interesting family lore

[dehro]

inspired by the "interesting mythology" thread, how about interesting (or at least unusual) bits of family lore?
do you have any?

I'll start with a bit of family lore of my own.
legend has it that an ancestor on my mum's side, who apparently was the last surviving non commissioned officer of Radetzky's army (as in last to die of old age, it's not like they had all died valliantly in battle), spent his last days as a guest at the table of Franz Joseph I of Austria, by virtue of being an old survivor.
of course he sat nowhere near the top man, at that table...
the interesting bit, for me at least is that he seems to have fought in several battles against an ancestor on my father's side of the family who was in the royal Italian army...so basically it's almost been a case of "what if your grandpa had killed your other grandpa"?

[ArlEammon]

inspired by the "interesting mythology" thread, how about interesting (or at least unusual) bits of family lore?
do you have any?

I'll start with a bit of family lore of my own.
legend has it that an ancestor on my mum's side, who apparently was the last surviving non commissioned officer of Radetzky's army (as in last to die of old age, it's not like they had all died valliantly in battle), spent his last days as a guest at the table of Franz Joseph I of Austria, by virtue of being an old survivor.
of course he sat nowhere near the top man, at that table...
the interesting bit, for me at least is that he seems to have fought in several battles against an ancestor on my father's side of the family who was in the royal Italian army...so basically it's almost been a case of "what if your grandpa killed your other grandpa"?

One of my great, great, great grandparents was a very succesful Evangelist.

[Vladislav]

inspired by the "interesting mythology" thread, how about interesting (or at least unusual) bits of family lore?

My grandparents met while escaping from a Nazi concentration camp.

[For'Ninniach]

My grandparents met while escaping from a Nazi concentration camp.
Half my family was apparently killed in teh Holocaust.

...yay us?

Urrrm,
I'm somehow related to these guys:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/Monarchy_Of_Denmark_April_2010.jpg/800px-Monarchy_Of_Denmark_April_2010.jpg

Teh Danish Royal Family.

This guy; Myles Standish:


http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fplum/Plumstead/images/web-standish-009.jpg
He came over on the Mayflower apparently and now 'cuzza him, I'm related to the great George H.W. Bush and Regular Dubbya
Not very prouda that.

The second guy from the left, the short curly haired one is my dad. He was in this band, so yes.


http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVOgPaoGCQ7z3SVOfwQqIWzbed4-uVQL_zruuAfzLc4e8CJNeA0w&t=1

And more recently (actually last night) I found the place where my German Jew family is from; Mindelheim, Bavaria, DE. Whoopee.

[Halae]

It isn't exactly what everyone else is posting, as they have actual concrete facts, but there's an old legend about my family from waaaaaaaaaaay back. The first time I went wild at school and broke another boy's arm and nose, my uncle told me how we were descended from demonic berserkers. evidently, their shaman thought they could become a more terrible force on the battlefield by interbreeding with demons, so he called them up and went to town. I and my mother's side of the family are still trying to deal with not going wild during fights, as we apparently have for the past 500 years. Just an interesting thing to know

[Eldritch Knight]

My family is apparently descended from the Pictish royal house of Macbeth. No word on if it's THAT Macbeth.

I have also discovered that my Grandfather had been a draft pick for the NHL until he screwed up his Knee.

Beyond that, I don't really know much more.

[Shadowleaf]

I'm a descendant of Heinrich Hertz, the physicist. I even share his last name.

My grandfather was a freedom fighter on the Danish side during World War II.

And apparently, my family can be traced back to the Belgian royal house or some such.

[ArlEammon]

I'm a descendant of Heinrich Hertz, the physicist. I even share his last name.

My grandfather was a freedom fighter on the Danish side during World War II.

And apparently, my family can be traced back to the Belgian royal house or some such.

Uh, my ancestors were the GREEK GODS!!! Beat that!

[IcarusWings]

My Great-Grandfather nearly went on the Titanic, but he decided on another cruise instead. That's all really.

[dehro]

My grandparents met while escaping from a Nazi concentration camp.

oooh, good one.. mine had also a fair bit of adventures during the war.. but I was thinking more in "ancient and weird, non confirmed or even doubtful family legends"-terms..so I shall avoid boring you all with pages of actual facts about my WW2-time relatives, which are, for the most part, interesting only to me.

going back to the people I mentioned in the OP, I just remembered another family legend about the man on the other side of the trenches.. my grand-grand-something.
actually I'm not entirely sure it was the same man, I might have my dates in a knot here..anyway..
apparently at some stage this guy was in Africa with the Duke of Aosta, and was about to win a shooting competition (rifle) with an extended leave as final reward..when the duke himself complimented him with his marksmanship patting him on the back.
..whereby he missed his final shot and lost the race.
That's however how HE used to tell the tale, blaming the duke for not getting home for almost a year (apparently the other guy was a friend of the duke).. and also blaming him for losing 3 fingers to shrapnel, in a battle shortly afterwards..
WE think he probably just missed the shot..

he did cut a dashing figure though..I've seen pictures of him, many years later, when his missing fingers meant he could get away with giving fascists the horn sign instead of the "roman salute" as it was called here in Italy, back in the day.

in fact, here's a piccy of him doing just that:
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/8553/msgplusimg0541.png

[Eldan]

We were visited a few months a go by a guy doing genealogical studies. He was a distant relative and showed us a huge (as in, about three meters long and two meters wide) family tree he had made.

