Have you ever discovered a part of your heritage that seems unreal?

[kat_kringle]

I recently found out about an ancestor of mine (from an illegitimate birth, so not really by lineage) who originated from france. i'll post later about how this was discovered if anyone is interested.

Post your surprising (or unsurprising) ancestry discovery!!! :hi:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Antoine_Hippolyte%2C_Comte_de_Guibert">Jacques Antoine Hippolyte, Comte de Guibert

[raccoon]

1. Yes. The Time Traveller was my grandfather's fourth cousin. nt

[BarenakedLady]

2. I'm related to John Alden and Priscilla Mullens

from the Mayflower (Dad's side) and some German royalty (Mom's side).

[just a girl]

15. Our ancestors must have known each other

I'm related to John and Eleanor Billington

[Momgonepostal]

17. Me too, through daughter Elizabeth

There are a lot of Alden/Mullins descendents out there.

[RebelOne]

3. Edward Teach. He was an ancestor on my father's side.

www.thepirateking.com/bios/teach_edward.htm

[On the Road]

4. Wow -- That's Something

Supposedly I am related to Pocohantas on my mother's side.

[guitar man]

6. cool!! nt

[guitar man]

5. William Clark

on my paternal Grandmother's side of the tree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Clark_%28explorer%29

[hobbit709]

7. One time while listening to someone go on about WHO their ancestors were

I responded with "I come from a long line of surly peasants"

[kat_kringle]

23. excellent answer! n/t

[Shell Beau]

8. One day when I have time on my hands, I am going to research

my heritage. I have a lot of Native American heritage and would like to delve into that a little more.

[DarkTirade]

9. The only person of any note that I know of in my family

would be my great-grandmother, who was a rather well known opera singer.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I don't know who my biological father is

Neither does my biological mom.



That's sorta unreal.

[XemaSab]

27. Maybe you killed him!

:o

:hide:

[Lyric]

11. Frederick Engels.

And ThinkBlue1966 is directly descended (we have pedigreed proof) from the royal families of Scotland and England. James IV was her direct paternal ancestor. :)

[iverglas]

12. yes! I get to brag again!

Even if none of you south of the border types will have a clue what I'm on about.

My greatx4 grandmother's brother's grandson (my second cousin four times removed -- my grx5 grandparetns are our mutual ancestors) was the Lord Chancellor of England in the Labour government 1929-35.

And as a Labour peer and member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, then the final court of appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada, he wrote the judgment overturning the SCC's decision and holding that women were "persons" entitled to be appointed to the Senate of Canada. This is called the Persons Case here, and we have statues of the Famous Five women who fought it all the way.

In that decision, he wrote that the Constitution of Canada is a "living tree" -- and that's why we have same-sex marriage rights and you don't!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Sankey

[lizziegrace]

13. Google General Daniel Sickles

we're cousins. When we say we're crazy, we mean it...

:evilgrin:

[billyoc]

14. Apparently I'm from New Jersey.

I don't like to talk about it. :rofl:

[tismyself]

16. I keep looking

for witches, but have discovered two different times when my ancestors had them burned instead. I am so disappointed.

[SidneyCarton]

18. I found out recently that I am descended from

One of the people who founded Rhode Island with Roger Williams, and a Protestant English Martyr listed in Foxe's Book of the Martyrs. Nobody famous, but not completely anonymous either.

[evlbstrd]

19. While tracing our ancestry in Ireland,

my uncles hit a dead end. It seems someone pissed off a very powerful person and got the family name expunged from the parish and county records. Hellraisers for generations.

[distantearlywarning]

20. Yes. A relative of mine traced our ancestry back to 11th century England

A number of my male relatives many generations removed were English nobility (and I am distantly related in some kind of cousin relationship to a current earl). This is one of my great-grandfathers many times removed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Stanley%2C_1st_Earl_of_Derby

But the part I thought was the coolest and which made me proudest was finding out that my great-great-great-great grandfather and his family participated in the underground railroad, freeing slaves. :bounce:

[Critters2]

21. Nothing interesting. All of my ancestors were peasant farmers. All of em, both sides.

Sure, the Scots ones were called "crofters", but a peasant farmer by any other name...

