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New Day
Dallas Press Conference; Kate Bolduan Discovers Her Roots
Aired October 20, 2014 - 08:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go with the five things you need to know for your new day.
At number one, the Pentagon is forming a domestic Ebola response team. Thirty medical professionals are now on standby to fly to any location in the U.S. where a case of Ebola is uncovered.
The U.S. airdropping weapons and medical supplies to Kurdish fighters in the Syrian city of Kobani. Quite a shift in the White House strategy to take down ISIS. Coalition air strikes also helping push back ISIS fighters over the weekend.
Authorities in Virginia are looking for evidence in the area where human remains were found this weekend. Officials are working to determine if they are indeed missing UVA student Hannah Graham.
The alleged ringleader of the 2012 Benghazi terror attack that killed four Americans, he's being arraigned Ahmed Abu Khattala. He could face the death penalty.
Future NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning now the leader in career touchdown passes. The Broncos quarterback threw number 509 Sunday night, passing Brett Favre on the all-time list.
We always update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdaycnn.com for the latest.
Alisyn.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: OK, Michaela, thanks so much.
We're awaiting a live news conference from Dallas on the Ebola situation. That's going to start any moment now. So we will come back as soon as it starts and bring it to you live.
CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're expecting the mayor and the county judge who coordinates what's going on there. So, apparently there's some kind of developments and we'll give it to you.
Que the music, though. Kate Bolduan is back. She's going to join us live with her little bundle of joy. There she is.
CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh. CUOMO: Finally a use for the green room. Cecelia Eve (ph) is gorgeous. You're no guest. Get of here. She's going to talk about her journey to Belgium, what she uncovered about her family's roots, but really we're here for Cecilia Eve, let's be honest
CAMEROTA: Oh, she's smiling.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Obviously.
CUOMO: Look at her. Look at her. She's already responding to Uncle Mo (ph). Yes, yes.
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CUOMO: All right, apparently there are developments in Dallas. Right now we're looking at a press conference that includes local officials. Mayor Mike Rollins is supposed to be there. The county judge is there. Let's listen in and see what the development is.
JUDGE CLAY JENKINS, DALLAS COUNTY: Last night. There is one person who will roll off a little later this morning due to the time that they rode in an ambulance before it was taken out of service that Mr. Duncan rode in. There are four more people who were health care workers who saw Mr. Duncan on the 28th and continued to have contact with him after that time for some time. They'll be rolling off a little later. But all of those 48 are well into -- 43 are off and one will be later today and the other four will be in the coming days. So that is very good news.
I want to take you back to that aspect of this fight against Ebola. Mr. Duncan again exhibiting symptoms either on the 23rd or the 24th. He was not placed in isolation until the 28th. The disease detectives, and there are nine of those with Dallas County Health and Human Services, had to go out into the community immediately even before the FEA (ph) teams from the federal government got here and began doing contact tracing, find the right people who - had they missed someone and we had to have a person who wasn't monitored and had to have been out in the community for four or five days with another Ebola case, then this would have multiplied.
The World Health Organization tells us that for each Ebola case that is treated, two more come up. And that's what we're seeing right now here, even with American medicine. So, the worry for all of us was that due to the fact that Mr. Duncan was out in the community for a time, that we would have a lot of disease contacts. Well, they were able to find those 48. I will tell you, I can remember Mike -- Mayor Rollins and I meeting an epidemiologist in a parking lot named Emily, one of our Dallas county epidemiologists, and along with some first responders searching for a person who lacks a home, who's now - or up until yesterday, when he rolled off the list, you know, was a guest of the county and city, and for that matter, Presbyterian Hospital. And they really did see some tremendous work. And they're doing some tremendous tracing work.
I wanted to bring them up here to kind of praise them because they are all young people. They're all pretty new from out of school. Both at the county and the state and the feds and they've worked just so incredibly hard. They've declined to be on camera. They're afraid it might interfere with their disease tracing work. But I've got a statement from one of them about the Trogh (ph) family. And let me read that to you real quick. "When our contact tracing began, working with Mr. Duncan's family and friends, they were understandably going through a very difficult time full of fear and uncertainty. However, throughout this monitoring period, this family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious. We were able to support them through difficult times and celebrate with them on the day they had been waiting for. It was a pleasure to not only to be let into these family's homes, but also to be let into their lives. We understand this has been a very trying time for the family, but we wish them all the best moving forward."