However, my direct male ancestral line only goes back five generations. He tried to find out how.

Apparently, my great-great-great-grandfather, for some reason, changed his name and moved to the other end of the country when he was about 30. Without leaving behind any official paperwork on "why".

[Valameer]

A lot of this isn't really lore, but I got carried away.

Terry Sawchuk (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Sawchuk) was my Baba's cousin.

All of my Baba's brothers became RCAF pilots in WWII, training at the base in Regina where I later took pilot lessons. One of them was shot down in the Pacific Theatre and was a POW in Japan for a few years.

My Gido was infantry in WWII. I know he fought actively in the Netherlands, but unfortunately I'm hazy on the details. He never liked to talk about it, and he passed away long before I was born.

The french side of my family has been in Canada for quite a while (supposedly since the 1790's). One of my ancestors served as Mayor in the town of Willow Bunch, Saskatchewan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Bunch,_Saskatchewan), where the Willow Bunch Giant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edouard_Beaupr%C3%A9) came from. Apparently poor Edouard used to scare the heck out of my great-grandmother, and she would hide whenever he went by in the street. Poor guy.

My dad used to jam with Hart-Rouge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hart-Rouge), playing drums for them from time to time, before they moved from Willow Bunch.

Now for the most lore-ish part of my family history.

My grandpa claims that we're descended from a line of French Nobility that eventually fled to Canada after escaping the French Revolution. I have no idea how he could back that up, but it's likely lore he heard from his grandparents, and so forth. I should ask him more about it sometime. He's usually a pretty quiet individual.

I know that the french side of my family has been in Canada for a long time (by Canadian standards, anyway). Whereas most people around here can say which ancestor originally immigrated, and from where, my great-great-great grandpa was born and raised French-Canadian, and that's as far back as I know.

[Mina Kobold]

There's a lot of people with root in Denmark here, it seems.

Sweet, we actually did something important! (Spawned you guys) :smallsmile:

Best I can think off is that my paternal great grandfather, who is still alive, supported a friend in the Danish resisitance during the war.

Does the fact that we're probably descendants of Vikings count? :smalltongue:

[dehro]

Does the fact that we're probably descendants of Vikings count? :smalltongue:

on a rpg related forum?
hell yeah!

[grimbold]

okay
this one is rather humorous
my great grandmother and her mother decided to play a trick on one of my great grandmothers sisters. Because this sister was always asking for candy and sweets one day they took some goat poop (they lived on a farm) rolled it in sugar and gave it to the sister

the sister liked it:smallyuk:

remember my great grandmother did this with her mother of all people:smallbiggrin:

[Grey Paladin]

My family belonged to minor Russian nobility (A landed merchant that ascended in influence) before the communists stole our stuff.

One of my line's ancestors was a flagbearer during the early 19th century, sold to the army as a child (it was not uncommon for poor families to sell their children to the army at that time). Service for conscripts and most troops was (usually) relatively brief, and many professional warriors would serve from 18 to 25, with release granting them a small farmland under 'their ownership' (of course, this being Russia, everything belonged to the local lord, but hey, you got to make a living without stabbing people!). Those sold to the army or others under 'special circumstances' were expected to serve until death, or 25 years, with the count beginning at 16-18 for children.

My ancestor supposedly survived army service from birth to the age of 43, as the flagbearer - the guy who walks in front of the rest of the army (in the age of gunpowder), unarmored, and armed only with a trumpet, a flag, and a short sword. This means he fought quite a bit.

After his release, using the meager earnings and tiny piece of land he recieved for his life's service, he became a successful merchant that would eventually set up his children for their rise to power.

[rayne_dragon]

Not too much interesting in my family. I've got a mix of Irish, Welsh, Scottish, and English with a splash of German on one. Some of my ancestors were knights, which was kind of cool. There's even an ancestral castle that I saw pictures of, although its all crumbling now.


It isn't exactly what everyone else is posting, as they have actual concrete facts, but there's an old legend about my family from waaaaaaaaaaay back. The first time I went wild at school and broke another boy's arm and nose, my uncle told me how we were descended from demonic berserkers. evidently, their shaman thought they could become a more terrible force on the battlefield by interbreeding with demons, so he called them up and went to town. I and my mother's side of the family are still trying to deal with not going wild during fights, as we apparently have for the past 500 years. Just an interesting thing to know

This might explain why everyone keeps mistaking you for being a tiefling or halfdemon on the SMBG.... :smalltongue:

[Marnath]

This guy; Myles Standish:


http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fplum/Plumstead/images/web-standish-009.jpg
He came over on the Mayflower apparently and now 'cuzza him, I'm related to the great George H.W. Bush and Regular Dubbya
Not very prouda that.

