Mr. Jackson came around to the house 653 00:30:30,976 --> 00:30:32,443 a time or two... 654 00:30:32,443 --> 00:30:34,543 While she was already married to Arthur? 655 00:30:34,543 --> 00:30:36,243 GATES: Well, we don't know if he came to the house 656 00:30:36,243 --> 00:30:37,609 or she came to his house. 657 00:30:37,609 --> 00:30:38,943 NASH: But they, they met on up. 658 00:30:38,943 --> 00:30:41,009 GATES: They met, they met somewhere. 659 00:30:41,009 --> 00:30:45,809 NASH: Ooh, dirty pots and pans. 660 00:30:46,743 --> 00:30:49,443 (laughing) 661 00:30:50,376 --> 00:30:52,709 GATES: Niecy wondered if Frank had any other children besides 662 00:30:52,709 --> 00:30:54,876 her father and his brother. 663 00:30:54,876 --> 00:30:57,076 We aren't certain. 664 00:30:57,076 --> 00:31:00,476 Her grandfather was difficult to research, because he had 665 00:31:00,476 --> 00:31:03,743 a common name and he left few records behind. 666 00:31:05,309 --> 00:31:09,309 We were, however, able to uncover a few crucial facts 667 00:31:09,309 --> 00:31:10,843 about his life. 668 00:31:12,609 --> 00:31:15,809 We know that Frank served in World War I. 669 00:31:16,443 --> 00:31:18,709 Later he worked in a garage, 670 00:31:18,709 --> 00:31:21,976 then as a scrap metal dealer in St Louis. 671 00:31:22,709 --> 00:31:26,243 And we also know that he had a difficult childhood. 672 00:31:27,076 --> 00:31:31,276 In the 1900 census for Tennessee, we found Frank, 673 00:31:31,276 --> 00:31:35,443 a four-year-old boy, boarding on a farm with his father, 674 00:31:35,443 --> 00:31:38,743 his younger brother, and a 23-year-old woman named 675 00:31:38,743 --> 00:31:41,976 Charity, Frank's new stepmother. 676 00:31:43,176 --> 00:31:44,576 NASH: Wow. 677 00:31:44,576 --> 00:31:47,476 GATES: So, Frank had lost his mother by the time he was 678 00:31:47,476 --> 00:31:50,376 four, if not earlier. 679 00:31:50,376 --> 00:31:53,443 NASH: Wow. Okay. 680 00:31:53,443 --> 00:31:55,543 GATES: What's it like to learn this? 681 00:31:55,543 --> 00:31:57,009 These are your father's people. 682 00:31:57,009 --> 00:31:59,009 NASH: This is a mind-blowing experience. 683 00:31:59,009 --> 00:32:03,876 It really, unlocks so many thoughts, and ideas, 684 00:32:03,876 --> 00:32:06,143 and I don't know, things are just spinning so fast. 685 00:32:06,143 --> 00:32:08,309 I mean, I'm, and I'm a visual person... 686 00:32:08,309 --> 00:32:09,509 GATES: Sure. 687 00:32:09,509 --> 00:32:12,943 NASH: So, I'm trying to imagine this house and you know 688 00:32:12,943 --> 00:32:16,243 and this baby and losing a mom, you know, his mother, 689 00:32:16,243 --> 00:32:17,576 and you know what I mean, 690 00:32:17,576 --> 00:32:19,276 here comes this girl nothing but 23. 691 00:32:19,276 --> 00:32:20,276 GATES: I know 692 00:32:20,276 --> 00:32:21,543 NASH: Now, she got this man with these, 693 00:32:21,543 --> 00:32:22,743 with these young babies, you know. 694 00:32:22,743 --> 00:32:23,743 GATES: That's right. 695 00:32:23,743 --> 00:32:25,676 NASH: This is just crazy. 696 00:32:26,509 --> 00:32:29,809 GATES: Moving back from Frank, we were able to trace Niecy's 697 00:32:29,809 --> 00:32:34,309 newfound family two more generations, introducing her 698 00:32:34,309 --> 00:32:38,309 to Frank's father, and then to his grandfather, a man named 699 00:32:38,309 --> 00:32:40,776 Ruffin Jackson. 700 00:32:41,676 --> 00:32:44,943 Ruffin is Niecy's great-great-grandfather, 701 00:32:44,943 --> 00:32:47,009 the earliest ancestor we could name 702 00:32:47,009 --> 00:32:49,509 on her direct paternal line. 703 00:32:50,343 --> 00:32:55,276 He was born around 1824, likely in Virginia, and as we 704 00:32:55,276 --> 00:32:59,443 researched his life, we found something precious. 705 00:33:01,343 --> 00:33:02,543 NASH: Ooh. 706 00:33:02,543 --> 00:33:03,743 GATES: It's the oldest document that we could find on 707 00:33:03,743 --> 00:33:05,609 your Jackson family line. 708 00:33:05,609 --> 00:33:08,743 Would you please read the transcribed section? 709 00:33:08,743 --> 00:33:13,709 NASH: Ruffin Jackson and Hanna Jackson, December 1866. 710 00:33:13,709 --> 00:33:15,743 GATES: That is the marriage certificate for 711 00:33:15,743 --> 00:33:17,676 your great-great-grandparents, 712 00:33:17,676 --> 00:33:20,409 a year after the Civil War ended. 713 00:33:21,543 --> 00:33:23,009 NASH: That's my family getting married. 