Famous ancestors?

Dixon Cannon · Oct 2, 2006

yOU aRE cLEVER!!!

Maj.Nick Danger said:
Oh, a wise guy ,...eh? lol
Next thing we know you'll be claiming Jefferson as your ancestor too.

yEH!!!! and Jefferson was my Founding Father!!! :eusa_clap

(no political connotation intended! For entertainment and gag purposes only)

-dixon cannon

Maj.Nick Danger · Oct 2, 2006

Dixon Cannon said:
yEH!!!! and Jefferson was my Founding Father!!! :eusa_clap

(no political connotation intended! For entertainment and gag purposes only)

-dixon cannon

By rights Jefferson should be called "The Father of our Country".

Dixon Cannon · Oct 2, 2006

Oh, oh! Don't go down that path!!

Maj.Nick Danger said:
By rights Jefferson should be called "The Father of our Country".

You'll get me started and we'll both be banned!!! Jefferson was a nice gentleman and he had a fine house. And I love his dumb-waiter. That's all I'm sayin'!!!

-dixon cannon

Rick Blaine · Oct 2, 2006

My maternal G'G'ma was Mary Madeline Sevier, a fifth generation direct decedent of General John Sevier & her husband was Otto Custer a grandnephew of General Geo. Armstrong Custer... that & two bucks'll get you a cuppa joe @ Starbucks!

MissMissy · Oct 2, 2006

I am related to Ulysses S. Grant on my mother's side. My great-great etc grandfather was his brother. We have a picture and he looks almost identical to Ulysses, it's a little scary. I don't know what he did for a living though, would be interesting to find out.

My husband and children are related to Pocahontas. There was a book written on his family's history and it listed as far down as my father-in-Law. She married John Rolfe and had one child. Something interesting about her descendents was that they were able to own land when others with "Indian Blood" were not able to, I guess you had to prove you were related to her(this was some time later long after her death, after the Revolutionary War). Unfortunately through marriage my husband and my children have ended up with the last name of Smith, very unfortunate indeed as you can't go around claiming to be related to Pocohontas as a Smith since everyone knows she didn't marry John Smith.[huh]

Mr. Rover · Oct 2, 2006

I am related to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang. We share the same last name, although mine has been anglicized to Chu instead of Zhu (pronounced and written the same in Chinese, though).

The Mad Hatter · Oct 2, 2006

Perhaps my most colorful ancestor was Robert FitzRanulf de Alfreton, who was an accessory to the murder of Thomas 'a Beckett and actually Sheriff of Nottingham. ( Unfortunately probably a generation to early to be THE Sheriff of Nottingham, but one can always fantasize.

)

Nashoba · Oct 2, 2006

My family were mostly poor nameless jews on one side and poor nameless farmers on the other

I have several "local" celebreties in my family but no one truly famous that I have come across yet.
My husband's family though is another story. He's related to Robert E Lee and supposedly Lincoln although my mother in law is still trying to verify that.
My grandmother on my father's side though did once feed Frank and Jesse James. I guess they were passing through Oklahoma and stopped at the farm. They asked my great -grandmother if she could spare a meal. She of course (being the traditional cherokee hostess that she was, despite denying it) always had food prepared for anyone who happened to drop in and fixed them a few plates. She went out to do some chores on the farm and when she came back in they were gone. They had cleaned up after themselves (such gentlemen) and had left a note on the table with a twenty dollar bill (a huge amount then) saying thank you and signed Frank and Jesse James.
My great-grandmother kept that note for the rest of her life in her box of keepsakes. One of my great uncles still has it.
Nash

Rosie · Oct 2, 2006

I don't have any famous ancestors. They were mostly farmers, railroad workers, and a few owned their own stores. I have some somewhat famous people in my family who are alive.

Sunny · Oct 2, 2006

I'm a direct descendant of Samuel A. Maverick, the Texan who inspired both definitions of his name:

An unbranded range animal, especially a calf that has become separated from its mother, traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it.
One that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resists adherence to a group; a dissenter.

adj. Being independent in thought and action or exhibiting such independence: maverick politicians; a maverick decision.

[Origin: 1865‚Äì70, American; after Samuel Augustus Maverick (1803‚Äì70), Texas pioneer who left his calves unbranded]

The whole extended family still all act like Mavericks!

jitterbugdoll · Oct 2, 2006

I am distantly related to Helen Keller.