I'm also related somehow to Captain Standish. Thankfully, most of my ancestors are not war criminals. :smallannoyed:

Further back, geneaology sites tell me my family name first shows up in 1066 for having received land and possibly title(details are understandably hard to come by from that far back) for helping William the Conqueror in that battle. Something that made me wonder though, is it doesn't specify whether said ancestor came along with the army or was a native who turned on his fellows. :smallconfused:

[MoonCat]

My great grandmother hid refugees from the Nazis in her attic during WWII, and gathered information for the Dutch Resistance while taking strolls about with my grandfather in a pram. She then gave the information to my great grandfather, who radioed it to various other resistance members.

[Halae]

This might explain why everyone keeps mistaking you for being a tiefling or halfdemon on the SMBG.... :smalltongue:

yes, I realized the irony about 2 weeks ago, finally realizing that i was a real life tiefling :smallsigh: :smallsmile:

[TheThan]

Legend has it I have an ancestor that was on the Mayflower. My father did some digging and it looks to be true, but he wasn’t a colonist, he was part of the crew. Dad's research also indicates that after that voyage he became a pirate.
So I can honestly say I have pirate blood in me.

ARRRG!

[Lycan 01]

My family background is a mixture of both nobility and scum, it seems. In the 1500's, my ancestor's were Spanish aristocrats who ran afoul the Inquisition. In the Old West, two of my ancestor's were horse thieves. So I'm the descendant of heretics and outlaws, it seems. Whoopie?

Oh, and my great uncle was killed by a baseball.

[MoonCat]

I forgot to mention, on my other side I have actual refugees from WWII prison camps. One of them died. And on the other side of my family we hid people like them, so, cool.

[Mikhailangelo]

My Uncle served with Fightin' Jack Churchill.

Y'know that Corporal who was the only other survivor of the bombardment that killed off the unit? Yeah.

[Lycan 01]

Wasn't Jack Churchill the British dude who fought in World War 2 with a broadsword and bow? And actually took out a German officer with said bow? :smallconfused:


Errr... was your Uncle in that unit at the time? :smalleek:

[Mikhailangelo]

Wasn't Jack Churchill the British dude who fought in World War 2 with a broadsword and bow? And actually took out a German officer with said bow? :smallconfused:


Errr... was your Uncle in that unit at the time? :smalleek:

That's the one. Though the sword was a claymore, to be pedantic :P

Yep, the very same unit :)

They also captured a German bunker with the bow and broadsword (I'm not entirely sure, but I think that my Uncle was, disappointingly, quite sane and used a gun rather than a fracking osome medieval weapon)

[Kobold-Bard]

My grandparents met while escaping from a Nazi concentration camp.

That's romantic in an usual sort of way.

----------------
I got nothing. My family has been completely uninteresting for at least the last 7 generations (as far back as I could get).

[LordShotGun]

I got some from both sides of my family.

My dad's ancestors were minor English/American criminals who moved to the wild west from the original states in order to take up a new name and start over. Thus my last name is smith, a very generic name.

For my mother, she and her family are descendants of the original Irish royal family before the potato famine sent them to Canada and eventually America. When my parents were married, the catholic priest was an old Irish man who warned my father that the O'Donnell's were an ancient royal bloodline.

[LOTRfan]

My greatgrandfather had to flee from Sicily to escape the Mafia. Two of his brothers died in the process, and they ended up hopping from country to country before arriving in the States.

[Maxios]

My family motto is "Virtue against difficulty".
My dad's ancestors also owned a castle in either Scotland, or Wales [There's much dispute over where our family hails from.]
Then we came to America

[Obrysii]

We have my great-great grandparents' Ellis Island papers.

My mom witnessed ball lightning traveling through her house.

My dad broke his neck, was told he'd never walk again, and he walked out a few months later.

[CrimsonAngel]

Oh my god my family is boring!

[Trog]

I have an odd history really.

First of all my family is from the British Isles. I believe the family tree goes back to Scotland, iirc, I saw it once going back to the 1600s but have forgotten most of the details. And from Scotland they moved on to Ireland. And then a period of seemingly going back and forth from America to Ireland throughout a few generations. Then finally staying in America.

From what I've been told my family is related to the Ethan Allens of the furniture biz by some distant ancestor. Nothing noteworthy to speak of other than my grandmother claimed to have someone in the family have the idea for the automobile stolen from them. Certainly sounds crazy enough to be from my family. :smalltongue:

My father was a combat paratrooper in the army and used to jump out of airplanes for the extra pay. My father's father moved around constantly and was always getting a different car. He actually had to curb his craving for car trading or he would have had to obtain a dealer's license he traded so many in a year's time. And it is verified that he once traded his car for another car... and on the drive home with that one traded that car for still a different car. He drove like a bat outta hell too.

