I just found out that my great great grandfather was the consort of the begum of the princely state of Bhopal in India! He came from a long line of warriors who protected the royal family, all the way up to the companion of the original founder of Bhopal. Sadly, none of the bravado and skill seems to have been passed on to me, except perhaps my urges to stick swords into the faces of a lot of people who annoy me.
I got some book on Bhopal just to learn something about the place of my ancestors, and found my grandfathers name in it, linking to the consort of the begum :o. I checked the appendix and found out it IS my grandfather. Now I am really digging into the history of my family. There are lots of interesting legends from Bhopal. There is one guy who was said to have been able to hold his breath for 1 hr underwater. That sure beats Guybrush ;D! There is lots of stuff from the history that is going into my big book of ideas. Who knows? Maybe someday it will evolve into an adventure game.
So I wanted to know, anyone know about their lineage? I am not saying I am so great now that I found out I am from a whole line of warriors, but it is fun finding out facts about your family ancestry. I am sure all of you have 2 famous ancestors you know about, from Noah's family(if you believe in that stuff) since everyone except them drowned... and Adam and Eve.
Sure... I have been told that one of my ancestors fighted in the "Carlist" wars in Spain (some kind of civil war between an applicant to the trone and the queen on the XIXth? century). As he loosed (and he was a quite known officer) he had to emigrate to Bolivia? Venezuela? and he started another revolution there.
I can add that his disguise (he was supposed to be a priest even with nun included) was spoiled because he was sexually active with the nun (Who was his cousin... :P)
Also, a half-japanese guy married with an aunt of my grandmother has a nice story... He fighted in the spanish civil war, and he had to emigrate (seems that my family does not bring good luck to the sides they´re fighting with...) because the republican loosed, to California.
When Pearl Harbour happened, the only way to avoid concentration camps (let´s remember that his father was japanese) was to be a flight instructor. I think that plane was lost somewhere in the Adriathic in 1944...
Interesting topic, I'm not much of a historian, but I was speaking to one of my uncles at my grandfathers funeral last year, and he has studied our family history.
He was telling me that it goes back to some Irish Pirates at some stage, It would be interesting to find out more. So I have Pirates blood in me.
On the other side of my family there was this guy
"Sir Isaac Isaacs (1885â€"1948)
Isaac Isaacs was born in Melbourne, Victoria. He was the first Australian-born governor-general. He was an excellent lawyer, a judge, a Member of Parliament in Victoria and a very clever speaker."
I'm not sure where he actually fits in, but somewhere on my mothers side, and it's not really that far back.
When I grow up I want to be a Pirate Lawyer. I've just got the law degree to go, fuck that, a pirate'll do.
Quote from: Farlander on Mon 26/01/2004 11:49:16
. . .one of my ancestors. . .
. . . was sexually active with the nun (Who was his cousin... :P) . . .
That actually explains quite a lot.
That branch of my family was lost, you f00!!!1! ;D
Heh, recently my grandfather has been compiling a family tree, going back hundreds of years. It turns out that 300 years ago or so, his family were minor landowners and my grandmother's family were their servants. What are the odds of two people whose families (at least in recent times) didn't know each other meeting, falling in love, and turning out to have a history like that...
http://gcclearn.gcc.cc.va.us/sitehistory/SPTABLE.HTM
http://www.famousamericans.net/alexanderspotswood/
http://reference.allrefer.com/encyclopedia/S/Spotswoo.html
He's my great great great great etc etc grand something. My middle name is Spottswood.
I was looking for a reference to Spotswood's naval order to find and stop the pirate Blackbeard. Naval officer Maynard actually followed through with his fleet, held a cannon fight with the Queen Mary's Revenge, and then later swordfighted Blackbeard. Blackbeard's head traveled back on the naval ship, hanging from the bowsprit.
I had many relatives who fought in WWII (the Soviet front). Some of them were high-ranked officers. Luckily, I know (unlike my friends) of no relative of mine to perish during the Holocaust.
One of my great-uncles did a family tree and found a mayor of Reading way back... meanwhile, my father's grandfather was Irish, most of the rest from England, meanwhile my wife has mainly Spanish descent with a hint of Argentina, so my daughter should have a good broad catch from the gene pool, which explains why she is so clever.