We got our state and federal partners here with us this morning as well. And I'm going to introduce all of them. But before I do, I want to talk about the five children that will be returning to school. And I want to ask for the community's help. I'm sure Mile Miles (ph) will speak to this as well.
These people, part of our community, are integrating back into our community. And I talked to Louise last night on the phone. And her feeling for this morning was one of fear. Fear of how she and the young men would be accepted, of how they would be treated, whether they would be seen as disease carriers or oddities. There's zero risk that any of those people who have been marked off the list have Ebola. They were in contact with a person who had Ebola, and the time period for them to get Ebola has lapsed. It is over. So they are -- they do not have Ebola. They are people who have been through an incredible ordeal and they are people who need our compassion, our respect, and our love. Treat them the way you would want your own family treated if you were in their place, and they were the in yours.
It's understandable that there's a lot of people that are afraid. Fear is normal. You know, I see life through the eyes of a child as a parent and I know what it's like and I remember for myself what it's like that first time you step onto the high dive. You know, young people were not designed to jump off of boards into pools. And it's scary. And sometimes we go up there and we have to come back down. And sometimes we have to get daddy or mommy to go up there with us. But if we look at what is going on and we see that the lifeguards and our parents and everyone involved in the swimming pool is not lying to us, and that the high dive is not going to kill us, then the children jump off the high dive. And that's a lot of what we have to do in this situation. We have to believe in science.
CUOMO: All right, if you're just tuning in, you're hearing County Judge Clay Jenkins talk about parents helping their kids through situations. It's a little bit deceptive. He's using it as an example to say that the kids who were thought to be exposed to Ebola, they're now going to be ready to go back to school. This is all good news and he's telling the community, you cannot live out of fear. You can't treat these kids differently. All of this press conference has been about the good news that people are coming off quarantine. There is somebody who's still being isolated. But it was all good news coming out of the presser there down in Dallas. CAMEROTA: Yes. Yes, they're celebrating these milestones. In fact, he called it a happy press conference. You don't get those all the time.
CUOMO: No.
CAMEROTA: So we wanted to bring that to you.
CUOMO: More happy news.
CAMEROTA: A lot of happy news here on the set.
PEREIRA: Time for some happy news. It is time for our final installment of "Roots." A very special edition of our journeys home. Thirteen CNN hosts and anchors traveling all over the globe learning more about their heritage and their ancestors. This morning - I am going to get teary-eyed, Kate Bolduan, who's been on maternity leave, she is back along with a new limb of her family tree.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I get teary-eyed too.
CAMEROTA: It's the hormones.
PEREIRA: Baby daughter, Cecelia Eve, sharing her journey to Belgium and the remarkable discoveries she uncovered there.
Good morning, my darling.
BOLDUAN: Good morning. Talk about life changing. I mean, hello, I'm on TV with my baby. What? Like, this doesn't happen.
This whole - and talking about life changing, the "Roots" piece really - the "Roots" journey was really life-changing because I was about five months pregnant when we started this journey and you can just see me through my entire pregnancy in this piece. And I grew up in a family where we didn't really talk about our family tree so much. It just wasn't - it just wasn't priority. But then, being pregnant and starting this excursion and this journey and this - just this search, it just took on a whole new meaning and a very special meaning oh so quickly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: I really - I know nothing about my family. I'm sure my grandmothers will be horrified when I say that, but I've literally heard so many different stories about where my family came from, when they came over. It seems more important actually now having these answers and being able to fill out that family tree now that we're about to start our family.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): So, to start the search through my family tree, I sat down with ancestry.com historian Michelle Erkenbrock (ph).
MICHELLE ERKENBROCK, ANCESTRY.COM: So we're going to talk about Felicie Rouselle (ph), who is your grandmother's mother on your mom's side.
BOLDUAN (on camera): My grandmothers - OK. OK.