My grandfather on my mother's side built a bowling alley back in the 50's and it was a swinging place with a piano bar and everything. My dad took it over from him and now my sister is taking over from dad. My grandfather also established a local bank and came from some modest amount of money. In his younger days he was a phys ed teacher at a college I think. U of M possibly. He drove a huge caddy and smoked cigars non-stop.

But wait!

But he actually wasn't my real grandfather. My grandmother divorced when my mom was young and got remarried to him. The man she was married to before him I met only once and in my teens when he stopped by my house and introduced himself as my grandfather. I thought he was some crazy old man at first. My mom was flabbergasted.

But Wait!

He wasn't my real grandfather either! For you see, I am adopted. I've known this all my life and never knew who my birth parents were and honestly never wanted to because I love my family dearly, especially mom and dad. So I resigned myself to never really finding out who they were. All I knew was that I was European descent - primarily Danish/German/English... I think.

But Wait!!

I did find out who they were. My birth mother tracked me down about five years ago and wanted to meet me. I was honestly upset at the prospect of this because I never really had any intention of exploring that part of my life. But my dad seemed somehow eager that I meet with her and so I did. I learned then that my birth mother was very young when she had me (a fact I knew) and that she had not been married to my father at the time because they were both so young.

BUT WAIT!!!

What I didn't know was that my birth father later married her... and they've been married ever since... and have had no other kids.

Later I met my birth father and my uncles and aunts and cousins (one was checking me out :smalleek: ) at a family reunion of sorts in which I seemed to be the star attraction/person of curiosity. I felt like a bug in a jar. ._. I learned that most of my uncles had gone through AA and drinking problems seemed to run rampant through the family.

On the way home from the reunion I got pulled over by a cop for speeding through some tiny little one horse town. He asked my where I was coming from and going to in such a hurry and didn't I see the speed limit sign back in town? I confessed that I didn't, and didn't normally come through that town and that I was heading home and had come from a family reunion where I had met my birth father and all of the family that I was related to for the first time.

Officer: "..."

"Sounds like you've got a lot on your mind tonight then."

Me: "...Uh... yeah"

Officer: "..."

"You don't need a speeding ticket to add to that. You drive on home carefully now and have a good night."

Me (a little dazed): "Thank you, sir." o_o *drives off slowly*

---

Also, I had a Grandma Bob. That never struck me as odd til I was in high school and someone laughed when I mentioned it.

Also my mother makes the best apple pie and chocolate chip cookies ever and screams at the television during Packer games (should have heard the house during the Super Bowl... I inherited that from her. Heh).

[AtlanteanTroll]

William Bradford (the 2nd Governor of the Plymouth Colony who served 30 odd terms) by both of my mom's parents. (Which according to the Great Wiki means I'm technically related to Julia Child, Clint Eastwood and Christopher Reeves as 13th Cousins or something.)
Giles Corey: "More Weight"

Also, according to my Mom, my great-great-grandpa met Ghandi and my great grandpa got kicked off some board for inviting Martin Luther King Junior to speak at Chautauqua. We also have a Family Tree up in one of our halls and it lists some Senator from the 1800's. My grandpa worked on some Government Project for Exxon back during WWII (which my mom thinks had to do with the Manhattan Project, but can't be sure of as he is now deceased.) And my mom's mom's parents were missionaries in China back in the 1910's.

My Dad's side is much less interesting as his parents were... immigrants. Which isn't really boring, but is less fun to talk about. Though, my dad's dad did fight in the trenches back in WWI. Which I think is cool, if not... Sicily. I do have an Aunt and Uncle named **** and Lucy Ball though, which is worth a good chuckle.

Also, LOTRfan, Sicily. I think.

[Barbin]

There is a possibility that my best friend is a distant cousin.:smallsmile:

[John Cribati]

My grandfather was a Mariachi. He's Jamaican.

[TheThan]

My grandfather on my mother’s side fought in WWI. We have some very cool pictures that prove it, and up until my grandmother died last year, she received veterans pay from his GI bill, or some such, I’m not quite sure how it worked. Anyway she had been getting federal money for like 50 years. At least I think it’s pretty nifty.

He was sort of an older gentleman when my mom was born. Apparently he was well known for some crazy antics. He captured a snake (think it was a boa constrictor) that had escaped from the city zoo, my aunt has the news paper clippings of it. Apparently it was a pretty huge snake too.
Lets see, my grandmother got bit by a rabid fox. It just ran in the house and attacked her. They lived pretty close to the wilderness at the time.

Legend has it that both my grandparents (my mom's side) come from Irish families. Things get a kind of difficult to trace, so it’s hard to know for certain. But I sort of believe it seeing as my brother is one of the most stubborn people I’ve ever known.

[pffh]

Well like most people in my country if we go all the way back to around 800-1000 we are descendants of a werewolf (and one step up from that a wolf demi god).
There is also a family story that's been going on for quite some time and that is when a grandparent dies it watches over and protects it's grandchildren.

