Thread: Who are you really? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
I had my Ancestry DNA done for fun and was surprised to discover I was a bit Asian. When we adopted one of our children we were told she had one background only to find out later it was something else. Mr Image was not told until well into his adulthood that he was part Native American and his ancestors had changed their names to hide the fact. Anyone else on the ship surprised to find out who they really were?
 
Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :
 
I would love to have that done. I come from a family who have moved around a lot, I would love to have some histoey...

Is it expensive?
 
Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
Unfortunately my paternal grandmother traced my ancestry back to Oliver Cromwell...

She did this nearly 40 years ago.

We visited a large house in Leeds where the lord of the manor was a very distant relative: we did not meet him but we had a lovely tour. I was a teenager at the time - have a postcard of it somewhere.
 
Posted by Zacchaeus (# 14454) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
Unfortunately my paternal grandmother traced my ancestry back to Oliver Cromwell...

She did this nearly 40 years ago.

We visited a large house in Leeds where the lord of the manor was a very distant relative: we did not meet him but we had a lovely tour. I was a teenager at the time - have a postcard of it somewhere.
The trying to trace the family tree thing, reached a full stop for my family, at about 1820
 
Posted by L'organist (# 17338) on :
 
On the paternal side I can go back to c1520.

There is a family bridechest that dates back to the reign of Henry VIII.
 
Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :
 
My great great great grandfather was George Loveless, leader of the Tolpuddle Martyrs, who was deported to Australia in 1834 for forming a trade union of farm labourers (he was technically deported for swearing a secret oath other than to the King as unions were not illegal at the time).
 
Posted by QLib (# 43) on :
 
I'm fifty something and, although the possibility that one of my great-grandmothers (father's father's mother) might be from a family of baptised Jews was first raised when I was a teenager, it was instantly pooh-poohed by my parents. I was reminded of the theory, and began to take it seriously, only a few years ago. I have a sort-of cousin (her mother was my grandmother's cousin) whose father was quite into family history and she told me a couple of years ago that he suspected the same. A lot of things make sense now, but I guess I'll never know whether my parents lied to me, or were deceived themselves. Still, I'm pleased to have that connection.
 
Posted by anoesis (# 14189) on :
 
Who am I, really? Well, I'm not just the product of my DNA. (which is likely pretty boring anyway - as I mentioned on another thread recently, my father-in-law investigated my family tree back to the early 1800s and it's all solidly English, with one Welshman right back at the early bit, around 1830). So probably no skeletons in that cupboard.

Leaving aside the physical, DNA-type component though, I discovered through my father-in-law's research that what I had thought was my family name was in fact a secondary identity adopted by my paternal great-grandfather in order to contract a second (bigamous) marriage, and my 'real' family name is something else entirely. That made for an interesting feeling at the time.
 
Posted by basso (# 4228) on :
 
As far as I know, my ancestry is all from the British Isles. My parents were a Mullins and a Murphy; my grandmothers were an Armstrong and a Thomas. There's plenty of English there too. And of course I know that Mullins started as an Anglo-Norman name.

The only slightly dodgy bit (AFAIK!) in my ancestry is my father's maternal grandfather. He apparently deserted the family (wife and 7 children) at some point and his name wasn't mentioned again. I've looked up my grandmother in census records. US records have a space for parent's birth: in every census I've found, my grandmother reported a different birthplace for her father.

That side of the family was good at holding grudges; my father and his brother didn't speak for something like 40 years...
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by basso:
As far as I know, my ancestry is all from the British Isles.
looks at map of human evolution and diaspora... Umm, huh.. rechecks, scratches head...
 
Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
We have 1024 ancestors in 10 generations, and it gets much bigger after that. A lot of us must be the products of relatives mating relatives.

For the part of my family that was in Hitler's Germany, we have a family tree showing us as German back to 1100 A.D. It is probably cooked.

We also have English people who went to Germany in the 1880s and 90s to mine coal and make steel in the Rhineland. Some of these English were Dutch before that, and came to England with William of Orange, and then went back apparently to locations 100 km from where ancestors started. A few others apparently 'visited' England as Vikings.

