CSU professor featured on ‘Who do you think you are?’

by Erin Udell

History |

As appearing in The Coloradoan

CSU history professor Dr. Ann Little got a trip to Quebec and a chance to show off her French-Canadian knowledge on an episode of “Who Do You Think You Are?” that aired in late August.

Television personality Tom Bergeron and Colorado State University history professor Dr. Ann Little look over documents exploring Bergeron’s lineage in an episode of the TLC show, Who Do You Think You Are?. Photo courtesy of the Coloradoan
Television personality Tom Bergeron and CSU history professor Dr. Ann Little look over documents exploring Bergeron’s lineage in an episode of the TLC show, “Who Do You Think You Are?” (photo courtesy of the Coloradoan)

On the show, a TLC docu-series that explores the lineage of various celebrities, Little helped TV personality and Dancing With the Stars host Tom Bergeron on a journey that led him to Canada and La Rochelle, France, mainly focusing on the life of his 9 times great grandmother, Marguerite.

In an interview with the Collegian, Little said she assumes she was contacted by the show because of her expertise in French-Canadian women’s history. Marguerite had been a filles du roi, or “daughter of the King,” meaning she came over to Canada from France in the late 17th century as part of an effort by the French crown to secure French wives for its French-Canadian captains in Quebec.

Little was featured toward the end of the show, and helped Bergeron learn the fate of Marguerite — breaking the news that she died at age 43 leaving behind seven young children.

But, as Little said at the very end, Bergeron is special, being a descendent of les filles du roi. She even likened it to the Canadian version of being a descendant of a Mayflower immigrant.

Little, who teaches History of Sexuality in America and Readings in U.S. History to 1876 at CSU, has also authored two books: “Abraham in Arms: Ware and Gender in Colonial New England,” and the forthcoming “The Many Captivities of Esther Wheelwright,” according to her staff bio on the history department’s site.

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