Family tree stories.

[Lillith]

So starting the new schoolyear I have been given the assignment to do some research into my ancestors' past. The goal is to find out how they lived and to figure out if they lived similar or different from standards and values back in those days.

Without really thinking about it, I figured I should do the research about my great aunt, who died three years ago at the age of 101. With my own aunt being the family archivist, I went to her for information.

Now the funny thing happened, my aunt asked me why I didn't do my project about my grandparents, her mother and father. This actually never occurred to me, since they both died in the mid seventies of the last century and I don't know them at all. It then started to dawn on me how drastically little I actually know about that side of my family. Hell I even have trouble remembering my grandmothers name, even though one of my cousins is -named after her-. Yeah, it's that bad.

Besides a few stories about how the whole family got split up and my grandparents were in huge debts, I barely know anything about them. Which is strange considering I want to be a historian and even though I did try to get my parents to write down the family history, I barely got anything out them and haven't bothered since. Yeah sorry I'm lazy.

Anyways, the point of this thread though is talking about your ancestors. To be honest I -am- really interested in my heritage and I am hoping this project will help me get to know my past and where I come from. But now I am wondering how this feeling is reflected in the playground. Are there any other people here who are either dying to explore their families past or have already done so? Or is there one particular family member that still gets discussed even though several generations have passed? Did your family have any interesting stories or details? Like are you decedent from a European king? Or maybe your great grandfather fought in the Great War? Is there perhaps a family member that made you proud of being related to them? Personally I love sharing these stories and especially because it is interesting how different families have different pasts.

So if you are interested, tell us something about your families history. Especially because these are all little bits of a much bigger history and I'm hoping that in due time, with enough research I'll soon be able to share a story of my own here. :smallwink:

[Vaynor]

I think the most interesting thing about my family is that my grandmother's uncle was George Gershwin (the composer), whose first cousin was Benjamin Botkin (a famous folklore writer). I was named after the latter. And then my grandfather's side of the family comes from Hungary.

[Dr.Epic]

I think Theodore Roosevelt is my distant cousin or something.

[Vaynor]

I think Theodore Roosevelt is my distant cousin or something.

I think you might need to add a few "greats" to that.

[Meg]

Allegedly, one of my ancestors was on the Mayflower, which was the ship that the settlers of one of the first successful American settlements.

I have a relative in every war America has been involved in, and a relative on both sides of the American Civil War.

Also, one of my ancestors was beheaded during a raid on his farm by the justifiably angry Native Americans.

[CrimsonAngel]

My old history teacher found out she's distantly related to Thomas Jefferson.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Hm, well, my great-grandfather ran away from Poland to New York when he was 14 (This was around 1900), got arrested in Central Park for sleeping on a park bench, then managed to get a job at carpentry because both he and the officer who arrested him spoke German and the officer helped get him that job. And then he ended up founding this hotel (http://www.edisonhotelnyc.com/) (Which sadly was sold in the 1950s). Also, my last name means "Inn-keeper" or "Tavern-keeper." :smallbiggrin:

I'm not too sure if I can explicitly state this story about a distant aunt, but it's a family-wide crowning moment of awesome, so I'll just say that A)I'm Jewish, B)I'm mostly of Polish ancestry, with a bit of German and Russian ancestry mixed in, C)This distant aunt did not move to New York until around 1940, deciding to move the day after the event in question, D)She must have had maxxed-out ranks in Disguise and Bluff. I'll let you figure it out. :smallwink:

[Malfunctioned]

Let's see.....

My family were some of the first 150 Jews in England following the Spanish Inquisition. (They really weren't expecting it.) My great-grandfather, who I've mentioned before on these forums, was a working-class Jewish man who lived in East London. Whilst being the sole source of money for his money he taught himself to speak and write perfect Latin and Hebrew and also learnt to be a champion boxer. This came in useful when Blackshirts started throwing anti-Semitic insults at his wife and children walking to and from synagogues. I've been told he never lost a fight.

Other than that, considering I'm from multiple lines of Jewish immigrants, my true family name is lost and probably will be forever considering the only man who knew it died in the 70's. There is a resturant in London named after my Grandfathers family. There is also a town in Russia named after my cousin's family, or so we've been told, and it was also the town where his wife grew up.

[GenericGuy]

My great great etc grandmother was General Custard's cook(my family even owns Sitting Bull's son's peace-pipe), but more impressively I'm descended from Daniel Boone.:smallcool:

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I'm descended from a polar bear.

Does that count as a family tree stories?

I have one hundred other stories. I shall be posting them... later.

