Illinois State Historical Society 2009 Award Of Superior Achievement

The following announcement was written by KMI Marketing:

Springfield, IL – The Illinois Executive Mansion was the stage for the Illinois State Historical Society to present its 2009 Award of Superior Achievement to Madonna Davis for her role in creating and hosting The Lively Family Massacre – a pilot for a documentary TV series featuring the genealogy of ordinary people. 

In The Legend of the Lively Massacre, program host – Madonna Davis -- helps trace the ancestry of Pam Frazer –an Illinois native -- connecting her to some of the first white settlers to arrive in the Indiana Territory in 1813.  The search also uncovers a handwritten letter to William Clark (of the Lewis and Clark Expedition) mentioning Pam’s ancestors by name, and the 200 year old graves of her ancestors who were massacred by a group of American Indians.

The Lively Family Massacre program episode is a freestanding half-hour documentary that has already garnered other recent awards in the form of two 2008 Telly Awards, and praise from leading industry professionals. 

Here’s what noted genealogist, Tony Burroughs says:

"Many people have an Indian story, most of them don’t add up.  The Lively Massacre not only adds up, they find the documents and the evidence on the ground to support a family story that is almost 200 years old” 
Tony Burroughs

(Tony has appeared on the PBS series African American Lives, CBS Sunday Morning, CBS News, ABC World News Tonight, BET Nightly News, and the Discovery Channel)

Each episode a new family legend is explored and selected from actual stories submitted by the public to the producers on a new website: www.Legendseekers.org.  Some have alluded to the show as the THIS OLD HOUSE for GENEALOGY (referring to the popular PBS home improvement series)

The program is presently in the process of seeking underwriters for the series on national public television.  For more information visit our website above.

The series is about everyday ordinary people who have legendary family stories, and the process to authenticate, discover and reenact these legends.  Through travel, research, and genealogy, we introduce fascinating experts and cutting-edge science to engage the audience along this journey.  It’s a unique cross between a “how-to” reality program and historic reenactment that is designed to engage the estimated the millions of people in America interested in exploring their ancestry/genealogy.

Comments

[Lisa Louise Cooke]

Congrats to Madonna! I viewed the first episode and it was terrific.

I invite you readers to listen to my in depth interview with the show's LegendSeekers Executive Producer Ken Marks on my online radio show (podcast) Family History: Genealogy Made Easy Episode #22. He gives some great background info on the series as well as a terrific story of genealogical serendipity they experienced while filming!