Things you learn from your family...

[ULC]

I was playing the battle of hastings last night when I had my aunt talk about how my family was in that battle. She whipped out the family history, and I was shocked. Most of my family met on the battlefield. For instance, one of my grandfathers was one of the knights employed by William the Bastard (sorry, conqueror :juggle2:). He married the sister of one of the survivng huscarles. One of my Great uncles served in the Varangian Guard. Another was part of the Scottish army under Robert the Bruce. Yet another came from the Teutonic Order and Russia. The Crusader States. Barbossa and the Lombard League. The list goes on. I think the only thing my family hasn't been involved in is the Reconquista. My family seems to have been made, it appears, on the battlefield. One guy kills another and then marries his sister. Does anyone else have such a dysfunctional family tree? Am I alone?

[Brandy Blue]

You must have a long lived family. My grandfather was old enough to serve in World War 2, but he did not because he was more valuable to the allies as a scientist than as a soldier. I gather that your grandfather was at Hastings? I believe the Varangian Guard came to an end in the 13th century, so your great uncle may have been much younger than your grandfather, but a lot older than my great uncle who died as a soldier in WWII.

I am not sure what you are getting at. Is it a joke? There is no way you could have great uncles and a grandfather involved in events that far back. If you are old enough I suppose it is just possible that they were involved in big events from the 19th century.

[seireikhaan]

I think he just referred to them as grandfathers and great-uncles for the sake of not having to say, "my great, great, great, great, great, great, great... grandfather served at hastings. I mean, that's a long ways down the line, so he'd have a lot of 'greats' in his name.

[ULC]

Yes thats what I meant, thanks greater khan. I wished to spare you the "great", mostly becuase of the annoyance of having to type it 30-50 times. If you want to get technical, my grandfather who served William has 46 "greats" attached to his name :beam: . Still, any takers?

[Tratorix]

Wow, thats cool. I wish I had a long family history. I can't really trace my family back past my grandfather. Heh, my family doesn't really believe in writing things down :oops: .

[Innocentius]

I'm sorry to be the first pessimist in here, but: I believe either you or your aunt (or the both of you) are lying. A lot of people want their family trees to be famous and great, and it's not unusual for people to make things up. For example, according to Swedish genealogy about 50% of the Swedish population are related to Birger Magnusson ("Birger Jarl", an important character in Swedish medieval history) and about 10% would be related to Gustav Vasa.

For me to change my opinion, I would like to see some evidence. There is pretty much no way you can track any families except royal families back to the 11th century and there is pretty much no way you can track any "ordinary" family further back than to the 16th or 17th century.

I for one have seen my mother's family tree dating back to the early 17th century (she is Finnish but Finland was a part of Sweden by the time, and Sweden was one of the first countries in Europe to use national registration) and I can tell that my family were mostly farmers. A few of the men in the family most likely died in the wars (I haven't reserached specifically about individuals, but some of the deaths fit in perfectly with major military operations or battles) but the only one of which I'm certain is my grandfather's uncle who was killed in the Winter War.

[scowie]

Im afraid im with Innocentius. I cant believe you can possibly trace your family that far back.

Either you or your aunt has a very active imagination. Are you sure your Aunt has all her marbles? :D

[Ludens]

Keep it polite! Although it indeed is impossible for the average family to trace their line that far back, the nobility of England may be able to, since IIRC their possesions shortly after the conquest were noted down in the domesday book.

[ULC]

I myself am not a hundred percent sure about everything. Yes, my family was noble but slowly lost that status, and by the 15th. After Hastings, thinks become considerably murky. The sad thing is I just jumped on such a wagon, and have really no way to find out much more about it. I am currently working on it though. My grandmother had started it, and I currently trying to validate it. I wish I had more help in such an endaevor, and any help would be appreciative, although what could be supplied would probably not substantial. If I can remember correctly, my family's name was anglicized to "Seymour" after the Norman Conquest. Oh, and just for clarification, the Tuetonic Order/Russian line of my family was NOT during the Drang Noch Osten, and was during the 17th century.

[General Dazza]

I have been told that a member of our family who has spent years tracking down the family tree has discovered that a distant relative wads Lord Nelson's cabin boy (or some other type of personal help).

I can't validate this though as I haven't seen her work, but kinda nifty if true. I'm aiming to meet this person soon though, so if I do I'll let you know!

