# Anything/one interesting in your family tree? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 21, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416 "2010-07-21T02:16:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/61 "2010-07-21T22:27:37Z")
On my grandmother’s side, I am allegedly descended from William Dawes, aka, ‘‘HOLY SHIT! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!’’ [QUOTE=Wikipedia] William Dawes, Jr. (April 5, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of the three men who alerted colonial minutemen of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution. Dawes was assigned by Doctor Joseph Warren to ride from Boston, Massachusetts, to Lexington on the night of April 18, 1775, when it became clear that a British column was going to march into the countryside. Dawes’s mission was to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that they were in danger of arrest. Dawes took the land route out of Boston through the Boston Neck, leaving just before the military sealed off the town.[1] Also acting under Dr. Warren, Paul Revere arranged for another rider waiting across the Charles River in Charlestown to be told of the army’s route with lanterns hung in Old North Church. To be certain the message would get through, Revere rowed across the river and started riding westwards himself. Later Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s historically inaccurate poem “Paul Revere’s Ride” would focus entirely on Revere, making him a composite of many alarm riders that night. [/QUOTE] That’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/62 "2010-07-21T22:37:12Z")
My grandmother’s maiden name was Bragg. We’re told we were related to [Braxton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Braxton_Bragg) ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/63 "2010-07-21T22:40:15Z")
I was once told, though it was never conformed, that we were related to[these fine folks.](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://trickyrelativity.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/adam-neve.jpg&imgrefurl=http://trickyrelativity.wordpress.com/2009/08/&usg=__cpKMcgTG6cHhYuIMUqWctLDBLf8=&h=636&w=488&sz=44&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=P6xXoyo3t8309M:&tbnh=133&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAdam%2Band%2BEve%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1356%26bih%3D583%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=587&vpy=80&dur=6290&hovh=256&hovw=197&tx=125&ty=133&ei=2XZHTNimFsOblgeF7sntAw&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0) ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/64 "2010-07-21T22:52:34Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I was once told, though it was never conformed, that we were related to[these fine folks.](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://trickyrelativity.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/adam-neve.jpg&imgrefurl=http://trickyrelativity.wordpress.com/2009/08/&usg=__cpKMcgTG6cHhYuIMUqWctLDBLf8=&h=636&w=488&sz=44&hl=en&start=0&tbnid=P6xXoyo3t8309M:&tbnh=133&tbnw=108&prev=/images%3Fq%3DAdam%2Band%2BEve%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1356%26bih%3D583%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=587&vpy=80&dur=6290&hovh=256&hovw=197&tx=125&ty=133&ei=2XZHTNimFsOblgeF7sntAw&page=1&ndsp=30&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0) I hear the woman was a real bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/65 "2010-07-21T23:12:28Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > … or an uncle who served in a small town in France called Bastogne. Bastogne is in Belgium, not France. It may be a relatively small town, but the military significance of the place is huge! I mean, you’re talking about the Battle of the Bulge, here. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/66 "2010-07-21T23:24:03Z")
I have an apparently somewhat distant lateral relationship to Nikola Tesla ( supposedly via someone he referred to as a “smelly aunt” ) on my father’s side. Otherwise nothing of much note - next most prominent would have been a “Croat” ( the term as used here is in reference to geographic origin, not religio-ethnicity, which in this case was Serb ) cavalry officer that served under Napoleon, again from my father’s side. I’m fairly ignorant of my maternal genealogy past a couple of generations. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/67 "2010-07-21T23:45:26Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There was another side to the Tea Party? > > I was under the impression that the colonials just snuck on the boat, dressed as indians. It’s not like there was a defense to be overcome. Speak for yourself. My great great (etc.) grandmother was an English teabag. A peace-loving woman, drowned in the harbor. She never had a chance. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/68 "2010-07-22T00:10:17Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I hear the woman was a real bitch. She was a mother for sure, and gullible, or so the story is told. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/69 "2010-07-22T00:24:07Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I’m something like a fifth cousin four times removed of Cecil Rhodes, the founder of Rhodesia. Hey, cousin! (My grandfather was a something-cousin of Cecil Rhodes, too, I think that makes me 4x removed from whatever.) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/70 "2010-07-22T00:41:17Z")
I forgot, my grandmother was a Ms. Twenty Nine Palms, CA in the 1940s. She was a looker too. Had I been around I’d be my own grandpa. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Palo\_Verde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@Palo\_Verde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palo_Verde)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/71 "2010-07-22T01:30:16Z")