I also have two real ones (or semi real ones). The first is that almost all men from both my families have drowned even though some of them never came near a lake or the sea and the other is and more awesome is that the ancestor I'm named after was famous for being able to lift and drink from a beer barrel (around 350-500kg) without spilling :smallbiggrin:

Ooh I got one more one of my ancestors was famous for fathering a child in every home, if you know what I mean, and he only settled down when the father of one of the girls tracked him down and forced him (with the help of an axe) to marry her and yes that man is also an ancestor of mine.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I have a LOT of this. My mum got really into genealogy a while ago. Came up with such gems as being descended from Earl Siward of Northumbria, who was one of Macbeth's worst enemies, also slew a dragon, and was descended from a Polar Bear.

Um, also descended from the 'nice' brother of an infamous group of brothers in medieval France. They're where the "Steal from the rich" part of Robin Hood comes from. Not so good at the "giving to the poor", but still. They were well-liked by the Peasants, because they only targetted cruel landlords and such. The brother I'm descended from was the eldest, the one who was effectively the front, harbouring them and feeding them, cause he had the inheritance, and the property, and had to be 'respectable'.

Also descended from a French lord so mean, when he fell of his horse and was savagely eaten by his own hunting dogs, nobody even TRIED to help him.

Hmm...

My great-uncle was a rear-gunner in a Lancaster bomber in WWII. He died in action. My Great great grandfather on my mum's side came to Canada from the Ukraine, managed to avoid being put into a camp by joining the army, and was at Ypres the first time the German's used gas. He survived, and then brought his family over to Canada. My Grandpa on my dad's side was an engineer in Sicily and Italy during WWII. Another great-uncle, or maybe great great uncle, can't remember, was a medic who landed at Juno Beach on the 3rd day of the D-Day landings. About half of my extended family on my Mum's side died in the Holocaust.

My dad's side have a long habit of spinning tall tales. We used to have a story of some guy who went Stateside to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. As far as we can tell, he did go Stateside, but never did join the army. Probably only said he did.

We got a coupla pirates...

Oh, back the Robin Hood theme, descended from a childhood friend of Prince John, who was later banished by Prince John, and ran into the forest. His son later emerged from the forest, and won the hand of a beautiful lady at a jousting competition.

Speaking of jousting competitions, I'm also descended from, basically, the main character in A Knight's Tale. He was basically a nobody small lordling, not a title, the second son of a second son kinda thing, but taught himself to joust like a BEAST, travelled around Europe winning jousts, gaining fame and fortune, and then made himself a killing training the first son's of kings how to joust.

Also descended from a Magyar woman impregnated by a bird. Not sure what type of bird... Hopefully not a swan.

El Cid? Descended from El Cid Campeador. He's a boss. Charlemagne, a bunch of Saxon kings and queens with names like Elfthrifth and Aelgifu. Let's see...

The woman who introduced the Fork to western Europe. She was a Roman princess, see.

William the Conquerer.
The first 2 dudes who ran the Tower of London. This one guy who was IMPRISONED at the Tower of London, but no executed, and wasn't actually that one guy who's graffiti we saw.

Descended from Brian Boru, the Irish king who freed Ireland from the Norse, and temporarily united it.

Descended from, if not someone on the Mayflower (It's hard to track sometimes), then someone on at least the next 3 ships, within the first 3 years of the colonies there. Descended from a line of blacksmiths in Nova Scotia. Descended, through them, to a really confusing Quebecois line.

My family have been in the Americas since Europeans started settling. :O
Sadly, no Native Americans. Meh. Nor do I have any non-white people. Closest I get is a woman whose second marriage was to an Arab guy. I think she was Spanish.

Edit: I would get more, but this is all off the top of my head, and I can't remember any more...

[AtlanteanTroll]

IMy family have been in the Americas since Europeans started settling. :O

High Five! :smalltongue:

[thorgrim29]

According to one of the two most widely accepted legends about the invention of poutine (that it comes from Le Roy Jussep in Drummondville), the guy who invented it was my mom's uncle (Ti-Pout Dubé). That's pretty much it for legends... As for facts, my maternal grandfather traced his ancestors to the first guy of his family who came to Nouvelle-France, a mason from Normandy named Pierre Marcoux (I think his descendants, a lot of whom were named Pierre, went on to be major players after the Conquest, but were back to being farmers when my grandfather was born), and he visited the house he lived in (and built) before leaving France. On my father's side we're probably related to winemakers in the Chateauneuf du Pape region... Oh and I share James LaBrie's last name (well more or less, I spell it Labrie), and he and my dad have the same nose, so probably related there.

[Arlion]

my great grandfather fought on world war 2.....on the german side

And my sister-in-law father "fought" on the italian side,although he says that they only stole some pigs and chickens until the allies came and they surrendered

[Serpentine]

For famous relatives, supposedly Donald Trump is my grandfather's father's cousin's son or somesuch.
For factual family history, my mum's father fought in WWII, I think in Papua New Guinea. Don't think he talked about it much, though.
My father's father, my Detz, he was a padre in... crap, which was it? Vietnam or Korean? I think it was the Vietnam war. I think he's probably gonna go down as a family legend... For example, during that war he had to carry a gun with him if he left the compound, but he never had any intention of shooting anyone under any circumstances so he just didn't take any bullets. He was the first professional photographer for an old Armidale newspaper (started in 1856), and he used to tapdance. I can't wait til he finishes his memiors...