[ninjalemur]

My Great Grandfather (on my moms side) fought under Montgomery in North Africa during WWII and won a Victoria Cross at El Alamein.

My Grandmother on my dads side was a Gwinnett, a direct decendent of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

[Silly Wizard]

My dad is English, straight through the ages. His family is very conservative and nationalist; on my sparse amount of trips to England (my family moved to the US), my uncle has complained about Irish people and about Northern Ireland being part of the UK in general. He doesn't even have a hint of Irish, Welsh, or anything else in his bloodline for at least a few hundred years.

My mom is Filipino, raised in Manila. She's mostly Bicolano, although she has some traces of Tagalog and Visayan. I heard a story once about my great-grandmother, who was very superstitious. When she was pregnant, my great-grandmother was so afraid of the aswang (vampires who would suck a fetus out of a woman) that she would hang rattan sticks covered in coconut oil in front of the windows until she gave birth to my grandmother.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

aswang (vampires who would suck a fetus out of a woman)

Totally off topic, but that is an epic awesome scary horror monster that I am stealing for my World of Darkness campaigns.

[CynicalAvocado]

mom's side grandparents were both german, my grandpa's family moved to russia (see the czar's germans) then lied about his age to avoid conscription into the 1918 communist army came to america met my grandma at a train station.

[valadil]

A)I'm Jewish, B)I'm mostly of Polish ancestry, with a bit of German and Russian ancestry mixed in, C)This distant aunt did not move to New York until around 1940, deciding to move the day after the event in question, D)She must have had maxxed-out ranks in Disguise and Bluff. I'll let you figure it out. :smallwink:

Wooo, Jewish/Polish/German/Russian!

FWIW, I think what you posted is probably okay as far as the rules go. Given how many alignment threads use Hitler as an example of evil, I think mentioning historical proximity to what he did is probably kosher.

Incidentally, you know who else I found out had a similar past? Geddy Lee of Rush. His parents met at Auschwitz.

Anyway, I know embarrassingly little about my family tree. I'd like to know more, but I don't really want any family members seeing me expressing interest in the matter. I wish there were a wikipedia article I could read in anonymity.

The one noteworthy factor in my family tree is that it loops. I'm not sure what the proper terminology is, but I have what I call double distant cousins. That is, they're cousins of my cousins by way of both my dad's and mom's sides of the family. So my mom's sister's children are cousins of my dad's brother's children, independent of me and my brother. Weird, isn't it?

[Maximum Zersk]

I am possibly inbred. Does that count?

[Flickerdart]

My great-grandfather worked for the air force training pilots in WWII, but I don't think he saw any action himself. There was also a general involved in WWI with whom I share a last name, but I don't think there's any relation.

[UnChosenOne]

Let's check: One of great-grand-fathers (gunsmith by trade) suported the Red Guard in Finnish Civil War. Both of my Grandfathers served in WWII (well, like basicly every male around here did).
Well actually come to think of it, my ancestors were rather normal lot, few priest, petty criminals, organists, soldiers, merchants, tailors and rest of them were perfectly normal finnish farmers, farmhands, factory workers and well other normal people.

[Serpentine]

I have left out all the "I thinks", "or maybe it was this", and "maybes" out of the following story, because it sounds better that way.

My sister is thinking of writing a historical novel about our oldest ancestor, and as such is doing some research into her.
Her name was Elizabeth Thomas, and she was my great-great-great-great-great-great?-grandmother*. I believe my middle name is from hers. When she was in England, she was arrested, along with an accomplice, for handling stolen goods - textiles of some sort, I think. My sister thinks there was something dodgy going on, because she was pregnant, and it was her boss who turned her in. So she thinks they were having an affair, and he had her shipped off when he knocked her up, or something like that.
Anyway, she was put on a boat to Australia, towards the end of the Second Fleet. While on board, she gave birth. And then she became pregnant again - we presume rape. When she arrived in Australia, she was assigned to be a housemaid to an officer, something Bayliss. They became involved. They never married - my sister finds it significant that it was he who would have to give her permission to marry - but he adopted her two young illegitimate sons, and had several more children by her which he acknowledged as his own and apparently considered "legitimate".
We, I believe, are descended from the second son - the most bastardly of the lot. Apparently the people descended from the "legitimate" children are quite snobby about it. I knew one of them, and he was the worst person I'd ever met.
We have a street named after us in Boambee, near Coffs Harbour - my mother's parents and I-don't-know-how-many generations before that were banana farmers there.
I presume that at least some of my ancestors did terrible things to Aborigines. It's a bit sad.