Other than that my grandfather was a member of the Australian Light Horse regiment in WW1, which is famous for (I believe) the last successful cavalry charge - in Bersheba.

[Louis VI the Fat]

If I can remember correctly, my family's name was anglicized to "Seymour" after the Norman Conquest.The name Seymour is an Anglicised French-Norman name. It is derived from 'Saint-Maur', a town in Normandy. Its lord conquered England together with William the Conquerer.

Maybe you really can genealogically trace your ancestry back to Norman nobility. Maybe your family at one point adopted the name of Seymour. And much later somebody else in your family read up about the meaning of the surname and without further investigation accepted the 'Norman noble' family origin explanation, for all the glamour it brings.


Yes, my family was noble but slowly lost that status,Actually, few noble families slowly lose their status. This usually means that somebody does genealogical research, discovers noble blood somewhere, and this later gets turned into a family legend. 'Once we were noblemen...'

There is probably not a single family in Europe without multiple infusions of noble blood. Such is the nature of genetic diffusion. You have two parents, four grandparents, eight...sixteen....thirty-two etcetera. Go back a thousand years, and you have 2^40 ancestors.
So you probably do have French-Norman ancestors. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a single Briton without any.

[Don Esteban]

So you probably do have French-Norman ancestors. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find a single Briton without any.

I'd debate that point. there are so many potential different genetic inputs to a "Briton" that it is quite possible not to have Norman blood. the Normans were a relatively small group who seized power (and many of them were non-Norman mercenaries). It would be quite possible to have a mix of saxon, cletic and norse (but not specifically norman) blood.

If you go to the extremities of the UK the chances become higher as the Norman nobility had relatively little impact in Cornwall or the Highlands of Scotland although somewhat mor ein Wales and Ireland.

[macsen rufus]

I know where MY noble blood came from - my great, great, great grandmother was a serving maid and was fired from the "big house" after dropping the Lord's distaff. Alas the family grapevine did not preserve the identity of the Lord in question... Every time I see the House of Lords I wonder who's sitting in 'my' seat :yes:

Last news I saw of genetic studies of the Brits suggested that we are still predominantly of the pre-Celtic/Saxon/Norse/Norman stock, as with most invaders they brought their culture and language but didn't really replace the genetic stock. As such we are more related to Basques than most of our conquerors, although I don't doubt quite a few family lines will have been preserved from then. Interestingly, at the genetic level, the Welsh and Cornish are NOT distinguishable from the English.

[Don Esteban]

I know where MY noble blood came from - my great, great, great grandmother was a serving maid and was fired from the "big house" after dropping the Lord's distaff. Alas the family grapevine did not preserve the identity of the Lord in question... Every time I see the House of Lords I wonder who's sitting in 'my' seat :yes:

Last news I saw of genetic studies of the Brits suggested that we are still predominantly of the pre-Celtic/Saxon/Norse/Norman stock, as with most invaders they brought their culture and language but didn't really replace the genetic stock. As such we are more related to Basques than most of our conquerors, although I don't doubt quite a few family lines will have been preserved from then. Interestingly, at the genetic level, the Welsh and Cornish are NOT distinguishable from the English.

that's strange as it doesn't match the last study I saw which said a clear difference could be seen between the North and South of England - broadly following the line of what was the Danelaw and that there WAS a clear difference between Cornwall, Celtic Scotland and Wales.

Just shows that even academics can't agree on anything! Who know what is true ...... but what we do know is that we are one almighty great mix genetically.

Oh, and i can believe about us being related to the Basques because from my experience living here in Spain they are the most "english-like" - healthy love of beer being one major similarity :laugh4:

[macsen rufus]

healthy love of beer being one major similarity

That's what I call real scientific proof :laugh4:

[Don Esteban]

That's what I call real scientific proof :laugh4:


Proven after repeated testing if I may say so :laugh4:

[Subedei]

I once talked to a guy, who was really able to trace back his ancestors down to the 8th century. Really old noble family. He was [please fill in fitting number of grants] grandson of Charlemage. No kidding. He summed it up as: " A lot of freaks & geniuses in my family linage!!!". He had it all written down in the family chronicals....
interesting thing was, that he did not want to say his family name....ominous:inquisitive:

Only thing I know half-proofed is that one of the ancestors was a merc in the 30 Years War....Landsknechting around in Bavaria & Bohemia.