714 00:33:23,009 --> 00:33:24,443 GATES: Your great-great-grandparents 715 00:33:24,443 --> 00:33:26,843 getting married, Ruffin and Hanna. 716 00:33:26,843 --> 00:33:29,343 (sighs). 717 00:33:29,343 --> 00:33:33,176 NASH: I love it I love it. 718 00:33:33,176 --> 00:33:36,476 Oh, wow, it's, it's a beautiful thing. 719 00:33:36,476 --> 00:33:37,909 It's a beautiful thing. 720 00:33:37,909 --> 00:33:39,543 GATES: And look at that handwriting, I mean, 721 00:33:39,543 --> 00:33:42,076 these are handwritten documents. 722 00:33:42,076 --> 00:33:44,476 NASH: I'm blown away. 723 00:33:44,476 --> 00:33:46,876 GATES: Does it change the way you see your father now 724 00:33:46,876 --> 00:33:51,376 knowing his true biological ancestry back 200 years? 725 00:33:51,709 --> 00:33:54,109 (sighs). 726 00:33:54,109 --> 00:33:57,943 NASH: You know, my father has had many jobs in this life, 727 00:33:57,943 --> 00:34:03,576 he's done a little bit of everything, uhm, and you know 728 00:34:03,576 --> 00:34:07,276 to be able to look back and look down the line, and, and, 729 00:34:07,276 --> 00:34:09,709 and the other thing about it is, is it's so interesting 730 00:34:09,709 --> 00:34:12,643 because it's a line we didn't know we needed to look down. 731 00:34:12,643 --> 00:34:13,943 GATES: Absolutely. 732 00:34:13,943 --> 00:34:15,543 NASH: So, you know, a lot of that part is still buffering. 733 00:34:15,543 --> 00:34:16,909 GATES: Of course. 734 00:34:16,909 --> 00:34:19,109 NASH: You know what I mean, but I'm looking at where his, uhm, 735 00:34:19,109 --> 00:34:22,509 the people in his family, what, what kind of work they did, 736 00:34:22,509 --> 00:34:23,543 and you know. 737 00:34:23,543 --> 00:34:24,809 GATES: Yeah. 738 00:34:24,809 --> 00:34:26,276 NASH: What kind of life they lived, and you know, so it's 739 00:34:26,276 --> 00:34:30,709 interesting because it, it was just a space 740 00:34:30,709 --> 00:34:32,309 no one knew to look. 741 00:34:32,309 --> 00:34:33,676 GATES: Right, it wasn't there on the map. 742 00:34:33,676 --> 00:34:35,443 NASH: No. 743 00:34:35,443 --> 00:34:39,609 That his destiny was really, uh, less than a mile. 744 00:34:39,609 --> 00:34:42,276 From where he was born. 745 00:34:42,276 --> 00:34:44,876 GATES: Right. 746 00:34:46,243 --> 00:34:48,443 NASH: Do you see my head blowing off? 747 00:34:50,676 --> 00:34:52,809 GATES: We'd already identified Carol Burnett's 748 00:34:52,809 --> 00:34:54,776 maternal grandfather, 749 00:34:54,776 --> 00:34:57,876 solving a mystery that had haunted her for decades. 750 00:34:59,676 --> 00:35:03,409 Now we turned to a man who will remain a mystery forever: 751 00:35:03,409 --> 00:35:06,776 Carol's own father, Joseph Burnett, 752 00:35:06,776 --> 00:35:09,509 who struggled for most of his adult life 753 00:35:09,509 --> 00:35:11,376 with a drinking problem, 754 00:35:11,376 --> 00:35:15,143 and died penniless when he was just 47 years old. 755 00:35:16,609 --> 00:35:19,743 Carol will never know the source of her father's demons, 756 00:35:19,743 --> 00:35:23,343 but she still feels a deep affinity for him, 757 00:35:23,343 --> 00:35:26,343 and was eager to note their similarities. 758 00:35:26,909 --> 00:35:29,776 BURNETT: I sound like I'm bragging, that's the thing. 759 00:35:29,776 --> 00:35:31,943 I'm easy going and he was easy going. 760 00:35:31,943 --> 00:35:33,676 GATES: You are not bragging. You're being descriptive. 761 00:35:33,676 --> 00:35:36,143 BURNETT: Well, you know, it sounds like... 762 00:35:36,143 --> 00:35:37,176 You know? 763 00:35:37,176 --> 00:35:38,509 GATES: Well, how are you different? 764 00:35:38,509 --> 00:35:39,509 BURNETT: How am I different? 765 00:35:39,509 --> 00:35:40,543 GATES: Mm-hmm. 766 00:35:40,543 --> 00:35:41,676 BURNETT: Well, not an alcoholic. 767 00:35:41,676 --> 00:35:43,109 GATES: Right. Yeah. Thank God. 768 00:35:43,109 --> 00:35:44,843 BURNETT: Um... 769 00:35:44,843 --> 00:35:47,343 I don't think I'm a lot different in a way. 770 00:35:47,343 --> 00:35:49,009 I'm open. He was open. 771 00:35:49,009 --> 00:35:50,443 You know. 772 00:35:50,443 --> 00:35:53,709 And uh, friendly. 773 00:35:53,709 --> 00:35:54,709 GATES: Mm-hmm. 774 00:35:54,709 --> 00:35:56,276 Do you know anything about his roots? 775 00:35:56,276 --> 00:35:57,543 BURNETT: No, not really. 776 00:35:57,543 --> 00:35:59,076 He had an older brother. 