I don't know anything much about my dad's side of the family, really. I think my grandfather is brilliant: he was a pedro/chaplain in the Vietnam War, where he was required to carry a gun any time he left the compound. He had to minister outside, but never had any intention of shooting anyone under any circumstances, so he just never took any bullets. He was an Anglican minister in the town I am now, and was the local paper's first professional photographer. He also did tap-dancing, and makes furniture. He and his wife and my dad moved to Australia from England when the latter was about 4 years old. I think we have something black somewhere in our history, possibly Moorish, because my dad does not look English. My sister has a friend who is part Maori, part South African, and various other bits and pieces (some other Polynesian, for example, I think). He and my dad look remarkably similar. Also, he gets mistaken for Aboriginal.

Apparently my grandfather's father's cousin's son (or something like that) is Donald Trump.

*how many greats makes 7 generations?

[Nomrom]

I know that on my mom's side, we had family cross over to the US, the same year as the Mayflower, but on a different ship that no one cares about. They all lived up north, and most of my mom's family still lives in Rhode Island.

My Dad's side came over a few years later, but were in the southern states. Someone in my family line had a big plantation that General Sherman burned to the ground during his March to the Sea.

Around 1840, the Twitchell line in my family converted to Mormonism and they crossed the plains with some of the first settlers in Utah. Most of my Dad's family lives scattered around the western US in some of the smallest towns I've ever seen in my life.

[Rockphed]

Allegedly, one of my ancestors was on the Mayflower, which was the ship that the settlers of one of the first successful American settlements.

Not to be a snot, but I am almost certain that four of my ancestors were on the Mayflower.:smallcool: This is relevant to other things I am going to say.


I have a relative in every war America has been involved in, and a relative on both sides of the American Civil War.

Some of my ancestors ran away to Canada during the revolution, and except for WWII, they have generally avoided wars. On the other hand, I think I am related to one of Washington's right hand men. I want to say Nathaniel Greene, but I could be confusing first names.


Hm, well, my great-grandfather ran away from Poland to New York when he was 14 (This was around 1900), got arrested in Central Park for sleeping on a park bench, then managed to get a job at carpentry because both he and the officer who arrested him spoke German and the officer helped get him that job. And then he ended up founding this hotel (http://www.edisonhotelnyc.com/) (Which sadly was sold in the 1950s). Also, my last name means "Inn-keeper" or "Tavern-keeper." :smallbiggrin:

I have some ancestors from Poland or Hungary or Germany. Possibly Poland(or Germany depending on when you get your maps) and Hungary, but I can never remember. My parents are the genealogy nuts. They were pretty much nuts. I think they all came over before world war 1.

At any rate, one of them was a builder and a farmer. He once built a house with 5 sides, purportedly because his kids had been playing with the right angle.

Later on he tried charging a toll for a highway that went over his farm, and then refused to pay taxes on that strip of land. At his death, he owed taxes equivalent to the taxes on the road for twenty years.

Furthermore, he was an avid deer poacher. By which I mean he was enthusiastic but not very good. On one occasion he shot his horse and cow because he thought they were deer trapped in his flashlight's beam. The cow lived, but the horse was not so lucky.


My Great Grandfather (on my moms side) fought under Montgomery in North Africa during WWII and won a Victoria Cross at El Alamein.

My Grandmother on my dads side was a Gwinnett, a direct decendent of Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

My one grandfather was in Hawaii at the time of Pearl Harbor. It took me the longest time to understand how he survived. Turns out he was in Hawaii for reasons completely unrelated to the military.

My other grandfather had an unfortunate encounter with poison ivy and was given command of a either a desk or a file cabinet. By which I mean he was put to work stateside in an office.



The one noteworthy factor in my family tree is that it loops. I'm not sure what the proper terminology is, but I have what I call double distant cousins. That is, they're cousins of my cousins by way of both my dad's and mom's sides of the family. So my mom's sister's children are cousins of my dad's brother's children, independent of me and my brother. Weird, isn't it?

That is pretty awesome. For a minute I thought you had encountered a problem similar to one my family used to have. Due to sloppy record keeping we ended up listing somebody as their own ancestor, which resulted in a temporal paradox until we figured it out.


I am possibly inbred. Does that count?

I know I am inbred. Nothing recent, but it stretches from my mother's grandparents, who were third cousin's, all the way back to New England. Remember how I mentioned 4 ancestors on the Mayflower? Well, I think they each show up multiple times. Or I am descended from two of them who were children of a third. I really can't remember very well.:smallredface:

[Quincunx]

If you want to practice genealogy research, I can dump all the various lies and misdirections of my maternal family tree here and YOU can try sorting it out! :smallsigh:

Actually, try pumping your parents for information again, or whoever cleaned out your great-aunt's abode. When my grandfather died and the household goods had to be disinterred, it both shook some memories loose and lent a sense of urgency to passing them on.