LizzieMaine · Oct 2, 2006

One of my great-uncles controlled the bootlegging racket for Waldo County, Maine in the twenties, using a taxicab business as his blind. That may not be too famous in the grand scheme of things, but everybody in Belfast and Searsport and Stockton Springs knew who he was!

Marc Chevalier · Oct 2, 2006

My great great aunt was Madeleine Carlier, a successful stage actress in Belle Epoque France who ended up owning her own theatre. She was the eldest of three beautiful sisters, all of whom were Parisian courtesans (think "Gigi") -- their lovers and suitors included Alfred Citroen, several very wealthy Brazilian playboys, and a very young Jean Cocteau (before he'd chosen his sexual orientation). In fact, the story goes that Cocteau abandoned heterosexuality for good after walking in on my great-great aunt and a paramour in flagrante delicti.

Madeleine Carlier did not take kindly to aging. In the early 1930s, she tried to kill herself by driving her sportscar down a subway entrance. (She lived.) Great great aunt Madeleine eventually overdosed on sleeping pills.

.

Lauren · Oct 2, 2006

Directly, not that I'm aware of. One of my great great (times-whatever) grandfathers came across on the Mormon Trail and was one of the first followers of Mormonism. He was related to Brigham Young and Joseph Smith by marriage (I think) since he had like 6 wives and helped build the tabernacle at Salt Lake City.

Distantly I've had fun in the past tracing family though wives and such (since we have my mom's family line back to the 1500's) and we've found that we're related to the Dudleys. Think Elizabeth's lover in the movie- that guy and his relatives who tried to overthrow the throne with Lady Jane Gray. When I was in England I had to visit the tower to see where they had carved into the walls and it was really cool to think that by blood I was related to them.

I'm also distantly related to one of the first female poets of the new world, but I forget her name, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and another guy I forget his name who helped found Yale by giving them lots of books and money and such. I better get all my ancestry files off of my dead laptop so I don't actually loose all the info I worked so hard at a few years ago...

Lauren · Oct 2, 2006

Marc Chevalier said:
My great great aunt was Madeleine Carlier, a successful stage actress in Belle Epoque France who ended up owning her own theatre. She was the eldest of three beautiful sisters, all of whom were Parisian courtesans (think "Gigi") -- their lovers and suitors included Alfred Citroen, several very wealthy Brazilian playboys, and a very young Jean Cocteau (before he'd chosen his sexual orientation). In fact, the story goes that Cocteau abandoned heterosexuality for good after walking in on my great-great aunt and a paramour in flagrante delicti.

.

Do you have any pictures or heirlooms from her? I would LOVE to see them!

Marc Chevalier · Oct 2, 2006

Lauren Henline said:
Do you have any pictures or heirlooms from [your great great aunt, Madeleine Carlier]? I would LOVE to see them!

Here you go. The color image is from around 1910. The second photo is from the early 1920s:

.

Marc Chevalier · Oct 2, 2006

Tourbillion said:
I am a descendant of the Lady Godiva of Coventry.

SinatraStyle said:
Lady Godiva, my 20th-great granmother, is famous for riding naked through the streets of Coventry,...

Like I said,

.

Marc Chevalier · Oct 2, 2006

Maj.Nick Danger said:
By rights Jefferson should be called "The Father of our Country".

Yes, he was an equal opportunity inseminator.

.

Mr. Sable · Oct 2, 2006

He wasn't famous, but my Great Grandfather served under Scott on the Discovery.

And I'm supposedly related to Donald and Kiefer Sutherland by marriage and not blood. Tommy Douglas was a big deal politician in my hometown in the 30's and his daughter married Donald - one of my great aunts married a Douglas. It's a weak connection at best.

If you go back far enough, we're all related to 'Lucy' aka African Eve (Australopithecus afarensis). She's pretty famous (or he is, as they figure now).

Marc Chevalier · Oct 2, 2006

Mr. Sable has opened my eyes: "Lucy" (or "Lucian", if male) is indeed my most famous ancestor.

.

Famous ancestors?

My Mail is Forwarded Here

I'll Lock Up

My Mail is Forwarded Here

My Mail is Forwarded Here

One of the Regulars

One Too Many

A-List Customer

One Too Many

One Too Many

One Too Many

Call Me a Cab

Gone Home

Distinguished Service Award

Distinguished Service Award

Gone Home

Gone Home

Gone Home

A-List Customer

Gone Home

Similar threads

Log in

Forum statistics