[Tiberius of the Drake]

According to both my family history and to records I have found. My 6x great uncle on my mothers side was Thomas Francis Meagher. If anyone here knows semi-modern irish history, he was one of the founders of the Young Ireland movement in 1849. After he was convicted by the british for blowing up a bridge (oops) he was sentenced to life imprisonment in tazmania. he escaped by marrying the jailkeepers daughter and they quickly fled to America. 12 years later, they were both living in New york at the outbreak of the American Civil war. Meagher then convinced the govenor of new york to allow him to raise the 69th Irish Brigade. a brigade, as the name implies, made up entirely of Irish immigrants. The brigade then served with distinction throughout the beginning of the war. especially at Antietam and fredricksburg. Unfortunately Meagher had to retire from his command after he suffered a severe case of shell shock and some think PTSD. The brigade was disbanded in 1863 after the brigade suffered more than 60% casualties. As for meagher he traveled west and in 1864 he got drunk on a riverboat on the mississipi river, and proceded to walk off the boat and drown.*slaps head*


EDIT: This wasnt supposed to sound egotistical or prideful. if it did I apologize.

[macsen rufus]

he did not want to say his family name

Martel?

[Ludens]

I once talked to a guy, who was really able to trace back his ancestors down to the 8th century. Really old noble family. He was [please fill in fitting number of grants] grandson of Charlemage. No kidding. He summed it up as: " A lot of freaks & geniuses in my family linage!!!". He had it all written down in the family chronicals....
I was once told that this would be true for a quarter of the Western European population. That is probably exaggerated, but if you are related to a noble family, however distant, chances are good that you can trace your descent from one or more famous kings. Most aristocrats were related, after all.

[Haccapelite]

I can't tell much about my family history, and i really doubt that we have any royal blood in our veins, since the royal families and other noble families here in Finland were mainly either Swedish or Russian. But there is one thing worth mentioning about my family history: The last civilian that was executed in Finland was my relative from my fathers side, if i remember correctly he insulted his master some way when he was drunk (he was a farm hand) and then killed the master in a fist-fight. (we Finns are known for our calmness and good self-control, especially when drunk:beam: ) This happened, i think, in the late 1800's.
Well my grandfather fought in the Winterwar, but quite many Finns can say that about their grandparents.

(BTW, does the word 'farm hand' even say anything to you, i had to check it from the dictionary~;) )And because it's summer holiday im slowly forgetting all the english i've learnt, so my grammar might be a bit bad. (oops, sorry about the off-topic, i'll just stop now and go sleeping)

[Martok]

As far as I'm aware, I have mostly common blood in my veins. About the closest I can claim to having a "noble" ancestry is that I'm supposedly tangentially related to an Adams (my family name) who was Lord Mayor of London some time back in the mid-17th century. Since even this remains unsubstantiated, however, I still just always say that I'm descended from poor white trash across the board. :laugh4:

[Martok]

Moving to the Entrance Hall, btw.

[Xehh II]

Relatives on my fathers side say that we're directly related to Robert the Bruce, I don't really believe it though. And on my mothers side they say I'm related to some kind of 18th century french mafia.

[King Antonius]

oh awesome u guys are talking about ur royal istory anyway my family is really in to the genealogy stuff cause were lds and so we found out that were related to Ethelred the Unready (king of England also a bad king he killed all the danish people) and were realated to Charlemagne awesome! and my ancestors were the tailors for the king of england.

[Chaos Cornelius lucius]

My father spent quite a few years researching our family history, and the furthest he could trace it back with any accuracy was to a landholder/squire in Beeston, Nottingham who was born in 1702.(strange that I ended up living there 300 years later).
My family name (Hollingsworth), does have a coat of arms attached, tho' whether it is 'ours' or belongs to someone else of that name I have no idea.
The name comes from old english, Hollings=holly + worth= house/farmstead, so it is 'Fred form the house by the holly grove'. I imagine there would have been quite a few homes by holly bushes in the past so I think a few people would have ended with this as a second name. The first recorded use of the name is in Cheshire in 1307 IIRC.
I think unless your ancestors where high nobility or particularly famous, it would be very difficult to actually make a direct connection between yourself and people who lived more than a couple of hundred years ago, particularly as the vast majority of people could not read or write, and that people had a nasty habit of dying unexpectedly and/or remarrying.(Found out that one of my great grandmothers was married 6 times, all of the husbands been lost at sea)

[King Antonius]

wow how cool my moms maiden name taylor is british and it comes from the given name of tailor and so my ancestors made clothes for the king of england and we have our own family coat of arms its really cool.

