AncestryFollow

Eldy posting about old farts, /golfclap I see what you did there.

On my mother's side:
My Great-Great Grandfather was master of the Windsor Greys (the horses that pull the Royal Carriage) for Queen Victoria.

My uncle was a cop and was Prince Andrew's personal detective for a few years.

On my father's side, nothing of great note since the 14th century, but a few very naughty boys. In about 1300 Roger shagged the queen, killed King Eddy II and ran England until the young Eddy III rumbled him and had him killed. Billy Shakeshaft and Kit Marlowe wrote about him and some other relatives.

And I've recently discovered that an ancestor calle Anne Soar (or Soary) was convicted of stealing 30 shillings in 1741. She was 6 months pregnant, so was allowed to stay in prison in England until she gave birth to my great-great (x several) grandfather, and was transported to "the colonies". Her ship left Liverpool for Annapolis, but there's no record of her arriving :-(

LINKIE

Wha?

I like to imagine my great-great, great grandma was an Indian Princess.

..anythings possible.

My great-grandfather was some sort of wealthy landowner/lesser nobility back in the old country but fled during one of the political upheavals at the turn of the century. He literally fled in the night carrying what he could and leaving his estate in the care of his steward.

When the Socialists came, his steward happily sold them the estate and moved to the US and opened a pharmacy/filling station.

My grandmother's brother was convicted and executed for murdering five people but she refused to ever discuss it.

According to my sister-in-law's research, my family is descended from Ethelred the Unready, one time King of England. Apparently he was Unready for the reins of power as he lasted only a few months on the throne. He is also rumored to have shat in the font during his baptism. He may not have been a great monarch, but we can at least admire him for making such a profound statement about Christianity at such an early age.

I'm supposed to be related to Rue McClanahan somehow.

I know. Huh?

My grandfather joined the army at 15, lying about his age, and fought at the battle of Normandy. Then he met my grandmother in England and went AWOL to start a family. He realized love was better than war, and consequently my mother was the first of their litter to be born He was the second oldest of 21 kids, which only 17 survived. Yes, die hard French Catholics.

Rumor has it that my grandmothers parents were Little People, or Dwarfs.

My other grandmother was an accomplished pianist, with an unstable mind. After marrying my grandfather she went nuts ( who wouldn't?) and ended up in a mental hospital with shock therapy on the menu. Since that time she never showed any emotions. Yet they still went on to have 5 kids ( my father being the eldest)

I never got to spend time with my other family so I have no clue if we have any special connections. Most likely they were all sheep herders or something fancy. The only thing I ever found out was my maiden name meant of nobility in Polish, but half the Poles have my maiden name or a varied spelling so it means nada.

Wow, I have quite a fun family history

The people on my Dad's side are all geneology nuts, and have managed to trace it back an insane length, due primarily to the fact they were able to tie into the main liniage of of english royalty. Basically on that side it goes "king of england, king of england, queen of england, x40 or so, then ran off with serving wench and it all went down hill from there." don't know as much about my mom's side except they were sweedish, and the villiage they came from ahd all their records destroyed by a massive fire.

One of the tricksy things about geneology in UK is the nature of Parish records before about 1910.

One that proved to be a dead-end (pardon the pun) for a while was an ancestor whose burial record from the 1680s has the one word note "papist"

Another earlier one noted "Bailiffs confirmed the burial".

The stories are the best, when you get to talk to elderly relatives about things they remember or were handed down the generations. In my family, these include:

"The Newspapers say she fell under a train at Blackburn, but she were only 14 and they reckon she were with child."

"He were shellshocked at Paschendale and if ever I left any of my dinner, he'd tell me he'd seen men scrape Shit off bread before they ate it."

"He started training for the priesthood but he were caught spittin' by the bishop, so he became a slaughterman."

and my favourite:

"He used to beat his wife pretty badly most weekends, but he had a lovely singing voice"

My Grandmother on my mother's side claimed we were related to former President Ronald Reagan, but I'm sure if it's true is pretty distantly. She also claimed we were decended from Irish nobility.

Other than that, I had a 3rd cousin who appeared in Playboy.