SNGF: If I Were on WDYTYA

This week's challenge, via Randy:
1) Pretend that you are one of the subjects on the Who Do You Think You Are? show on NBC TV.
2) Which of your ancestors (maximum of two) would be featured on your hour-long show? What stories would be told, and what places would you visit?
3) Tell us about it on your own blog, in comments to this blog post, or in a Note or Comment on Facebook.

 

What a great challenge!  It also isn't one I had to think much about.  I would pick a maternal ancestor and one paternal one.  For my maternal ancestor, I would probably pick Moses Jackman.  He was abducted by Indians in the mid-1700s, as a boy and sold to the French.  He spent his early teen years in Quebec as the property of a French family there who were apparently kind yet he reportedly only grew an inch between the ages of 11 and 15 (makes me wonder how "kind" they really were).  He was eventually rescued by relatives and returned home to New Hampshire.  But what I want to know is if he served in the Revolutionary War.  He is in the Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots (produced by DAR) but that is the only place where his possible service is mentioned.  I have found several Moses Jackmans listed in Revolutionary War service rolls but I don't know which one is him.  I would visit Boscawen, New Hampshire, probably the DAR headquarters and maybe the places in Quebec where was was held. If I were able to establish his Revolutionary War history, I would also visit the places where he was stationed or where battles he was in were fought. 

 

For my paternal ancestor, I would go with my grandmother.  I know nothing about her parents beyond some bare facts and their names.  So, I have no idea what stories would be told and discovered.  I would visit Warren, Trumbull, Ohio, where they settled in America; Ellis Island (their port of arrival); Naples, Italy (their port of departure); and Vieste (and other areas in Apulia) where they were originally from. I would also like to know more about my great-grandfather's WWI service.  He would have fought for Italy so I'd be curious to know where he was stationed, etc.