Family in History

[happenstance]

Some of my family members have held somewhat notable places in history for whatever reason. Does anyone else have anything like this?

This is all true based on what I have been told growing up. Believe it or not.
-My grandfather on my Dad's side was Vice Inspector General of the Air Force after WWII. One of his clandestine roles was to lead the dropping of atomic bombs on Russia if the Cold War reached a breaking point. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he actually flew back and forth along the border of the former USSR for a few days with a whole division of planes ready to bring on the Apocolypse more or less. His best friend and immediate superior was also Curtis Lemay (the historical figure who influenced the character of General Turgenson in Dr Strangelove). He was a notorious narcissist and gave my parents a framed picture of himself and his old passport for their wedding gift which I have framed on my wall.
-My great grandfather created the triggering mechanism on the first fully-automatic riffle - the Tommy Gun (the Gatling Gun existed before this but was not 'automatic' in the sense that one had to continue turning a crank for more bullets to come out). Lot of blood on my hands with that one.
-My Grandmother was the bastard child of a Chicago Nightclub/speakeasy singer and some railroad tycoon (I remember McMannis was his last name). The McMannis family kidnapped her. Turns out her mother was "friends" with Al Capone and he had his henchman kidnap her back. She tells me that her first memory she has is as a toddler racing down a dirt road at night in a horse and buggy and it was allegedly this moment.

[David]

 heritage and genealogy...hmm.
 
Ate psilocybin some years back and over the next few days had an overpowering urge to look up stuff pertaining to this ->  https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

Edit: As it turns out, the greatest genetic diversity occurs in Africa.

[Beer Keg Peg Leg]

my great uncle overdosed on weed

[Goblinshark]

my great aunt was a munchkin, guess I didn't get those genes

[Smell Good]

I'm first generation American (as in, the first in my immediate family to be born on US soil). The thing about immigrant families is that, some of us come from really shitty countries that have been ravaged by wars and misfortune throughout its entire history so record keeping is something that's very shitty and inconsistant.

I've seen shows like Who Do You Think You Are and do admit to being a bit envious that these people could just go to a fucking library and find out 70% of their history and kinda just go from there.

[augustmoon]

my grandfather was in the Secret Service, and I think he may have even been in charge of the whole southeastern branch at some point.  He guarded a bunch of presidents and governors: JFK, Eisenhower, Johnson...he also went undercover with the Mafia to bust counterfieiters, and he arrested Lee Harvey Oswald here in New Orleans some time before the JFK assassination.  He died when I was really young, and for some reason my family didn't mention any of this until I found a picture of him with Eisenhower back when I was in college.  I think there might be some weirdness there with the JFK assassination.

[pancake man]

Not nearly as cool as some of you guys, but my great uncle invented the emergency brakes on elevators

[ALT]

My grandfather co-founded the first English speaking newspaper in an Arab country and received an honor from the queen for services to journalism.

[David]

[thepman]

My Great Grandad played for England in football (soccer), I have an Uncle who played for Norwich and Portsmouth I suppose only relevant again to people interested in soccer. That's it I think, dam my family are boring, why is everyone's else's so cool, JFK assassination, the mafia, FBI, inventing shit, fuck.

[Beeda Weeda]

my dad shoots birds at the airport.

[chockfullofthat]

my dad shoots birds at the airport.

HAHA.  Perfect.

The Greek side of my family is the only one I know really much about.  My Great-grandfather apparently killed a snake when he was a baby laying in a cradle outside.  He then became a professional wrestler (the real kind) and opened a candy shop after he retired.  My Grandpa used to get drunk a lot and he passed out on my Mom's brand new doll house Christmas day after she had finally finished assembling it.  I always imagined it went down like this:

@ :20

[William Jefferson Clinton]

Daniel Boone is related to me.

[happenstance]

One of my first relatives to settle in the states was a crew member on Blackbeard's Ship, Queen Anne's Revenge and apparently bought a house from Blackbeard.  It's in Beaufort, SC and it's called Hammock House.

My uncle is a sportscaster for the Kansas City Royals and my aunt used to be an artist for Disney.  My wife's great uncle was one of the first people in the FBI.  I think that's it.

Pirates buy and sell houses? I would think they just pillage their way into a new home. Strange.

[friendly dave]

I know my grandpa and, I think, my great uncle, were grand high priest freemasons.

