Christopher Walken Uncovers His Grandfather's Criminal History | Finding Your Roots | Ancestry®

ah he looks like a tough customer what do you do we gotta find out actor Christopher Walken came to me with fundamental questions about his maternal roots his mother Rosalie Russell was born in Glasgow Scotland but in 1930 when she was 22 years old she boarded a ship for New York leaving her past behind completely growing up Chris knew Rosalie's mother because she visited her daughter in America traveling with her second husband Chris's step-grandfather but Chris does not even know the name of Rosalie's father Chris's biological grandfather the man I called my grandfather was a Charming guy he was full of tattoos and he had I think it was the king and queen tattooed on his back and he would take his shirt off and he would do this and it seemed like the king and queen were laughing and he was my grandfather but I understood that he wasn't really my grandfather but who her father was who was never mentioned your mom never talked about that no our search for Chris's grandfather began in the National Archives of Scotland where we initially hit a wall Chris's mother's original birth certificate indicates that she was illegitimate and doesn't name her father but in 1935 just months before she was to marry in New York Rosalie requested that a new birth certificate be issued back in Scotland and this new certificate contained the name we were looking for named surname and rank were profession of Father Joseph Egan leather merchants I I have never heard of Joseph Egan before today and my my mother never used that name never heard it she was always Russell she had a re-registration in 1935 to add this name so it must have been important to her it must have been very important it's interesting that she never shared that with anybody why do you think your mother never told you her own father's name I don't know well I have an idea would you please turn the page Chris that is Joseph Egan that's his mug shot huh he looks like a tough customer he does look at his hands yeah look at his head yeah hey you see your mom in that face I I do with the eyes and something about the mouth Joseph Egan Grandpa well what do you do we gotta find out according to court records in 1883 Chris's grandfather was arrested for receiving and reselling stolen goods he was given a five-year sentence and sent off to a place known as Pentonville prison just outside of London it was a harsh sentence pendonville had been designed to reform inmates through a set of policies that we'd Now call solitary confinement this meant that for up to nine months Joseph was likely confined to a 12 by 8 foot cell and forbidden to speak to anyone except the prison's guards and its chaplains ultimately he was transferred to another prison in Dorset England where he served out his sentence performing manual labor after his release Joseph struggled financially for the rest of his short life well this is our revelation I mean just to know that he was existed this fascinating you never know what you're going to find a family tree yeah and maybe you know she didn't want to discuss that do you think that had anything to do with why she never talked about it oh absolutely yeah yeah and not only why she never talked about it but why she got on a boat in her 20s and went to America all by herself this guy covering the stories of our ancestors can be a profoundly transformative experience changing the way we see ourselves our families and our shared history to see more incredible stories click below and thank you for watching

Channel: Ancestry

Views: 1,998,729

Keywords: ancestrydna, ancestry, finding your roots, family tree, dna discovery, dna tests, family connections, ancestry.com, family history, christopher walken dancing, christopher walken foo fighters, christopher walken impression, christopher walken snl, christopher walken lion speech, finding your roots with henry louis gates jr, finding your roots danny trejo, finding your roots season 9, christopher walken pulp fiction, christopher walken googly eyes, christopher walken interview

Id: v4OEEuXA9_s

Length: 5min 12sec (312 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 18 2023