Documentary Biographies
Multi-Generational Family Stories Told Episode by Episode
These documentary biography series transform rigorous genealogical research into compelling family narratives. Each episode combines primary source documentation with storytelling, bringing ancestors to life through the evidence they left behind. Five immigrant families. Four centuries of records. Dozens of episodes tracing the journeys from the Old World to the New.
Scattered Stones
The Robertson Family of Blairgowrie
A weaver still at his loom at 81. A father dead five days after arrival. A son who vanished into the swamps. An orphan who became matriarch to 19. Six generations scattered across two continents.
Episodes:
Prologue: The Land They Left
1. Roots in Perthshire
2. The Mason's Household
3. The Great Emigration
4. The Brooklyn Robertsons
5. Scattered Fates
6. The Stone Cutter's Journey
7. The Son Who Searched
8. The Orphan's Journey
Bonus: Perthshire Paperweights
Hidden Bonds
The O'Brien Family of Jamaica, Queens
Four orphans scattered across three states. $11,000 hidden in a kitchen wall. A U.S. Congressman who never forgot his half-brother. From the 1874 tragedy through DNA reunion 150 years later.
Episodes:
Prologue: The Blood of Kings
1. The Irish Boy Who Built an Empire
2. A Colorful Life and a Secret Untold
3. Four Orphans and a Hidden Fortune
4. Orphan, Engineer, Congressman
5. The Sisters Who Stayed (coming soon)
6. Orphan, Scale Maker, Father of Ten
7. The Carpenter Who Built with Double Vision
8. The Kentucky Brother
Epilogue: The DNA Reunion
Companion Piece: County Clare in the Famine Years
Two Families, One Story
The Kenny-Connors Line
Three weddings. Two families. One extraordinary story. In 1832, two Irish families baptized children pages apart in a Newfoundland parish register. Thirty-four years later, their descendants married three times over on Prince Edward Island.
Episodes:
1. Two Baptisms in Newfoundland
2. The Wexford Question
3. From Tailor to Farmer
4. Covehead
5. Three Weddings
6. The Estate of James Kenny
7. Hugh Connors, Patriarch
8. To Chicago
9. Captain Kenny
10. The Kenny Women of Chicago (coming soon)
11. Margaret Katherine Kenny (coming soon)
12. The Researcher (coming soon)
Companion: The 1850 Hickey Map
Companion: The 1863 Lake Map
Companion: Covehead and Avonlea
Companion: Researching Prince Edward Island
Companion: Two Churches, One Family Story
Companion: Old St Stephen's Church
Companion: St Sylvester's Church
The Hamall Line
From County Monaghan to Riverside, Illinois
A young Irish father who died four years after reaching safety. Four children lost in eighteen months. A cottage protected through the Illinois Supreme Court. Five generations traced through famine, emigration, tragedy, and resilience.
Episodes:
1. Henry Hamall — The Father Who Crossed the Ocean
2. Owen Hamall — The Iron Molder of Chicago
3. Thomas Henry Hamall — The Sole Surviving Son
4. Thomas Eugene Hamall — The Father Who Tried
5. Thomas Kenny Hamall — Young Life
Companion: One Parish, Five Destinations
Companion: Holy Name Cathedral
Companion: Church of the Holy Family
Companion: St Charles Borromeo Church
Companion: St Pius V Church
The James Hamill & Ann Gartlan Line
From Dian to Three Continents
In rural County Monaghan, a farming couple raised eleven children through decades of hardship and emigration. James and Ann never left their townland of Dian — but their children scattered to Montana, Missouri, and beyond. DNA analysis validates five family lines across three countries.
Episodes:
1. James Hamill & Ann Gartlan: The Parents Who Stayed in Dian
2. James Hamill: The Son Who Went to Montana
3. Patrick J. Hamill: The Brother Who Went to Missouri
4. Anna Hamill Keenan: The Sister Who Stayed in Dian
5. Bridget Hamill Kirley: The Sister Who Stayed in Beagh
6. Henry Hamill: The Police Officer in St. Louis
7. DNA Review: Proving the Connection
Companion: The Hamills of Donaghmoyne: Parish Churches of County Monaghan
Companion: One Parish, Five Destinations
Tranchemontagne
The Soulière Line
A mason who married three times and fathered nineteen children. A voyageur's widow who lived to ninety-one. A woman divorced and remarried in five days. Seven generations from New France to Chicago.
Episodes:
Prologue: Nicolas Suliere Tranchemontagne — From Brittany to New France
1. Jean Suliere dit Tranchemontagne — The Pioneer
2. Jean Bernardin Sulière — Tragedy and Resilience
3. Jean Bernardin Sulière fils — The Baby Who Survived
4. Jacques Sulière — The Voyageur's Son
5. Janvier Souliere Sr — Three Wives, Nineteen Children
6. Marie Louise Souliere — The Woman Who Was Remembered
7. Elisabeth Emma Guilbault — The Working Woman
Bonus: Guilbault-Souliere Family Photo Mystery
The Guilbault Line
From La Rochelle to the Pays d'en Haut
A Fille du Roi's marriage that sparked a family war. A master mason building in stone. A voyageur who married an Ojibwe woman. A grandson who inherited an identity but not a trade. Seven generations from 17th-century France to 19th-century Quebec.
Episodes:
7. Pierre Guilbault — The Founder
6. Joseph Olivier Guilbault — The Second Generation
5. Charles François Guilbault — The Habitant
4. Charles Gabriel Guilbault — The Quebec Patriarch
3. Gabriel Guilbault — Le Voyageur
2. Gabriel Guilbault fils — The Wilderness-Born
1. Evangeliste Guilbault — The Last Generation
The Morales-Tamayo Line
From Aklan to America
A multi-generational journey from the rice fields of Aklan Province to the hospitals of Ohio. Two families united by marriage, shaped by Spanish colonial rule, American occupation, and World War II. A boy who attended school with a future president before emigrating to build a new life in America.
Episodes:
1. Roots in Aklan — The Earliest Generations
2. The American Era — War and Survival
3. A Doctor's Path — Manila in the 1950s
4. Christmas Day, 1959 — A Bishop's Blessing
5. A La Salle Boy — Elite Education in Manila
6. American Beginnings — Ohio, 1969
Companion: Our Lady of Lourdes Parish
Marie Lorgueil
The Complete Life of a Fille à Marier (1634–1700)
From Bordeaux baptism to Montreal burial—how systematic research assembled 50+ documents tracing one 17th-century woman's complete life. Strategic age deception, 80% child survival rate, and legal agency in widowhood.
Episodes:
1. Bordeaux Origins
2. The Atlantic Crossing
3. Marriage and Motherhood
4. The Years of Loss
5. Widowhood and Agency
6. Legacy and Descendants
Every Ancestor Deserves to Be Remembered
Documentary biographies like these transform traditional genealogical research into compelling family narratives—designed to be read, shared, and treasured for generations.
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series: Documentary Biographies
From Research to Story