Which relative on your family tree has the coolest story...

[SaveElmer]

For me, probably my GG GrandUncle. He was a cashier at the Northfield Bank in Northfield, MN when the James-Younger gang attempted to rob it. He tried to escape as the robbery was taking place, running out a back door, but was shot in the shoulder. He was still able to aid in warning the town. He survived and ended up dying a very old succesful man in Los Angeles!

[bleedingheart]

1. my great grandfather was a catholic priest and had an affair

with his housekeeper...my great grandmother...

I like to think it was something like The Thorn Birds but most likely it wasn't...hahahaa

[riderinthestorm]

2. My grandfather transformed himself on the boat from Jamaica to Toronto

In 1905 when his family emigrated they transformed themselves from "Jewish Mulatto" (documented on the papers) to "white protestants", and managed to successfully pass as white until I discovered this little secret. Even now, there are family members who are not exactly thrilled I've uncovered this....

[lizziegrace]

3. My relative was the first to use the insanity defense

to beat a murder charge. He killed Francis Scott Key's son Barton Key.

"In his pre- and post-Civil War careers, as well as during the conflict, Daniel E. Sickles proved to be one of the most controversial of Union corps commanders. Prewar, the New York City native had already become the first man acquitted of a murder charge on the grounds of temporary insanity. Sickles, a congressman, shot down Philip Barton Key-the son of the composer of the "Star Spangled Banner"-in LaFayette Park,across the street from both Sickles' home and the White House. Key had been having an affair with Sickles' wife, whom Sickles had married while serving as secretary of the U.S. legation in London. Defense attorney Edwin M. Stanton gained the innovative verdict. Sickles then publicly forgave his wife, outraging the public, which had applauded his role in the shooting, and apparently ending his political career. just then the Civil War broke out and he saw his chance to get a new start."
http://www.civilwarhome.com/sicklesbio.htm


http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/features/2002/keneally/

[SIU_Blue]

44. in a funny related story

Francis Scott Key was my great great great.....great grandfather.

[lizziegrace]

83. That's funny!

When we say we're crazy in my family, we mean it! :hi:

It took several years of research to find the link between our family and General Sickles. A couple married in 1694 in New Amsterdam. They had two sons. The oldest son is the great-great-great (some number) grandfather on my side and General Sickles is a descendent of the younger son.

Anyway, if your last name is Sickles, you try to find your way to the General.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I have a relative who was active enough in the Underground

Railroad that he has an encyclopedia entry. I've also recently been told that I'm related to Annie Oakley.

[baldguy]

5. My grandfather was drafted into the German Imperial Army at 13.

He fought in WWI on the other side.

[ikojo]

6. I have a great great uncle on my grandpa's side who

was a little person. He was three feet something tall. He was brought over to the US to perform in Vaudeville as Prince Colibri. He met another little person, they married and ended up in Council Bluffs, Iowa. They had a house built to scale and it is still there and part of a tour through Council Bluffs.

That's about as interesting as my family gets, unless you count my dad who once cut Moe Howard's hair when Moe was in Sprinfield IL for an appearance at the Illinois State Fair.

[henslee]

56. YOUR DAD ONCE CUT MOE'S HAIR??? classic.

[Bzzzz]

78. Your Dad cutting Moe's hair...

Now that is COOL!!! :)

[trof]

7. George Washington.

He was the first president of the United States and called by many "the father of our country".
I am a descendent of his grandfather's.
George and I are distant cousins.

He married the widow Martha Dandridge Custis.
She had two children from her first marriage.
They had no offspring.

[ikojo]

8. Isn't * related to George Washington in some

way as well? That means, you may be a relative of * and if that is true, I feel for ya, having that in your family.

[trof]

11. God, I hope not.

However, George I and George II are my fraternity brothers.
We're all Dekes.
:-(

[REP]

29. 7G-Grandmother's Sister was George Washington's Mother

My ancestor was Elizabeth Mountague Pace; her sister was Mary Mountague Washington.

[SaveElmer]

32. Me too...

8th cousin 8 times removed!!!

[Flaxbee]

80. Mary Ball Washington - George's momma, is my grandmother

so I guess that makes GWashington a distant uncle or something? Our family is supposed to be directly descended from the Ball family. I haven't looked into it too closely; I suppose I should.

