Does anyone here have any famous relatives or ancestors

[Poiuyt]

I have an ancestor who tried to lead a revolt of peasants in 17th century Bohemia. He was caught and publicly hanged. They left him hanging for a year in the town square. It is now the site of the Pilsner Urquell brewery! He is now somewhat of a folk hero in the Czech Republic. There is a large monument to him and his farmhouse has become a museum.

[1gobluedem]

1. Eli Whitney

Inventor of the cotton gin. I also had an ancestor who marched off to the Michigan-Ohio war for Toledo but it was settled without a shot fired. And I don't know his name.

[Kali]

2. Cool!

My father is pretty famous in his field but not too much in the general public. A Great Grandfather was an early settler in the state and was in the state legislature. A Great-great Grandfather is mentioned in a few popular histories of the state - and was also an early settler ("famous" Indian fighter "Uncle" Billy Fourr)

On the other side of the family there was a Great Grandfather that was some how connected to the Dusenberg(spell?) car???

[Karenca]

3. It's a little weird/embarrassing

my ancestors -- (swedish royalty).


If you knew me, you'de know why it's weird to me.

[Poiuyt]

6. Can you please set me up with Princess Madeleine?

Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?



I'll even get you a case of Pilsner Urquell.

Thank you!

[Karenca]

7. see --

i told you it's embarrassing.:blush:

[Poiuyt]

8. I'm only trying to help defuse your embarrassment

Anything to help out a fellow DUer

[rockymountaindem]

20. Holy mackerel!

Talk about huge tracts of land...

[Poiuyt]

60. Hey! That's the future Mrs. Poiuyt you're talking about!

A little more respect please.

[VenusRising]

35. I've always thought she's hot!!

She is incredibly striking.

[Left Is Write]

54. What a coincidence!

Some of my ancestors were Swedish peasants.

:D


(Most of them were Norwegian peasants, though.)

[struggle4progress]

4. Tons! But ain't no point in telling ya cuz ain't nobody never heard of any of em

[reyd reid reed]

5. I have a relative who was the first woman

to be hanged in the 17th century for her personal religious beliefs.

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

[youthere]

58. No Way! I have a relative...

Who skipped church because of a hangover!



Okay, it was me. But still...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

9. no but...

My sweetie's grandfather is General Raymond S. McLain Sr. of Oklahoma. Commanded the 45th division and the 90th division and was called "The country's finest citizen-soldier" (i.e. didn't graduate from any military academy -- in fact, was an 8th grade dropout, taught himself calculus for artillery.)

[REP]

10. Famous or Infamous?

Depending on which side of the conflict you root for, one of my great-great uncles was fairly famous: he issued Order No. 11.

I'm also related to Daniel Morgan Boone, George Washington and (very distantly) Elvis.

[rockymountaindem]

21. Which order No. 11?

The one about Jews or the one dealing with Missouri?

[REP]

33. Civil War

I'm also related to the brothers who built the first buildings in the settlement where Order No. 11 was issued, which is now just a neighborhood in KC.

[LostInAnomie]

11. Nope, we're pretty lame.

The closest any of us get to fame is that my Grandfather owns one of the few remaining "See Rock City" barns still in existence. That's about it though.

[VenusRising]

12. Samuel Morse

He's like my 16th great uncle on my mother's side.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

13. Not only did he invent Morse Code, he was ALSO a FABULOUS Painter!!!

He went to Europe and studied painting over there.

[VenusRising]

15. And a cartographer.

:)

[Oeditpus Rex]

14. Sorta

I have a great-grandfather who was one of the Clanton horse-thief gang who were in that OK Corral mess. He didn't get killed there, though. He was hanged.

[Poiuyt]

16. Have you seen this web site?

It must have been done by one of your relatives:

http://www.clantongang.com/oldwest/gunfight.html

[Oeditpus Rex]

19. No, I hadn't

Excellent. Thank you. :7

Billy Clanton is the great-grandfather I spoke of. Family legend has it he's buried at Boot Hill, but until now I figured that was likely apocryphal.

