Was TV Series Who Do You Think You Are? Inspired by Minnesota Newspaper Series?

The popular British TV series – Who Do You Think You Are? is now in it’s seventh season. It has focused on tracing the family history of UK movie stars and celebrities.

In sifting through the old newspapers I found this regular column – Whom Did He Marry? by Mary Adrian. Was it the inspiration for the hit series Who Do You Think You Are? (Duluth News Tribune 13 Dec 1921).

Probably not. Just like Ralph Edward’s TV series – “This is Your Life” — the newspaper series “Whom Did He Marry?” and the TV show “Who Do You Think You Are?” all appeal to everyone’s basic interest in family history.

Mary Adrian wrote hundreds of “Whom Did He Marry?” articles, semi-genealogical vignettes about the wives of the famous and the obscure in her weekly column that appeared for years in the Duluth, MN – Duluth News-Tribune.

You can look up these articles by going to GenealogyBank’s Duluth-News Tribune search page and putting the worlds “Whom Did He Marry?” (in quotes) in the other search terms box. Your search will quickly pull up nearly 200 articles.
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