[Brandy Blue]

Maybe you really can genealogically trace your ancestry back to Norman nobility. Maybe your family at one point adopted the name of Seymour. And much later somebody else in your family read up about the meaning of the surname and without further investigation accepted the 'Norman noble' family origin explanation, for all the glamour it brings.



I guess you're about on target there. I know someone who has some ancestors with the last name Allen. Related to Scots called Alan? Not at all. His ancestors are from Greece. They fled to America because they weren't welcome in Turkey anymore (though Turks deny that anything bad was going on at all :whip: ) and wanted a name that Americans could pronounce.

Of course, what with one thing and another, who knows? His Allen ancestors may have had ancestors from Scotland named Alan.

[Brandy Blue]

In the novel Gulliver's Travels (not a kiddie version!) Johnathan Swift satirises the whole concept of royalty/nobility when Gulliver gets an opportunity to view the ancestors of members of royal families. He is disappointed to find out how many of their ancestors were servants or other people who weren't supposed to be in the royal bedroom at all, except maybe to do some cleaning!

Now, without pointing the finger of scorn at anyone's ancestors, I would suggest that the best anyone can do is trace their official family tree as far back as hard evidence permits. Its pretty hard to know who is in your real family tree. If we go by genetics, then 98% of my ancestors are chimpanzees! :laugh4:

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

I'm not too sure of my family's ancestry. One of my cousins is trying to trace it, but so far he hasn't gone back too far. As far as I know, my family was working class upto my mother and father. My grandmother worked on a butchers stall at the market, while my grandfather was assistant operator in a powerstation. Later, after it closed down, he became a window-cleaner.

Further back, my grandmother told me that my great grandfather was a farm labourer, and, after their farm closed, they moved to the small town which was building up around the coal fired powerstation, the same one which my grandfather was occupied in, with my great grandfather looking for work. My grandmother doesn't know much about what job he did though.

As for the next generation, I really can't be sure without asking one of my uncles whom is trying to trace the family tree beyond our current simple knowledge - it will be interesting to see what it looks like when he gets it completed.

[Xehh II]

After I posted earlier I asked some of my family and apparently if I go to some place in Scotland I can get a Tartan, my Mum tells me it's Green and Grey.

[macsen rufus]

You know, the Irish have a saying: "We are all kings' sons".

[TinCow]

I'm sorry to be the first pessimist in here, but: I believe either you or your aunt (or the both of you) are lying. A lot of people want their family trees to be famous and great, and it's not unusual for people to make things up. For example, according to Swedish genealogy about 50% of the Swedish population are related to Birger Magnusson ("Birger Jarl", an important character in Swedish medieval history) and about 10% would be related to Gustav Vasa.

I don't see any reason to doubt him. First of all, he's not exactly claiming that he's related to anyone famous. All of the relatives he list were essentially men-at-arms in various armies. That's prominent enough to be interesting to us historians, but far from being 'famous' in any real sense. It makes sense as well, since that's about the minimum level of wealth/station that you would need in order to get your existence recorded in local church records and to have marked graves which could be traced.

Besides, someone has to be related to all these ancient people. Given a large enough population, a small percentage will be able to trace their lineage back a long, long way. This guy could be one of the lucky ones. Far stranger ancestral connections have popped up over the years, such as the Cheddar history teacher whose family has apparently lived in the same place for 9,000 years. (link (http://archive.southcoasttoday.com/daily/03-97/03-09-97/a09wn056.htm)) There's also the fact that 8% of all Mongolian men really are related to Genghis Khan. (link (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0214_030214_genghis.html))

Personally, my history does not go back very far. My father's side emigrated from Poland and Austria in the early 20th century, while my mother's emigrated mainly from Ireland and German in the early 19th century. We've traced my mother's side back to living relatives in Ireland and Germany, but my father's side disappeared during the Holocaust. For the record though, the relatives we know of were largely peasants, with the exception of one son of a minor Irish noble who got himself disowned when he married a peasant girl.