There's some potential for family legend in our oldest known ancestor. The facts are (from memory) thusly: Elizabeth Thomas worked for some guy in England. She and a friend were convicted of handling stolen goods, and she was sentenced to be shipped to Australia on the Second Fleet (the really, really awful one). She was pregnant at the time (the father's name is known, but I can't remember it), and gave birth on the ship. She then got pregnant again while on board, father's name unknown. I believe we're descended from the first boy, but I could be wrong.
When she arrived in Australia, she was set up as the housekeeper to a guy (can't remember his name, although we inherited his surname). This man adopted her children and had some more by him, but they never got married. Apparently he is the one who would have decided whether they married or not, at least legal-wise.
Now, there's various questions and speculations here. For example:
- Was she really guilty? My sister suspects that her son's father was actually her boss, that he didn't want anything to do with it so he set her up.
- Who was the other person convicted?
- What were the circumstances of the conception of the second boy? Was it really rape, or was there something else going on? (my vote's for merman :smallwink:)
- Why did that man adopt her sons and fully acknowledge the children he had by her but never marry her?

My sister intends to write a historical fiction novel about her at some point. Should be fun.

edit: Hmm. Correction: She wasn't on the Second Fleet, but on the Bellona (http://www.historyaustralia.org.au/twconvic/Bellona+1793) which came quite a bit later. On the other hand, this ship carried the first free settlers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Australia_(1788%E2%80%931850)).

[Gadora]

William Bradford (the 2nd Governor of the Plymouth Colony who served 30 odd terms) by both of my mom's parents. (Which according to the Great Wiki means I'm technically related to Julia Child, Clint Eastwood and Christopher Reeves as 13th Cousins or something.)
Giles Corey: "More Weight"

Your ancestor adopted mine.

Thomas Rogers came over on the Mayflower with his son, Joesph, and proceeded to die during the first winter. William Bradford adopted Joseph, from whom I am descended on my Mom's side.

[fimzo]

Wow, my family is boring. I think my great-great-grandfather (or his father, I'm not sure) was a POW in Andersonville prison during the American Civil War. My dad did a huge search over old documents and archives to find our ancestors, but everyone was just from random villages in Poland and Italy.

[Rob Roy]

I took my username from someone in my family who was essentially the Scottish Robin Hood. From 1603-1774 it was not only legal, but encouraged to kill members of my family. In The UK at least. (http://www.clangregor.org/macgregor/amelia-sample.html#Edict%20for%20the%20Extermination%20of %20the%20Clan%20Gregor) Horrible travesty, all we did was commit a few war crimes when we were fight the Campbells. Still people have made money off of documentaries and "inspired by a true story" things about it so that somewhat mitigates it.

[Anuan]

That's the one. Though the sword was a claymore, to be pedantic :P

Yep, the very same unit :)

They also captured a German bunker with the bow and broadsword (I'm not entirely sure, but I think that my Uncle was, disappointingly, quite sane and used a gun rather than a fracking osome medieval weapon)

To be pedantic, it's a Scottish Baskethilt(ed Broadsword). "Claymore" has been a term for both that, and the older two-handed swords. To be more pedantic, it's a later-than-medieval-period sword. Now, to the modern sword-enthusiast group, the Claymore is the older twohander, and the Scottish Baskethilt is the later singlehander. We think "Claymore" comes from a Gaelic word meaning 'Great sword' but it can't be entirely proven.

But still awesome :P

My father's side's Scottish in descent, and our ancestors include William Wallace's mother. The very root of the family comes from Danish Vikings that settled in Scotland and took the placename as a surname.

My mother's great grandfather was the head of one of the first camel-teams in western Queensland, and out near my hometown and all the surrounding areas there's pieces of broken equipment and wheels and repairs and such left by him and his teams.

My grandfather (who turned out to not really be my grandfather) was basically a cowboy. Always slept with his saddle as a pillow, never went anywhere without his hat.

My father's had a million jobs, but at one point he worked on a bullockteam. He had an eighteen foot long whip with a five and a half foot handle, and he could take the cigarette from someone's mouth with it.

[THAC0]

My great-uncle does genealogy, and I am apparently laterally related to Abraham Lincoln.

Also, December 6, 1941, said uncle was invited to the Japanese Embassy for a fancy dinner party, where all guests received an American flag as a gift.

[Eldan]

Ah, I wish I had any genealogy on my father's side. But, as I said, mysteriously vanishing family documents.

I've asked again. That same ancestor that moved to the other side of the country and changed his name without legal documents documenting anything? He was later arrested for massive fraud. Apparently, a semi-professional gentleman con-man. Took most of the money out of a bank and tried to vanish again before the police got him.