Some of the English relatives were rejected by their families as being the younger siblings and emigrated, and were burnt out of their farms in New York state by the American terrorists when we lost our 13 colonies to the south. They settled in Ontario and progressively moved west as they proved themselves to be inept farmers. There they married people who talked like the characters did in the movie Fargo.

We consider ourselves beneficiaries of hybrid vigour, except for all of the insanity and genetic abnormalities, diseases and dementia.
 
Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Graven Image:
I had my Ancestry DNA done for fun and was surprised to discover I was a bit Asian. When we adopted one of our children we were told she had one background only to find out later it was something else. Mr Image was not told until well into his adulthood that he was part Native American and his ancestors had changed their names to hide the fact. Anyone else on the ship surprised to find out who they really were?
Doesn't Native American descent show up as "a little bit Asian" in the DNA analysis?

I did the National Geographic test and my father's family wandered out of Africa, through the mid-east and into Europe. No surprises there.
 
Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
No, shows up as Native American. Interesting.
 
Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
I'm the product of a mixed marriage - male father and female mother [Eek!]

My dad was of Huguenot stock via Ipswich/Felixstowe; my mum's family was Scots via Liverpool and Devon.

A DNA test would be fun but I'm not sure that I'd really go for one, I hate needles!
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Doesn't require needles. Just a cheek swab.
 
Posted by Taliesin (# 14017) on :
 
How much detail does it go into? I'd love to have a DNA test to confound my mother, she's terribly nationalistic and frankly a bit of a daily mail reader [Hot and Hormonal] so it would be fantastic to prove that her ancestors are fairly recent immigrants. Norman conquest at least, but Preferably recent European Romany gypsy. Her black hair and olive skin seems to suggest it.

I always believed I had Irish ancestry on my father's side (maiden name Kennedy) but it transpires my granddad was a bit of a nutter who picked a name at random (John Kennedy) when he moved to London. He cut off his family.

But, also interestingly, all four of my grandparents grew up in step families.
 
Posted by Curiosity killed ... (# 11770) on :
 
Not sure how accurate those Ancestory DNA tests are - they hit the press here earlier this year - Guardian story, but the Telegraph covered it too for those who are allergic to the Guardian. Which is a shame, because I'd like confirmation of just quite how Anglo-Indian one side of my family is, just from the way we look.

And if we're playing how far families go back, one side of my family is in Domesday - that's 1086.
 
Posted by justlooking (# 12079) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
........

We visited a large house in Leeds where the lord of the manor was a very distant relative: we did not meet him but we had a lovely tour. I was a teenager at the time - have a postcard of it somewhere.
If it was Harewood House then you're a very very distant relative of the Queen.
 
Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
I'll always remember the first major family history discovery we made, which was that my great-grandfather was secretly Catholic.

Which was a bit of a surprise given that my great-grandmother was notoriously anti-Catholic. But given he had a (southern) Irish surname we really should've been able to work out what was likely.

I suppose a DNA swab could be interesting, but I'd actually be damned surprised if it didn't declare me to be a very Anglo-Celtic sort of chap. Not just from family history but from some of the observable genetic traits. Still, there could be pieces from further afield lurking in my inner organs. [Paranoid]
 
Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
We have 1024 ancestors in 10 generations, and it gets much bigger after that. A lot of us must be the products of relatives mating relatives.
It is pretty unlikely that we do. The calculation on which that is based pretty quickly outstrips the size of the world population as it is exponential, and population is not in exponential decline which is what is needed for it to be true. If one of your ancestors comes from a community that is relatively closed then it happens even quicker. There is therefore some degree of intermarriage between distant cousins in most of us.

Jengie
 
Posted by Marvin the Martian (# 4360) on :
 
For at least the last three hundred years my father's family has been good solid Worcestershire stock. Though before then there were hints of elsewhere in the bloodline - we believe a distant ancestor from Cheshire fought in the Civil War and settled in Worcester after the battle there. But that secret and distant shame aside, we're good solid salt-of-the-earth local folk.

