Inside Bay Area has an article/review by Susan Young, The best little ranch house in Texas, about PBS’s Texas Ranch House series. I knew one of the members was into genealogy, and Susan clarified it as well as gave a little back-story about the amateur genealogist:
Like “Survivor,” they lived with cameras in their faces while enduring harsh elements such as temperatures climbing will above 100, encounters with rattlesnakes and fly infestations. Personality clashes combined with extremely limited food and hygiene resources made for a tense time.
But unlike other reality shows, no one was going to end up with a million dollars, or any financial reward. So why do it?
For genealogy buff Lisa Cooke, it was a chance of a lifetime to experience what life might have been like for one of her ancestors, a Texas pioneer woman.
“My great-great-great grandmother Laurie Ann Green moved to Texas hill country in 1850 with her children,” Cooke says. “It’s hard to find documentation on them, and I had such a strong drive to at least experience a version of her life.”
Cooke says there are almost two historical perspectives: One painted from photographs that showed people as they wished to be seen and writings from the era, including journals, letters and other accounts.