777 00:35:59,076 --> 00:36:01,143 He was rich because he had a job. 778 00:36:01,143 --> 00:36:02,709 GATES: I understand that. 779 00:36:02,709 --> 00:36:03,709 A paycheck. 780 00:36:03,709 --> 00:36:06,776 BURNETT: Yeah. And his nickname was Tex. 781 00:36:06,776 --> 00:36:08,476 Tex Burnett. 782 00:36:08,476 --> 00:36:11,309 But that's, that's about all I know. 783 00:36:11,309 --> 00:36:13,743 GATES: So, let's see what we found. 784 00:36:14,176 --> 00:36:17,376 Our search soon focused on Bell County, Texas, 785 00:36:17,376 --> 00:36:19,809 where Carol's father was born. 786 00:36:20,809 --> 00:36:23,243 In the 1880 census for this county, 787 00:36:23,243 --> 00:36:27,376 we found Carol's grandfather, Joseph Hiram Burnett, 788 00:36:27,376 --> 00:36:29,576 living with his parents, 789 00:36:29,576 --> 00:36:32,409 John H. Burnett and Mahala Davis. 790 00:36:32,943 --> 00:36:34,209 Have you ever heard of these people? 791 00:36:34,209 --> 00:36:35,376 BURNETT: No, no. 792 00:36:35,376 --> 00:36:37,476 GATES: Well, your great-grandfather John had a 793 00:36:37,476 --> 00:36:39,176 very interesting life. 794 00:36:39,176 --> 00:36:43,076 As you can see, he was born in New York around the year 795 00:36:43,076 --> 00:36:45,909 1835 and moved to Texas as a young man. 796 00:36:45,909 --> 00:36:48,609 By 1860, he was living in Austin. 797 00:36:48,609 --> 00:36:50,843 A year later, the Civil War broke out. 798 00:36:50,843 --> 00:36:52,609 John was 26 years old. 799 00:36:52,609 --> 00:36:54,409 He had a wife and a young child. 800 00:36:54,409 --> 00:36:56,043 Let's see what he did next. 801 00:36:56,043 --> 00:36:57,076 BURNETT: Turn the page? 802 00:36:57,076 --> 00:36:59,676 GATES: Turn the page, please. 803 00:37:00,376 --> 00:37:04,576 This is a muster roll dated November 26th 1861. 804 00:37:04,576 --> 00:37:06,776 Would you please read the transcribed section? 805 00:37:06,776 --> 00:37:08,009 BURNETT: "Confederate." 806 00:37:08,009 --> 00:37:09,109 GATES: Mm-hmm. 807 00:37:09,109 --> 00:37:12,576 BURNETT: "J.J.H. Burnett, private, Texas Infantry 808 00:37:12,576 --> 00:37:17,443 Camp Hebert near Hempstead, November 26, 1861." 809 00:37:17,443 --> 00:37:19,676 GATES: John served in the Confederate army. 810 00:37:19,676 --> 00:37:21,976 What's it like to know that? 811 00:37:21,976 --> 00:37:24,209 BURNETT: I'm not thrilled. 812 00:37:24,209 --> 00:37:25,876 GATES: But you must have suspected because 813 00:37:25,876 --> 00:37:26,876 you were Southern. 814 00:37:26,876 --> 00:37:28,043 BURNETT: Southern. Yeah. 815 00:37:28,043 --> 00:37:30,343 GATES: Well we wanted to see how he fared. 816 00:37:30,343 --> 00:37:32,043 No family stories about any ancestors. 817 00:37:32,043 --> 00:37:33,043 BURNETT: Never. 818 00:37:33,043 --> 00:37:34,243 GATES: Okay. We're going to find out. 819 00:37:34,243 --> 00:37:35,243 BURNETT: Okay. 820 00:37:35,243 --> 00:37:36,876 GATES: Could you please turn the page? 821 00:37:36,876 --> 00:37:38,576 Carol, this is another muster roll taken 822 00:37:38,576 --> 00:37:40,709 in the summer of 1863. 823 00:37:40,709 --> 00:37:42,209 So the war was two years in. 824 00:37:42,209 --> 00:37:44,476 Would you please read the transcribed section? 825 00:37:44,476 --> 00:37:48,543 BURNETT: "John J.H. Burnett, July 30th 1863. 826 00:37:48,543 --> 00:37:49,809 Deserted." 827 00:37:49,809 --> 00:37:50,843 GATES: Deserted. 828 00:37:50,843 --> 00:37:53,209 Your great-grandfather deserted. 829 00:37:53,643 --> 00:37:55,609 BURNETT: Oh my God. 830 00:37:57,109 --> 00:37:58,743 GATES: When John deserted, 831 00:37:58,743 --> 00:38:01,676 his regiment was stationed in southern Louisiana, 832 00:38:01,676 --> 00:38:05,843 about 400 miles from his Texas home. 833 00:38:06,843 --> 00:38:10,276 But Carol's great-grandfather wasn't alone. 834 00:38:10,276 --> 00:38:13,909 During the war, more than 100,000 confederates soldiers 835 00:38:13,909 --> 00:38:18,843 deserted, roughly 10% of their entire army... 836 00:38:18,843 --> 00:38:20,376 BURNETT: Oh my God. 837 00:38:20,376 --> 00:38:21,676 Yeah. 838 00:38:21,676 --> 00:38:25,309 GATES: We don't know how he did it, but deserting, Carol, 839 00:38:25,309 --> 00:38:26,876 was not easy, soldiers... 840 00:38:26,876 --> 00:38:28,276 BURNETT: Where would he go? Where would he... 841 00:38:28,276 --> 00:38:30,076 GATES: Well, soldiers would drop out of the ranks 842 00:38:30,076 --> 00:38:31,143 while on march. 843 00:38:31,143 --> 00:38:32,176 BURNETT: Yeah. 844 00:38:32,176 --> 00:38:34,209 GATES: Or sneak away from hospitals or camps. 845 00:38:34,209 --> 00:38:36,676 Sometimes they'd hide in the woods or the swamps to avoid 846 00:38:36,676 --> 00:38:40,909 detection and then travel at night to evade patrols. 847 00:38:40,909 --> 00:38:43,209 BURNETT: What would happen if they got caught? 848 00:38:43,209 --> 00:38:44,376 GATES: If... 849 00:38:44,376 --> 00:38:46,009 BURNETT: Would they be executed? 850 00:38:46,009 --> 00:38:47,609 GATES: If John had been caught, he would've faced 851 00:38:47,609 --> 00:38:51,943 either imprisonment, fines or even execution. 852 00:38:51,943 --> 00:38:53,176 BURNETT: Wow. 853 00:38:53,176 --> 00:38:54,676 GATES: Can you imagine? 854 00:38:54,676 --> 00:38:56,943 He must have been very determined to get out of the 855 00:38:56,943 --> 00:38:58,176 Confederate army. 856 00:38:58,176 --> 00:39:00,609 BURNETT: I'll be darned. 857 00:39:00,609 --> 00:39:03,776 GATES: Despite the risk, and the distance he had to go, 858 00:39:03,776 --> 00:39:05,843 John was successful. 859 00:39:05,843 --> 00:39:09,609 Somehow he managed to make it all the way back home 860 00:39:09,609 --> 00:39:12,409 to Bell County, Texas. 861 00:39:13,309 --> 00:39:16,276 But when the war ended, he faced a dilemma, 862 00:39:16,276 --> 00:39:19,543 he found himself surrounded by former confederate soldiers 863 00:39:19,543 --> 00:39:22,309 who were proud of their service. 864 00:39:22,309 --> 00:39:25,343 And he was a deserter. 865 00:39:26,476 --> 00:39:28,209 What kind of story do you think he's telling? 866 00:39:28,209 --> 00:39:30,276 BURNETT: I have no idea. 867 00:39:30,276 --> 00:39:31,809 Did he keep quiet? 868 00:39:31,809 --> 00:39:34,609 GATES: Well, let's see. 869 00:39:34,609 --> 00:39:36,576 Carol, this is a page from a book on prominent 870 00:39:36,576 --> 00:39:38,609 citizens from Texas. 871 00:39:38,609 --> 00:39:41,176 It was published in the year 1893, when John was about 872 00:39:41,176 --> 00:39:42,709 58 years old. 873 00:39:42,709 --> 00:39:44,609 We believe that either your great-grandfather or 874 00:39:44,609 --> 00:39:47,476 his family provided this information firsthand. 875 00:39:47,476 --> 00:39:50,076 Would you please read the transcribed section? 876 00:39:50,076 --> 00:39:52,409 BURNETT: "During the Civil War, Mr. Burnett was among 877 00:39:52,409 --> 00:39:55,809 the first to enlist in the Confederate service. 878 00:39:55,809 --> 00:39:58,809 He was with the forces that operated west of the 879 00:39:58,809 --> 00:40:03,343 Mississippi and acted the part of a brave soldier all through 880 00:40:03,343 --> 00:40:05,309 that struggle. 881 00:40:05,309 --> 00:40:08,609 At one time he was captured in Louisiana and taken to 882 00:40:08,609 --> 00:40:10,143 New Orleans. 883 00:40:10,143 --> 00:40:12,576 After the close of the war, he returned to his home 884 00:40:12,576 --> 00:40:14,876 and family in Texas." 885 00:40:14,876 --> 00:40:16,409 GATES: According to that biography, 886 00:40:16,409 --> 00:40:18,409 your great-grandfather didn't desert the army. 887 00:40:18,409 --> 00:40:20,276 It says he was captured. 888 00:40:20,276 --> 00:40:21,976 So what do you make of that? 889 00:40:21,976 --> 00:40:24,343 BURNETT: What can we believe? 890 00:40:24,343 --> 00:40:26,476 GATES: Well, Carol, we believe much of that was fabricated. 891 00:40:26,476 --> 00:40:27,876 (laughing) 892 00:40:27,876 --> 00:40:29,976 And it seems that John came home from the war and 893 00:40:29,976 --> 00:40:31,676 made up that story. 894 00:40:31,676 --> 00:40:33,909 BURNETT: Sounds like Nanny. GATES: Yeah. 895 00:40:34,643 --> 00:40:38,043 As it turns out, John wasn't the only soldier in 896 00:40:38,043 --> 00:40:40,843 Carol's father's family tree, 897 00:40:40,843 --> 00:40:42,343 nor was he the only one 898 00:40:42,343 --> 00:40:45,409 challenged by a moral dilemma... 899 00:40:45,409 --> 00:40:49,276 Carol's 4th great-grandfather, Lambert Burget, was born in 900 00:40:49,276 --> 00:40:54,909 the colony of New York around 1760, so, as a young man, 901 00:40:54,909 --> 00:40:58,543 he was prime age to fight in the Revolutionary War. 902 00:40:59,209 --> 00:41:00,709 What do you think he did? 903 00:41:00,709 --> 00:41:02,776 Did he join George Washington and the Patriots, or was he 904 00:41:02,776 --> 00:41:04,876 loyal to King George III? 905 00:41:04,876 --> 00:41:06,676 BURNETT: Oh, I hope he joined the Patriots. 