Tell Us: Top 3 Most Interesting Things About Your Family.

[Virgo10]

Good or bad. I identify more with my father's side of our family but have more documentation (thanks to one of my aunts) about my mother's side.

3. My paternal grandmother traveled to Europe ALONE back in the 1950's. For a woman to do that, was nearly unheard of. She made at least 2 trips and on one of them met Alfred Hitchcock on the Queen Mary and got his autograph.

2. My maternal great-grand uncles served in the civil war.

1. My paternal great-grand uncles were beer brewers and owned their own factory. Here's a blurb about them.

John F. Trommer had two things in common with New York’s other famous brewers. He was born in Germany, and for him brewing wasn’t a job, it was love. Nearly everything else was different.

On entry to the US he settled in Portland, Maine where he took employment with a small, old ale brewery. Later, seeking a more prominent position, he moved to Boston. After working in several of the city’s breweries Trommer was ready to strike out on his own, and it was New York that called. When Trommer arrived in 1897 the city’s well known brewers were well entrenched. Notwithstanding, he was determined as any to seize a piece of the market. His study of available properties led him to Brooklyn where, in a section known as Bushwick, other brewers were gathered in what effectively was a brewing community. Among them, located at 1632 Bushwick Avenue and Conway Street, was the firm of Stehlin & Breitkopf. Established only two years earlier, it presented the type of opportunity Trommer sought.

For a brief period beer was sold under the name of Breitkopf & Trommer, but that was only until the new owner decided on the unlikely beer name of "J.F. Trommer’s Evergreen Brewery." Within a year there were signs of modest yet encouraging success. Then, in 1898, as conditions appeared most promising, John F. Trommer passed away. Son George assumed ownership and under his management the next two decades brought steady growth and a reputation of quality.

The Rest of the Story

 

[Tazicket]

3. When they were kids, my dad and his brothers were on a first name basis with everyone in the emergency room of the closest hospital- they played rough & doofes-y.

2. My Papa (my maternal grandfather) was Chief Master Sergeant in the Air National Guard before he retired. It's the highest unenlisted rank you can achieve. In addition, both his father and his son were in the Air Guard as well.

1. One of my ancestors threw St. Patrick in jail.

 

[Caradana]

My maternal grandmother is a five-time Jeopardy champion and a college graduate in 1947.
My maternal great-grandmother was a diamond cutter who crashed her Oldsmobile on her way to my mother's wedding. Her first words when the Fire Department cut her out of the car: "I never liked that car anyway."
My paternal grandmother was a chronic prank-caller. The police were always on her about that. No one could figure out why she did it. We think it made her laugh.

 

[Caradana]

oops!

 

[juligrl]

My husband's great-great-great (I think 3 times great) uncle was the highest ranking Union officer from our county to be killed in the civil war. There's a book about him called Waiting for Jacob.

I am related through marriage to the inventor of the sewing machine.

I have relatives that fought in the American Revolution as well as relatives who border hopped into Canada to avoid the conflict.

 

[tar heel]

1. My MIL grew up in India. Like each of her siblings, she was put on a boat alone to sail to the US for college. It sailed down around Africa, and she saw Gone with the Wind in South Africa during a layover. When she got to NYC, her older brother was not there to meet her b/c he had had trouble getting rides. He was hitchhiking from Ohio. An older couple she had met on the ship took care of her. Her background has brought amazing experiences to the family -- my DH and his cousins have traveled in India with a member of Parliament as their escort and enjoyed parades in their honor. I can make a mean batch of curry. Approximately, 60 members of the extended family from nine states will gather for a week later this month, and much Indian food will be consumed.

2. My parents have been married 51 years and my in-laws have been married 61 years. I have long said that my in-laws have the best marriage I've ever seen. Now, after observing my mom taking care of my seriously ill Dad (and his face light up when she walks in the hospital room) for two months, I'm not so sure theirs isn't just as strong. Am I lucky or what?

3. My grandfather was a staunch, devoted Republican who voted for Ronald Reagan after his death. How? He voted absentee but ended up passing away the week before the election. Interestingly, his absentee ballot was brought to him by the chairman of the Board of Elections, a staunch Democrat. The chair told my Papaw that even though he knew he was cancelling out his own vote, he wasn't going to let the election go by without him voting.

 

[pumba]

on my daddys side, a great great great wrote the song or the lyrics to O Canada. I am a French Canadian. My daddy was first generation to be born in the US.

My grandmother was a pharmacist before they called them that. She owned her own drugstore.

My brother has had dinner with the last two presidents and has visited the prime minister of Canada . My sil meanwhile went shopping with the Canadas first lady.

 

[SDFgirl]

1. On my mother's side, I am a 13th-generation American...my family was here before the Revolutionary War.

2. We are somehow related to both Winston Churchill and Ulysses S. Grant.

3. I grew up in a small family but always wanted a big family. Well...I got one. My MIL is one of 7 siblings and my FIL is one of 13 siblings!