[Lillith]

If you want to practice genealogy research, I can dump all the various lies and misdirections of my maternal family tree here and YOU can try sorting it out! :smallsigh:

Actually, try pumping your parents for information again, or whoever cleaned out your great-aunt's abode. When my grandfather died and the household goods had to be disinterred, it both shook some memories loose and lent a sense of urgency to passing them on.

Don't think I haven't already tried that. Sadly my family pretty much threw those things out, including picture books and letters, since they didn't find them important. The only reason that stuff of my grandparents have survived, is because they were the parents of my aunts and uncles.

[Brother Oni]

I have a copy of my jo tong or family register which apparently dates back to one of the first recorded usages of my family name (I believe we're descended from the 18th son of the Emperor at the time).

Unfortunately due to cultural... quirks, only males are listed.

My wife also has a family register and since she's of a different nationality/ethnicity, from her culture's perspective, I've married into her family. It does however entitle me to use her family's mon or crest, since technically I am now a member of a samurai family. :smallbiggrin:

[Altaria87]

Well, on my dad's side, my family is pretty boring, all Lancashire born and bred, probable directly descended from the first people to live in Burnley, form seeing how far back they go.
My mother's side is much more interesting. First of all, my great-grandfather and great-grandmother were, repsectively, anorphan left in a basket on a doorstep, and an illegal immigrant from Spain. However, we managed to trace the Spanish side back even more and found out that my great-grandmother's parents were from Ireland and Holland, and had met on some sort of trip to Spain and had got married in the very town they met in, and lived there for the res tof their lives.

[Telonius]

Not mine, but my wife's (and daughter's) - apparently there's a family story that they were great friends of the Washingtons way back in England, to the point that they had each other's crests on the front doors of their castles. Also, supposedly, before the Revolution the family owned the plot of land where the US capitol building now stands. The land was confiscated (so goes the story) after the war, and it's something of a family joke that one of these days they're going to start charging back rent.

As for me, I'm never sure if I ought to have two sets of family trees, one for adoptive relatives and one for biological (empty except for one name, which I gleaned from a few clues left in the non-identifying information, as well as comparing some yearbook photographs to my own face). For the adoptive side: nothing very exciting, and not much available information. Standard American "horse thieves thrown out of Scotland" story, mixed in with a bunch of Swabian Germans (who were presumably fleeing from the Franco-Prussian War) after 1870 or so.

[The_JJ]

Okaaay... Well let's see. Through one grandparent and a few tenuous by marriage not blood relations I am related to the samurai class, through another old school German/Swiss bourgeoisie/nobility (and, somehow, a German US Civil War hero.) Through another I'm vanilla Scottish-ness, through the other mostly Irish but my great-great-great etc. uncle was the judge for the Boston Massacre trial.

Mostly I tell people that half of my grandparents grew up in different parts of the Axis during WWII.

[Ponderthought]

Let's see.. My great uncle Patton (not to be confused with that other Patton) had chests full of medals from world war two. He was a combat medic in the Pacific campaign. He only tells one war story: The time his group got stuck in the basement of a church for 2 weeks. The lived off the canned food that had been donated before the war came to the particular island. They were pinned in the basement by a sniper. Every time anyone tried to leave, a shot would whiz past their head, but the sniper never hit anybody. Patton figured the sharpshooter didnt actually want to kill them, just keep them penned up in the basement. Eventually, the sniper got bored and left.

Im also related to Shotgun Jim Miller, a notorious assassin in the old west. Didnt smoke, drink or curse. Went to church every Sunday. Shot people in the back for money. Strange man.

Other than that, it's kind of hard to trace my family line. It mostly consists of big, blond people that made a living off delivering beatings to other unfortunate souls. And apparently had no problem marrying the local natives, as I have a rather large dose of Apache and Comanche blood.

[Rockphed]

Other than that, it's kind of hard to trace my family line. It mostly consists of big, blond people that made a living off delivering beatings to other unfortunate souls. And apparently had no problem marrying the local natives, as I have a rather large dose of Apache and Comanche blood.

You're descended from Duke Nukem?

[Ponderthought]

You're descended from Duke Nukem?

In essence, yes.

[Lillith]

In essence, yes.

Must have been forever since you last saw him. :smallbiggrin: