Family of Origin

NBC is renewing its runaway hit show "Who Do You Think You Are", whose premise is simple. They take a well known Hollywood person and research their ancestry. At first I thought the concept odd. What are these famous people hoping to find--um, famous relatives? Irony at its best. Famous or not, most people are interested in their family lineage and enjoy learning about relatives of different eras, cultures or backgrounds.

For various reasons, I was unsuccessful in researching my mom’s Yugoslavian heritage, so I decided to research my dad's family. I uncovered a French Canadian background from my grandmother's lineage. It became clear that my great grandma Longbottom chose love over money when she left a more affluent lifestyle to marry great grandpa Rau. Another fun discovery was that many of the aforementioned Longbottoms are buried in the same cemetery as the Shortsleeves. Truly. I'm just not that clever to make something like that up. As my research continued I also discovered that this French Canadian history connected us to some famous people: James Dean, Amelia Earhart, former first lady Laura Bush, Louis Pasteur--and my favorite, Joan of Arc.

While my grandma's family lends itself to some pretty interesting genealogy, the same cannot be said about my dad’s father’s family of origin, the Olsen’s. Not unless you think emigrating from Norway and settling in Chicago is exciting. No famous people, no affluence. Yet, despite the common nature of our family, we found one claim to fame through Olaf, my great grandfather. He had a prolific career as a driver, pipeman and fireman for the Chicago Fire Department. In the early 1900’s, he was photographed on his horse drawn steam pumper making its way through the busy streets of Chicago. This photograph was later reproduced in the National Geographic "We Americans" book, circa 1975. This has been a treasured part of the Olsen family legacy passed down throughout the ages.

When I received my own book copy, I eagerly turned to page 299 to find this reproduced photograph, reading the caption. "A steam pumper thunders down a New Haven, Connecticut, street in 1910 during the waning days of glory for horse and steamer." Yikes. Clearly the book publishers have false information. This photo was taken in Chicago. From there I contacted the New Haven fire department to ask about the integrity of the photograph. I received the following (amended) response:

This is a famous fire photo taken in 1910 by a student photographer on assignment in New Haven to cover Yale Commencement, specifically the graduation of President Taft's son, Robert Taft. The student was, en route to Union Station, having failed to complete his assignment, namely photographing young Mr. Taft, when he observed Engine 2, driven by Tom Lowery, racing to an alarm. With but one plate remaining in his Press Graflex camera, he recorded the moment. The resulting photo has become a classic fire photo, reproduced many times through the years. Ironically, Taft was standing on the corner of Elm and College and was captured in the picture.

And there you have it. It's not my great grandfather at all. A 100 hundred year old legacy debunked in a matter of one e-mail. I decided that the confusion is as simple as this: The man in the photograph bears an uncanny resemblance to Olaf and the picture was passed around because of the likeness in both physical appearance and occupation. "Doesn't this look like Great Grandpa Olaf" turned into "This is Great Grandpa Olaf". Even Olaf’s last surviving son, who died in 2008, resisted the notion that our claim to fame was just a big misunderstanding.

Researching our family trees is a beautiful way to understand who we are. Then again, sometimes it's about understanding who we aren't.