906 00:41:06,676 --> 00:41:07,843 GATES: All right. Let's see. 907 00:41:07,843 --> 00:41:09,143 BURNETT: Let's turn the page. 908 00:41:09,143 --> 00:41:10,709 GATES: Let's turn the page. 909 00:41:10,709 --> 00:41:12,409 Carol, this is a record from the National Archives of 910 00:41:12,409 --> 00:41:15,176 Washington DC, would you please read the transcription? 911 00:41:15,176 --> 00:41:18,276 BURNETT: "Lambert Burget of Steuben County in the state of 912 00:41:18,276 --> 00:41:20,876 New York, who was a private in the company commanded by 913 00:41:20,876 --> 00:41:23,943 captain Miller and of the regiment commanded by 914 00:41:23,943 --> 00:41:27,643 Colonel Willett in the New York militia line for 915 00:41:27,643 --> 00:41:29,776 22 months, 17 days." 916 00:41:29,776 --> 00:41:32,276 GATES: Your ancestor was a Patriot. 917 00:41:33,276 --> 00:41:37,943 Lambert enlisted in May of 1780 in Columbia county, New York, 918 00:41:37,943 --> 00:41:40,543 and served almost two years as a private. 919 00:41:40,543 --> 00:41:42,743 When you were studying the American Revolution in school, 920 00:41:42,743 --> 00:41:44,909 did it ever occur to you that you had an ancestor who was 921 00:41:44,909 --> 00:41:46,376 there fighting with George Washington... 922 00:41:46,376 --> 00:41:47,643 BURNETT: No. No. 923 00:41:47,643 --> 00:41:49,743 GATES: And Alexander Hamilton? 924 00:41:49,743 --> 00:41:50,743 Isn't that amazing? 925 00:41:50,743 --> 00:41:51,909 BURNETT: Wow. That is great. 926 00:41:51,909 --> 00:41:52,976 GATES: What's it like to learn that? 927 00:41:52,976 --> 00:41:54,476 BURNETT: I love it. I love it. 928 00:41:54,476 --> 00:41:55,609 GATES: Mm. 929 00:41:55,609 --> 00:41:57,576 BURNETT: Oh, you see, I never knew... 930 00:41:57,576 --> 00:42:00,309 Once mama and, they got divorced. 931 00:42:00,309 --> 00:42:03,143 Nanny was never a Burnett fan. 932 00:42:03,143 --> 00:42:04,443 GATES: Right. 933 00:42:04,443 --> 00:42:07,009 BURNETT: You know, so I hardly knew anything about them and 934 00:42:07,009 --> 00:42:09,743 daddy, I mean he didn't say much. 935 00:42:09,743 --> 00:42:11,076 I don't know. 936 00:42:11,076 --> 00:42:12,743 It just never occurred to me. 937 00:42:12,743 --> 00:42:13,776 GATES: Right. 938 00:42:13,776 --> 00:42:16,276 BURNETT: But this is really fun. 939 00:42:16,276 --> 00:42:18,643 GATES: According to his pension file, Lambert was 940 00:42:18,643 --> 00:42:22,609 stationed in upstate New York throughout the war, near the 941 00:42:22,609 --> 00:42:27,109 site of a number of battles, some of them quite fierce. 942 00:42:29,009 --> 00:42:32,043 When the fighting stopped, Lambert remained in the army, 943 00:42:32,043 --> 00:42:36,209 and briefly served directly under George Washington. 944 00:42:36,743 --> 00:42:41,076 He then became a farmer, and lived roughly 60 more years! 945 00:42:41,076 --> 00:42:42,876 BURNETT: That's old. 946 00:42:42,876 --> 00:42:43,909 GATES: Old? 947 00:42:43,909 --> 00:42:47,609 Revolution ends in 1783 and he died in 1848. 948 00:42:47,609 --> 00:42:50,409 BURNETT: It was old age when you were 40 back then. 949 00:42:50,409 --> 00:42:51,509 GATES: Yeah, that's right. 950 00:42:51,509 --> 00:42:52,543 BURNETT: Wow. 951 00:42:52,543 --> 00:42:53,909 GATES: What would your father say? 952 00:42:53,909 --> 00:42:55,276 BURNETT: I think he'd be very proud. 953 00:42:55,276 --> 00:42:57,376 GATES: Yeah. That he knew he had a Patriot ancestry... 954 00:42:57,376 --> 00:42:58,676 BURNETT: A Patriot ancestry. 955 00:42:58,676 --> 00:42:59,943 GATES: And who hung out with George Washington. 956 00:42:59,943 --> 00:43:02,076 BURNETT: Oh my gosh. Knew the president. 957 00:43:02,076 --> 00:43:03,143 GATES: Yeah. 958 00:43:03,143 --> 00:43:04,176 BURNETT: Oh, that's lovely. 959 00:43:04,176 --> 00:43:06,143 GATES: Because of this ancestor, 960 00:43:06,143 --> 00:43:08,276 you are eligible for membership in the 961 00:43:08,276 --> 00:43:09,976 Daughters of the American Revolution. 962 00:43:09,976 --> 00:43:12,076 BURNETT: No kidding. Oh, I love it! 963 00:43:12,076 --> 00:43:14,143 GATES: Yes. We've done all the research. 