My whole family were farmers until my mom and dad's generation. And I was the first to start college not majoring in one form of ag or another.

We're a remarkably unremarkable bunch.

[nuxvomica]

22. My maternal grand uncle was a spy during World War I

For the Kaiser! When he was caught, it made all the papers. He married an American, became a citizen and when I met him he was in his 80s and had suffered a stroke. He also had perfect teeth his whole life.

[malta blue]

24. conquistadors and spies....

Ponce de Leon is a relative.

My grandfather played both sides during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.

[Mutley]

25. My mother always claimed

there was Native American on her side of the family, but everyone says they have Native American in them, so I never really believed her. Turns out a woman from the Great Lakes Souix tribe was sold to my great great great great (or some such) grandfather and he ended up marrying her. This would probably be the reason why my skin is not quite as "Irish" as most of the people on my dad's side (the side I take after the most).

[kat_kringle]

26. very interesting!

ancestry is quite amazing, eh?

how are you?? :hi:

[Fox Mulder]

28. Apparently I'm related to Wilhelm II somewhere down the line.

:shrug:

[wickerwoman]

29. My great-grandfather was an illegal immigrant.

He was drafted into the Royal Navy and then jumped ship in Newfoundland.

He was also famous for being short, yellow-tinted and having terrible teeth.

Fortunately, I take after mom's side of the family. ;-)

[Withywindle]

30. Do you have any idea how many Brazilian relatives I have?

:hide:


(No, seriously. It's a huge family.) My Native American blood is native South American.


The other side has more surprises: turns out from a family historian doing real research (not the ones who had various agendas for claiming we were English or Scottish) found out the first person we could trace in the New World came to what is now Maryland as far back as 1659. From County Cork. From the timing, almost certainly post-Cromwell fallout. We'd had no idea it was that long ago.

[Maccagirl]

31. My dad's 1st cousin wrote me a letter about our ancestors

a couple of years ago where she said that there was story about great-great grandmother/grandfather (there was an arguement about the gender) who was a "Jew from New York" who was kidnapped by Indians and escaped at the age of 16 by fording a river. I kept waiting for the punchline...but a cool story nonetheless.

[Left Brain]

32. You mean, like this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shp2bdHEAAc

After 42 years of believing he's a Scot (hey, the fam has a Scottish coat of arms, a family tartan, the works), turns out he's Irish. Gotta love genealogy searches that turn up those old census pages.

[csziggy]

33. My father's family was traced back to Odin through Henry I and William the Conquerer

Through a guy named Eltweed. They were nobility until they backed the wrong side in one of the British civil wars.

Another ancestor's ship was lost in the Bermuda Triangle. I think I like him better since he's more interesting.

[BrotherBuzz]

34. We had a crazy great (X11) uncle that was hanged, drawn and quartered....

John Southworth studied at the English College in Douai, now in northern France, (and then moved to Hertfordshire, St Edmunds College) and was ordained a priest before he returned to England. Imprisoned and sentenced to death for professing the Catholic faith, he was later deported to France. Once more he returned to England and lived in Clerkenwell, London, during a plague epidemic. He assisted and converted the sick in Westminster and was arrested again.

He was again arrested under the Interregnum and was tried at the Old Bailey under Elizabethan anti-priest legislation. He pleaded guilty to exercising the priesthood and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

The Spanish ambassador had the silver hands and face made, and returned his corpse to Douai for burial. His coprse was sewn together and parboiled, to preserve it. Following the French Revolution, his body was buried in an unmarked grave for its protection. The grave was discovered in 1927 and his remains were returned to England. They are now kept at Westminster Cathedral in London.

He was beatified in 1929.

In 1970, he was canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

All I know is he looks a lot like Elvis. :rofl:

[struggle4progress]

35. One of my ancestors invented sex but neglected to patent it. Another almost discovered

barbecue.