I was enjoying a good program on History Channel International yesterday evening about underwater archaeology when a fascinating commercial came on. I usually fast forward through commercials on my DVR, but I just couldn't take my eyes off of this one. It was titled "Your Family Name" and had a fast talking man describing how, by calling a toll free number, you can have your name exhaustively researched and its history sent to you in a handsomely framed scroll or coat of arms. The interesting part to me is the man alludes to exclusive databases containing all of your family history needs - after all he's the founder of the Historical Research Center. The commercial also shows shots of old books in a library (I assume its the Historical Research Center) and even a woman thumbing through a book doing research I suppose. It ends with happy families sitting around tables looking at the products they ordered learning an incredible amount about their names and family histories. This is the coolest commercial ever. I've seen many Ancestry.com commercials lately and they don't even come close to this one.
This commercial did seem familiar though. It kind of looks like one of those late night things about super stain removers, wall hanging devices that can hold up to 50 pounds, and super tools having multiple applications. I did a simple Google search on this guy's name and discovered the reason why everything looked so familiar. Not only is he a family history expert, but he also developed the Ginsu Knife, the Rocket Chef food processor, and as his website says, "Chinese Woks to Power Tools and many more in between."
I expect everyone to add the Historical Research Center to their genealogy tool boxes (look, I've categorized this post as "genealogy resources." After all, it sounds like they have incredible databases containing millions of names - I'm surprised Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Familylink haven't formed partnerships with this guy...if I could get a free Ginsu Knife collection by subscribing to Ancestry.com I would probably renew.





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