# Odd things I learned researching genealogy **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 10, 2012, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729 "2012-06-10T15:18:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/21 "2012-06-12T19:56:19Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > “_Five times!_” Strangest case of suicide ever recorded! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/22 "2012-06-12T20:10:36Z")
In colonial New Hampshire, one of my ancestors was arrested on suspicion of practicing witchcraft and was held in custody several months. She was finally released without trial but only after promising to move to another town. I’m related to George H.W. and George W. Bush. Something like seventh cousin two or three times removed. The last common ancestor was a Prescott who lived in Massachusetts in the late 1700s. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/23 "2012-06-12T21:03:18Z")
Can we get a big round of applause for the War of Jenkins Ear? A couple of my ancestors fought in the Georgia/Florida skirmishes in that Unpleasantness. (I’ll take Wars No One Has Ever Heard Of for $500, Alex.) My mom is researching another branch of the family, and wants me to double-check her documentation. If she traced it right, I’m a direct descendant of the Beauforts - the legitimized children of John of Gaunt and his mistress, later wife Katherine. And, of course, a few crowned heads… I think it’s cool, just because I’ve been fascinated by the Plantagenets since reading Anya Seton’s “Katherine” as an adolescent. (Even though the history in that book is pretty crappy, it’s still one of my favorite guilty pleasures.) ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/24 "2012-06-12T22:03:40Z")
Ahhh, but I’m descended from Charlemagne! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/25 "2012-06-12T22:36:47Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Ahhh, but I’m descended from Charlemagne! 😉 I have a cousin in the Dope! ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/26 "2012-06-12T22:50:34Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > On my mother’s side there are two cases that we’ve found where a man marries one woman, the woman dies and then the man goes on to marry the woman’s sister. > [@samclem](#): > > This was not uncommon nor unconventional, certainly not in the period of the late 1800s up until the early 1900s. My maternal grandmother was one of those. I have others in the family that did this. I’ve got a friend who’s parents did exactly that. Leads to an interesting family tree. Are you a 1/2 sibling or a first cousin? Maybe a 3/4 sibling? ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/27 "2012-06-12T23:16:17Z")
My maternal grandfather’s widowed father once proposed to my maternal grandmother’s widowed mother. Thank goodness Granny declined, because that would’ve made my head hurt! And once, when my step- brother and I were both single, my mother started making matchmaker noises. I put the kibosh on that with “Ewww!” followed by “Just think of the in-laws I’d have to put up with!” (For the record, my mom and stepdad married well after all their children were grown and gone, so Bryan and I never shared a household. We also live in different states, and at best, we have a holidays and birthday cards relationship, not really a sibling relationship. But still…) ---
**Author:** ![Lars\_Aruns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c68b51/32.png) [@Lars\_Aruns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lars_Aruns)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/28 "2012-06-13T00:28:02Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Ahhh, but I’m descended from Charlemagne! 😉 Eh, everyone of European origin is! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/29 "2012-06-13T16:34:28Z")
This is from still researching my step-family’s stuff: Mid-1800s. Reading about a married couple who are the ancestors of my step-sister. The guy gets murdered. The widow marries the murderer. What??? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/30 "2012-06-13T17:30:37Z")
Not my family, but in researching the person who built our house back in 1904, we found that one of her ancestors was an early pioneer settler in Oregon. The family came out from the Midwest somewhere and settled on Sauvie Island, near what is now Portland. They had a farm there, but since they were pioneers, womenfolk were scarce. So one of the sons, upon reaching his majority and remembering all the eligible gals back home, decides to head back where they came from to find him some wimmins to bring back with him. So he trudges back across hostile territory, only to find that all those young girls are now married women. After a futile search, he turns his weary nose West once again and shoes manfully back into the wilderness. At some point a family heading to Oregon hooks up with him, since he knows the trail, and lo! and behold, the family has a half-dozen daughters. They get to know each other along the way, of course, and he ends up hitchin’ up with one of them after suffering much privation getting back to the homestead. Not to mention he’s now brought five other future-eligible spouses back with him. Instant, if very tired, hero! ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/31 "2012-06-13T17:30:37Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > “_Five times!_” I’m so glad someone else had the balls to go there. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/32 "2012-06-13T17:48:09Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > I’m so glad someone else had the balls to go there. 😉 Hey, the thought has crossed my mind many times. I mean, what are the odds of that happening, right? If he did murder her, at least he waited until my ancestor was born that same year, or I’d be somebody else. Or something. All I know for sure is that it caused me major research headaches. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/33 "2012-06-13T19:10:25Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > I’ll see you the Civil War, the Revolution, and King Philip’s War and raise you a Sudbury Fight. > > So, uh, what would you do if you were… you know? All day long? Biddy-biddy boom, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/34 "2012-06-13T19:39:12Z")
My g-g-grandfather had only 11 children–but over a span of 38 years (with two different women). His second wife was still of child-bearing age when he died in 1918–a casualty of the 1918 flu pandemic. As a result, one of my uncles was only four months younger that one of his great-aunts! ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/35 "2012-06-13T23:40:50Z")
I have an ancestor who sued one of the Founding Fathers over some land. (One of the most famous ones.) I’m not sure if I’m a direct descendant or if he’s some sort of cousin, but I’m fairly sure he’s related. The family name is a fairly uncommon one and there’s a book published by some distant relative/s that catalogs most or all of the people with the name and a couple variants. (Historically at least, not sure if they include modern times.) ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/36 "2012-06-14T03:38:40Z")
My great grandmother examined a woman accused of being a witch, testified that she found a witch’s eat, and got her hanged. Sorry Quadgop! I had two great grandfathers at Lexington and Concord, too. American side. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/37 "2012-06-14T05:32:34Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > This was not uncommon nor unconventional, certainly not in the period of the late 1800s up until the early 1900s. My maternal grandmother was one of those. I have others in the family that did this. It wasn’t all that uncommon for mothers to die in childbirth, often after already having had several babies previously. Then the widower would go on to marry someone else and they’d have another half-dozen children. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/38 "2012-06-14T05:38:27Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > My great grandmother examined a woman accused of being a witch, testified that she found a witch’s eat, and got her hanged. Sorry Quadgop! > I had two great grandfathers at Lexington and Concord, too. American side. Great-grandfathers? How is that possible, since they’d have to have been born around 1760 at the earliest? Well, I suppose it is possible at that, since men can often conceive in advanced old age. A great-grandfather of mine fought in the Civil War, and that only seems possible because he nearly fifty when my grandfather was born. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/39 "2012-06-14T05:55:59Z")
> [@Lacunae\_Matata](#): > > Can we get a big round of applause for the War of Jenkins Ear? A couple of my ancestors fought in the Georgia/Florida skirmishes in that Unpleasantness. (I’ll take Wars No One Has Ever Heard Of for $500, Alex.) > > My mom is researching another branch of the family, and wants me to double-check her documentation. If she traced it right, I’m a direct descendant of the Beauforts - the legitimized children of John of Gaunt and his mistress, later wife Katherine. And, of course, a few crowned heads… I think it’s cool, just because I’ve been fascinated by the Plantagenets since reading Anya Seton’s “Katherine” as an adolescent. (Even though the history in that book is pretty crappy, it’s still one of my favorite guilty pleasures.) i’ve heard that war’s name, though couldn’t tell you who fought it or when, or over what. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729/40 "2012-06-14T06:59:43Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Think I’ll post here rather than in the family secrets thread. > > Looking more into my step-family, kinda hard to do since a lot of them don’t regularly appear in censuses and they seem to rather “flexible” in the info they provide on various forms. So I was searching “upstream” thru my step-father’s cousin’s family. Unusual names, easier to find. > > So my step-great aunt (who I actually remember) got married in 1917. The cousin was born in 1919. The step-great aunt got married _again_ to the same guy in 1920. > > What? Can’t be the same case, but my maternal grandparents needed to get married twice. The first time had been shortly before the start of the Spanish Civil War of 1936-9. Civil wedding, Grandma isn’t even sure what kind of legal position the recorder had. Lost paperwork. Ffwd to the end of the war: there had been many “24h marriages”, there had been many people who’d taken advantage of the war to “go buy cigarrettes”, there had been many people whose marriages had been registered by people who had no legal authority, there had been many lost records; solution: if you had no proof of marriage, and wanted to be married, marry under current regs kthxbye. The witnesses to the second wedding were my grandfather’s sister and her husband (who had not lost their own paperwork), it took several tries until aunt understood that she had to answer “no” to the question of whether the intended spouses were otherwise married. “Otherwise, Pilar! It means to somebody else! Are we married to other people?” “Well, no!” “So say NO!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-things-i-learned-researching-genealogy/624729.md?page=3)