[Canadian Socialist]

9. Not many exciting things in my background

except for my paternal grandfather was an "Old Contemptible".
http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/oldcontemptibles.htm
He died several years ago, but before he did, he (and my father as an escort) went to the UK to meet the Queen Mother (who was the CIC for them). When he went, there were only a few left. I have pictures of my grandfather meeting her. He was sooo thrilled.

And, on my dad's side (again), my great great uncle was the first police chief for the city of Medicine Hat, Alberta. There is a park named after him.

Other than that... I got nothing.

edited to add: My father is also a Nobel Peace Prize winner. No shit.

edited again: my sister-in-law's sister's husband (try and keep up) also is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

You too can be a Nobel Peace Prize winner! Ask me how! ::::heeee::::

[LaurenG]

10. My great great grandfather 1880s or1890's

He was a hard working man back in his day. He invented the regulator used in farm equipment and sold it to Delco. He also became very powerful and got caught by his wife my gg grandmother having a rendezvous with the upstairs maid. G G grandmother divorced him and opened a hat shop and humiliated him by doing so but he married the upstairs gal and went on with his life and $$$. The gg grandparents had 1 child and as an adult the child was asked by her dad to go to the bank with him and his atty so that he could modify his will (he was pretty very wealthy) as the banker handed him his lock box gg granddad fell on the floor dead, of a heart attack. No change in the will was made and alas the other side (upstairs maid and their child) were left the entire estate. There is a newspaper article around here somewhere all about it.

[alarimer]

12. A distant cousin of mine is Rocky Bleier

Former Steelers running back (?).

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

14. Cool! He fought in Vietnam, got shot in the foot & played in the NFL

Pretty amazing guy. He still lives in Pittsburgh (Mt. Lebanon).

[alarimer]

34. I don't know him

I actually never met him. Like I said, he is a distant cousin. But still the most famous member of my family. I am not too sure about historical relatives. I don't think there's anyone famous (or infamous either).

[BrotherBuzz]

13. Great Uncle (X10) John

John Southworth studied at the English College in Douai, now in northern France, and was ordained priest before he returned to England. Imprisoned and sentenced to death for professing the Catholic faith, he was later deported to France. Once more he returned to England and lived in Clerkenwell, London, during a plague epidemic. He assisted and converted the sick in Westminster and was arrested again. Finally arrested and brought to the Old Bailey, he was condemned for exercising the priesthood and executed at Tyburn Gallows. He was hanged, drawn and quartered!

The Spanish ambassador bought the butchered corpse for forty shillings, had it embalmed and reassembled, and shipped it to Douay. There it was venerated until the French Revolution, the college being suppressed in 1793. When the buildings were seized and sealed, certain devout members of the college stole into the chapel and removed the body to a secret place deep in one of the buildings. The buildings were used first as a spinning factory, then as a cavalry barracks, and in 1926 were demolished to make way for a railroad. The hidden remains of St. John Southworth were discovered at that time. The body rests now in Westminster Cathedral  in a glass feretory dressed in red vestments and in a remarkable state of preservation.

In 1970, he was canonized by Pope Paul VI as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

[Redstone]

15. I do. But it's not as cool as wetzelbill's brother's story;

he fistfought a badger.

Redstone

[Wetzelbill]

25. yeah and he's halfway normal compared

to some of my family. :)

[enigami]

16. Union soldiers stole my great great GF's only suit on his wedding Day

It was a story told in his obituary. He lived from 1827 to 1896, Cass County Missouri

[enigami]

20. My apologies to anyone from Lawrence Kansas

some of my relatives burned your town to the ground in 1863.

[REP]

30. My 4G Uncle Issued Order No 11

and no, we're not sorry. He issued it a few feet away from the first structure built in the City of Westport - built by other ancestors (the notorious Ewing brothers).

[enigami]

36. Actually I understand

General Thomas Ewing issued Order No. 11 from the Pacific House Hotel in Kansas City,Mo., which was his headquarters. The Pacific House still stands Today at 4th and Delaware. The area known as Westport is actually a couple of miles south of downtown Kansas City. But the Pacific House is close to the original riverfront landing known as Westport Landing.

As to why you would say that you are not sorry, I can only say that an atrocity is an atrocity, and a war crime is a war crime, no matter the cause, reason or justification for the crime.

In fact as you probably know, General Ewing was denounced by many, most notably George Caleb Bingham as a war criminal for that action. Bingham, a Union Officer himself during the war, painted the famous painting "Order No. Eleven" as an act of personal revenge on Ewing, and led an opposition campaign against Ewing's political aspirations.