964 00:43:14,143 --> 00:43:16,209 So I can nominate you if you would like to be 965 00:43:16,209 --> 00:43:17,309 a member of the DAR? 966 00:43:17,309 --> 00:43:18,509 BURNETT: I would love it. 967 00:43:18,509 --> 00:43:19,609 GATES: It would be my honor. 968 00:43:19,609 --> 00:43:20,676 BURNETT: Oh. Thank you. 969 00:43:20,676 --> 00:43:21,876 GATES: DAR time, baby. 970 00:43:21,876 --> 00:43:23,143 BURNETT: Hello? 971 00:43:24,776 --> 00:43:27,443 GATES: Turning back to Niecy Nash, we had another 972 00:43:27,443 --> 00:43:31,476 piece of hidden history to share, albeit a tragic one. 973 00:43:32,176 --> 00:43:36,609 In the 1870 census, we found Niecy's 974 00:43:36,609 --> 00:43:39,443 fourth great-grandfather, Aaron Cobb, living in 975 00:43:39,443 --> 00:43:42,543 Union County, Arkansas. 976 00:43:43,576 --> 00:43:48,443 Moving back a decade, we saw that the 1860 census for this 977 00:43:48,443 --> 00:43:51,309 same county contained a "slave schedule" 978 00:43:51,309 --> 00:43:54,509 for a white planter named Azariah Cobb. 979 00:43:57,409 --> 00:43:59,576 The enslaved people on this schedule 980 00:43:59,576 --> 00:44:01,776 are not listed by name. 981 00:44:01,776 --> 00:44:04,709 But even so, we wondered: 982 00:44:04,709 --> 00:44:07,976 could Azariah have owned Aaron? 983 00:44:07,976 --> 00:44:11,543 We found our answer in the estate records of 984 00:44:11,543 --> 00:44:14,243 Azariah's father-in-law. 985 00:44:15,276 --> 00:44:20,876 NASH: "I, Joel Brazeal being in a low state of health 986 00:44:20,876 --> 00:44:24,376 but in perfect mind, do make and publish 987 00:44:24,376 --> 00:44:27,876 my last Will and Testament in manner following, 988 00:44:27,876 --> 00:44:30,743 I give and bequeath unto my daughter 989 00:44:30,743 --> 00:44:36,843 Roseanna Cobb one Negro boy named Aaron." 990 00:44:37,309 --> 00:44:39,009 I'll be damned. 991 00:44:39,009 --> 00:44:41,243 Uhm, uhm, uhm. 992 00:44:42,776 --> 00:44:44,976 GATES: So, we could confirm with that will what you were 993 00:44:44,976 --> 00:44:48,043 seeing without names on the previous page. 994 00:44:48,043 --> 00:44:50,176 NASH: That's them. 995 00:44:50,843 --> 00:44:52,876 GATES: This will was written by a planter in 996 00:44:52,876 --> 00:44:55,243 Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. 997 00:44:55,243 --> 00:44:58,476 His name was Joel Brazeal. 998 00:44:58,476 --> 00:45:02,543 It bequeaths Niecy's fourth great-grandfather Aaron to 999 00:45:02,543 --> 00:45:05,609 Brazeal's daughter Roseanna, 1000 00:45:05,609 --> 00:45:08,343 who had married into the Cobb family. 1001 00:45:09,443 --> 00:45:11,576 NASH: Just passing people around. 1002 00:45:11,576 --> 00:45:12,909 Passing them down. 1003 00:45:12,909 --> 00:45:14,376 GATES: And he was just a child. 1004 00:45:14,376 --> 00:45:17,009 NASH: He was a child. 1005 00:45:19,709 --> 00:45:21,343 That is heart, it's heartbreaking. 1006 00:45:21,343 --> 00:45:22,443 GATES: Uh-hum. 1007 00:45:22,443 --> 00:45:23,676 NASH: You know? 1008 00:45:23,676 --> 00:45:25,476 I don't know, it's kind of like, and it's weird because 1009 00:45:25,476 --> 00:45:28,009 you grow up knowing what slavery is... 1010 00:45:28,009 --> 00:45:29,343 GATES: Uh-hum. 1011 00:45:29,343 --> 00:45:32,243 NASH: You grow up knowing the institution, you grow up still 1012 00:45:32,243 --> 00:45:36,109 feeling the ripple of what it is for us in today, but 1013 00:45:36,109 --> 00:45:41,109 somehow, when you can go back and read this actual document, 1014 00:45:41,109 --> 00:45:44,009 it still feels like a gut punch. 1015 00:45:44,343 --> 00:45:45,609 GATES: Well, it's personalized. 1016 00:45:45,609 --> 00:45:46,643 NASH: Yeah. 1017 00:45:46,643 --> 00:45:49,043 GATES: You have DNA from Aaron. 1018 00:45:49,043 --> 00:45:51,409 It's not some abstract concept anymore. 1019 00:45:51,409 --> 00:45:52,776 NASH: No. No, no, no. 1020 00:45:52,776 --> 00:45:54,076 GATES: No. 1021 00:45:54,076 --> 00:45:55,143 NASH: It's right here. 1022 00:45:55,143 --> 00:45:56,409 GATES: Uh-hum, it's right there. 1023 00:45:56,409 --> 00:45:58,276 NASH: Wow. 1024 00:45:59,876 --> 00:46:03,109 GATES: Digging deeper, we discovered that Joel Brazeal 1025 00:46:03,109 --> 00:46:06,776 was originally from what was known as "Pendleton District" 1026 00:46:06,776 --> 00:46:12,143 South Carolina, and in the 1820 census, we saw that he 1027 00:46:12,143 --> 00:46:16,143 owned a boy, who almost certainly was Aaron... 