Have you ever found anything surprising or interesting when researching your family history?

[Buzz Rules]

Have you ever found anything surprising or interesting when researching your family history?

 

[cvjw]

We found out that my fathers side of the family came to America from France in the 1700’s - later than all our other relatives who came from England the century before. Also, our family name had been changed from the original name in the 1700’s - tweaked a little bit over time. And there is a parish in Louisiana with our family name. We had no idea my father‘s family was French!

 

[VandVsmama]

My husband’s side of the family came over on the ship after the Mayflower. And they’re related to William the Conqueror.

 

[Earstou]

On my last visit to WDW, I got an email from a cousin that no one knew about, came about from my dna test.

 

[chickapin parterre]

have a street named after us in Seaside , Oregon....still waiting for the children of my grandfathers first marriage to contact us...wanting my kidneys, etc.

 

[Buzz Rules]

We found out that my fathers side of the family came to America from France in the 1700’s - later than all our other relatives who came from England the century before. Also, our family name had been changed from the original name in the 1700’s - tweaked a little bit over time. And there is a parish in Louisiana with our family name. We had no idea my father‘s family was French!

"C'est génial" (that's awesome in french).

 

[diznygirl]

Found out my father's family had a completely different surname at one point. It wasn't just a different spelling or a derivative - just picked a different name. One story says they were running from the law. LOL Another says an ancestor ended up being raised by a family member with a different last name. Probably more true. LOL

 

[Buzz Rules]

My husband’s side of the family came over on the ship after the Mayflower. And they’re related to William the Conqueror.

That's cool. So you married a prince charming?

 

[tex1989]

So my Grandmother (Father's Mother) was born in Vermont in 1888. One of 6 or seven kids. Her older sister who was 16 helped a Doctor in the town where they lived. He practiced out of a large two story house and has two medical students that boarded there and sort of trained with him. My Grandmothers sister gets sick and whatever the illness was died soon after. She is buried and the day after the internment her parents come to the grave. It has been dug out and the body is gone. Come to find out the two students had dug her up the night before at the request of the doctor and they were going to basically use the corpse to study anatomy. The Doctor had fled and the body was no where to be found. As the newspaper article I found said, "the Doctor sent his man (assistant I suppose) to inform police and prosecutor that he would be willing to disclose the location of the body if no charges were filed against him" Prosecutor declined. He did return and did give up my Great Aunts body which was buried again. He was prosecuted for that and as it turns out several other things. Found all this out doing genealogical research.

Last interesting fact. I was born in 1959. My Father in 1915. His Father my Grandfather was born in 1856. 103 years between my Grandfathers birth and my own.

 

[Buzz Rules]

Found out my father's family had a completely different surname at one point. It wasn't just a different spelling or a derivative - just picked a different name. One story says they were running from the law. LOL Another says an ancestor ended up being raised by a family member with a different last name. Probably more true. LOL

Both sound like very interesting stories. Who knows, maybe one day you'll know for sure.

 

[Buzz Rules]

So my Grandmother (Father's Mother) was born in Vermont in 1888. One of 6 or seven kids. Her older sister who was 16 helped a Doctor in the town where they lived. He practiced out of a large two story house and has two medical students that boarded there and sort of trained with him. My Grandmothers sister gets sick and whatever the illness was died soon after. She is buried and the day after the internment her parents come to the grave. It has been dug out and the body is gone. Come to find out the two students had dug her up the night before at the request of the doctor and they were going to basically use the corpse to study anatomy. The Doctor had fled and the body was no where to be found. As the newspaper article I found said, "the Doctor sent his man (assistant I suppose) to inform police and prosecutor that he would be willing to disclose the location of the body if no charges were filed against him" Prosecutor declined. He did return and did give up my Great Aunts body which was buried again. He was prosecuted for that and as it turns out several other things. Found all this out doing genealogical research.

Last interesting fact. I was born in 1959. My Father in 1915. His Father my Grandfather was born in 1856. 103 years between my Grandfathers birth and my own.

 

[Buzz Rules]

have a street named after us in Seaside , Oregon

Thar's cool.

still waiting for the children of my grandfathers first marriage to contact us...wanting my kidneys, etc.

 

[Buzz Rules]

On my last visit to WDW, I got an email from a cousin that no one knew about, came about from my dna test.

Did you ever meet them?

 

[Feralpeg]

My 7th great grandmother on my maternal grandfather's side was Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII).

 

[Buzz Rules]

My 7th great grandmother on my maternal grandfather's side was Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII).

Wow, so you're royal? Is it interesting watching films or documentaries on your ancestors?

 

[Earstou]

Did you ever meet them?

Yes, last year. I was going to travel to her home this spring, maybe meet the rest of the family, but we all know what happened then (the pandemic and everything shutting down)!

 

[LadyBeBop]

I'm a descendent of George Washington's father. Not George. He had no natural children of his own (he helped raise Martha's children from her first marriage). But Augustine Washington had nine children over two marriages. George was the first child of his second marriage and the fourth overall.

 

[DisneyOma]

DNA testing has tagged 3 more first cousins for me (naughty uncles!) that no one knew about. One was placed for adoption across the country, and we can trace her father to one uncle who was out there at that time, with a "lady friend". Other 2 cousins are in the same hometown our family grew up in - friends of my grandparents. Seems the wife was sleeping with my uncle (who was a minor at the time???) and he fathered two of her children!!!! That uncle drowned in a mysterious accident involving the husband or eldest son of the family friends. Yikes!

Other interesting things found - the town my husband and I moved to was founded by ancestors of mine. They left in the late 1700's, and founded another town, but I can trace my roots back to this place in the late 1600's. An indirect ancestor (brother of a direct one) married into the Little House on the Prairie Ingalls family, (one of the younger sisters) I have ancestors placed at the battles of Lexington and Concord (shot but not killed) and Bunker Hill.

 

[BadPinkTink]

One of my grandmothers ancestors was a stone mason from Co Galway, Ireland. He left Ireland in 1848 and went to New York where he continued with his stone cutting and bought a quarry in Kingston, New York. His quarry provided the stone for the Brooklyn Bridge in the 1870's.

He stayed in contact with his family in Ireland and even after his death his children maintained the connection to Ireland. My grandmother grew up hearing the stories about him and in turn told us abut him. About 10 years ago my mom decided to research him properly on ancestry. com. The family stories were that he was a stonemason on the Brooklyn Bridge, but then my mom found out that he actually owned the quarry and was in fact a prominent businessman in Kingston New York.

 

[RUDisney]

We are descended from the Jagiellos who ruled Poland from the 1300s to the 1700s on my paternal grandmother's side.

There are 2 saints in the family tree... St. Hedwig the Blessed, who was named King of Poland prior to her marriage to Wladislaw Jagiello. She was so beloved by her people that they coronated Wlad as co-king so she wouldn't be demoted to queen. She died a few months after childbirth, as did her child. Wladislaw married again and had a large number of children, one of whom is St. Casimir of Poland. Everyone thought that Hedwig had been canonized a long time ago. It wasn't until Pope JP2 realized that St. Hedwig was another woman. He canonized Hedwig the Blessed in 1997 in the Cathedral in Krakow, where he had been a priest.

Another relative to the Jagiellos is Vlad Tepes. My kids think it's really cool that we are distantly related to Count Dracula.