My mother's family is far more mongrel. They came from the south, the east and even ~gasp~ Lancashire [Eek!] . There are even scurrilous whispers of Celtic blood in her line, though obviously from long, long ago. Nevertheless, it's clear that my father married beneath himself...
 
Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on :
 
Although all my grandparents were born in England some of my ancestors were from North Wales where it seems like everyone is called Jones. Tracing a family tree back through that mess is very difficult.
 
Posted by la vie en rouge (# 10688) on :
 
My mother has traced her family tree on her mother's side and discovered she is descended from a fairly unexotic load of Leicestershire peasants.

Her father was Irish, and tracing the family tree is consequently almost impossible on account of the IRA having blown up the Public Records Office. [Tear]
 
Posted by Desert Daughter (# 13635) on :
 
I have no idea what or who I am genetically, but I increasingly wonder whether I am myself as an individual , at all... it is not just about the phaenotype and family resemblence, but, more worryingly, about character traits. The way we function internally, the way we respond to our environment. The older I get, the more I resemble, in behaviour, character and temperament, my maternal grandfather. And my nephew, who is 13 now, develops exactly the same emotional and behavioural characteristics. Down to gestures, dress sense (or lack of it) and the way he thinks, argues, and engages with the world (or not).

As if granddad, me and my nephew shared the same brain. The extent to which we are not individuals, but merely carriers, and executors, of genes that determine things much more significant than the colour of our eyes or the shape of our nose is scary.
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Not sure how accurate those Ancestory DNA tests are - they hit the press here earlier this year - Guardian story, but the Telegraph covered it too for those who are allergic to the Guardian. Which is a shame, because I'd like confirmation of just quite how Anglo-Indian one side of my family is, just from the way we look.

And if we're playing how far families go back, one side of my family is in Domesday - that's 1086.
I hate the news. Just enough information to stir the pot, not enough to bring a meal to the table.
Key word in one of the articles was most. Most consumer tests are useless. So, if one is interested, how does one find a company with better results? IIRC, at least one is tied to a real scientific endeavour. But, given its low cost, I wonder how thorough they are.
Shame greed is muddying the waters. The dangerous companies are those offering DNA health screenings.
 
Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
I'd love to have it done, how much does it cost?

My mother and I researched her side of the family tree some years ago, and as we had thought, we are pure Northamptonshire yokels on that side. I did start to trace my father's side but that was far more difficult as they lived in London and moved around a lot! But as far as I was able to discover, I am 15/16 English and (oh the shame!) one sixteenth Welsh.

[ 31. October 2013, 14:29: Message edited by: Sparrow ]
 
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
"oh the shame!" ??? [Confused]
 
Posted by Hugal (# 2734) on :
 
My surname is the name of the old lords of the Manor in my home city of Preston Lancashire (no comment). There is a village just outside Preston that the name comes from and a big house Both called Hothersall, so somewhere I am fom posh stock. My maternal grandfather is from Ireland somewhere near Dublin.
That is all I know.
 
Posted by iamvalisme (# 13233) on :
 
My maiden name was Hoyes. We have no real ideas about where it is from, some rumours say Viking. I would love to really know if my dad has viking ancestry, but we can't afford a private DNA test, and as this would be done through his Y chromosome, and he is the last male member of the family, and aged over 80, I think it is unlikely we will ever know. [Frown]
 
Posted by Kitten (# 1179) on :
 
My Surname is Gower and my dad's family come from the Gower area of Glamorgan, some still live there
 
Posted by Galilit (# 16470) on :
 
I found out that my paternal great Grandmother was Jewish in 2009.
My father's first cousin told me. I'd first met her 5 years before and thought "Why didn't Mum tell me she had a Jewish friend?". In 2009 I asked her straight out and she said "Didn't you know your Granddad's mother was Jewish?"
It was a mixed marriage so she would almost certainly have been declared dead by her family. It was never mentioned by my Granddad though he had a few Yiddish words in his swearing vocab. I had asked Dad (dead by the time of this revelation) about these words and he said he didn't know.
Anyway since it's all on Dad's side it is of only anthropological interest. Though according to the Nazi definition I'd still be in trouble.
Funny I ended up here though.
 