1028 00:46:17,476 --> 00:46:19,776 GATES: And on your left, you can see a map of 1029 00:46:19,776 --> 00:46:23,043 Joel Brazeal's land in 1825. 1030 00:46:23,043 --> 00:46:24,909 Niecy, we believe that that's where your 1031 00:46:24,909 --> 00:46:27,909 fourth great-grandfather Aaron was born, right there, 1032 00:46:27,909 --> 00:46:29,843 in Pendleton District. 1033 00:46:29,843 --> 00:46:31,676 NASH: Wow. 1034 00:46:31,676 --> 00:46:33,609 GATES: And that area experienced the cotton boom 1035 00:46:33,609 --> 00:46:38,076 during the late 18th and early 19th century, and the enslaved 1036 00:46:38,076 --> 00:46:41,443 people on Joel Brazeal's plantation likely worked from 1037 00:46:41,443 --> 00:46:45,009 sunrise to sundown, and once your fourth great-grandfather 1038 00:46:45,009 --> 00:46:49,176 Aaron reached the age of 8, he would've most likely 1039 00:46:49,176 --> 00:46:51,176 joined them, out in the fields. 1040 00:46:51,176 --> 00:46:53,243 NASH: Yeah. 1041 00:46:53,243 --> 00:46:55,743 Wow. 1042 00:46:56,543 --> 00:46:58,809 Mmm. 1043 00:46:58,809 --> 00:47:00,609 GATES: Mmm. 1044 00:47:01,576 --> 00:47:04,543 There is a grace note to this story. 1045 00:47:04,543 --> 00:47:09,543 In the 1870 census, we found Aaron living near his son Henry, 1046 00:47:10,676 --> 00:47:14,243 and we noticed something incredible about Henry: 1047 00:47:14,243 --> 00:47:16,476 he was a land-owner! 1048 00:47:16,476 --> 00:47:20,943 At a time when less than 5% of all Black families living 1049 00:47:20,943 --> 00:47:23,943 in the south owned any real estate, 1050 00:47:23,943 --> 00:47:28,343 Henry had $850 worth of property, 1051 00:47:28,343 --> 00:47:31,409 likely amounting to hundreds of acres. 1052 00:47:33,643 --> 00:47:35,976 NASH: Oh man, this is awesome. 1053 00:47:35,976 --> 00:47:37,143 GATES: It is cool. 1054 00:47:37,143 --> 00:47:38,576 NASH: This is awesome. 1055 00:47:38,576 --> 00:47:39,609 GATES: You got it. 1056 00:47:39,609 --> 00:47:40,876 Industrious and save money. 1057 00:47:40,876 --> 00:47:44,143 NASH: Well, especially when you look at all of the 1058 00:47:44,143 --> 00:47:47,509 hardship, all of the pain, all of the experience, all of the 1059 00:47:47,509 --> 00:47:50,576 things you're born into, all of the, you know, things that 1060 00:47:50,576 --> 00:47:53,176 you've seen, witnessed, you know what I mean? 1061 00:47:53,176 --> 00:47:57,609 And you still said, I'm gonna figure out a way to take care 1062 00:47:57,609 --> 00:48:00,876 of my family and be successful. 1063 00:48:00,876 --> 00:48:01,976 GATES: Right. 1064 00:48:01,976 --> 00:48:03,709 What do you think you inherited from them? 1065 00:48:03,709 --> 00:48:08,576 NASH: I feel like when you can... 1066 00:48:09,109 --> 00:48:12,843 when you can come from something so hard 1067 00:48:12,843 --> 00:48:18,109 and that was not just hard because it was hard, 1068 00:48:18,109 --> 00:48:20,743 hard because it was meant to destroy you. 1069 00:48:20,743 --> 00:48:22,409 GATES: Meant to destroy you. 1070 00:48:22,409 --> 00:48:25,276 They made it hard. 1071 00:48:25,276 --> 00:48:28,809 NASH: So, I used to, when I first started in 1072 00:48:28,809 --> 00:48:32,343 entertainment, the three words that I would live by are 1073 00:48:32,343 --> 00:48:33,843 no matter what. 1074 00:48:33,843 --> 00:48:35,443 GATES: Hm. 1075 00:48:35,443 --> 00:48:37,609 NASH: If I got to go to an audition to be funny and 1076 00:48:37,609 --> 00:48:40,809 I'm crying because of this or that, no matter what. 1077 00:48:40,809 --> 00:48:44,009 No matter what you, you show up and you pull up, 1078 00:48:44,009 --> 00:48:47,309 and I feel like my no matter what of it all has 1079 00:48:47,309 --> 00:48:52,209 a different meaning and context when I look at this. 1080 00:48:52,209 --> 00:48:57,276 Because this is the no matter what of it all. 1081 00:48:57,276 --> 00:48:59,543 GATES: Literally, and if they hadn't embraced that 1082 00:48:59,543 --> 00:49:01,976 philosophy, there'd be no Niecy. 1083 00:49:01,976 --> 00:49:03,543 NASH: There would be no Niecy. 1084 00:49:03,543 --> 00:49:06,343 GATES: Mm-hm. No matter what. 1085 00:49:06,343 --> 00:49:08,776 NASH: My god. 1086 00:49:09,076 --> 00:49:12,076 GATES: The paper trail had now run out for each of my guests. 1087 00:49:12,076 --> 00:49:14,609 It was time to unfurl their family trees... 