Liv Tyler tells Steve Tyler about his musician ancestor! | Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S.)

So we're in Saratoga County this morning in New York. I'm really looking forward to finding out a little bit more about George Elliot, my great-great-great-grandfather. I think he would have been 26 or 27. After the war, I possibly settled here and had a family of his own. I'm really excited to see what he went on to do with his life. I have found some documents for you to look at, if you're interested. Okay, good. I'm very interested. The Official Souvenir Historical Week, 1912 October. So there's a marker in there that he can look for. Stop it. What? Oh my God. That's crazy. I can't even look. Wow. Is that him, the mustache? Wow, he doesn't look anything like I imagined him to look. That's crazy. Mr. and Mrs. George Elliot and Family, Schuylerville, New York. Wow. Consisting of 17 children and 9 grandchildren. I wish I could go and hang out with them all. Mr. Elliot is a veteran of the Civil War, member of Schuylerville Lodge, F&AM Home Chapter. So F&AM is the Free and Accepted Masons. So he was a member of the Masonic Lodge. They're like a brotherhood. It was exclusively men. It's not a cult. No, no. I feel like I've only ever heard about it as sort of a, oh, this is a very mysterious kind of... But that's not really what they stand for. Okay. Yeah. It may have even elevated his status in society, that he was a member of the Masons. Okay. So it would have been more a structured organization that would have been connecting to other maybe people in Schuylerville that were of his class and giving back in charity. And in fact, there's something else here. Mm-hmm. That will... Wow, no way. That's crazy. I can see my dad in his face so much, especially now at the age that he is. That's wild. So this would be his Mason's uniform. At this time, the Masons had 2 separate organizations in Saratoga Springs. They had the regular Masons, and then they had the colored Masons, and he was a member of the Masons. So with all of the documentation we have here, it seems that he identified as a white. Yeah, that's very interesting. Society at that time, it would have probably been a lot easier to be a white man. Yeah. He and his wife are buried nearby in Schuylerville. Really? So if you'd like to pay your respects. Gonna cry again. So I've made copies of the pictures for you to take with you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Amazing. I got to finally see a photograph, which was really amazing. I mean, seeing him standing there in his uniform like that, that was really powerful. I was interested when I saw the picture because he did look very fair-skinned, and his father, Robert, was part African and part white from New York. Being a person of this time era that we're living in now, we're all mixed, and everyone I know for my entire life has come from all over the world because it's normal for my world, but I would imagine at that time that was definitely a big deal, you know, and definitely seems to have affected how he lived his life and the choices he made. I feel like he was very secretive about it, and I would imagine that was part of just having to deal with the world and to survive. I feel so excited to see my father and share all of this with him. I think it'll probably be very powerful for him. This morning I'm in Schuylerville, and I've asked my dad to meet me here so that I can fill him in on all my adventures and everything that I've learned about our family. Okay, well, I'm so excited that you came all the way here to be with me so I could share with you. We've always talked about your Italian side of all musicians, but you never knew about your mom's side. That was a mystery. So we traced the family tree back to my four-times-great-grandfather, Robert Elliot, who is your great-great-great-grandfather. Robert Elliot was part African-American. I knew it! Thank you, God. I always felt akin to black people, always. Did you know it? I had no idea, but I mean, I felt it my whole life. Aw, amazing. They sort of think that Robert Elliot Sr. might have been an indentured servant. Wow. He was in the War of 1812. Yeah? And he was a drummer! Holy s***! Oh my God, that's too good. And you were a drummer first, right? Was that your first instrument? Yeah, yeah. So then Robert Elliot had a son named George Washington Elliot, and we found that he had enlisted in the Civil War, and he signed up as a white man. He was a drummer in the Civil War. I'm so loving this. Oh my God. It explains it. This is the best. I have a picture of your great-great-grandfather, George Elliot. Here, you can look. Wow. That's really him? Yeah. That's beautiful. Black five generations ago, that intestinal fortitude that they had to work for, what a struggle and battle that must have been. Yeah. George had met a wife back in Plattsburgh and married her, and they went on to have 17 children together. We have pictures, too, I can show you. That's George Elliot and his wife, and this is all 17 of their children. Amazing. And they are buried here in this tannin. Yeah. I'm going to take you to the cemetery so we can go see them. Okay. Look at these tombstones. Look at that. Wow, this is very beautiful. I thought that this story, this particular chain of my family tree, was just really amazing because they were really paving their own road, you know. Thank you. Wow. This has been completely life-changing, and I'll never be the same again after this experience. And that's kind of a huge statement to say, but it's really, really true. Who's this? Oh, here it is. Where? Right here. George Washington Elliot. Wow. It's just completely touched my heart and expanded my horizons, and it's just sort of given me that little northern star in the sky of following your own inner compass and what you believe in. George was in the Battle of Antietam and in the Battle of Gettysburg, and he then... Both of them? Yeah, both of them, and survived. And survived both of them. Yeah. I survived the music business. I'm a hero.