[Great Est.]

One of my ancestors deserted from the Spanish army in Cuba during either the Spanish-American War or in the period of Cuban-Spanish wars leading up to that conflict.
He lived in a cave with a Cuban woman and had a child, who he raised in the cave until it was safe for him to rejoin the general population - I guess after the Spanish were ousted.

Also, my mother's maiden name is Cervantes - Manco de Lepanto anyone?
It's nice to dream.

[ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88]

Im afraid im with Innocentius. I cant believe you can possibly trace your family that far back.

Either you or your aunt has a very active imagination. Are you sure your Aunt has all her marbles? :D

don't say that. you can porably trace you family tree up to 1200-1300 hundreds before it gets musty..

[naut]

There is pretty much no way you can track any families except royal families back to the 11th century and there is pretty much no way you can track any "ordinary" family further back than to the 16th or 17th century.
I beg to differ, in the UK it is relatively (pardon the pun) simple to get a basic outline of a family for two reasons:

1) The Doomsday book, the huge register implemented by William the Bastard.
2) Birth and Death registers of churches across Europe.

These two things combined with the fact that people generally didn't travel make the task of getting a basic outline fairly simple but expensive to research.

Using these two methods and also other documents I know I come from a rather boring family of coal miners and peasants. But I'm also related to Rowland Hill (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rowland_Hill_%28postal_reformer%29) and we even have some of his paintings and to some of the first British/Irish settlers of Southern Africa, (I'm directly related to them and can prove it with a multitude of family heirlooms).

[pockettank]

wow now i want to look up my history lol my names Irish, Foley, from what ive found we dropped the O' (it was O'Foley) when we came to america but thats all so far haha im gonna look up more now :yes:

EDIT:damnit i dont feel special after reading this: The Irish Foleys are very numerous and this name is among the sixty most common in Ireland with an estimated population of about ten thousand souls. ill never find who im related to and who im not =(

[TruePraetorian]

Sorry to kill all the comotion, but im related to Adam and Eve. that means im related to Jesus, which means im related to God, which means your all my children and should send me 100 dollars each to support my churches:2thumbsup: No but really if that Christian stuff IS real and we are all dust or something, then we are all related to SOMEONE famous...and if it isnt and we evolved, which sounds a little more plausible, then we are still all related, and we can trace our family heritage to famous mammals like Bo-Bo the monkey.:yes:

Sorry, my parents say i can trace my heritage to Kaiser wilhelm III, Queen Victoria, and Tzar Nikolas. Pretty good for an American eh?

[GeoBeeChamp]

On one side of my family is just some minor Eastern European nobles and some Polish peasants. On the other side are these Viking Armstrongs who raided England and Scotland. The EE nobles like helped the Russians conqour Lithuania and Latvia from the Westerners


EE RULES!!

[KukriKhan]

spam.

please ignore this post :bow:

[Kansas Bear]

I was playing the battle of hastings last night when I had my aunt talk about how my family was in that battle. She whipped out the family history, and I was shocked. Most of my family met on the battlefield. For instance, one of my grandfathers was one of the knights employed by William the Bastard (sorry, conqueror :juggle2:). He married the sister of one of the survivng huscarles. One of my Great uncles served in the Varangian Guard. Another was part of the Scottish army under Robert the Bruce. Yet another came from the Teutonic Order and Russia. The Crusader States. Barbossa and the Lombard League. The list goes on. I think the only thing my family hasn't been involved in is the Reconquista. My family seems to have been made, it appears, on the battlefield. One guy kills another and then marries his sister. Does anyone else have such a dysfunctional family tree? Am I alone?


Depends whether most can trace their family back that far. Most records have been lost due to war, revolution, religious conflict, etc...


It is generally accepted that my family(Father's side) was forced out of Scotland by Cromwell.


I did have a G-G-grandfather in the Civil War, 2nd Kentucky Calvary.

Both grandfathers were too young for the first world war and too old for the second.

[Kansas Bear]

LordandConqueror,

If you're interested there is a gentleman from Australia, Leo Van de Pas, who is a world renowned genealogist. He has a website that consists mainly of royal/noble genealogy.

http://www.genealogics.org/index.php


Enjoy!