1088 00:49:14,609 --> 00:49:16,443 BURNETT: Oh my God. 1089 00:49:16,443 --> 00:49:20,309 GATES: Filled with names they'd never heard before. 1090 00:49:20,309 --> 00:49:22,776 BURNETT: That is incredible. 1091 00:49:22,776 --> 00:49:24,509 NASH: Wow. 1092 00:49:24,509 --> 00:49:29,476 I'm, I, I am, these are happy tears welling up in my eyes. 1093 00:49:29,476 --> 00:49:32,109 This is, this is, this is awesome. 1094 00:49:32,109 --> 00:49:34,976 GATES: Seeing their roots traced back centuries, 1095 00:49:34,976 --> 00:49:38,543 compelled both Niecy and Carol to reconsider 1096 00:49:38,543 --> 00:49:40,876 their own identities. 1097 00:49:40,876 --> 00:49:43,809 BURNETT: Is it nurture or is it nature? 1098 00:49:43,809 --> 00:49:45,809 GATES: Right. 1099 00:49:45,809 --> 00:49:48,543 BURNETT: I think the way I was raised, you know, 1100 00:49:48,543 --> 00:49:50,509 in that one room apartment with... 1101 00:49:50,509 --> 00:49:53,609 I lived in one room and slept on a couch until I was 20. 1102 00:49:53,609 --> 00:49:55,309 GATES: Right. 1103 00:49:55,309 --> 00:50:01,609 BURNETT: And I don't regret it, but I could have gone 1104 00:50:01,609 --> 00:50:04,609 a lot of different ways. 1105 00:50:04,609 --> 00:50:09,876 So, I think there's something in your DNA. 1106 00:50:09,876 --> 00:50:11,343 GATES: Yeah. 1107 00:50:11,343 --> 00:50:14,343 And now you can see the sources of that strength 1108 00:50:14,343 --> 00:50:15,909 you inherited through your DNA. 1109 00:50:15,909 --> 00:50:17,409 BURNETT: Yeah. 1110 00:50:17,409 --> 00:50:19,076 NASH: Mmm, mmm, mmm. 1111 00:50:19,076 --> 00:50:22,509 Wh, this, I, I, I, I have never done anything like this 1112 00:50:22,509 --> 00:50:26,443 in my life, and I am telling you something, even with 1113 00:50:26,443 --> 00:50:32,443 some of the parts that could be, uhm, tricky, you know, 1114 00:50:32,809 --> 00:50:36,376 this is one of the best things I've ever done, uhm, in my life, 1115 00:50:36,376 --> 00:50:39,743 and you, it is something about knowing. 1116 00:50:39,743 --> 00:50:41,143 GATES: Uh-huh. 1117 00:50:41,143 --> 00:50:43,343 NASH: Even with the hard parts, there's some, 1118 00:50:43,343 --> 00:50:45,709 there's an add value to the knowing. 1119 00:50:45,709 --> 00:50:47,876 GATES: I believe so. 1120 00:50:50,009 --> 00:50:52,576 NASH: Okay, I don't want my fake eyelashes to fall off. 1121 00:50:52,576 --> 00:50:56,409 (laughing) 1122 00:50:57,209 --> 00:50:59,943 GATES: My time with my guests was running out, but we had 1123 00:50:59,943 --> 00:51:03,076 one last surprise for each of them. 1124 00:51:03,076 --> 00:51:07,209 When we compared their DNA to the DNA of other people who've 1125 00:51:07,209 --> 00:51:10,109 been in this series, we found matches, 1126 00:51:10,109 --> 00:51:12,743 evidence of distant cousins. 1127 00:51:12,743 --> 00:51:15,643 For Carol, this meant a new connection to someone 1128 00:51:15,643 --> 00:51:18,009 she's known for years. 1129 00:51:18,009 --> 00:51:19,676 That's Bill Hader, do you know him? 1130 00:51:19,676 --> 00:51:20,909 BURNETT: Bill. Of course. 1131 00:51:20,909 --> 00:51:22,543 He was on my 50th anniversary show. 1132 00:51:22,543 --> 00:51:23,576 GATES: Oh my God. 1133 00:51:23,576 --> 00:51:24,576 BURNETT: Yeah. 1134 00:51:24,576 --> 00:51:25,843 GATES: Well, it was a family affair. 1135 00:51:25,843 --> 00:51:27,343 BURNETT: Isn't that something? 1136 00:51:27,343 --> 00:51:30,343 GATES: Niecy had never met her DNA cousin before, but she'd 1137 00:51:30,343 --> 00:51:33,243 been a fan since she was a child. 1138 00:51:34,709 --> 00:51:36,776 NASH: I know you lying. 1139 00:51:36,776 --> 00:51:39,943 GATES: You are DNA cousins with the activist and author, 1140 00:51:39,943 --> 00:51:42,043 and professor Angela Davis. 1141 00:51:42,043 --> 00:51:44,109 Isn't that astonishing? 1142 00:51:44,109 --> 00:51:48,109 NASH: My mind is blown right now. 1143 00:51:48,109 --> 00:51:50,009 GATES: It should be. 1144 00:51:50,009 --> 00:51:52,943 (screams). 1145 00:51:52,943 --> 00:51:55,043 NASH: I love it. 1146 00:51:55,043 --> 00:51:57,543 GATES: That's the end of our journey with Niecy Nash 1147 00:51:57,543 --> 00:51:59,343 and Carol Burnett. 1148 00:51:59,343 --> 00:52:03,176 Join me next time when we unlock the secrets of the past 1149 00:52:03,176 --> 00:52:06,676 for new guests, on another episode of 1150 00:52:06,676 --> 00:52:08,743 "Finding Your Roots".