Posted by Eigon (# 4917) on :
 
I grew up believing that, somewhere in the mists of time, one of my ancestors had been a Rabbi. On the strength of this belief, my grandfather taught himself Hebrew, using an English/Hebrew prayer book! However, my cousin has done a lot of work on the family tree, and there's no sign of any Jewishness, which is something of a disappointment. He's managed to trace back as far as 1795, and found a lot of mill workers and servants - though the mill workers tended to be engineers looking after the machinery, and the servants tended to be housekeepers.
One thing he had missed, though, because his father never spoke about it, was the fact that his father was adopted, and the surname he used was not, in fact, his own. That was information that had come down my side of the family, and sent my cousin off on a whole new direction of research!
 
Posted by St. Gwladys (# 14504) on :
 
I had two useful names to work with - Hayward and Cable, which I flound through checking the family Bible. (Hayward - OK, but my mother's maiden name was Evans) One of my ancestors was one Aquilla Cable, and is the only one of that name on Free BMD. He wass from Frome, and the street he was brought up in is now a conservation area. His father was a marine in Nelson's navy, but not at Trafalgar, and an early Wesleyan. Aquilla was a cordwainer - a leather shoemaker - and I've often wondered if there is a "craft gene" as I enjoy crafts. I'vge managed to go back to the 1700's on both sides.
The Haywards came from Much Marcle, so I'm not really as Welsh as I had imagined!.
 
Posted by Oferyas (# 14031) on :
 
Oddly our DNA suggests possible migration from northern France to Wales in prehistory: no wonder I feel at home in France today!

Our family name places us in the now almost vanished Welsh-speaking areas of Shropshire. Research has confirmed the truth of a surprising number of the stories of family history that have washed around in the family for generations. We can now trace an ancestry that includes Fabian Stedman, the father of English bellringing - wish I had known that when I was dealing with ringers as a parish priest!

We have artefacts that link us to a fair bit of that ancestry: a series of samplers embroidered by female children from 1900 back to the mid 18th century, a fine portrait in oils of my great great great grandfather's third father-in-law, the stuffed head of an elk shot in Canada by my grandfather to feed his family c1880, the oak cupboard used to store the gin in the family pub - great great grandfather remembered it standing in the bar in 1800......

[ 31. October 2013, 19:41: Message edited by: Oferyas ]
 
Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :
 
My mother's parents came from Bermondsey. When I told an English friend that it seemed to be a rather casual area, he spewed his coffee. After he was able to speak, he agreed.

My paternal side is French-Canadian and Métis on my grandmother's side. Probably some Scots fur-traders mixed in there, too. They had a thing for Indian girls.

There is a roadblock on Grandfather's side. He and his mother played rather fast and loose with their surname. Neither was as good as they could have been, says I, euphemistically.
 
Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
Here is a link comparing four of the relatively affordable, easily available tests.

And here is a simple, clear explanation of the usefulness of DNA Ancestor tracing.
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
My cunning plan for my family tree was to start off by tracing all 64 of my 4x gt grandparents and then focus on the most promising line in terms of fame and fortune.

I have traced 58 so far, and there's no sign of fame or fortune yet, though one illegitimate child is believed to have been fathered by the third son of the local laird which, if true, would take me back to medieval royalty.

All, bar two, are east-coast Scottish, from Helmsdale in the north to Duns in the south. The other two were west coast Scottish. We have one surname which was that of Marie de Guise's page boys, so I might have distant French ancestry.

DNA wise, I think one part of my family has a longevity gene, and I've wondered if any researcher might be interested in that part of my family tree.
 
Posted by M. (# 3291) on :
 
My paternal grandmother was a Spurgeon. In the area of Essex she came from(and where Charles Haddon came from)though, it seems as though every other person is a Spurgeon and we've never quite managed to establish a link.

In our researches into my family tree, we've discovered that we were all very boring and sensible. The most exciting thing it seems anyone ever did was when someone lied to the census and said she was 22 instead of 21. That sort of daring and devil-may-care attitude seems typical of my family.

M.
 
Posted by Stercus Tauri (# 16668) on :
 
My mother isn't very keen on the Irish, for vague historical reasons (not shared by her offspring). It didn't take much searching in Scotland's People to find that the whole of my paternal grandfather's immediate family, according to the 1881 census for Govan, was born in Ireland. She insists that there must be some mistake. I'm quite happy to be a little bit Irish.
 
Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :
 
I would love to get my mom to take a DNA test to possibly help clear up a mystery on her side of the family. (For her to take it rather than me would help keep my dad's side out of it.) The mystery is surrounding her great-grandmother, who was either Native American (as she claimed), or French Canadian (possibly Acadian), or both. And that all depends on whether she really was an orphan or not (the family lore and
 
Posted by Albertus (# 13356) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Stercus Tauri:
My mother isn't very keen on the Irish, for vague historical reasons (not shared by her offspring). It didn't take much searching in Scotland's People to find that the whole of my paternal grandfather's immediate family, according to the 1881 census for Govan, was born in Ireland. She insists that there must be some mistake. I'm quite happy to be a little bit Irish.
Yes, I had a great-aunt- maiden name Burke- who used to insist that there were no Irish on her side of the family. Yeah, right.
 
Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by no prophet:
We have 1024 ancestors in 10 generations, and it gets much bigger after that. A lot of us must be the products of relatives mating relatives.


For values of "a lot" varying between 100% and absolutely everybody without exception.

1024 in 10 generations is about a million in 20, a billion in 30, which is probably more than the whole population of the world back then. And that's not even back into ancient times.

Going back to, say, 1000 BC, the time of King David, the chances are that all of us are descended from everyone who was alive back then who has any living descendants at all. But we are each descended from some of them much more than others. We are likely descended from some individuals millions of times over through different intermediates.

And as genes recombine each generation the number of possible gene trees we each have going back then is trillions of trillions.
 
Posted by Sighthound (# 15185) on :
 
I have a surprising amount of Irish in me, although all the lines came from Ireland before the Famine. As they came from Mayo and County Roscommon I can't help but think there's a high probability they were Catholic, which is odd given that we are a very Protestant family.

My most interesting line is rooted in Cheshire, back to circa 1550. One ancestor fought in the Civil War (for Parliament I suspect given his religious inclinations) and another was one of three founders of a non conformist chapel. The expert on this line strongly suspects (but cannot yet prove) that we go back to one of William the Conquerer's nephews.

Another bunch comes from St Helens, where I have an absolute web of relatives, none of whom I know personally. Unfortunately I cannot get this line further back than the late 18th century, and apparently no one else can either.

Yet another lot comes from Notts/Derbyshire, and includes a couple of soldiers, one of whom had several kids out in the West Indies. It appears that through these guys I spring from a gentry family that produced one of Charles II's lesser known mistresses.

Another line, with the unusual name of Haresceugh, apparently comes from the Carlisle district.

The real surprise was my paternal line, which traces back to Denbighshire. Mine is not an obvious Welsh name.
 
Posted by Sparrow (# 2458) on :
 
A few years ago I came across a website where you could type in your surname and it would come up with a map telling you where that name was thought to originate. I tried it and it did correctly locate one of my maternal family names, a rather unusual one, to the small area of Northamptonshire that the family came from. Can't remember the website title though!
 
Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
Question: is there any information that security services such as the NSA would also get a copy of your DNA? I'm thinking I would want to know they do not before I'd consider such a test.
 
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
A few years ago I came across a website where you could type in your surname and it would come up with a map telling you where that name was thought to originate. I tried it and it did correctly locate one of my maternal family names, a rather unusual one, to the small area of Northamptonshire that the family came from. Can't remember the website title though!
I found this one for the UK, and there is a list of similar sites here although not all the links work.
 
Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
On the one side Jones, on the other Brown. I gave up at that point. Just consider me common.
 
Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
quote:
Originally posted by Sparrow:
A few years ago I came across a website where you could type in your surname and it would come up with a map telling you where that name was thought to originate. I tried it and it did correctly locate one of my maternal family names, a rather unusual one, to the small area of Northamptonshire that the family came from. Can't remember the website title though!
I found this one for the UK, and there is a list of similar sites here although not all the links work.
Well I tried that first one with the family surname that completely flummoxed every shopping centre mobile 'research your family history' stand that ever came through in the pre-internet days, and sure enough it came up with 0 results.

I know, thanks to my Dad's research, that the surname in question (my mother's) is confined to around 20 people, all descended from the same man who claimed to have come from Cornwall, but we've never found any trace of him before his marriage in London a little while before he came out to Australia.

[ 02. November 2013, 06:47: Message edited by: orfeo ]
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
If anyone from furth of Scotland wants a bit of on-the-spot help with Scottish ancestor hunting, I'm happy to do a bit in return for a donation to the Ship's Floating Fund.
 
Posted by Pyx_e (# 57) on :
 
I'm a celt, Welsh, half way up some rain sodden mountain in Snowdonia, for ever. My families dislike of the English can be traced back to a distrust of the Romans. Olive munching tits. (that is an insult applicable to both)
 
Posted by CuppaT (# 10523) on :
 
My paternal grandmother swore that my dad was of her husband, but my grandfather divorced her anyway. She had named the baby X, and very soon after the divorce got married again, to a man whose name happened to be X. Rather coincidental. But my father and his older brother retained their original last names. Still, it would be nice to know if I really am that heritage, which my maiden name strongly reflects, or if I am this other possible grandfather's. Makes no difference, just nice to know.
 
Posted by pererin (# 16956) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
Unfortunately my paternal grandmother traced my ancestry back to Oliver Cromwell...
Well, it could be true that Cromwell was the 5-great-grandson of Catherine of Valois. Then things would get interesting...
 
Posted by Spiffy (# 5267) on :
 
One side of the family hit North America on the Mayflower in 1620.

Other side of the family had already made it to North America, though. Helped found Santa Fe (now in New Mexico) in 1612.

Working on my Daughters of the American Revolution application right now, actually. Turns out I'm not able to use one branch because they were fairly prominent Quakers in Pennsylvania. That's ok, the other branch made a bunch of money selling supplies to the rebels--oops, meant patriots-- and that makes me eligible.

When I was in 6th grade my parents had to sit me down and explain my paternal grandfather was not actually my biological grandfather. It hadn't occurred to me that the fact my father had a different name than my grandparents Meant Something.

Sometimes I'm slow.

[ 02. November 2013, 23:52: Message edited by: Spiffy ]
 
Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :
 
As far as I know I'm Scottish through and through, although if you go back far enough there may be a wee bit of Viking in there somewhere (my Orcadian grandmother's maiden name was Harcus, which apparently comes from an old Norse word meaning "rubbish" [Eek!] ). My better half reckons that because I'm dark-haired and dark-eyed I'm more likely to be descended from someone shipwrecked in the Spanish Armada ...

My maiden name was Bain, and shortly before I was born a bloke in Canada (whose wife was a Bain) wrote a book about the clan including a branch that he traced back to Donalbain, who was briefly king of Scots in the 11th century.

Our branch of the family didn't get a mention in his book (maybe we were the ones who were chucked out of the Mackay clan for stealing sheep [Devil] ), but there were enough people in various branches who shared Christian names with my father, grandfather and great-grandfather that I feel we might fit in there somewhere.
 
Posted by Net Spinster (# 16058) on :
 
Good mix in my family (English (Quaker, Unitarian, atheists, and an Anglican bishop in the early 1700s), Irish Catholic and Protestant, Scots (a lot of ministers in that branch), French (via Canada and possibly Haiti/Jamaica)) though I'm stymied but haven't hunted too hard yet on a Major John Smith born in Ireland and retired to become a Wesleyan preacher and temperance advocate in London in the late 1800's. If I'm reading the census records correctly he also married a parlour maid (which I suspect is a bit odd for a British cavalry officer in the 1850s).
 
Posted by comet (# 10353) on :
 
both my mother's and my father's clan take ancestry very seriously. I could write the world's longest post on various ancestral lines and notable people along the way. there's an unofficial family motto on my mom's side that goes, "we come from a long line of people who left home" which pretty much sums it up.

