Whais the most shocking thing you learned when researching your family history?

[tarheel618]

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[diznygirl]

It was really common for immigrants to americanize their names. May have not been anything untoward to it!

Nope. He went from Ireland to Scotland. And it's not just a different spelling - it's a totally different name.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

 

[amberpi]

Nope. He went from Ireland to Scotland. And it's not just a different spelling - it's a totally different name.

Things that make you go hmmmmm.

Oh, now I wish you had the whole story even more...

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Is that the Monorail in the background?

Could be. I think's maybe taken at one of the motels outside the park, however. Not in the park.

 

[amberpi]

This picture of my aunt isn't shocking, but she wrote "at Disneyland" on the back. Date stamped June 1959. She lived in Los Angeles; does anything look familiar to anyone?
View attachment 232861

Could she have been at the Disneyland hotel? It was built in 1955, so its possible.

 

[diznygirl]

Could she have been at the Disneyland hotel? It was built in 1955, so its possible.

You're right. There was a hotel pool that used to look like that. There were two pools once upon a time.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Not necessarily shocking, but I found a large part of my family traveled from Sweden, and came over when they were very young. Some were on a pioneer train that left Omaha on April 16, 1847, heading to Salt Lake City; including my great great great aunts and uncles and grandparents on my dad's side AND a great great aunt on my mom's side. Yep, they were in the same pioneer group!

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

I cannot begin to explain how very jealous I am that so many of you know stories! This is amazing.

As far as we can go back is my great grandfather. . There is a mans name on his baptism certificate ( listed as his father) and supposedly this man died before he was born. But no one has ever been able to find out any information about him. We've even hired researchers. I'm beginning to wonder if it's not a real person

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

My great-great Grandfather had a different last name. We don't know why he changed it, but the rumor is he was doing something illegal and was trying to hide. But it's on official records, which is how we found out, so how much hiding was he really doing?

I'm guessing we will never find out the real story.

On my mothers side, way way way back in England, a male relative changed his last name to the last nam e of his first wife. Her family was rich and it had to do with land rights.

 

[cjbcam]

My great grandpa was left at a church and nuns raised him.
My Father in law had a third brother that disappeared. No one says anything about him and if asked how many brothers he has my father in law answers 2.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

There's a rumor that my fifth great grandfather was a British loyalist. The revolutionaries confiscated his merchant ships.

My 11th great grandfather was John Howland. He fell off the Mayflower.

I'm apparently also part French, which was kind of a surprise.

I'm probably ethnically 12.5 - 25 percent Jewish, even though that side of my family was Hungarian Orthodox.

 

[Jennasis]

Not shocking...just sad.

My Grandfather and his brother were orphaned when both parents died in a big influenza outbreak in the early 1900's. The boys were sent to live at a catholic run orphanage in New York. The name escapes me. But these were harsh awful places. The boys were forbidden to SPEAK and were forced to work all day from sun up until bedtime. My grandfather was about 8 years old. His brother was a little older. The boys referred to the "stew" they were fed daily as "Doggo" since it resembled dog food. The catholic brothers who ran the orphanage were abusive. Finally, my grandfather and his brother were pulled from the orphanage after a few years by their older sister who was old enough to now be their legal guardian (she lived as a servant when the boys were taken to the orphanage). She and her husband raised the boys and my father was named after the sister's husband because my grandfather was so grateful to them for liberating him from the orphanage.

 

[mrsv98]

Hmm, my great Aunt traced our history way back so lots of good stories.

My great granddad was a moonshiner in the back hills of KY. When he got too old, he drove a "free" taxi. He lived in a dry county, so he would take you to the next one over to go to the liquor store and you would leave a little something in the car for his trouble He lived in a three room house with only cold running water until he died in 1977, yup pretty much hillbillies :-D

I was having loads of trouble finding information on my Grammy (great grandma and wife to the moonshiner) seems she fudged her birthday a bit and was really only 13 or 14 when they married! But that was very common in their culture. My great Aunt Sarah died when I was 18 and she despaired I would be an old maid...lol

On DH's side, the family lore is that his 5 (?) great grandfather was the illegitimate son of Kaiser Wilhelm I. He arrived in Wisconsin in the 1800's and from what I have read, old Bill was a randy fellow and has descendants all over the world. DH's grandfather owned much of the land that is now Green Bay, WI and there is a very cool private family cemetery there.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

My great uncle AND his father were both in trouble for striking officers in WWI & WWII respectively. The elder was nearly executed for it.

 

[SC Minnie]

My friend's father passed away when she was a teenager and her mother died about 15 years ago (she's in her late 40's now). A box of old family pictures and documents from her mother were taken by her older brother. He hadn't opened the box until a couple of months ago. He found out that apparently their father had been married before their mother-- at least once and maybe twice. He also found out they had 1/2 siblings that they didn't know about- she said 1 they did know of one but he stopped coming around when their father died and she hadn't seed or heard from him since.

My family is pretty boring- that I know of...

 

[prprincess]

That my paternal grandfather had another family...he was married and cheated on his wife with my grandmother and had three children. The relationships were going on at the same time, as my uncle and half-uncle's birthdays are a few weeks apart. Yeah, I try not to judge.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

I found out I'm related to General Israel Putnam, who was a major part of the Battle of Bunker Hill and part of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. Also, through my Uncle in Sweden, we're related to Greta Garbo and Charlemagne. Found those out in my research. Pretty cool stuff!

Something I've always known is that my paternal great-grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee Indian. My next endeavor someday when I have the time (HA!) is to research that part of our tree!

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I found out I'm related to General Israel Putnam, who was a major part of the Battle of Bunker Hill and part of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River. Also, through my Uncle in Sweden, we're related to Greta Garbo and Charlemagne. Found those out in my research. Pretty cool stuff!

Something I've always known is that my paternal great-grandmother was full-blooded Cherokee Indian. My next endeavor someday when I have the time (HA!) is to research that part of our tree!

Hmmm.... We might be related.

 

[Dizneefamily+4]

Hmmm.... We might be related.

During my research, I was told that he was er....rather prolific. So it's quite possible!

 

[Vijoge]

I was surprised to discover that nearly all my maternal ancestors, going back many generations, were pregnant before they got married. (Including my mother, who always preached that having premarital sex was somewhat akin to committing murder, and she married twice and was pregnant both times lol)