 

[MzDiz]

My great, great aunt and uncle were the Duke and Duchess of Salisbury.

My grandfather on my dad's side, who was a master coppersmith, was "commissioned" (wasn't given a choice) to make the trigger mechanism for the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima.

Both of my great grandmothers on my mother's side died on the same day, within the same hour's time, of the same kind of cancer.

 

[RickinNYC]

1. One of my ancestors was Herbert Hoover
2. My great great grandfather was mayor of San Jose, CA
3. Our family crest (the Japanese side of the family) hangs in the national museum in Kyoto, Japan. I have no clue why but thought that was pretty darn cool.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I am distantly related to the infamous "Dalton Gang" -19th century bank robbers

My paternal grandfather hitchhiked across the US in the 1930's before serving in WW II. He lived for a while in Bisbee, AZ. He moved back there 55 years later. Grandpa could tell the most awesome true stories.

I used to be a professional gambler (poker and sports book); now I'm a pastor. Talk about a different life!

 

[aunt kelly]

1. My great-uncle was one of Teddy Rosevelt's Rough Riders.

2. My great-grandfather (on my father's side) claimed a stake of land in the Oklahoma land run.

3. My great-grandfather (on my mother's side) was a sheriff in Oklahoma territory who was shot in the back on Christmas eve by the brother of a man my great grandfather arrested for murder.

 

[FroggyinArk]

my last name is aderivitive of the scotch Cleymore, the family responsible for the sword by the same name,,


there is no record of my ancestors on that side leaving scotland for america,, there were three brothers that were headed for kings holiday in australia ,, never arrived,, but at the same time three brothers by the same first n ames but a derived last name arrived in south carolina


on my paternal grandmothers side, we know our first ancestors in this country were named brewer....( yes those brewers) and that a grandfather,, brought the first printing press to this country,

 

[Stitch Inside]

1. We survived 30 years of my Dad in the Marine Corps.
2. Dad's Uncle drove tanks for Patton in WWII.
3. And the uncle's cousin is a legendary rodeo cowboy.

 

[Danauk]

1) Generations of my family on both my mum and dads side have lived in the same village for over 500 years.

2) I am an only, only child - I have no brothers or sisters and no cousins either.

3) My husbands side of the family have their own family tartan (blue with a black and red check.)

 

[Ub_Iwerks]

1. My great-grandfather and great-grandmother on my father's side came to America from Germany in the 1880s. They settled in Deadwood, SD, where my GGF was a butcher and traded meat with Indian Chiefs in the area. My grandmother ran into the Calamity Jane on the streets of Deadwood when she was a little girl.

2. My maternal grandfather came from Denmark in 1905. He worked his way through high school, college and med. school before starting his own general practice in 1929 (not a good year). He traded his medical services for things like chicken in a small town. He later volunteered to be a doctor in WWII when he was 40 years old. He was head of the VD ward in an army hospital somewhere in or near India.

3. My maternal grandmother told stories how they made bathtub gin during Prohibition. Her exact words were "Anything for a buzz."

 

[Talking Hands]

One of my ancestors George Wilson signed the Declaration of Independence.
Another relative fought with the Swamp Fox.
Another ancestor was a French fablist.

 

[thewishfire]

I have a few, but nothing all that thrilling.

On my mother's side was Sir John Franklin. He fought in the Battle of Trafalgar and the Battle of New Orleans. His sister became the mother of Emily Tennyson (wifre of Alfred Tennyson). He was also an explorer who searched for the North-West Pasasge, and died trying to find it. There are also reports of possible cannibalism on his ship. The song "Lord Franklin" is about him... as well as a few books. And I think his portrait is in a museum in London.

The Earl Of Gainsborough, though I'm not positive which one.

Ancestors owned a steel company in Sheffield, England.

... and also someone had control of property at Charing Cross Station, though I know nothing about that really.

Yes, apparantly the only interesting people I know of in my family are from my British side.

 

[hpygrll]

1. My paternal Grandmother sang with Irving Berlin

2. Same Grandmother also was the first female cheerleader in the state of Illinois!

3. Related by marriage to pilgrims and a president.

Jenny

 

[AllyandJack]

1. My uncle went to prison for contempt of court for refusing to rat out a big mob boss. He spent many years in prison before he had a stroke. The stoke left him perfectly healthy - execept he lost his ability to speak. They had to let him out of prison because he was no longer in contempt of court. He was physically unable to speak, so the contempt order was invalid.

2. We have a county named after our family in Ireland. We were royalty many years ago. Before that, we were thieves who used broccoli to hold places up before we could afford guns. Stick the broccoli in the pocket of a jacket....I can't believe people fell for it.

3. My grandfather was an Admiral in the Navy. He died when I was 3. I always thought he was the mailman because of his blue uniform.