Who do You Think You Are? Premiere WOW

I have to admit I was just a little skeptical about this new show.  There has been so much hype on the blogs about this show, I was afraid it would turn out to be disappointing.  Well, was I every wrong.  When the surname Hodge came up, I thought, "hummm, I have a Hodge in my ancestral line, but that is a pretty common name so no big deal".  As the story unfolded with the discovery of John S. Hodge going to California and then the discovery of Eber Hodge, whose parents were Thomas and Abigail Elwell Hodge, I sat straight up on the couch..... "those are my family" I thought in disbelief.  Then he mentioned Abigail Elwell's father was Jabez Elwell and I knew for sure.  Some names just stick with you and Jabez is one of those.  The rest of the unfolding story was so interesting to me.  I hadn't known about Esther Dutch Elwell being accused of witchcraft and then to actually see the original document was awesome.  Since watching the show this evening I have been googling Hester Elwell and have found some fascinating information.  I also found the digital image of the actual document posted on the internet here.

I never suspected I would be connected with this show in such a personal way.  It was thrilling.  Sarah Jessica's ancestor Eber Hodge was the brother of my ancestor Phebe Hodge.  Phebe was the last born child in a family of 14 children, born 24 April 1809.  Eber was the second child, born 17 Nov 1787.  There was 22 years difference between the two siblings. 

I don't have a great deal of time invested in the research of this line.  Much of it was found already researched.  I did do the research that made the connection of my Phebe Hodge with the earlier Hodge family, but now I really want to delve into these ancestors and learn as much as I can.

Thank you to the producers of the show for the production of an interesting episode.  I hope the next episodes live up to the high standard set.