Author and Historian Albert Castel wrote...

"Order Number 11 was the most drastic and repressive military measures directed against civilians by by the Union Army during the Civil War. In fact...it stands as the harshest treatment ever imposed on United States citizens under the plea of military necessity in our Nations History.

[BikeWriter]

75. Albert Castel discounted the treatment given many of my ancestors...

of course, the tribes weren't considered United States citizens.

[enigami]

85. well of course

no disrespect here intended. I'm sure this quote was also made prior to FDR putting Japanese Americans in concentration camps during WW II

[Xipe Totec]

17. Great Grandfather (Seven Wives)

Outlived them all, had some sweeties on the side too. We're still trying to find all his descendants, but they number in the hundreds.

[Nikia]

18. I have a few interesting relatives

One relative was murdered at a tavern by a man who he offended. The murderer was aquitted. The murderer was blind and killed my relative with a thrown knife. The jury couldn't believe that a blind man would have good enough aim to kill.
My great grandmother's sister was the superitendent of schools for her school system in Ohio in the 1920's, one of the first female superitendents in Ohio.
My great grandfather invented a coin album, which he planned to mass produce. He bought over $100,000 in materials but only got a few orders at trade shows.
My great grandfather's family (same one with the coin album) came from West Virginia after the Civil War. Two brothers were on opposite sides of the Civil War. They burned each others farms for the Cause.
My great great great grandmother, in Pennsylvania, was a pow wow healer and helped a great many people. Luckily they weren't hanging witches there.

[enigami]

19. Too bad they didn't save the bullet

you would be wealthy now.

[BikeWriter]

21. That would have to be John Easthope, our ghost, killed in 1333.

He still haunts the old monastery where he was stabbed to death by a drunken monk.

[enigami]

22. will this be on" Most Haunted "

I love that show

[BikeWriter]

23. I also find that sort of thing interesting...

I'd love to know more about our ancestor, too.

[bumblebee1]

24. My grand uncle (Father's side)

The man was a Catholic priest who spoke very good German. There was a German POW camp where the Reading airport now stands. Every Sunday, my grand uncle would go to the POW camp to hear confessions and say mass in German.

[Blue-Jay]

26. Cousin Charlie Manson.

I always thought he'd be a famous musician.

[henslee]

57. Get out!

[Wetzelbill]

27. My grandfather was friends with JFK

He used to be president of the National Congress of American Indians. We have pics of him with the Kennedys, in the Oval office etc. He also was great friends with former Senate Majority leader, Mike Mansfield, who used to be his college professor. My Uncle was even Mansfield's senate page. My grandfather also rode a horse behind LBJ during his inaugaration. Lots of stories about him, he was really an amazing man. Here is an article about him.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2003/11/03/top/a01110303_01.txt

[Catch22Dem]

28. I have a great uncle who told me...

he and all the other children used to get roped by Will Rogers at the family gatherings like xmas and stuff.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

31. My maternal grandfather was born in Latvia in 1884 and lived until

1962. In between, he attended teachers' college in Russia, was drafted by the Imperial Russian Army, deserted, wandered around Europe, where, among other things, he met Lenin and Trotsky, was talked into joining the French Foreign Legion, escaped from that, got a job on a German ship sailing back and forth to the U.S., finally jumped ship after the fifth voyage, spent his first night in the States on a park bench in Hoboken, NJ; earned teaching and law degrees, and was in a position to be the only Latvian-speaking lawyer in town when all the refugees came over after World War II. He also made a killing selling insurance to the Latvian refugees. :-)

[RebelOne]

33. My great, great, great, great uncle was Edward Teach.

Blackbeard the pirate.

[taterguy]

47. Pirates are cool

I've kayaked where he died and highly recommend it

[Sacajawea]

35. My cousin owns the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Bulls

His mother and my mother were first cousins.

[SIU_Blue]

45. Really? If you ever see him....

thank him for 2005 for me!

[reyd reid reed]

37. I had an aunt who was hanged for heresy and being a witch

[Jennos20]

72. In the United States

or Europe?

[nytemare]

38. Mary Dyer, hanged for being a Quaker, martyr for religious freedom.

According to my Uncle, who researched the family tree, she is a distant cousin.


In her early 20s, Mary Dyer and her young husband left England, settled in Boston and began a family. Within four years, Mary had given birth three times. In 1637, the fourth child was stillborn and secretly buried. Dyer nearly died.

These events were common in early America. What happened afterward was not.

Among the women skilled in midwifery who attended Mary Dyer's last labor was Ann Hutchinson, friend and troublemaker. A year later, Hutchinson, who had organized intellectual and theological salons for Boston's women and believed God spoke directly to individuals--not through the intervention of the clergy--was put on trial for what amounted to subversion of male authority in church and state.

Hutchinson left those proceedings excommunicated from the Puritan church. Mary Dyer rose and walked out with her. Both rebellious women moved with their families to the more tolerant Rhode Island colony, leaving behind a vicious campaign against them led by Governor John Winthrop. A chance remark had brought news of Mary Dyer's stillborn infant to the governor's attention and he had the body dug up.

Winthrop used the body to demonize Dyer and her friends, including Hutchinson, as "unnatural" women. "Monster child," he declared in broadsides loaded with lurid details, "talons instead of toes!"

Dyer heard ideas from George Fox, founder of the Religious Society of Friends, that reminded her of Ann Hutchinson's ideas. The Quakers believed not only in the primacy of individual conscience, but in gender equality.

Mary Dyer later became a Quaker preacher and minister. But Massachusetts was off limits. As Quakers were arrested and threatened with death in that increasingly repressive colony, Dyer returned from Rhode Island several times to plead for their lives. In 1658, she was arrested and sentenced to die herself. As she stood on the gallows with two fellow Quakers, noose around her neck, a last-minute reprieve came through.

She was, however, once again, banished. And once again, she returned, determined to be a witness for freedom of conscience. This time--June 1, 1660--there was no reprieve. Surrounded by drummers to drown out anything she might say, she was marched to the giant elm on the Boston Common and hanged.

Today, two statues stand near the site--one of Ann Hutchinson, one of Mary Dyer--martyrs to freedom of belief.

[Bunny]

39. My great-great-grandpa Hugh came to America from Ireland.

This was in the 1850's, apparently to escape the potato famine. Family legend has it that he traveled here with his sister, Ellen. Upon arrival in New York City, they were somehow separated, and Ellen was never seen or heard from again. It was feared that perhaps she had been kidnapped into white slavery. He searched for her in New York as long as he could, but eventually had to move inland, and settled in Western PA.

Sad story, huh? Amazingly, it's not true! This was the family legend for generations, until my aunt did some genealogy research. I do have a great-great-grandpa Hugh, who did come here in the 1850's from Ireland. But he arrived in Philadelphia, not New York. And he arrived alone. He never even had a sister! Honestly, how do these stories get started? We've had a good chuckle about this, but are puzzled as to the origins of the story.

[Richardo]

41. Funny how the sister got a name and everything...

At least he moved up in the world by moving to western PA. :thumbsup:

[Bunny]

48. Yes, it's pretty funny.

The story was told in great detail, accepted and repeated through the generations. My sister's name is Ellen, and she always felt a weird kinship with the poor, vanished Ellen. HA HA!

Moving to Western PA was a good move on Hugh's part. He married and had kids, and eventually died in 1894 when his horse cart tipped over and crushed him.

[Richardo]

49. Your poor sister...

...but for some reason I'm laughing. :rofl:

[Bunny]

50. My sister was crushed when she found out that "Ellen" never existed!

How are you, Rich? Missed you last week!

[Richardo]

51. Was out of the office doing hard labor.

Glad to be back - believe me. :hi:

[Richardo]

40. My great uncle was a fighter pilot in the Flying Tigers

John Petach.

Was scheduled to be rotated home from China, but signed up for a two-week extension of duty. He was shot down and killed in that 'extra' time period.



(Also: He married the only nurse on the base, Emma "Red" Foster, who was still alive in 2003.)

[Bunny]

52. The Flying Tigers? That's pretty cool.

Sorry he got shot down, though. Was that in the 40's?

[Richardo]

64. Yes. Middle of WWII - July 10, 1942

My mom is his niece. From Port Vue!

[vikegirl]

42. My dad's great (great?) uncle

is Robert Louis Stevenson.

And my mother is related to Clyde Barrow (of Bonnie & Clyde infamy):o

[argyl]

43. My great grandfather broke his best friend out of jail in Georgia just

after the Civil War and they both hightailed it to Texas.His friend was going to be hung on a trumped up charge(something to do with a Carpetbagger abusing a female family member;my greatgranddad's friend shot him) so greatgrandad busted him out. Not a lot of due process or appeal in those days.Trail in the morning,hung in afternoon.

