SOLEDAD: WITH SO MANY COMPANIES THAT WILL TRACE YOUR DNA OR FAMILY TREE, GENEAOLOGY HAS BECOME A BIG BUSINESS.
ACCORDING TO ONE REPORT, MORE PEOPLE TOOK GENETIC ANCESTRY TESTS IN 2017 THAN ALL PREVIOUS YEARS COMBINED.
AND MOST OF THOSE WERE IN THE U.S., WHERE PEOPLE SAY THEY USED THE TESTS HOPING TO LOCATE COUSINS.
THE DESIRE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHERE WE COME FROM ISN'T NEW AND IT ISN'T WITHOUT SOME SURPRISES.
JUST ASK THE RAND FAMILY.
I FIRST MET THEM BACK IN 2008, BUT THEIR FAMILY TREE AND HOW THEY EMBRACED THE INTERTWINING BRANCHES CAN PROVIDE AN IMPORTANT LESSON FOR EVERYONE LOOKING FOR THEIR ROOTS TODA
IT'S JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT HOUSTON, TEXAS, AND THE RAND FAMILY SETS OUT FOR A FAMILY REUNION.
MORE THAN 300 RANDS DESCEND ON THE CITY OF ATLANTA.
>> WE TELL OUR CHILDREN, WHEN YOU HAVE NOBODY, YOU HAVE FAMILY.
>> 65 AND ABOVE, FORWARD TALLER PEOPLE, WORK YOUR WAY TO THE BACK.
SOLEDAD: AT EVERY REUNION A TRADITION, THE FAMILY PORTRAIT.
BUT THERE IS A MYSTERY SURROUNDING THE RAND FAMILY, A MISSING LINK THAT VERY FEW KNOW ABOUT.
RUBY STEIN MCGEE IS KNOWN AS THE FAMILY HISTORIAN.
RUBY: THAT IS PART ONE.
SOLEDAD: EVERYTHING SHE'S LEARNED OVER THE YEARS IS RECORDED IN THESE HUGE ALBUMS.
RUBY: THERE SHE IS.
SOLEDAD: FROM THAT, RUBY STEIN WAS ABLE TO LOCATE HER GREAT, GREAT GRANDFATHER IN THIS CEMETERY.
BURIED HERE, WILLIAM HARRISON RAND, THE PATRIARCH OF THE FAMILY AND A WHITE MAN.
WITH THIS DISCOVERY, RUBY STEIN'S CURIOSITY GREW SHE KNEW THERE HAD TO BE MORE.
USING THE INTERNET, SHE TRACED THE RANDS BACK TO LONDON, ENGLAND.
THEY WERE A FAMILY OF DOCTORS AND ARCHITECTS WHO CAME TO VIRGINIA IN THE MID-1700'S AND FOUGHT IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.
AND ACCORDING TO THESE OLD DOCUMENTS, SLAVE OWNER >> I USED TO HEAR THEM SAY THAT MY GREAT GRANDFATHER, HAROLD RAND, WAS RUN OUT OF NORTH CAROLINA TO MISSISSIPPI BECAUSE
HE HAD A BLACK WOMAN LIVING WITH HIM AND HIS WIFE, AND HE CAME TO TEXAS.
SOLEDAD: HERE, LODI, TEXAS.
FROM OLD CENSUS RECORDS, RUBY STEIN PUT TOGETHER A FAMILY TREE.
WILLIAM RAND FATHERED SEVEN CHILDREN BY HIS WHITE WIFE SALLY AND SIX CHILDREN BY HIS BLACK MISTRESS ANN.
COURT DOCUMENTS SHOW THE TWO FAMILIES LIVED CLOSE TO EACH OTHER.
WHILE LITTLE INFORMATION EXISTS ABOUT ANN'S LIFE, FAMILY MEMBERS BELIEVE SHE WAS NOT A SLAVE.
RUBY STEIN'S RESEARCH LED TO AN EVEN MORE SURPRISING DISCOVERY, MARTHA HICKS, ALSO WILLIAM RAND'S GREAT, GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER AND RUBY STEIN'S WHITE COUSIN.
MARTHA: GOT A LETTER FROM THIS WONDERFUL LADY.
RUBY: I HAD SAID, "DEAR MRS.
HICKS," AND I WENT ON TO TELL HER THAT I WAS THE GREAT, GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER OF WILLIAM HARRISON RAND AND WHAT DID SHE REALLY WRITE ME BACK.
>> WHAT'D SHE WRITE?
RUBY: AND SHE SAID, "NOW, WE ARE COUSINS AND YOU EITHER CALL ME MARTHA OR COUSIN MARTHA." SHE WON ME OVER RIGHT THERE.
[LAUGHTER] SOLEDAD: HAVE YOU MET YOUR BLACK COUSINS?
MARTHA: NOT YET.
SOLEDAD: THAT WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE.
TWO DAYS LATER, WE ARRANGED FOR MARTHA, HER HUSBAND CARL, AND THEIR GRANDDAUGHTER NATALIE TO MEET THEIR BLACK COUSINS IN LODI [LAUGHTER]
SOLEDAD: WHAT WAS THAT MOMENT LIKE?
MARTHA: I WANTED TO CRY, I REALLY DID.
SOLEDAD: BEFORE I MET YOU, I WASN'T SURE IF YOU WERE GOING TO BE EXCITED ABOUT HAVING BLACK COUSINS.
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO THAT WOULD NOT BE GOOD NEWS.
RUBY: IT WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED 40 YEARS AGO.
I THINK WE MADE QUITE A BIT OF PROGRESS.
IT'S AN HONOR FOR US TO BE AN EXAMPLE OF PROGRESS.
MARTHA: YES.
RUBY: IT IS REALLY.
MARTHA: WELL PUT.
RUBY: AN HONOR.
>> A HANDSOME GUY.
SOLEDAD: THE RANDS, A HERITAGE BORN FROM A FAMILY TREE WITH BLACK AND WHITE ROOTS.
>> A KODAK MOMENT.
[CHEERING] SOLEDAD: COUSIN MARTHA STILL ATTENDS THE REUNIONS AND EVEN VISITS WITH SOME OF HER NEWFOUND RELATIVES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.
SHE RESEARCHED THEIR GENEALOGY FURTHER TO FIND EVEN MORE DESCENDANTS ON BOTH THE WHITE AND BLACK SIDES OF THE FAMILY.
THE NEXT RAND FAMILY R
For more infomation >> Family continues search for missing hunter - Duration: 2:17. 
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