RootsTech 2016: Paula Williams Madison

With the help of an indexed ship manifest found on FamilySearch, Paula and her brothers searched for their long lost grandfather. Their journey took them from Harlem, to Toronto, to Jamaica, and finally to China where they were finally reunited with hundreds of Chinese relatives they didn't even know they had. She is Hakka Chinese.

Paula wrote a book called, "Finding Samuel Lowe" and also produced a documentary. I had the opportunity to screen the shortened version of the documentary the evening before her keynote. It was emotionally touching. You can find out more about the documentary and book here: Finding Samuel Lowe.

Here are some of my takeaways from this session:

• You (those who index) have changed my life.
• If you ever wondered who benefits from this (indexing) - listen to my story.
• We had grown up with "no family" and within weeks we had hundreds of cousins.
• You solved the mystery of "where do I come from"?
• Family is family.
• Race doesn't matter.
• We came in ranges of color, but we are all family.

You can watch her keynote here:

https://www.rootstech.org/video/2016-rootstech-thursday-keynote-paula-madison


I had the opportunity to participate in a Media Hub Sofa Chat with Paula.

Here are some of my takeaways from the chat:

• Family accepts family.
• Aunt wanted to know exactly when they would come to China - they went at exactly the right time.
• You need to have family reunions.
• Record your elders. You need to know what they say.

Wendy Jyang and Paula Williams Madison (Hakka Cousins)

Great interview:


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