My great-grand uncle won the Nobel Prize in chemistry. William Francis Giauque > **[The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1949](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1949/giauque/biographical/)** > > The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1949 was awarded to William Francis Giauque "for his contributions in the field of chemical thermodynamics, particularly concerning the behaviour of substances at extremely low temperatures" ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/72 "2010-07-22T02:00:35Z")
> [@Jelly\_Roll](#): > > My brother has traced our family tree back William the Conqueror as well. What up cuz? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/73 "2010-07-22T02:16:52Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > Hey, cousin! (My grandfather was a something-cousin of Cecil Rhodes, too, I think that makes me 4x removed from whatever.) Seriously cool! ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/74 "2010-07-22T03:34:41Z")
My great-great-great grandfather was [Robert Blum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Blum), a leader of the German revolution of 1848; he was executed by the Austrians for his trouble. Songs were written about him! One of my wife’s ancestors was [Salmon P. Chase](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_P._Chase), Treasury Secretary under Lincoln and then Chief Justice. One thing we learned only recently is that he was responsible for putting “In God We Trust” on US currency. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/75 "2010-07-22T03:44:22Z")
My paternal great-grandfather was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army. He lost a leg at Vicksburg and wound up teaching math at the University of Mississippi. His wife was the daughter of [Col. William Fairfax Gray](http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/GG/fgr27.html), the diarist of the Texas Revolution. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/76 "2010-07-22T07:01:54Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > One of my ancestresses was hung for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. > > I’ve got one revolutionary war vet ancestor, who fought at Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill, really) for the americans, two War of 1812 vet ancestors, and one Civil War ancestor. no French and Indian War, Spanish American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, or Middle East vets? Slackers! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SpinyNorma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SpinyNorma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpinyNorma)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/77 "2010-07-22T07:56:34Z")
No one famous but I have two ancestors who were killed by being hit by trains. While walking. Two separate incidents. My first thought was “Great. I’m descended from Wile E. Coyote.” ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/78 "2010-07-22T10:43:01Z")
> [@Barking\_Dog](#): > > Not an ancestor but a cousin and IRA rebel, [Kevin Barry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Barry), was hanged by the british during the Irish War of Independence for his part in an IRA attack. Partly because of his age, 18, he became a martyr and got a famous rebel folk song written about his capture, torture, and execution. > > My paternal grandmother’s father was a member of the irish mafia in New York and somehow quit to marry my great grandmother because she didn’t want to marry a gangster. He supposedly, as a gesture to her, took out his gun and chunked it into the Hudson then. He also, among other things, was a worker on the Panama canal. > > On my mother’s side, there are a few family legends but that’s about it, and there’s no proof I ever heard of to back them up. **Like supposedly Samuel Clemens is a great uncle** and that my great grandfather moved to Texas because he was on the run from the law for some big felony (murder is suspected and from the stories I’ve heard of the man, would be in character) and changed his surname. Somewhere between Virginia and Texas he really did change the family name, but I don’t think anybody as any evidence that might suggest why he did. And we’ll never know now. Hiya, Cuz! 😛 Samuel Langhorne Clemens was a distant cousin on my paternal grandmother’s side. Besides him, I have no confirmed knowledge of anyone else in my family tree who achieved fame and/or fortune. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/79 "2010-07-22T11:35:48Z")
Quite a few, and quite recent. Thank you, dear reader, for the opportunity to brag. 🙂 My fathers family is a patrician one. I don’t make that up, we are actually in the [list](http://194.171.109.12/download/cbg_patriciaat_lijst.pdf) of [patrician Dutch families.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nederland's_Patriciaat) My great uncle was an Dutch aviation pioneer. The first one to make a solo-flight from the Netherlands to Indonesia. Also the first one to make a non-motorized flight in the Netherlands. His brother, my grandfather, was one of the [pioneers of social architecture](http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_van_Tijen). He was also the architect of the first high rise tower in the netherlands. Their other brother was a war hero. In the war, he was captured by the nazi’s, and taken to a high-rise building, as a high ranking army official, in the hope he would betray strategic intel. Instead, he threw himself out of the window and died. My father was [knighted recently](http://www.demotech.org/d-news.php) for his lifelong dedication to Third World developement. On my mothers side, my grandfather was also knighted. He was a Dutch psychiatry pioneer. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416/80 "2010-07-22T16:01:58Z")
My husband’s great-something-grandfather was injured in the Civil War. He was a teamster, and wrecked his back loading barrels. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anything-one-interesting-in-your-family-tree/547416.md?page=5)