[MeROBIN]

My grandfather told me last night:
,,Hey you should go and kill some russians
-Why grandpha?
-Because you grand grand grand grand..............(after one hour)grandfather was a great warrior,his name was Robin Hood and your grand grand grand grand
(after one hour)grandmother was Joahn D'Arc.And another grand grand grand father was Elvis Presley and grand grand grand mother was Marlin Monroe.
And kill some russians cause we don't have hot water and the plummer is russian"

BTW My grandpha is mad :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2: :dizzy2:
And BTW again this sounds like YourLordandConqueror story.

[King Jan III Sobieski]

I WISH I could find a noble connection in my family; they emigrated from what is now Poland to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century (on my Dad's side) and from what's now Croatia and Slovakia on my maternal grandfather's and grandmother's side, respectively.

While, for the most of us who are the lineage of the vast peasant population, tracing our genealogy back more than one or two generations in the old country is really hit or miss (primarily because the vast majority of records were kept in churches or government archives that may or may not have survived the many wars of the 19th and 20th centuries), if you are of noble lineage - especially a ruling family or other upper nobility (archdukes, dukes, some counts, etc.) - then it is possible for you to trace your lineage back 500, 1000, or more years.

:egypt:

[All Blacks]

I'm a keen historian and genealogist, and i've traced my family only back to the late-mid 18th century. On my mums side, my ancestors are Irish. Its easy to trace back because amazingly I still share their surname, Cobine (apparently a French name, so I don't understand?). I know a lot of my family went over to USA to fight in Irish Battlions in the American Civil War, and many came over to fight in the New Zealand Maori Wars in the late 19th century (hence why both countries have a big Irish culture). Joseph Cobine, my great (x5) grandfather stayed in New Zealand afterwards as a fencible in Otahuhu, Auckland hence why I was born in NZ.

On my dads side however, its a big vague. I know he comes from a Scottish/English background (hes from the South Island of NZ, a big Scottish area, North Island mostly comprises of Irish), but i'm still having trouble tracing back (and not to mention I haven't seen my father in 8 years). But I think its fair to say, some were probably involved in a few battles over the years.

[Galapagos]

Hey.........my grandfather was Elvis Presley and my grandmother was Marlin Monroe.....:inquisitive: :inquisitive: :inquisitive: So stop lying people...:laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4: :laugh4:

[Kansas Bear]

I WISH I could find a noble connection in my family; they emigrated from what is now Poland to the U.S. in the late 19th and early 20th century (on my Dad's side) and from what's now Croatia and Slovakia on my maternal grandfather's and grandmother's side, respectively.

I those cases, oral histories(family stories) are your best bet. Check here:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/
for your family name and see if other people may have some information.

[Motep]

Yes, all of this true, and first names have been left out. Years and some names are uncertain as my mother (from who I got this information) has forgot some things, and so have I.


Mothers Side:
My mothers side is dominantly german, with some other nations and NA tribes cropping up.

Her Fender side(from her father) comes from a long line of German bankers that at some point in time, a few moved to the u.s. and became farmers and miners and such. One miner tried his luck in Butte Montana with his two brothers sometime in the 1800's (not sure just when it was...) One brother discovered a new site and got the mineral and land rights to that area. Montana power wanted the land and minerals, so they killed him, and they took the land rights. The mineral rights was passed to one of his brothers. This brother was killed also, but he passed the rights to his other brother, my ancestor. (I cant remember which relative has it now...) My grandfather was a minor stock car driver in Spokane Washington, untill he got into a bad wreck and decided to quit that occupation. He ocassionally ventured into drag races after that, though. He married my grandma, had three children, and then divorced her (more info later). He now lives with his second wife and fourth child (my aunt is two years youner than I am) in Las Vegas, Nevada as a mechanic.

Her kelsy side (from her mother) hails from the south, where you find that one of my great (however many) uncles was a colonel in the civil war who died with no reknown in gettysburg with most of his men (for the confederates , ya know?) Besides him and a few others, the rest moved to the western territories of Idaho and Oregon, as they were against slavery. There they lived as farmers up untill the seventies and early eighties when my great-grandfathers second wife sold his ranch when he died, and kept the money to her family. My grandmother was already poor, and with that, she continued to be so. She stayed in Butte montana with her kids, divorced with her husband, and now lives alone in the Butte trailer park, working as a cleaner is some small company. Her son moved to portland oregon and has two children. Her youngest daughter moved to Salt lake Utah, no children. (Sadly the poor woman is a Jehovah's Witness recruiter...how sad...) Her eldest Daughter, my mother, got hit by car when she was nine, (my grandma got hit by a car when she was nine, also), married my father, and brought us into the world. She later divorced my father, and moved to Rockford Illinois with her fiance (they have been so for eleven years now...) about eleven years ago. Me and my sister moved here about eight years ago.


Fathers Side:
...hails from just about everywhere in europe and in south eastern canada/ north western USA.

His real parents: The jackasses put him up for adoption. My father has met his real father only once, and that was enough for him.

His Adopted Parents (the ones I consider my family): Miners. For a very long time, they were miners, and fur traders, and other woodsy, outdoorish stuff. Not surprising, they moved to butte. My father has three sisters (all also adopted). The oldest one is the most sensible, and her first husband died after giving her three children. Her second husband and her are enjoying their baby and almost done raising the youngest of the three others. The older daughter (second oldest) now has a child of her own with some dumbass she met in high school. The second oldest of my aunts is the least sensible, and has three children, two with mental illnesses, and is married. Thank god I do not see her very often. My younger aunt is all right, and has two children, one nerdy and two years older than I, the other a seven year old monster. They live with my grandmother (sadly, a widow...), and my father. My father works at a gas station in Butte, and is a certified college dropout. He'll finish it "one of these days".

[tarbanrael]

Not sure exactly where we come from for it gets blurred after a few centuries, mainly on account of the French revolution. Our name is sort of german and there are still quite a few people with that name in Germany and Flanders. We mostly live in Flanders these days, except for me, who emigrated to Ireland.

As far as the family goes on one side, my mother's, mostly engineers or small factory owners. My great-great grand father lived for a while in Germany and traded in Russia before they came back to settle in the Ardennes (the French side).

My father's side, mostly doctors and small factory owners as well.

No warriors on either sides, just one great-great uncle who joined the French army and spent most of his life in Africa with the army. Most of my forebears were just the right age everytime a war came along, and there were quite a lot of these in France over the past few centuries.

Notable that there was one female who was convicted of witchcraft over in Kilkenny, Ireland but managed to get back to Flanders before she got "burnt" by the locals.

[Mangudai]

I believe these claims. For one thing, almost all of us are decended from someone famous over 1000 years ago.

Do the math. 1000 years is about 40 generations. 2^40 = over a trillion. The population of the Earth was probably less than a billion back then. Which means, 1) we are all seriously inbred:jawdrop: , 2) we are probably all related to the famous people who lived on our ancestral continent over 1000 years ago.

Of my 4 grandparents, 3 can tell me relatively little about my distant ancestry. However 1 of my grandmothers has extensive records. I am a 43xgreat grandson of Charlemagne. My grandmother's chart names all the generations in between, who they married, and lists years of birth and death for most of them.

On that particular line of my family tree, there was French royalty for about 3 generations after Charlemage, then one of the girls married an Irish nobleman. The rest of the generations seem to be in Ireland until they eventually came to America.

On a different line (but still through my grandmother with the records) are some personages I find very interesting, and more recent so more exclusive. The Powhatan princess Pocahontas is one of my ancestors. She is the subject of much historical fiction including a disney movie. She married and had 5 children with the Englishman John Rolfe. John Rolfe was among the first Jamestown settlers, and it was he who first planted tobacco in Virginia. I come through their daughter Mary Rolfe-Bolling.

[spanakoryzo]

While everyone's proud of their ancestors, mine's are a bit rough around the edges. My father's father originates from a family of low ranking clergy (Greek Orthodox) who were forced out of native Cyprus in the melting pot of Constantinople at 1878 on charges of extensive smuggling, which they of course went on to pursue...My father's mother originates from a small farmer living outside Philadelpheia (Asia Minor) who converted to catholicism and used church grants to finance his business in Smyrna. That part of the family is still catholic today! My mother's mother originates from a line of wealthy landowners of Mani (south tip of the Peloponnese) who are actually of slavic descend. Unlike most Maniati they have green eyes, blond hair, etc. My mother's father originates from a Mani family of gunmen and pirates (paid by landowners to do their dirty work) who had to snatch the bride away by force of arms due to irreconciliable difference of cast (in 1952!). So, anyone else not-so-proud of their roots?

[Ace of Spades]

My ancestors were just plain commoners, AFAIK. My dad's first ancestor on American soil came over in the 1750's from Germany. He and his brother separated in Philly. The brother went up and settled in the Allentown, PA area while my ancestor went a little further northwest into PA (The Coal Region). I believe the family of one of the next generation was massacred by Indians (or Native Americans if you prefer). We stayed in this area ever since. Half of my mother's family came from England & the other half from Scotland, where we have ties to Clan Fraser.

[vladiator]

I can't trace anyone beyond my great grandparents, but all indicates that they were commoners. I am 1/4 from a line of Russians from a Siberian village, 1/4 of Belorussian villagers, 1/4 gypsy.

But then, one of my grandfathers was also a Jew. So with a bit of luck, I am related to Moses. :2thumbsup:

[Derfasciti]

Although I haven't seen any records I've heard that one of my ancestors was a deserter in the Revolutionary War, another was a drunkard in the American Civil War, and on my mother's side there was an Austian soldier who fought against Russia in WW1.

[Motep]

Although I haven't seen any records I've heard that one of my ancestors was a deserter in the Revolutionary War, another was a drunkard in the American Civil War, and on my mother's side there was an Austian soldier who fought against Russia in WW1.

The good (Austrian), the bad (Revolution), and the lazy (civil war).

[CountArach]

On my Father's side most of my family migrated to Australia (Some as Convicts and some voluntarily... yes I am a criminal born and bred :tongue: ) in the 1830s-1840s, very early in Australia's history. One of the first to come out was a Comb Maker...

The only really notable thing I can remember about the family is that my Great-Grandfather served on Kokoda Trail. So yeah, pretty average family.

[Pannonian]

I'm sorry to be the first pessimist in here, but: I believe either you or your aunt (or the both of you) are lying. A lot of people want their family trees to be famous and great, and it's not unusual for people to make things up. For example, according to Swedish genealogy about 50% of the Swedish population are related to Birger Magnusson ("Birger Jarl", an important character in Swedish medieval history) and about 10% would be related to Gustav Vasa.

For me to change my opinion, I would like to see some evidence. There is pretty much no way you can track any families except royal families back to the 11th century and there is pretty much no way you can track any "ordinary" family further back than to the 16th or 17th century.

Some communities do keep meticulous records of family trees, or at least those which they're keen to keep in mind. I've seen family records which stretch back around 1000 years, with not a single famous individual among them. Insulated communities who have been untouched by war or largescale migrations, but who were keen recordkeepers. I'd imagine that strategically remote areas of China and Japan and other settled civilisations would be prime candidates for millenium-long lists of non-entities. Probably not in Europe though.

[Boores]

Hi friends, my family history has some nobility tittle by the tree of my father. My father had a uncle that was Duke on S.XIX-S.XX, the surname is De Quirós. My mother told me a time ago that my father´s family knows that they are descended from the Visigothic King Witiza,but i don´t sure about that idea is true. I´d like to investigate that, but i think that to make that investigation i need contracting some specialist in genealogic trees,or Heraldic...if you have some idea,please tell me. Thanks,thanks,thanks:book:



(sorry if my English is bad)

[seireikhaan]

Hmm, honestly, my family geneology is fuzzy at best. My mom's side can be traced back to the daughters of liberty, it would seem. However, my dad's side, which is of German origin, I have no clue as to where they came from. The only thing I really know about my last name is that it is apparently also Germany's oldest gin. At least, according to the advertisement...http://www.internetwines.com/rws16306.html

[Lexyus]

How do you know all this?

I can't trace it back till the 2nd war :sweatdrop: were my grandmother was a citizen of Gouda I think?


But how do you all trace it back till the 8th century :dizzy2:

[IrishArmenian]

On my mother's side, we can go all the way back to a family that served as bodyguards for the Mamikonyans and later the Bagratunis.
My father's side, as with most Irish sides can only be traced back to Cromwell's reign of terror.

[Kansas Bear]

Sorry, my parents say i can trace my heritage to Kaiser wilhelm III, Queen Victoria, and Tzar Nikolas. Pretty good for an American eh?



If you're related to Queen Victoria, the rest of those people are a given.....