Family in History

[Zurg]

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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.

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Haha wow.  Good heritage right there.

"Taft, you old dog"

edit: Blackbeard upper deckered my great grandpa's toilet

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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

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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.

Crazy shit. My mom was actually born in a displaced person's camp. Breslau, in Poland I'm pretty sure.



And to the Taft relative- other interesting facts:
-Taft was possibly the most progressive president of all time, "busting" more trusts than TR the trustbuster
-He probably would have been reelected, but ego tripping TR ran as a 3rd party during his reelection, and they split the vote between each other
-His fatass invented the 7th inning stretch- Basically he realized he was stuck in his chair around the 5th-6th inning. He was stuck so badly, a repairman had to come and disassemble the chair so he could get out. In order to not embarass him, everybody around him stood up, and the rest of the crowd was told to as well for a new tradition in the middle of the 7th inning.
-According to modern standards, he'd appear a bit overweight, but he was living in different times.

[GarglesCmen]

My great-great-great (I think 3) grandfather learned about the gold rush before it was a craze, he went back to Croatia to gather other relatives to go back with him so they would end up prosperous. The way they went, they stopped in the Gulf of Mexico and traveled the rest of the way to the West but their boat capsized just outside of Louisiana and they started an oyster business (Eventually moved to Texas).

Some of my ancestors helped gather Croatian limestone to build the White House.

Then their was the war when Croatia was trying to gain it's independence. My parents didn't kill anyone or anything but they know friends of theirs that were killed in battles that were happening around them. 

[chockfullofthat]

-His fatass invented the 7th inning stretch- Basically he realized he was stuck in his chair around the 5th-6th inning. He was stuck so badly, a repairman had to come and disassemble the chair so he could get out. In order to not embarass him, everybody around him stood up, and the rest of the crowd was told to as well for a new tradition in the middle of the 7th inning.

I hope that's true.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

I've heard it so many times, but my internet search for confirmation has come to actually bust the myth. All the sites basically say its a common urban myth. My bad! I gotta stop telling that one to bored kids.

[ivegotlevitation]

my grandfather played professional baseball. here's a scan of one of his cards.

[David]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fellowship_(Christian_organization)

The Fellowship, also known as the Family...

Every sitting United States president since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, up to President Barack Obama, has participated in at least one National Prayer Breakfast during his term.,

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

They've all been in places called churches too. Did you guys know a secret coven of 8 Christians controls the whole world? The group consists of the pope, Pat Robertson, Joel Olstein, Rick Warren, Ted Haggard, The Rothschilds, and The Fed. Look at the back of the dollar bill- it says "In God we trust" total christian messaging.

[David]

^^^^

[Hobochilli]

My wifes dad apparently wrote some songs for Lynyrd Skynyrd.

[Hercules Rockefeller]

my grandpa is really good at driving his tractor.

[brycickle]

They've all been in places called churches too. Did you guys know a secret coven of 8 Christians controls the whole world? The group consists of the pope, Pat Robertson, Joel Olstein, Rick Warren, Ted Haggard, The Rothschilds, and The Fed. Look at the back of the dollar bill- it says "In God we trust" total christian messaging.

I thought it was 7 jew bankers below the earth's crust that controlled the world's money supply. They have horns too.

[pointandclick]

my ancestors were german pirates that crashed into england. so its safe to say they sucked at being pirates.

[jimi420]

My family were slaves for a good couple hundred years. I don't know much about the white side of the family.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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They've all been in places called churches too. Did you guys know a secret coven of 8 Christians controls the whole world? The group consists of the pope, Pat Robertson, Joel Olstein, Rick Warren, Ted Haggard, The Rothschilds, and The Fed. Look at the back of the dollar bill- it says "In God we trust" total christian messaging.

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I thought it was 7 jew bankers below the earth's crust that controlled the world's money supply. They have horns too.

As soon as you can find presidents having as many public meetings as they do with members of the christian cult as any other organization, then you can claim it. The Christian cult dominates the presidency

[brycickle]

Yeah, but every one knows that it's the liberal jew run media that dominates the world. I'll take world domination of U.S. domination any day.

[Omamori]

My mom was picked to be one of the girls on Little House on the Prairie, but her parents changed their minds at the last minute. They didn't want to lose her to Hollywood.

On my German side, there was royalty. Also some German ancestor was a Chemist, spoke 7 languages and was headed towards Argentina but some how ended up in America.

On my Mexican side, a family member was a well known lucha libre

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

So that chemist...heading from Germany on his way to Argentina...why exactly was he leaving Germany for Argentina? I've heard a lot of stories about professional types with government jobs moving from Germany to Argentina en masse in the '40's....

[Seamus_McShamebag]

On my mom's side I am descended from the Scottish inventor/mechanical engineer James Watt who played a pretty big role in kicking off the industrial revolution with his work on the steam engine.  He also came up with the concept of horsepower and the measurement for "watt" was coined after him. 

On my dad's side I found out that I am tied back to the Wagner family and famous composer.

Interestingly there is a good mix of musicians and engineers in each respective side and I tend to have a mix of interests in both.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

Your dad's side goes back to a famous anti-semite.

[brycickle]

Most of the world's heritage could probably be traced back to an anti semite. You included. Give it a rest.

[ice nine]

my great uncle(still alive) killed his first wife and her parents and fled poland, still has never been tried for his crimes and lives a free man.

also i lived at an otherwise empty hostel in costa rica for 2 weeks. just my travelling companion and I, and a middle aged costa rican stoner running the place. neither of us spoke eachothers languages.it was like living in a sitcom.thats how i want to be remembered. also i made up the first one

[Seamus_McShamebag]

Your dad's side goes back to a famous anti-semite.

Didn't realize that was the case.

It's my understanding from what's been passed down that the German side of my family bailed to US to get away from the Nazi regime. My grandpa on the German side was an golden glove boxer who used to hang out at predominately black jazz clubs so at least I know he broke the mold a little.  The other half of my dads side were from Russia and one of his uncles was on a B17 bomber crew and the other survived the Bataan Death march and survived two years in a Japanese POW camp. I like to think my name is clear in terms of which side they were on in World War II.

  

[sleepypancakes]

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

[close]

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.

My great grandfather and grandfather were both in the Warsaw Ghetto at the same time (obviously father-son). My father's side was the holocaust side and My great grandfather died in Buchenwald and my grandfather survived and then hauled ass to America as soon as he could, which is why a majority of my family is Zionist Orthodox Jews, all the way up to my generation exlcuding me and maybe 2 cousins. Seeing the number brands when I was little on his arm scared the shit out of me. He always wore long sleeves so he didn't have to see them all day.

[Ronald Wilson Reagan]

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Your dad's side goes back to a famous anti-semite.

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Didn't realize that was the case.

It's my understanding from what's been passed down that the German side of my family bailed to US to get away from the Nazi regime. My grandpa on the German side was an golden glove boxer who used to hang out at predominately black jazz clubs so at least I know he broke the mold a little.  The other half of my dads side were from Russia and one of his uncles was on a B17 bomber crew and the other survived the Bataan Death march and survived two years in a Japanese POW camp. I like to think my name is clear in terms of which side they were on in World War II.

  

It doesn't really matter, though its actually part of the plot of the "bald asshole" episode of curb your enthusiasm. At the end he wakes up the guy who tells him that with an orchestra playing Wagner outside his window. It's pretty epic. Our perspectives aren't guaranteed from generation to generation and person to person in the same family.

[David]

^I was gonna post the video before you brought it up.

[Omamori]

So that chemist...heading from Germany on his way to Argentina...why exactly was he leaving Germany for Argentina? I've heard a lot of stories about professional types with government jobs moving from Germany to Argentina en masse in the '40's....

No, this was way back in the 1800's. Not sure Argentina was a country back then, but he was headed in that general region.

My grandpa was one of the top realtors in California, either back in the 80's or early 90's

I forget which side, but a aunt or great grandma from way back was an opera singer.

[cringe.]

i wonder if any of us will be remembered in 200 years time... "my great great great grandfather was the gipper on slap"

[Matze]

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Expand Quote

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

[close]

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.

[close]

My great grandfather and grandfather were both in the Warsaw Ghetto at the same time (obviously father-son). My father's side was the holocaust side and My great grandfather died in Buchenwald and my grandfather survived and then hauled ass to America as soon as he could, which is why a majority of my family is Zionist Orthodox Jews, all the way up to my generation exlcuding me and maybe 2 cousins. Seeing the number brands when I was little on his arm scared the shit out of me. He always wore long sleeves so he didn't have to see them all day.

these kind of stories make me pretty sad. I don't think any of us can imagine how hard it was to "live" in such circumstances.

both of my grandma's were in concentration camps without being jewish - one was forced to work for a nazi (she was polish) and got only send to a cc because she gave a cc prisoner something to eat. my german grandpa was in the hitler-jugend and a heavy anti-semite (who lived most of his life as a german in communist poland with his wife beeing a german cc prisoner). the ironic part of the story is that my dad thinks that this part of the family was originally jewish and just pretended to be christian at some point - that's some nazi-jew thing,

[BriefCase]

im a descendant of E. A. Poe. kinda makes me worry about my depression and preference to opiates over other drugs. on the bright side, I'm pretty sure thats what won over my lady in the early stages of our relationship.