[Monty Burns]

On my fathers side my grand dad was a hungarian soldier , wrong side ! , became a POW under american rule . Got shot like 1-3 times during the war . Showed me the bullets holes and some WW2 stuff

On my mothers side . My mothers family hid their jewish neighbours during the war . Always been super proud of this since being found out would prob get both familys killed . My grand mother was bad ass

My mothers dad tried to kill himself about 3 times , third was succesfull . Its part of my weird family traditon of suicide . waaaaay too many in my family

[Da Jitterbug]

my father claims that he invented the question mark

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

Does most of my family being killed in the holocaust count?
My grandfather invented the Cobb salad.

[Mouth]

Sir Walter Scott is my great, great, great, great uncle.

[brycickle]

my father claims that he invented the question mark

What!

[Goblinshark]

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my father claims that he invented the question mark

[close]

What!
[/quote

[lampshade]

I have four confirmed relatives who sailed on The Mayflower.  Stonewall Jackson is in the family too. 

[Matze]

Does most of my family being killed in the holocaust count?
My grandfather invented the Cobb salad.

my grandma and anne frank were both in bergen-belsen, both had typhus/thypoid, anne died while my grandma survided the cc. she must have been without consciousness when the brits liberated all the prisonars. the next thing she remembered was a camp in sweden that took care of survivors fromm cc's. sometimes (like right now) I imagine how it would be if the liberation came 5 days later and my grandma could not survive - I would have never been born and alive.

[Zurg]

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One of my first relatives to settle in the states was a crew member on Blackbeard's Ship, Queen Anne's Revenge and apparently bought a house from Blackbeard.  It's in Beaufort, SC and it's called Hammock House.

My uncle is a sportscaster for the Kansas City Royals and my aunt used to be an artist for Disney.  My wife's great uncle was one of the first people in the FBI.  I think that's it.

[close]

Pirates buy and sell houses? I would think they just pillage their way into a new home. Strange.

[close]

I actually just came here to correct it.  I thought it sounded weird too, so I called my sister who is big into genealogy and she corrected me.  My ancestor owned the house and Blackbeard stayed there.  The ancestor also ended up working on the boat.

im picturing blackbeard being a shitty house guest. not doing any of his dishes, drinking all your beer after the store is closed for teh night, etc

[idealhandmades]

I'm a decedent of William Taft, the fatass of a 27th president we had. He's the only person I've ever heard of who got stuck in a bathtub, and it was during his inauguration.

Other than that, by Mom's side of the family had some equestrian enthusiasts way back in the day, and my Dad's side had a gang of horse thieves. There no way the two sides ever met (separated by time and local) but sometimes I like to imagine a romeo and juilet-esque drama of two opposing houses, that came together, and made me.

[brycickle]

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Expand Quote

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One of my first relatives to settle in the states was a crew member on Blackbeard's Ship, Queen Anne's Revenge and apparently bought a house from Blackbeard.  It's in Beaufort, SC and it's called Hammock House.

My uncle is a sportscaster for the Kansas City Royals and my aunt used to be an artist for Disney.  My wife's great uncle was one of the first people in the FBI.  I think that's it.

[close]

Pirates buy and sell houses? I would think they just pillage their way into a new home. Strange.

[close]

I actually just came here to correct it.  I thought it sounded weird too, so I called my sister who is big into genealogy and she corrected me.  My ancestor owned the house and Blackbeard stayed there.  The ancestor also ended up working on the boat.

[close]

im picturing blackbeard being a shitty house guest. not doing any of his dishes, drinking all your beergrog after the store is closed for teh night, etc

[busey]

my great grandpa invented the street sweeper. also my cousin married the lead singer of the goo goo dolls. he's got crazy game.

[chockfullofthat]

I'm a decedent of William Taft, the fatass of a 27th president we had. He's the only person I've ever heard of who got stuck in a bathtub, and it was during his inauguration.

Other than that, by Mom's side of the family had some equestrian enthusiasts way back in the day, and my Dad's side had a gang of horse thieves. There no way the two sides ever met (separated by time and local) but sometimes I like to imagine a romeo and juilet-esque drama of two opposing houses, that came together, and made me.

Haha wow.  Good heritage right there.

[David]

Does most of my family being killed in the holocaust count?
My grandfather invented the Cobb salad.

[Rockin Robbin]

I'm a direct descendant of Rob Roy Macgregor.