# Interesting/famous branches in your family tree? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2003, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232 "2003-05-09T23:50:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ratty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ccd318/32.png) [@ratty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratty)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/41 "2003-05-11T10:54:31Z")
I am a direct descendant of Cyrus McCormick, who invented the mechanical reaper. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/42 "2003-05-11T11:34:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by green\_bladder \* > \*\*I’ll just hijack for a second… a former classmate of mine is the \*\*great, great niece of Charles Darwin. \*\* > > Nothing really interesting from my family tree though 😉 > > [/hijack] \*\* Green Bladder, One of my classmates were direct descendants of Darwin and infact they still retained his last name, being descended from a male line. I’ve got alot of MP’s knocking about in my family, also I am listed in Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage as I am in with an ever receding chance of inheriting a Baronetage, as one of my ancestors was knighted for the part he played in the defeat of the Tippu Sultan in India (his other exploits involve murdering a Bishop over a game of cards). ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@Mr\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/43 "2003-05-11T12:30:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Annie-Xmas \* > \*\* > > My great-grandparents were suppose to start their honeymoon on the Titantic, but they missed the boat. I still have one of the tickets for the madien voyage (my sister has the other one). \*\* My great grandmother and her first 5 kids were booked to come over (great grandfather was already in Canada waiting) on the Titanic but they all caught the measles and weren’t allowed on. Sadly we don’t have the tickets nor do I think her other childrens families do. The same great grandmother was the daughter of a very weathly politician in England but was disowned for marrying a lowly carpenter. My uncles always joke about being inheiriting a lordship some day as we are so unsure of her past. ---
**Author:** ![Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@Bren\_Cameron\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bren_Cameron_1)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/44 "2003-05-11T15:47:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Davebear \* > \*\*Oddly enough, I was just telling someone, earlier tonight, that there’s a castle in England, or the ruins of one, anyway, that bears my mother’s name. We’re direct descendants of the folks that built it. > \*\* My castle is in Scotland. It’s still occupied, too, as far as I’ve heard. I actually have a genealogy of that side of the family that I’ve never read all the way through, so at least on that side I can trace things back into the middle ages. Oh, and I’m told I also had ancestors at the Alamo. I’d forgotten that … ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/45 "2003-05-11T18:17:51Z")
My great-grandfather on my dad’s side of the family drove a truck for bootleggers during prohibition. That’s about the closest to notoriety anyone in our family has come. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/46 "2003-05-11T18:44:29Z")
I am related to Damien Hirst. I don’t know how I feel about that. ---
**Author:** ![Daoloth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/82dd89/32.png) [@Daoloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daoloth)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/47 "2003-05-11T19:46:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nichol\_storm \* > \*\* > > Sam Houston, the first and only president of Texas, was a great-uncle a few times removed. I’m descended from one of his brothers. > \*\* ::nitpick:: There were four separate presidents of the Republic of Texas: Sam Houston, David Burnet, Anson Jones and Mirabeau Lamar (in no specific order). Anyway, Daniel Boone is my 5th great uncle, and I’m related to the Leer family, of the jet fame. ---
**Author:** ![Dragonblink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Dragonblink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragonblink)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2003, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/48 "2003-05-11T23:34:38Z")
If I recall the relations right, my great-grandmother’s sister married a Baronet by the name of Sir Francis Dashwood, indirect descendant of the [Sir Francis Dashwood](http://www.blather.net/archives3/issue3no1.html) who had a Hell-Fire club in the caves under his estate at Wycombe. While my cousin-thrice-removed has passed away and his son holds the titles now, the caves and the club are still there and IIRC there’s tours available. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/49 "2003-05-12T06:58:53Z")
I don’t know my family tree well enough to dig up any of this, unfortunately. I have a very unusual last name, and when I’ve googled for it I’ve turned up some fascinating people, but I have no clue if I’m related to them or not ☹ Fella bilong missus flodnak, on the other hand, has a very detailed family tree on his mother’s side, because he’s a direct descendant of someone every Norwegian kid learns about at school: Hans Nielsen Hauge. The school books remember Hauge as a religious reformer, a lay preacher who introduced pietism to Norway in the early 19th century. His descendants have a different story: they remember his contribution as being primarily social reform. He spoke out against the tenant farmer system (which kept the majority of Norwegians in poverty) as being Man’s will, not God’s, and encouraged peasants to work together, form small businesses, whatever they could do to give themselves and their children a better future. It was for this, they’ve told me, that he was imprisoned for seventeen years; the charge of preaching without a license was just a convenient legal excuse. On a less serious note, legend has it he was so frustrated by the time wasted getting from one place to another that he taught himself to knit while walking 😃 ---
**Author:** ![green\_bladder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@green\_bladder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/green_bladder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/50 "2003-05-12T07:05:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MC Master of Cermonies \* > \*\*Green Bladder, One of my classmates were direct descendants of Darwin and infact they still retained his last name, being descended from a male line. > > \*\* Hah, that’s interesting! I’m quite sure our classmates’ families know each other then. 😃 The ones I know have also retained Darwin as their last name. ---
**Author:** ![Agrippina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8797f3/32.png) [@Agrippina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agrippina)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/51 "2003-05-12T12:37:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Rico \* > **My great great great great grand-uncle is [Brigham Young](http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/s_z/young.htm),** I’m related to one of his wives. Most of what I know about my distant relatives is through my paternal grandmother’s side, as she’s the one who has done a lot of research. She told us that we were related to Mary Todd Lincoln. We’re also related to the Mendenhall brothers who accompied Daniel Boone on travels and got killed by Native Americans by bow and arrows. I also have a lot of relatives who were part of the original colony of Rhode Island. I did a little research myself and found out that Richard Milhous Nixon is related to the Mendenhall family, through his mother’s side. I didn’t know what to think of that. My paternal grandfather’s side is full of Nordic origin, and supposidly we’re related to Erik the Red/Leif Erikson. ---
**Author:** ![Sylkyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@Sylkyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylkyn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/52 "2003-05-12T12:58:41Z")
According to my grandparents on my mother’s side (both now deceased), we are related to both Stephen Foster and Ulysses S. Grant. Both are from my grandfather’s side, but I am not sure of the connection. I’ll have to ask Granddaddy when I meet up with him, should there be an after life! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MegaDave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@MegaDave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaDave)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2003, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/53 "2003-05-12T15:47:24Z")
My great (x2?) aunt is Elizabeth Cady Stanton, the famous womens right advocate. ---
**Author:** ![toofargone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@toofargone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofargone)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/54 "2003-05-13T02:12:28Z")
Well…, on my mom’s side there might be some relation to Jesse James, but no proof. Also on my mom’s side there was this Native American princess about 4 generations ago during the trail of tears. The Chief, his daughter, sons, the shaman ran north, the Chief gave his daughter to an Irish plantation owner and passed her off as French. Dad just countless generations ago some dynastic Japanese Emperor, direct descendants. I haven’t looked very closely at the family tree. That’s my fams meager claim to fame. ---
**Author:** ![toofargone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecae2f/32.png) [@toofargone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofargone)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/55 "2003-05-13T02:12:58Z")
Well…, on my mom’s side there might be some relation to Jesse James, but no proof. Also on my mom’s side there was this Native American princess about 4 generations ago during the trail of tears. The Chief, his daughter, sons, the shaman ran north, the Chief gave his daughter to an Irish plantation owner and passed her off as French. Dad just countless generations ago some dynastic Japanese Emperor, direct descendants. I haven’t looked very closely at the family tree. That’s my fams meager claim on fame. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/56 "2003-05-13T09:40:54Z")
Mary Todd, President Lincoln’s wife was my paternal grandmother’s great great aunt. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/57 "2003-05-13T12:13:31Z")
I’ll relate an “interesting” branch on my family tree. I’ll have to ask my mom for the names, and exact relationship of these people to me, but it’s still interesting. At one point in my family history, (1800’s I believe) there was a newly widowed father, and his young adult son. Having a wife as a partner to manage the household affairs was important in those days. The father fell in love after a suitable period of mourning. The son also fell in love. Here’s the interesting part. The father and son had met, and fallen in love with a mother/daughter pair. The son fell for the mother, the father for the daughter. They all ended up marrying, and having more children. The males were not related to the females,but imagine having to explain to the children that came of the two unions! I’m told that the son used to sing the song “I’m My Own Grandpa” frequently. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/58 "2003-05-13T14:09:32Z")
I’m related to [John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk](http://web.ukonline.co.uk/nigel.battysmith/Database/D0017/I8676.html), an ancestor of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, both of whom married, and subsequently were beheaded, by King Henry VIII. Anne was the mother of Queen Elizabeth. Before that, the Howard line goes back to a Hereward who was married to [Lady Godiva](http://home.gci.net/~airloom/jcb/d137.htm), which means I’m related to her, too. Hereward is the name from which the Howard line supposedly originated. There’s even a Howard website somewhere, but all this research was done independently by someone who thought he was related to us (he wasn’t). Oddly enough, this line of royalty ended up gen-you-wine hillbillies in the mountains of North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/59 "2003-05-13T18:19:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Second Star to the Right \* > \*\*I’m related to [Alfred Lord Tenyson](http://histclo.hispeed.com/country/eng/co-eng-18601.html). I think that’s my family’s only claim to fame. 🙂 \*\* Well, can your family also claim F. Tennyson Jesse? Or was she a goddaughter/family friend type to Tennyson? > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Davebear_ > \*\*She also just mentioned (and, no, I can’t explain why we’re both up this early on a Saturday) that I have a distant relationship to Laura Ingalls Wilder, of Little House on the Prairie fame, who was from Plymouth, Mass., and there may be a connection from the Wilders to your Wilde ancestors. I stress the “may” because she has not researched that line. \*\* I bet your girlfriend knows this part anyway, but Laura wasn’t actually from Plymouth; instead she was descended from a Delano who was descended from a Mayflower passenger. So, possible connection to FDR, Davebear? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232/60 "2003-05-13T18:34:23Z")
My genealogical shame: I am related to country singer, Mickey Gilley, and his more notorious cousins, Jerry Lee Lewis and Jimmy Swaggart. :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/interesting-famous-branches-in-your-family-tree/174232.md?page=4)