Also, on my mother's side I have a sergeant of a band of mercenaries who fought in the thirty years war on the French side.

[dehro]

oh well.. since we're also sharing factual history..
on my mum's side, my grandad was born in poland and moved to belgium/netherlands when he was 2..as it seemed a safer option for jews..and it was, for a while.
during the war he and his brother walked from the netherlands to switzerland, where they ended up in a work/refugee camp (they had to pave roads, build bridges and other such heavy duty stuff)..his other (younger) brother and his parents sought refuge in france, where his dad was interned in a lunatic asylum (either for pretence or for real after a breakdown..that point was never really cleared)..where my grandpa's mum served as a nurse during the remainder of the war.. the younger brother was temporarily adopted by the director of the asylum.
my grandmother on the other hand, after being born in Holland, went to live in indonesia (then a dutch colony) with her parents and older brother. during the war, all 4 of them were interned in a japanese concentration camp, not for being jewish, but for being europeans. amazingly they all survived the war.. (minus great grandpa's manhood..apparently he was "crippled" through torture).
after the war both my grandparents got back to amsterdam..grandpa noticed grandma who lived a few floors up from him, and to find an excuse to get to know her, he blew the fuses of the entire building :smallbiggrin:

on the italian side..my grandad was sent to the russian front with the army.. wearing shoes with carton soles and ..african equipment (no joke..there was a mix up and some other italian trooper stationed in Africa received his winter equipment.).. when he had walked all the way through jugoslavia he decided he'd had enough, as he was ill.. so he dropped his rifle in a ditch, and walked back home. when he got there, he weighted half his "healthy" weight and had to hide in the attic for more than a year, as fascists and germans came looking for him. unsurprisingly, my dad was born during the war.
incidentally, my dad was born in the only house in his hometown that was later bombed...by the allied forces.

also, when the allied forces moved towards France, my grandad (the dutch one) went along, as an interpreter and was with them on the day they liberated Paris.

[Malfunctioned]

My family pretty much consists of Jewish Russian or Jewish Spanish immigrants. Not much of the old history is that impressive.

Though my family were some of the first 150 Jews in England after the Spanish Inquisition.

And one of my grandma's many many uncles, being the fifth child of a eighth child she had quite a few, was one of the soldiers that helped to liberate a concentration camp in Poland.

My great-grandfather, whom I'm named after, used to be in the music business running a studio. He knew the Beatles, Frank Sinatra and many more. He once even chucked the Rolling Stones out of his recording studio because they needed a wash and, to second-hand quote him, 'You're making the instruments smell like a pig-sty and others need to use them after you'. And Mick Jagger ended up hitting on my Nan that day.

This is also the same man who taught himself boxing, Latin and Hebrew and put them to good use. I've inherited a massive white leather bound, golden gilted and leafed Latin/Hebrew Lexicon from him. :smallsmile:

Basically, at the time he was around the Blackshirt movement was starting up in England, as a religious Jew he was often on the end of anti-Semitic insults on his way to the synagogue. He would endure it for himself but if they said a word to his wife or children he would pretty much beat them to a pulp.


So yeah, I got a bit to live up to. :smalltongue:

[Don Julio Anejo]

On my mothers side, my family is pretty unremarkable. The most prominent members were her uncle who served as a fighter pilot in WWII and was shot down twice (died the second time), whom she also never knew as he died 20-odd years before she was born; and her grandfather, who was conscripted in both World Wars and managed to escape en route to a concentration camp during WWII not once, but twice. Legend goes that he jumped off a train that suddenly slowed down onto another (slow-moving) train going the other way and hid in one of the pipes. Getting home wasn't difficult after that, as his home village was already occupied by the Nazi at the time.

On my dad's side on the other hand... Let's see. His father's family is all career military (he's the first one who wasn't), and his mother's family is even more interesting. Spoilered below.


His father (my grandpa) served in Vietnam. On the other side. Unofficially, of course. As a trainer for Vietcong pilots. Didn't stick there very long.

His paternal grandfather was Leonid Brezhnev's (yes, that one) second in command in his (Brezhnev's) regiment during WWII. Interestingly enough, they didn't see very much combat.

His paternal great grandfather came to the USSR right after the civil war. From Iran of all places. To where he originally came from one of the Arabic countries and served a military advisor in the short-lived Soviet Republic of Gilan. Did this out of ideology - back in the day, communists were technically the good guys given the horrible state of affairs for the working class (which was the overwhelming majority) in many industrialized nations like Britain.

His maternal grandmother was an officer in the NKVD but luckily got out right before Stalin started his purges so she wasn't forced to commit any atrocities.

His maternal great grandfather was a count of something or other, died or emigrated somewhere during the revolution. No-one is quite sure what happened to him.

On the same side I'm also related to a bunch of Don Cossacks in the Krasnodar region.

[dehro]

And Mick Jagger ended up hitting on my Nan that day.



