I just watched the pilot of a new genealogy television program: Legend Seekers. This show is good! If you are in Indianapolis or Champaign, Illinois, or Macomb, Illinois, or Bloomington, Indiana, or most anywhere in Nebraska, you can see it, too.
Legend Seekers aims to show the interesting stories in family trees of every-day Americans, not celebrities. If the pilot episode is any indication, these will be interesting stories.
The episode that I watched is called, "The Lively Family Massacre" and shows the search for information that one family started. With the help of a professional genealogist and an archaeologist, the family members were able to find the homestead location and even the graves of a family that was massacred by Indians in 1813. Luckily, the family's 8-year-old daughter was not at home at the time, and she was unharmed although her parents and all her brothers and sisters were killed. She later grew up, married, and had eight children of her own. Some of her descendants had heard the family stories and wanted to check the accuracy. A camera crew and show hostess Madonna Davis from Legend Seekers followed the process.
I found the pilot episode to be very well done and enjoyable. This is the pilot episode and is being shown only on a handful of PBS stations in the Midwest. If you would like to see it broadcast in your area, contact your local PBS station and tell them of your interest.
In the meantime, you can watch a "trailer" video from the program and learn more information at www.Legendseekers.com.
The Legend Seekers preview episode, The Lively Family Massacre, will begin airing on public television in select local markets starting with WFYI-TV Indianapolis, Thursday, March 26th at 9:30pm. Hey, that's tomorrow!
Several other independent public television stations across the country have agreed to air this episode as the show's producers are seeking sponsorship to fulfill a 13 episode series:
WSIU - TV / WUSI -TV Southern Illinois IN FOCUS April 10th -- Friday at 9:30PM; April 12th --Sunday at 12:30PM; April 17th --Friday at 5PM
WILL-TV Champaign, IL AMERICAN EXPERIENCE April 13th at 9:30PM
WMEC-TV Macomb, IL; WQEC- TV Quincy, IL; and WSEC-TV Springfield, IL are scheduled to air– The Lively Family Massacre -- on Monday, May 11th at 9:30pm
WTIU- TV Bloomington, Indiana May 31st -- Sunday at 5:30PM
KYNE-TV / KHNE-TV / KLNE-TV / KXNE-TV / KUON-TV / KPNE-TV / KMNE-TV / KTNE-TV / KRNE-TV Entire state of Nebraska on NET2 and NET3, in May at date and time to be announced
The above schedule will be updated at www.Legendseekers.com as the dates approach.