ERKENBROCK: Yes. She was the first generation to come into America from Belgium.
BOLDUAN: (voice-over): Felicie Rouselle Flood (ph) died in 1981, just two years before I was born.
BOLDUAN (on camera): This is Felicie E. Flood, 70, of 5585 Ottawa River - I swear -- I actually think that is my grandmother's dress.
ERKENBROCK: Oh, are you serious?
BOLDUAN: Was my grandmother living at my great grandmother's home? Wow. That's amazing. First line of this, I've already learned so much.
ERKENBROCK: The next thing we're going to look at is her father's name was Leon.
BOLDUAN: OK.
ERKENBROCK: And he came over in 1912.
BOLDUAN: Wow.
ERKENBROCK: So the date on this document is February 17, 1912.
BOLDUAN: And you look - and there he is right there in the manifest.
ERKENBROCK: Yes.
BOLDUAN: This is the vessel that they came over on?
ERKENBROCK: Yes, this is a picture of the crewman (ph).
BOLDUAN: He was 28 when they did that.
ERKENBROCK: Yes.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): With just that start of my family tree in hand, we, of course, had to take the journey overseas, 3,700 miles to Liege, Belgium, where my great, great grandfather Leon Amel Rouselle and great, great grandmother, Louise Labay Rouselle, lived before leaving everything behind for America.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Thanks so much. I'm very excited to get started.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): First stop, the Liege State Archives, where local historian Alan Vanweighnberg (ph) found everything from marriage records, to baptism records, dating farther back than I could have ever imagined.
ALAN VANWEIGHNBERG: If you want, I will show you another tree that I made for you instead of your small tree there. I will show - I will show you the tree I made.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Are you knocking my iPad tree? VANWEIGHNBERG: No. No, but -
This is Felicie Amelia Arvient (ph) -
BOLDUAN: Great.
VANWEIGHNBERG: Born 1910.
BOLDUAN: I'm getting all my greats mixed up. That is my great grandmother.
VANWEIGHNBERG: Yes. And it goes from left to right. Young and old.
BOLDUAN: Young to old.
VANWEIGHNBERG: OK.
BOLDUAN: Oh my goodness. Really?
VANWEIGHNBERG: Yes. And you see this one. The oldest one.
BOLDUAN: He died in 1625.
VANWEIGHNBERG: 1625. And he had a son in 1596.
BOLDUAN: I know that you told me that they date back to even further, but it's still amazing.
VANWEIGHNBERG: Yes.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): My oldest known relative, Joannes Del Labhaye, baptized in 1596.
BOLDUAN (on camera): That's two greats, three greats, four greats, five greats, six greats, seven greats, eight greats.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Before landing in Belgium, I also discovered what my ancestors did for a living.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you read it, make out what's the occupation?
BOLDUAN (on camera): Oh, wow. It does say he was a glass blower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So think, he left behind his wife, Louise Labhye.
BOLDUAN: Oh, okay.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he's headed to Columbus, Ohio.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And they even found a street, Rue Large, in the village of Shani (ph) where the Rouselle family was known to have lived.
BOLDUAN (on camera): So, we came to this street, it still exists, and you've already made another connection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so, she's just told me that there was a very well known Rouselle family living there, the house just next to the pharmacy there, and that there was a very famous glass factory here in Shani. The factory was here, up the stairs there 50 meters away. She is absolutely sure.
BOLDUAN: The house right next to the pharmacy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, number 26 was where the Rouselles were living, and the glass factory was in a small street up there.
BOLDUAN: Yes, let's go have a look.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And with a little more investigating, we learned the glass factory was only recently closed and torn down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, ten years ago the factory was still here.
BOLDUAN: I've learned much more about who my family is. We've been able to see where my family lived, maybe even the street where they lived on and the factory that they worked in.
BOLDUAN (on camera): The biggest lingering question, though, is what was behind the huge decision, after so many generations, to take that leap of faith, get on these ships, and travel all the way across the ocean to start a new life in America?
BOLDUAN (voice-over): So, we headed north to Antwerp.
