What Was Hiding Behind the Brick Wall?

Welcome to Names We Carry.

In this premiere episode, I’m introducing myself—and the kinds of stories I’ve spent more than a decade uncovering.

It begins with a genealogical brick wall and a road trip to a tiny Kentucky town, where I arrived just days after an 1850s boardinghouse had been demolished. What remained was a pile of old red brick, a souvenir I probably shouldn't have taken, and a family story far more complicated than the one I had gone there to find.

Consider this episode part introduction, part trailer, and a glimpse of what’s ahead: DNA mysteries, forgotten histories, unexpected connections, and the people whose choices still echo through our lives generations later.

Because sometimes the most interesting part of a family tree is what was hiding behind the brick wall.