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

[BlueStarryHat]

Oo, I forgot about my great-grandmother on my Mom's side. She left my great-grandfather early in her marriage, taking my grandfather and his older brother with her. She ran what was euphemistically called a "boardinghouse" until the late 30s and that was where my grandfather spent a large chunk of his childhood. She also ran a string of men, including her sister's husband. She fell in love with *that* man's brother and they remained together until his death early in the 70s. I remember him very well. She took his last name although they never married-a fact I only found out after both of them were long gone. So, apparently my great-grandmother was the neighborhood floozy.

 

[wilkeliza]

Most the the scandal I knew because I have an old southern family where everyone knows but no one talks about it.

The interesting things to me is that my father's family was in Texas far longer then I ever thought. I've gone back to the 1880s and yep Texas. Still trying to figure out exactly where they came from and when. One day I'll pay for ancestry.com again and start back up.

On my mom's side it gets hazy. The census doesn't help either. Two families all with the same name will pop up but one is in Chicago and then Texas so no clue if family just moved to Chicago for a bit then moved back to Texas. Also super hard to track because the names are all German/Chez/Bohemian and spelt all kinds of different (even by the same people) based on the day the document was filled out. The family keeps a pretty good record so I cross check from that when I can. I know one of my great aunts on my grandpa side married into the Levi Straus family which is kind of cool.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Not from "research", exactly, but things I found out as I got older...

On my mother's side... Found out that my mother's oldest sister had a different father... my grandfather married my grandmother knowing that she was pregnant and raised her as his own. Apparently, my Grandmother's first love was a West Point grad from a very well-off family who deemed her not good enough for him. Lovely, huh? My Grandfather was an incredible man... came from Italy as a boy, had a 5th grade education, and managed to build a multi-million dollar business in the US. Truly the American Dream!

On my father's side... My Grandmother is Huron and was born in a tent -- she is simply the coolest person ever. I hope I have an ounce of what she is made of!

 

[Feralpeg]

The oddest thing I discovered is how people reused the names of their children that died. Many of my ancestors came from huge families. Normally, there were multiple wives, but it was not unusual to have 12 to 15 kids. If one died, they often named a later child using the name of the deceased child. I just found it to be very strange.

 

[happily single]

Using ancestry dot com at the library it appears my grandfather married my grandmothers sister FIrST then married my grandmother. Still trying to figure how that happened

 

[Planogirl]

My maternal grandfather was a Dutch Jew. He was in the Dutch army during WWII so he was sent to a POW camp instead of a concentration camp. He survived the war as did one great aunt. I was told that he had a large family. My maternal grandmother was adopted with her sister so we don't have a clue.

My Dad's side was partially traced by my aunt. She ran away from the Norwegian side when she saw how difficult it was. She did trace much of the other half and our ancestors look pretty dull.

 

[macraven]

Most shocking thing I learned was my grandfather died from syphilllis
-apparently he had it for years and
Was found at time of Death by the corner
The sons were mad but it was true


Health department showed up at the funeral and required his children and grands be tested for it
We were all shocked and were Saying huh aw how can this be!
Small town of Red Wind Was shocked over this
Think my dad was caught off guard of the announcement we were required to comply with the health departments orders

Unbelievable they contacted all of us that day to test us!
My mother was pregnant and livid about it