LUKE VERHAN, HISTORIAN: This is the start of the transatlantic part of the voyage.
BOLDUAN (on camera): The very beginning, I guess.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Luke Verhan (ph) showed me the place from where my ancestors set sail on the Red Star Line.
BOLDUAN (on camera): How much did the ticket cost?
VERHAN: It would cost in money of today between 500 and 1,000 euros for a one way ticket in third class.
BOLDUAN: Wow.
VERHAN: So, that corresponded more or less with 65 days of work for a factory worker.
BOLDUAN: Yes.
VERHAN: Like your family.
BOLDUAN: That's a huge commitment.
VERHAN: Yes.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): I knew my great, great grandfather, Leon, traveled to America in February 1912, but there's more.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In April of that same year, the Titanic sank.
BOLDUAN (on camera): April of that same year. That's right.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BOLDUAN: Of course.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Just a few months after one of the most catastrophic nautical events in our history still to this day, Leon puts his pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter on a boat.
BOLDUAN: You stop it right now. I'm made at Leon right now.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: I can't imagine.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're right here.
BOLDUAN: I mean, I can't imagine even if I wasn't pregnant right now what that would be like. The big, one of the big questions that I've had as I've come here is why did people want to go to America?
VERHAN: There's not one reason. Everyone went for a certain reason. I think the main thing is that all of them were looking for a better future, also trying to build a better life.
BOLDUAN: I think that's what I'm learning, is that's what they were kind of trying to do. That American dream, to begin that American dream, and it all began right here.
I had no idea what my family went through just to get on the boat, even before they started their voyage. Makes me proud. It really is a humbling experience, and it makes me really, really proud to call them my family.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Having learned more than I ever thought possible, I left Belgium to continue following my family's trip to America, eventually taking me to Ohio and the Toledo Museum of Art to try my hand at the family business of glass blowing, the profession that we believe is what brought my family to America in the first place.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Let's do either, like, a red mix or a pink mix, and I'll make it for my baby.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): The glass technician, Mike Stevens, walked me through the not so easy task of making a simple glass flower.
BOLDUAN (on camera): We're working immediately with this hot glass?
MIKE STEVENS, GLASS TECHNICIAN: Yes, immediately, right away. So, this is called a punti. This is stainless steel - -
BOLDUAN: Punti?
STEVENS: Punti, P-U-N-T-I.
BOLDUAN: Okay.
STEVENS: It's a stainless steel solid rod, and the way you're going to hold this is you're going to hold it right - - perfect. Are you sure you haven't done this before?
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN: No, I'm just doing what you're doing.
STEVENS: Okay. This furnace is 2150 degrees.
BOLDUAN: 2150 degrees? Okay, yes, that's hot. Oh, my god. That is so unbelievably hot.
STEVENS: Every movement you make has an effect on the glass.
BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Cannot believe I'm playing with glass like this.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And just minutes later -
STEVENS: There it is.
BOLDUAN(on camera): Oh, my gosh. I could do this all day. This is really fun.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): After following their lives from Belgium all the way to Ohio, I finally got to meet my great, great grandparents, laid to rest here at St. Joseph's cemetery outside Columbus.
BOLDUAN (on camera): She should be right over here. There she is. Louise Labhye, wife of Leon Rouselle. It's really amazing to finally meet her after this whole long journey, making it all the way over here with a 2-year-old and six months pregnant. Now, let's find my great, great grandfather. Leon E. Rouselle, 1885-1947. This is really, really cool to finally meet them. About all you can say.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And since I was in Ohio, there was one last stop I had to make.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Hi, grandma.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): To tell my mom and grandmother everything I had uncovered.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Let me show you this family tree. They put this together for me in Belgium, and this blew my mind, just how far back they could actually reach for us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my gosh.
BOLDUAN: All the way back to 1625.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1625?
BOLDUAN: Yes.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And my grandmother knew her grandfather, Leon Rouselle, was a glass glower.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is your great grandfather blowing glass.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Really?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, there it is.
BOLDUAN: It looks like out of a movie set, like they stand on these pedestals.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They did, they did.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wore a circle in his teeth.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His real teeth, he wore a circle, he had to have them pulled, so he got false teeth and he would take them out and put them in his pocket. He couldn't blow with them in.
