In trying to find recordings done by my Grandfather, who was a jazz/ session musician in the 30’s - 60’s, I did the Google Thang, this site one of several, and was really struck by all those records my beloved Grandfather made. I knew he’d done that, and had grown up hearing it, but, now, almost 30 years after he’s been gone, it’s good to see that a search can bring up what he did. I got kinda weepy to see it, really. Loved my Grandpa, so much.
Any other nice finds/memories that you found on a web search, or surprises, on what your relatives have done?
Well, this is not quite the same thing, but I once found out thanks to a Google search of the family name that one of my distant relatives is into threesomes/swinging.
Yeah, that was a little awkward…
Upside-down version: FtGKid2 was playing around on Wikipedia when he found an article devoted to a research result of mine. He was impressed that even our family name is included in the title. Gave him the keywords to Google with to get thousands of hits. Nice to get a “wow” look from your kid once in a while.
I did a web search on my great uncle once - my mom told me he played the clarinet and saxophone in a few of the popular swing/dance bands in the '20s and '30s. He died of a brain tumor many years before I was born - he was only in his 40s at the time. It was pretty neat to find some audio clips online and be able to listen to recordings he made with a couple of those groups - like the Red Nichols Orchestra.
My grandad’s brother, J.B., the baby of 12 kids, had been signed by the Yankees as a pitcher. He and his father-in-law were doing some work on the roof and, although finished, he’d gone back up to retrieve a tool. It was touching a wire, he was electrocuted and killed. He never got to see John Wallace, his only son, be born a few months later or fulfill his destiny in the bigs.
My dad has been able to dig up and put together an amazing amount of info on him and share it with us, John Wallace included. That’s been pretty special to us all.
Not as deep or touching as what you all have written, but…
I joined Facebook Friday and the first 2 suggested “friends” were my stepson and stepdaughter, merely because we all went to U of I and shared a last name. I’m unfamiliar enough with Facebook that that just freaked me out! Uh, no thanks!
My father-in-law is a bit of a big shot in his field, and googling his name leads to about 900 distinct hits regarding his business, papers and articles he’s written, and awards he’s received. As I have no presence on the web at all, it’s interesting for me to see my FIL so widely mentioned. I knew he was important in his field, but I did not know realize just how important until we googled him.
A much better story (to me, anyway) is this: I once googled my dad, who was a police officer for 35 years, and discovered his name in a screenplay one of my high school friends had written. I knew that my friend was a screenwriter in LA, and that he admired my dad a great deal, but it was still a little shocking to find the screenplay.
It was for a police drama, and the character named after my dad was a cynical, grizzled Lieutenant with a soft heart buried underneath his gruff exterior. As my father is probably the least cynical cop on the planet, the characterization made me giggle a little. Mind you, I don’t think the character is meant to be my dad, but more of an homage, maybe?.
I’ve never mentioned what I found to either my dad or my friend, as I think both would be terribly embarrassed. It’s not that it’s a bad screenplay. I just figured that if my friend had wanted me to know, he would have mentioned it to me. My dad, on the other hand, would find the attention overwhelming.
I was wondering how this thread might go. I guess younger folks are used to being able to search and get all on the internet, but, last night, to be able to search my long gone Grandad’s name and find some worthwhile shiny objets du Larry was nice. He died when I was 17, and, as I then made a lot of my life searching out and documenting musicians that he’d introduced me too, so very sweet. Thanks for that, Twix.
Nice stories here, and hope others can post some more. These Intertubetynets can have surprises.