There's a lot.

genetically speaking, though - I'm about 3/4 Irish extraction with the other 1/4 Spanish. it's muddier than that, bits of English and Scottish and I think even a tiny strain of French somewhere.

The Spaniards came over during the Spanish California time and settled in (I think) Santa Cruz and kept it within their community until relatively recently, complete with mile-long names and very posh heirlooms and a love of great, dramatic, everything.

the Irish on my mother's side is my grandfather, who came over to fight in WWII. That marriage - to one of the California Spaniards - was quite shocking, at the time.

The rest - my father's side - came over to the US just before and just after the Revolutionary war. Don't know much of their story but by the time the 1890s rolled around they were fairly comfortable merchants in NY state before moving out to LA.
 
Posted by Jade Constable (# 17175) on :
 
My mum's family tree ends in the early 20th century due to great-grandparents being raised in orphanages, and I have no contact with my bio dad so no info there. My dad (stepdad) has more info on his family tree but obviously has no bearing on my DNA....but not sure how much I care really. I never feel like my DNA is what makes me.
 
Posted by North East Quine (# 13049) on :
 
My great-grandmother's brother was awarded the DCM for an incident in the First World War in which he single-handedly killed several* "burly huns" with a trench hatchet.

Thus, my husband's claim that I'm related to an axe-murderer.

* nine, according to the local press; five according to the regimental history; three according to the citation for his DCM.
 
Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Mr C. might be related to Sir Francis Drake, that famous Creamtealand seafarer. If he's ours, he's a hero, if he's not, then he's a pirate. Go figure.
 
Posted by MrsBeaky (# 17663) on :
 
I'm a mixture really: my father was Irish (grandfather from Dublin, grandmother from Cork)
My mother is American (grandfather of Dutch descent, grandmother of English-Hampshire- and Welsh descent)
Our murky family secret is the part played in British history by my American grand-mother's cousin who was frowned upon by the rest of the family...her name was Wallis Simpson....
 
Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Spiffy:

Working on my Daughters of the American Revolution application right now, actually.....
My wife, whom you know as *, is a member of DAR as is her sister. Her dad did the research for his daughters.
 
Posted by Jack the Lass (# 3415) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by basso:
The only slightly dodgy bit (AFAIK!) in my ancestry is my father's maternal grandfather. He apparently deserted the family (wife and 7 children) at some point and his name wasn't mentioned again.
Exactly the same here. What little I know of our family tree confirms that we are the world's most boring family, so my paternal grandmother's father's deserting of his (not insubstantial) family to have another (also I suspect not insubstantial) family with another woman is the only bit of scandal I'm aware of. I'm certainly not descended from anyone famous or notorious or even vaguely interesting ...
 
Posted by Ariel (# 58) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by North East Quine:
My great-grandmother's brother was awarded the DCM for an incident in the First World War in which he single-handedly killed several* "burly huns" with a trench hatchet.
Sorry, but I keep reading that as "burly nuns" and having to go back and re-read.

Anyway, do carry on.
 
Posted by Drifting Star (# 12799) on :
 
I read it as 'hurly buns' several times before I could make it make sense.
 
Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
I read it as 'hurly buns' several times before I could make it make sense.
[tangent]
Me, too! [Razz]

Somethink like this? [/tangent]
 
Posted by ExclamationMark (# 14715) on :
 
The direct descendant of at least 9 generations of farm labourers who lived in the same village where my dad still lives. One reached the dizzy heights of a blacksmith's assistant but that's about it.

Oh, a bit of sheep stealing on the side and transportation for life for one. He died in the New World - the trial transcript includes his defence: his family were starving at a time food riots were breaking out elsewhere. The judges response? "Starvation is no excuse for criminality."

On my mother's side a little more interesting. One ancestor who was transported in the 1830 's was known by 2 very different surnames that crop up again from nowhere in the 1940's. Who's your daddy?

Mrs M's family are more interesting - her very well to do great grandfather married a young lady who was from a more prosaic background namely Bermondsey Docks. At the census she reinvented her age, date and place of birth and lived at what appeared to be some kind of hostel or home on the South Coast for ladies of dubious character. The family cast out great grandfather and disinherited him.
 


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