(LAUGHTER)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): And, it turns out my great grandmother, Phillisy (ph), who sailed to the United States when she was only 2 years old, was just as strong a woman as I had hoped.
BOLDUAN (on camera): What was she like?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every one of them that knew her adored her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There wasn't anything she didn't think she could conquer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, no, no.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was a pretty, like, Wonder Woman back then and worked full time until she retired, I think.
BOLDUAN: I love this photo.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): It's a family trait I hope now to pass on to my own daughter.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Gertrudis (ph), that could be on the baby name list.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Nothing against Gertrudis of the world, by the way. PEREIRA: You could have made a beautiful Gertrudis. Yes, you could
have.
BOLDUAN: She's not impressed by this entire thing.
PEREIRA: What a voyage, Kate. I mean, really, honestly.
BOLDUAN: It was amazing. And, really - - do you have something you would like to say?
PEREIRA: She would like to address the class.
BOLDUAN: Would you like to - - yes? Okay, maybe later.
The thing that really blew me away was just how difficult the journey was. We know it, right? But what they, in third class, what they had to go through to get on the ship to get over here. They had to have a medical examine, they could be turned away. They had to have all their clothes sterilized, they could be turned away. They had to take an half hour shower and be doused with vinegar and another chemical before they could be allowed to get on the boat to start this life in America. It just blew my mind. It made me, as I said, so proud to know my family a little bit better, because we wouldn't be here otherwise. And then be able to share it with her.
CAMEROTA: The newest branch of the family tree.
BOLDUAN: Exactly right, it's so great.
CAMEROTA: And it's incredible that they were able to find eight or nine generations for you.
BOLDUAN: That's just my mom's mom's side.
(CROSSTALK)
PEREIRA: Imagine on your dad's side.
BOLDUAN And that's the conversation my sisters, of course, I have three sisters - - Do you want to talk?
CUOMO: I don't care about the "ROOTS" piece. I think it's awesome, but I've seen it already, and I love Kate, and I know her background. But I am just - - I can't believe what a beautiful baby you and Michael made. I just can't get over it.
BOLDUAN: She's putting on a stellar performance.
CUOMO: You are so lucky. I was so looking forward to this being so difficult. You know, I was like, it's going to be hard. I don't know if she'll take and all this. You know, you have to be ready for the disappointment. This kid has done everything perfect.
PEREIRA: How are you feeling and how is the new life and schedule adjustment? BOLDUAN: It is so amazing. I mean, it's one of those things that
everyone tells you you're not going to know the love until you have your own baby and it's true. It blows me away. I said to Michael, I was like why didn't we do this a whole lot sooner? He was like, I don't know, someone was working.
CUOMO: I'm not that way, I'm not that way. I know who I am.
BOLDUAN: Pregnancy is not going to change me.
CUOMO: I'm going to have a baby. Yes, that's not me who's changing, it's the baby.
BOLDUAN: Totally changed. I'm a little puddle of love.
PEREIRA: And we love it, and we're loving you and your puddle of love and your little lump of love right there, yes.
CAMEROTA: She's so good.
PEREIRA: We want to point back to the "ROOTS" special because tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern, Anderson and I are going to host a two hour special at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. You can watch "ROOTS: OUR JOURNYS HOME," all of the 13 stories, including Kate's as well.
BOLDUAN: It's so special that we could all do this. Awesome.
PEREIRA: Really tremendous.
CUOMO: And thank you so much for bringing in the baby.
BOLDUAN: This is so fun. I'm up any way.
CUOMO: All good news.
BOLDUAN: The sleep schedule hasn't changed.
CUOMO: All good news. Every time I make a mistake, I get, like, a quick text, ha ha ha. More good news this morning, 43 people no longer being monitored for Ebola in Dallas. We were just monitoring the press conference for you. More should be cleared soon, and we're going to have more on that for you at the "NEWSROOM" with Carrol Costello right after the break. And we are going to do some loving up.
BOLDUAN: Say "bye," see you soon everybody.
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