Quote from: SSH on Mon 26/01/2004 15:06:45
my daughter should have a good broad catch from the gene pool, which explains why she is so clever.
and strong, she is pwning you in your avatar ;D
I dont know much about my family history, it is probably boring anyway :(
Maybe its something to find out later in life
like all good mormons, I have done my family history pretty far back. here's the highlights
My mother is from brasil, where her family had lived for hundreds and hundreds of years, since her grandparents I think are native brazilian indians. along some branch we get the portuguese explorers. the fartherest we have there are some links to french royality in the 1300's I think.
My dad is from southern california. His parents were born in mexico, along with his parents. I guess that when the mormons went west to utah, a few of them fled america in fear of more mobs coming and killing them. I guess my grandparents were buddy buddy with panco villa? we have a picture of them together. farther back, my dad's ancestors were amoung the first mormons, starting all the way back when the church hq was in northen ohio. before that, they lived in England. we have them traced...to...french royalaty in the 1300's I think. prehaps my parents knew each other 700 years before hand?
For someone who has "done my family history pretty far back" you seem to include an awful lot of "I guess"es in your history :P
My great-grandfather on my paternal side was on a tug-of-war team. He competed in Expo 1893, and in a pull that lasted so long the time wasn't recorded, his team trounced the American team in "the greatest (pull) ever witnessed." My cousins are on the same team as my great-grandpa, and even hold the same position he did- the little strong guy who keeps the team under weight restrictions :-)
I don't know specifics about my family further back than that, but I know quite a bit about my Clan, the MacLeods of Harris. We're decended from fairies, which I think is absolutly cool.
My great grandfather worked for the Czar and had to flee the communist revolution.
C.
My great great great great great.. etc (or something) grandfather was a cosack and went to war to sweden in 1808... the rest of my ancestors were swedish
My Uncle Kim is a builder ;D
-a chicken
Quote from: AGA on Mon 26/01/2004 18:04:54
For someone who has "done my family history pretty far back" you seem to include an awful lot of "I guess"es in your history :P
the reason my friend, is because I dont have the giaganto book laid out in front of me. Also, after about 1500, records get really really crappy...and you can only make educated guesses after that. its down the french when we really, dont have a freakin clue.
our concrete facts run out around 1600...but the pieces of facts that we have make what my parents had laid out pretty probible. we're still workin on it
I don't really know much about my family tree...
My great, great, (great?) grandma's name was Anastasia Wanta. She died at sea on the way over to the U.S. from Germany, and was buried at sea. I know nothing of her husband.
My mom's last name, Geier, was thought to be the german word for "vulture" (I looked it up in the german dictionary... apparently not true...)
This is what I know about my dad's family tree:
My great grandpa came to the U.S. from Canada, and was French.
I know nothing about his (and my) last name, Mason.
I've actually been curious to build a family tree and see how far back I can go... and I have all the info I can get from my mom, I don't know what else I can do...
My real name is Urquhart so here is some family history. I got this from a book called "What a way to go."
"Sir Thomas Urquhat was the first englishman (he was actually from scotland) to attemt a translation of Rabelais. He also specialised in mathematical treatises, such as Trissotetras an the Logopandecteision. A fervent supporter of Charles II, he fled to france during the Protectorate. It is alleged that so delighted was he at the news of the restoration of Charles II in 1660 that he laughed himself to death."
Hah-hah, thats brilliant, ERK!
* AlecW suffers a major heart faliure.
I can't say that I know a lot of my family's history, and what I do know about it isn't that interesting.
Quote from: Dr. Jekyll?~MR. HYDE! on Tue 27/01/2004 07:40:58
My mom's last name, Geier, was thought to be the german word for "vulture" (I looked it up in the german dictionary... apparently not true...)
But it is. Odd dictionary you have there.
Most of my father's ancestors came to Massechussets from England in the 1600s.. My mother's ancestors came to Maryland from Ireland during the potato famine. I'm actually supposed to be writing an essay for school about my immigrant ancestors, and how other Americans reacted to their cultures. The only problem is that my family records are extremely.. nonexistent :P. I mostly just have names and dates/locations of births and marriages. No stories..
On a slightly related note, I seem to be the only person in my home town who isn't French. Still trying to figure out how that happened :P