I'm not sure if that makes ME feel very old for being a Stones fan, or if it makes me realise just how old Mick Jagger is

[Malfunctioned]

I'm not sure if that makes ME feel very old for being a Stones fan, or if it makes me realise just how old Mick Jagger is

Well my Nan is about 15 years his senior so it's not as much as it seems. :smalltongue:

[For'Ninniach]

I'm also related somehow to Captain Standish. Thankfully, most of my ancestors are not war criminals. :smallannoyed:

MY KIN!
YAAYYY~


Legend has it I have an ancestor that was on the Mayflower. My father did some digging and it looks to be true, but he wasn’t a colonist, he was part of the crew. Dad's research also indicates that after that voyage he became a pirate.
So I can honestly say I have pirate blood in me.

ARRRG!

I'm really jealous of you.
So much.

~~



The second guy from the left, the short curly haired one is my dad. He was in this band, so yes.


http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRVOgPaoGCQ7z3SVOfwQqIWzbed4-uVQL_zruuAfzLc4e8CJNeA0w&t=1


This guy (my dad) met Mike Myers, Chris Rock, David Spade, Al Franken (when he was on SNL), Keith Richards, Kurt Cobain(and sadly enough, Courtney Love, also), Bill Clinton (played at his inauguration) Was on SNL, The Replacements (if any of you know the Minnesota band scene in the 80's), The Police, R.E.M., The B-52's, and Prince. I'm sure he's met more but I can't remember them off the top of my head.

NOW MY MOTHER, Didn't do much. But I know that her long time boyfriend was the bassist of The Replacements, and she went to High School with Prince.

What I've done?
I've met Jared Leto. :smallcool:

[Vaynor]

George Gershwin was my great great uncle (+/- a few "greats," I'm not sure). My grandmother donated a few of the letters he sent her to the Library of Congress a few years back.

Also, my great grandfather (and my namesake) was Benjamin Botkin, who you'll only have heard of if you're an American Folklore buff (apparently he's fairly well known in those circles).

[MoonCat]

George Gershwin was my great great uncle (+/- a few "greats," I'm not sure). My grandmother donated a few of the letters he sent her to the Library of Congress a few years back.

Also, my great grandfather (and my namesake) was Benjamin Botkin, who you'll only have heard of if you're an American Folklore buff (apparently he's fairly well known in those circles).

My great grandfather (or grandfather, I can't remember) used to keep getting Gershwin's mail. We had a similar name back then.

[Zain]

I've found out that my German grandfather was anti-aircraft gunner in WWII, in Berlin, and had something like 3 confirmed kills. I don't really know anything about my mothers side

[AtlanteanTroll]

Your ancestor adopted mine.

Thomas Rogers came over on the Mayflower with his son, Joesph, and proceeded to die during the first winter. William Bradford adopted Joseph, from whom I am descended on my Mom's side.

Cool.

Just learned my Mom's mom's dad was pretty high up in the World Council of Churches. (Same one who was a Chinese missionary.) Which I think is all I can say on the sunject.

Oh, and one Robert McNamara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_McNamara) proposed to my Grandma on a cruise back from Europe sometime just before the start of WW2... She declined.

[Greensleeves]

All I've really got is that family legend says I'm a fairly direct descendent from a Swedish royal bastard. Can't remember which king it was though...

[Shades of Gray]

My great grandfather was the youngest officer to ever serve in the Hungarian military...

That's about it, really.

[Traab]

My grandmother lives on a road in upstate new york that was named after her maiden name. She has lived there for the last 80+ years, raised 11 children, several of whom live in other houses on that street and have also raised their own kids and grand kids there. The town cemetery is roughly 85% relatives on my fathers side of the family. Im one of the few of over 400 living family members that doesnt live in that state.

[ninjalemur]

One of my ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence (Button Gwinet).

My favorite ancestor story is of my great-granfather on my mothers side. He fought for the British in North Africa during all of WWII. He was captured by Germans but escaped. He also won the Victoria Cross at El Alamein for carrying a wounded comrade through a hail of machine gun fire.

[Rockphed]

My one grandfather was working on a project to make diet ice cream of some sort. It flopped, but they had to get rid of the stuff, so they tried feeding it to the animals, finally just giving it to the pigs. The pigs came up, sniffed it, and made a path for an enormous sow that came forth and rolled in it making happy pig noises.

He was also in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor got hit, though he was neither in the armed forces at the time nor was he on the right island.

On my moms side, I have an ancestor who was probably involved in the first case of road rage ever. He supposedly cut off somebody in Iowa with his wagon(though how you cut somebody off with a wagon I will never know), and got into a brawl as a result. I grew up with some people descended from the other guy.

Somewhere back there I have a probably ancestor who was in the circus. I think he did the music, though we aren't really sure.

[Liriel]

My great (something or other) grandfather used to poach on the King's land....and was never stopped. The king's men were afraid of him & his cane/walking stick, so they didn't try to stop him. :smallbiggrin: