# Shaking Your Family Tree **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 27, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885 "2013-11-27T03:12:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [December 22, 2013, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/41 "2013-12-22T04:02:18Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > My great-great-uncle was George Washington Ferris, inventor of the wheel. Had nobody told him there was no need to reinvent the wh- What? ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/42 "2013-12-22T07:30:29Z")
My great-great-grandfather emigrated from Ireland by boat, and somewhat unusually, paid deck passage. The English captain insisted he work his passage, like most Irish immigrants; but Patrick refused. So the Englishman threw him in chains, which is how he arrived in this country. He served in an Ohio cavalry regiment in the Civil War, was captured by Confederates, and managed to escape. After the war he built three homes in Lakewood, Ohio, for his children. They still stand. He refused to buy war bonds for World War One, since it was “England’s war”. When his daughter brought home an English boyfriend, Patrick chased him off the property with a shotgun. On my father’s side, my other great great grandfather belonged to a North Carolina regiment (Co. K, 12th N.C.) that fought in the Antietam campaign. His company was posted to cover a gap on South Mountain, in Maryland, in one of the preliminary clashes that led up to Antietam. Being a new and untested unit, they broke and ran. On the other hand, they _didn’t_ run when they were defending Bloody Lane, the most deadly sector of the Antietam battlefield. My mother’s father, the only one of these folks I ever knew, grew up in a Bohemian enclave in Cleveland. He left to join the Army, and after returning from France -where he changed his middle name to “Michael” - for a time played semi-pro baseball in Texas. Apparently he was a hitter, because his teammates compared him to the then-famous pro John “Home Run” Baker. So when my grandfather decided to shed his unwieldy Bohemian surname, he adopted “Baker”. Neither of these name changes were official, which is why a distant cousin who was researching my grandfather’s family could not track him down. She knew he was a relative, and knew he was listed on the Soldier’s and Sailor’s Monument in Public Square in Cleveland as “Charles P. Poskocil”. But after that, he disappeared. So twenty years ago, when I posted an inquiry about him on a Czech genealogy board, and mentioned the name changes, she was able to solve a minor mystery and fill in a blank on her charts. For my part, I got access to her research and found out that she had traced our family back to the 17th century in a small village in southern Bohemia. (The nice thing about having an unusual name in your family is that anyone else you find with the name is probably related; every Poskocil in the Cleveland phone book is a cousin of mine.) On a more modern note, my cousin (a real cousin, the son of my mother’s brother), was the Department of Justice’s top counterterrorism man, and was evacuated from D.C. on 9/11. He was also one of the first to question the legality of warrantless wiretapping. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/43 "2013-12-22T09:06:09Z")
I can trace back to several early immigrants, though none on the Mayflower. Many of these immigrants were Scottish, including one who was exiled for participating in the 1685 Monmouth Rebellion. In almost every case, the “trail runs cold” before the immigration. > [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > My great-great-great-grandfather was one of the earliest Mormon pioneers who settled Utah. Several of my ancestors were also Mormon pioneers, including one who was killed at [the Haun’s Mill Massacre](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haun%27s_Mill_Massacre). Obviously having Mormon ancestors is a great shortcut for compiling one’s genealogy. 😃 > [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > I’m related to the Spencers (that leads to Winston Churchill’s mom, and so to him.) Nitpick: I’m not aware that Churchill’s Brooklyn-born mother had Spencer ancestors. Winston Churchill’s middle name comes from his father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father, Prime Minister Charles Spencer. That Spencer married the daughter of the very famous John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough _and their descendants adopted the Churchill surname_. Thus Winston Churchill has the same Y-chromosome as Lady Di’s father. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2013, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/44 "2013-12-22T14:10:40Z")
Just found out a few weeks ago that **Mrs. FtG** and the PotUS are 6th cousins 3 times removed. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/45 "2013-12-22T17:19:33Z")
I’m 4th cousin 6x removed of Pres. James Madison. I’m 1st cousin 6x removed of John Brown the Martyr. I’m 6th cousin (not removed at all) of Brad Pitt. How rare is it to be 6th cousin of Brad Pitt? About how many 6th cousins does an individual have? I think the naive estimate (2[sup]2k+1[/sup] k’th cousins, or 8200 6th cousins) is a significant underestimate, at least for Americans – it ignores that many people were pioneers with large families and rapid population growth. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/46 "2013-12-22T18:56:02Z")
I’m a direct descendant of Gen. William T. Sherman and so also related (but I don’t think directly) to Roger Sherman, the only American to sign all four of the United States of America’s foundational documents: the Continental Association (1774), the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1777), and the U.S. Constitution (1787). My family on my mother’s side goes back to the 1600s in New England, so I figure I’m related to millions of Americans if we go out to 10th cousins or so. Don’t know if I’m related to Brad Pitt, but I’m often confused for him when I’m hanging out in Hollywood. Which is pretty much… never. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/47 "2013-12-22T20:20:59Z")
My mom grew up raised by blue-collar parents but apparently there is a branch of her family in Philadelphia who were rich industrialists and supplied flour to Washington at Gettysburg. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/48 "2013-12-22T23:12:24Z")
My father’s ancestors came to this country around the time of the Civil War. The last of my mother’s ancestors to immigrate came over before 1800. One of said maternal ancestors was here when New York was still Nieuw Amsterdam. My mother’s mother was a member of the DAR, so some ancestor was in some way connected with the Revolution. No idea who or how, though. According to my sister we’re descended from King John of England. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/49 "2013-12-22T23:39:35Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > According to my sister we’re descended from King John of England. I like that. So many claim that they’re descended from Charlemagne, or Pocahontas, or was King Stephen the Awesome and Handsome and Totally Not Fat in a past life. A very unpopular king sounds less made up. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/50 "2013-12-23T00:04:54Z")
We have one who came to the US forms Scotland through Canada, and settled in New York State. They eventually moved to Kansas, and a few years later, he just disappeared. About 10 years later, his family in KS got word of his death in Canada where he had a whole other family. ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/51 "2013-12-23T00:12:57Z")
Although my married name is Bush, I’m more closely related to the political Bush family than Mr. Kat (as far as we can tell, not at all) through a Mayflower ancestor in my dad’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/52 "2013-12-23T00:35:22Z")
I am also descended from Revolutionary war hero [Capt. David Perry](http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dagjones/captdavidperry/summary.html), who fought in the French and Indian War at Ticonderoga and the Revolutionary War, in the Siege of Boston, among other battles. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885/53 "2013-12-23T01:08:25Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > My mother’s mother was a member of the DAR, so some ancestor was in some way connected with the Revolution. No idea who or how, though. The name of the ancestor (though perhaps not the linking details) is [available to the public here](http://services.dar.org/public/dar_research/search/?Tab_ID=5). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shaking-your-family-tree/674885.md?page=2)