I'm gonna contact the site's author. Thanks again. :yourock:

[AshevilleGuy]

17. Adlai Stevenson, VP Alben Barkley, McClean Stevenson,

Attila the Hun (seriously), William Penn, maybe Jim Morrison.

Obviously I am a genealogist. I have seen a pedigree that shows me a direct descendant of Attila, which I idea I do like!! :evilgrin:

Actually, most anyone of Western European descent can trace back to the ancient royal houses of Europe; getting there is the trick. If you count numbers of ancestors mathematically, resquaring the number two (parents), you get about 1.1 billion ancestors back at the year 1400. But there were only about 375 million people in the whole world then. So many of these ancestors were the same people, and their grandchildren, first cousins married, etc. So, we are descendant from almost everyone who was alive in Europe at that time, given individual countries of origin, the same for African Amercans and Africa, etc etc.

And we are ALL descendant from a very few thousand people in East Africa about 75,000 years ago. So how much sense does racism make???

[REP]

34. Hey, Cuz

I'm related to Adlai Ewing Stevenson, too.

[AshevilleGuy]

37. So we are both descendant from

William Stevenson, who migrated from Ireland or Scotland to Statesville? That is how I am (was) related to Adlai.

[REP]

39. No; Thomas Ewing and Mary Maskell

I'm related on the distaff side.

[fidgeting wildly]

18. There's a town in Virginia named after one of my ancestors.

Pearisburg, Va., named for a Captain George Pearis. He fought in the Revolutionary War and was severely wounded. The town is named for him because he donated the land that became the county seat. Also descended from the family of a Mitchell Clay, who were the victims of the Clay Massacre in WV in ~1783.

[rockymountaindem]

22. Nope.

At least, not that I know of. For awhile there I thought I might be related to someone famous, but that turned out not to be the case. I kind of like it this way. My ancestors were peasants from Eastern Europe less than 130 years ago, and look at me now! Living the good life typing away on my computer.

Plus, if I ever run for anything, nobody can try to tar me with the misdeeds of my ancestors because there basically aren't any.

[reyd reid reed]

25. Nobody could tar me for the misdeeds of my ancestors...

But they sure as hell could have a heyday with mine.

:eyes:

[rockymountaindem]

27. Well, I'm doing my best to avoid pitfalls

Hopefully my success in that matter will continue.

[reyd reid reed]

29. I hope so, too.

:thumbsup:

[grace0418]

23. One of my siblings is a reasonably well-known actor.

He's got a long listing on imdb.com.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

26. Hint?

[grace0418]

28. Here ya go

http://imdb.com/name/nm0023885/

[Starbucks Anarchist]

31. No kidding?

I watched him on The Untouchables way back when.

[grace0418]

32. No kidding. I even get a tiny mention in his imdb profile.

I got to watch the filming of the Untouchables, it was often filming down the block from my apartment at the time.

[libnnc]

24. My ancestor was rumored to be the "real" father of Abe Lincoln

It's kind of an Appalachian, Western NC folk legend. I believe it. But many others don't.

[FVZA_Colonel]

30. My ancestor, a Quaker, let the bodies of the victims of the Salem Witch Trials

be buried on his property.

[Breeze54]

36. I 'could' be related to

a signer of The Declaration of Independence.
I haven't researched that far back to truly know.
Wish I did know! ;) That would take a lot of research.
Would be pretty cool though, imho!

[VenusRising]

38. I'm related to one of those.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/bartlett.htm

There is a whole family society on my mother's side with a genealogical book and newsletter and all kinds of stuff.

[Breeze54]

40. Very cool!

;)

Looks like we both come from radical, protesting, armed resistance, elected Senator, type New England families!

:woohoo: :woohoo:

True :patriot:

[Control-Z]

41. Not the kind of famous one would brag about

In fact, it was one of those "family secrets" for many years. Now, (mostly in the pro-choice community) my mother is known for the way she died.

I still have some trouble with it but I have to admit I do wonder, sometimes, about what impact it has had on distant relatives (I have a very large family, most of whom I don't know). Like, are they OK with being related to her? Or do they still whisper about her and try to keep it from the kids. I wonder if, in a hundred years, someone will be talking about their great-great grandmother in a forum like this or if one day she will be just a name attached to a tragic photograph that will never go away. It's creepy.

[krispos42]

42. My grandfather invented the battery-powered battery charger.

Didn't work out well commercially, though.






:rofl:

[RebelOne]

43. Edward Teach (Blackbeard) on my father's side.

[Poiuyt]

66. Did you hear that they think they have discovered Blackbeard's ship off the

coast of North Carolina? Queen Anne's Revenge. You should go down there and claim your share of the booty.

[conscious evolution]

44. Nathaniel Greene

http://search.comcast.net/search?cat=Web&con=ie7&q=nathaniel+Greene

Also the Kennedy's.Distantly though.From back in the old country.

[Burma Jones]

47. You and I are distant Cousins.......

My Maternal Grandmother was a Greene

[AirmensMom]

45. I am nobody.

But harleydad is a direct descendant of John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Capt. James Cook. There are some presidents on the other side, but I can't remember which ones ... Taft and someone else.

[crim son]

46. A bunch of peasants.

My father's family has a pretty stone building named after them, though, in Bradford PA.

[Burma Jones]

48. Andrew Jackson......

and Nathaniel Greene.

We haven't done much since......

[dropkickpa]

49. The Witch of Ridley Creek is my 7th great grandmother

Margaret Matson, the first woman ever tried (and convicted, sorta) for witchcraft in Pennsylvania. She was convicted of having the reputation of a witch and sentenced to a 100 dollar fine split between her husband and son, whose wife was one of the witnesses for the prosecution, and six months good behavior.

Folk lore has it that William Penn asked her "do you fly on a broom? She replied "yes" and he stated that there is no law forbidding it so you are allowed to.

[malta blue]

50. My grandfather and great uncle were revolutionaries

in the movement against Trujillo in the Domincan Republic. My grandfather was exiled by Trujillo. He rented a crop plane, filled it with subversive literature and then dropped it all over the Domincan Republic just prior to the start of the revolution.

My great-uncle was exiled into Cuba. When he snuck back into the DR, he was captured and held prisoner at the fort in Puerto Plata for 3 years.

Both men are considered folk heroes in the DR. My grandfather died two years ago. My great-uncle is 94 and still doing very well.

[av8rdave]

51. Roger Tory Peterson (naturalist and Audobon artist)

And supposedly the Rockefellers, but if so, so incredibly distant it can't really count.

[johnnie]

52. These two.... or so I've been told

[WFF]

67. What's he doing with his left hand?

[kmla]

53. Yep. The last surviving member of the signers of the Decalaration of Independence.

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/signers/carroll.htm

On my Mom's side of the family.

[noonwitch]

55. Richard Warren, Mayflower passenger

The Roosevelts also descended from him. He had the most descendants, because he had all daughters, all of whom were fertile.

[Rhythm]

56. Descended from Robert the Bruce of Scotland

a cousin of mine has traced our genealogy back for centuries...
Amazing some of the things he documented.

[youthere]

57. Very very VERY distantly related to Martin Luther.

I don't even know what the connection is..SOme bazillionth cousins removed umpteenth times.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

59. I am a distant relative of Fidel Castro.

Our ancestors hail from the same neck of the woods in Spain.

[dolo amber]

61. On the off chance someone here hasn't heard this 4000 times already...

My great-grandmother and Loretta Lynn's grandmother were sisters. :)

[Raffi Ella]

62. I don't know,Idon't think so

but my Grandma was a Rockette back in the day.That's the closest to fame I think anyone in my family has ever come to.

[JitterbugPerfume]

63. tthe infamous Dalton gang

according to my grandmother (moms mom)

and there is a connection to John Wesley, I am told.(on my dads side)

Saints and Sinners

[SteppingRazor]

64. My paternal grandmother was the daughter of the cousin of this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_%28Irish_leader%29

Tiocfaidh ar La and all that.

Over on my moms side, my family's been in the USA for a very long time. There's an old town in Maryland, where she's from, that has her maiden name as its name.

[SiobhanClancy]

79. Maybe you and I are cousins:)

My great-grandmother was the first cousin of MC's maternal grandmother Johanna McCarthy..what that makes me,I don't know:)We've always been happy to claim Michael,and hopefully he wouldn't mind claiming us if he were around to make his feelings known.

[blueraven95]

65. Bess Myerson

first Jewish Miss America (1945), later a tv personality, and then in politics. Major scandals in the 1980s.

[greatauntoftriplets]

68. I won't name the company, but my late uncle was chairman of one of the largest American corporations

His mug once graced the cover of Time magazine.

[Maestro]

69. My 14th great grand Uncle is Richard Lovelace

He is a famous poet from England.

I am also related to Mark Twain. I posted this just a few days ago.



And this guy is my great, great, great grandfather, Jackson Smith. He founded Jacksonville, Texas.



http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/JJ/hej1.html

I have a few more strange relations. My family tree is pretty filled out. I am lucky in the respect.

[mitchum]

70. I'm a descendant of Caligula's horse...

on my father's side

[w8liftinglady]

71. my cousin-Mike Lasala..a great musician

http://www.mikelasala.com/

[Chan790]

72. Franklin Pierce.

One of the worst US presidents.

Oh, it also means I'm related to this guy:



which makes me sad.

[lizziegrace]

73. General Daniel Sickles (Civil War) First to use the temporary insanity defense

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O_YMLDvvnw

Murder of Key
Sickles shoots Key in 1859
Sickles shoots Key in 1859

Sickles's career was replete with personal scandals. He was censured by the New York State Assembly for escorting a known prostitute, Fanny White, into its chambers. He also reportedly took her to England with him, leaving his pregnant wife at home, and presented White to Queen Victoria, using as her alias the surname of a New York political opponent.<1> In 1859, in Lafayette Park, next to the White House, Sickles shot and killed Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, whom Sickles had discovered was having a blatantly public affair with his young wife, Teresa.<2> He was tried on a charge of murder, but was acquitted after a sensational trial involving the first use of the insanity defense in U.S. history. (His defense attorney was Edwin M. Stanton, later to become Secretary of War.) Sickles withdrew briefly from public life due to the notoriety of the trial. The public was more hostile to Sickles's reconciliation with his wife after the trial than to the murder and his unorthodox acquittal.

====================================================================

So I guess if I said that side of family's crazy, it's true...

[ZombieNixon]

74. Not really.

That I know of. Indian genealogy is notoriously difficult to trace. Though my great-grandfather (dad's dad's dad) was some high-level adjunct to the richest man in the world (in 1927 - Osman Ali Khan Bahadur Fateh Jung AKA Fath Jang Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Asif Jah VII, the last Nizam of the princely state of Hyderabad), and got some variety of medals, that either my dad or my uncle still has somewhere...I really need to ask my grandmother to relate this story. :P

[Generic Brad]

75. Adam and Eve

I go way back.

[Jade Fox]

76. Ha!

You win. :)

[bridgit]

77. i have a couple, hubby has a bunch...

[Shine]

78. Lots and lots. We have a family tree that traces back to William the Conqueror

in 1066!! Yes, royal blood flows in these veins....

[GirlinContempt]

80. Yeah but I refuse to say who

Embarrassing, makes people vaguely uncomfortable.

[u4ic]

81. Not that I know of

My first cousin once removed played for Ronnie Hawkin's replacement backup band when The Band left for the US. They didn't become famous, but were known fairly well in the Toronto scene way back in the 60's.

An aunt tried to trace the family tree, but could only get as far back as the mid 19th century. World War II destroyed most of the records in Ukraine.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

82. Thomas Jefferson's aunt was a great great etc grandmother...

I can't remember how many greats.

[Pushed To The Left]

83. Daniel Boone n/t

[Dervill Crow]

84. My grandma Rivenbark is descended from one of Blackbeard's many wives,

or at least that's how the family story goes.

[UrbScotty]

85. I thought I was the great-grandson of photographer Dorothea Lange

As it turns out, it was a different one.

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

Heck, maybe they're related.