Lt Gen. Sir Thomas George Picton.
He has three claims to fame:
- Second in command at Waterloo;
- Dismissed as a West Indian Governor for allowing the torture of women; and
- First British general to be killed in battle whilst carrying an umbrella.
picmr
Wow, after all of those famous names, I will meekly chime in with the fact that my great uncle invented the Water-Pik and the Shower Massage.
One of my best friends great-great (maybe one more great) grandfathers was Gen. George Pickett, of the infamous Pickett’s Charge debacle in the Civil War.
Huey Long was the greatest governor we ever had! he would have been much more famous if he hadn’t gotten lead poisoning.
michael
Well I don’t know if I am related to anyone like most of these people are saying… but my Grandfather was a Supreme Court Judge of Canada. The Honourable Hugh J. MacDonnell
The only good thing about having a looooooong Polish last name is that you can trace your family tree with near perfection. That, in and of itself, may not be a good thing. On doing here master’s thesis in archeology, my cousin Carole completed a family tree with some (insert adjective of choice here startling, disturbing, dark) results. We found a direct blood link to Radu Tsepesh. Now, not to disturb the gentle readers here, I’ll leave it up to you to discover our dark family secret.
Captain Rayner… Sailed with Captain Kidd… No wonder I love sailors…
Allegedly, I’m related to Bob Fosse, the dancer/choreographer and Ray Fosse the baseball player/announcer.
I have to say allegedly cuz dad was an anti-social, drunk freak who had no contact with anybody in his family except his mother.
I remember her talking about them but I was really little and I have no clue how to find out for sure.
I don’t think they count as infamous but anyway…
No one well known, but one of my ancestors from Scotland was a horse theif known as “Black Angus”. Think he was hanged.
Well, my father told me that we were directly (somehow) related to Miles Standish, but I’ve nothing to back that up with so I don’t even usually think about it.
However, by marriage, I’m definitely related to someone (two actually) both famous and infamous - in China at least.
Tang Ken, second in command to Sun Yat Sen, was my husband’s great-grandfather. He died by a SECOND assasin (he was in his pajamas chasing the first would-be assasin down the street when a second gunned him down).
Tang Wei Tong, also extremely famous (they recently put up a statue of him in Beijing and invited him back after he had been settled down elsewhere for a long time - this after FLEEING china for his LIFE) is my husband’s grandfather.
Big military Chinese family. grin
How’s that for relations? 
-Elthia
Welcome to the family purplebear!!
Zev Steinhardt
Eeeewwwwww, ChuckSki!
I’m allegedly related to the dear that invented the switchblade. I’ve got nothing to back this one up.
I had an aunt in SF, turn of the century who ran a “kosher” mens apartment for good Jewish boys. Another aunt in Napa who ran a spa for good Jewish couples.
And, last but not least, my recently departed great uncle on my dad’s side was a boom-mike operator in Hollywood. He had 3 claims to fame:
1- he was the stand-in for the original Frankenstein
2-he was in the 1923(hope I got that right), olympics. He played Basketball for the americans and brought home the gold
3- He was invited back to the olympics as a coach for the Lithuanian football team.
His name was Frank Lubin.
-Sam
Through my mother’s side, I’m descended from John Fitch, the man who built the first steamboat (long before that punk Fulton). Family legend had it that Fitch sunk all his money into a boat that was almost perfect. Unfortunately, it only had a paddlewheel on one side, so it went around and around in a big circle until the boiler overheated, it caught fire and then sank.
But, according to what must be an unimpeachable font of knowledge (well another one), http://www.steamboats.com:
**
So my ancestor seems to be less of a loser than I’d thought, though it doesn’t make for as colorful a story.
My Grandpapa rode shotgun on a beer truck.
My wife’s family is made up of scientists. If you’re in any of the given disciplines, you know their respective names. If you’re not a scientist yourself, you’ll never have heard of any of them.
And my brother barfed on Danny Kaye once…
You want to talk about relations you can hang your head in shame over? My last name is Windsor.
I’m thinking of printing out Cecil’s article re: NO, that does not mean I am related to the Royal family!!! and handing it to everyone who asks me that.
Even more annoying - I live (almost) in a city by the name of - you guessed it - Windsor. So people see my name, assume it is where I live (it’s not), generating amazing amounts of confusion…
My father’s second cousin is Imogene Coco, an old vaudeville star who was the dead grandmother they strapped to the luggage rack in one of the National Lampoon movies.
The shower massage guy has a special place in my pantheon… Thanks Mully!
Chuckski - It’s not everone who can claim that a relation came up with that fabulous line:
“Sit on a spike and rotate.” 
Sadly, I am related to Senator Orrin Hatch.
::Turns away hanging head in shame::