In those days GTT -Going to Texas- was a popular thing to do in the Deep South during Reconstruction.Texas was actually the last state to be officially be Reconstructed back into the Union but it was along way from anywhere else,and there wasn't much in record keeping so back then a man could make a new start,which is what both men did.

Some folks in the family don't talk much about how greatgranddad got here but I think it's a cool story.

Greatgranddad was dead long before I was born but my Mom grew up in Central Texas during the Depression and remembers him as a very politically opinionated man,a very staunch Central Texas Populist.

The good Texans get here one step ahead of the law and the assholes arrive with trust funds.

[BikeWriter]

73. My first ancestor to come to Texas on Mom's side...

was John Butler "Bullet" Simpson. He was called Bullet because of his bloody exploits in the Indian Territory in the earlier 1800s. He'd been thrown out of his family for marrying an Indian maiden from the Eastern Cherokee. They settled in Delta County, Texas and built a mill. She bore him a number of children, three of whom served with the old man in the Texas First Cavalry. One of them was lost in the war.

[IA_Seth]

46. A few things...

On my momma's side I am a distant relation to Elvis Presley. My great grandmother babysat him as a child and my grandmother still has lots of baby pictures of him. Let me tell you, the musical talents came from somewhere that I didnt!

Also on my mom's side, my great grandfather was a wealthy co-owner of a logging company, and when the depression came and building stopped, he lost it all. He became a gambler in New Orleans, and once robbed an entire casino after catching a man cheating. The story says the cheater worked for the house, so "Tommy" (my gramps) pulled his gun (along with his partner) and held up the place. Got away with it to!

My mom's grandmother was Cherokee, and was supposedly psychic, to some degree. Family legend says that she would have very real dreams that often came true. She died in her sleep when she was in her 40's.

Lastly on my mother's side, her cousin (still alive) married a wealthy man down in Tennesee that supposedly owns a newspaper and is friends with the Clintons. My mom doesn't remember much for details, and I never met them, but I was happy that my southern roots are Dems!

On my father's side there are a lot of little things. My last name is actually a corrupted version of an English name, because my first ancestors in America (arrived in 1792 or there abouts) were disowned by their English family after fighting against the British in the war of 1812. It was supposedly for their fighting in the 1812 war that they were given land in Ohio, Michigan, and Iowa.

Several of my father's ancestors also fought quite extensively in the Civil War. My direct ancestor was captured as a POW and held for long enough that his family assumed him dead. When he arrived back home his brother had married his wife and she was pregnant with his brother's child. He decided to leave, coming back to Iowa and starting the branch that had me. I suppose that makes me thankful that he was a POW?

My father's maternal line has a child born out of wedlock, supposedly sired by Jesse James (or a member of his gang). Don't know much about that one.

Interesting things, even if some are probably not true.

[elehhhhna]

53. Bridgit perished on the Titanic. Nora married a Capone crony.

And that's jsut on Hub's side.

My GG'father was run out of Holland in the early 1900s for selling stoves made of cardboard...so I'm told. I'll bet he was a republican.

[malmapus]

54. Great-great-great-great (counting fingers) great grandfather was a swamp

rat in the Revulutionary war, guys that fought the British unconventionally in South Carolina / Georgia.

[warrens]

55. My uncle got eaten by dogs. Does that count?

He was hunting up in the Upper Peninsula back in the early 80s, had a heart attack and died. His dogs were loyal. But a bit peckish.

[1gobluedem]

58. My great-great grandfather marched off to the Michigan-Ohio war

But, alas, everything was settled before he got there so there was no fighting. The only casualty was some farmer's pig. He was on the Michigan side, of course. Ostensibly the losing side but not really. They got Toledo -- we got the Upper Peninsula. And statehood.

[Reverend_Smitty]

59. My paternal grandfather was an old school reporter...

you know the kind they don't make anymore. One of the stories he broke was profiled on a 1950's TV show called the Big Story. He also spent some time in Cuba covering the revolution. He eventually became editor and an upstanding member of the community. When he passed away we received a condolence letter from Senator Bill Bradley.

Too bad the paper is a steaming piece of shite now

[Rowdyboy]

60. Big murder trial in Alabama in the 1880/90's

GG grandfather left his wife and grown children and shacked up in town with a woman of ill repute. His three grown sons came gunning for him for embarrassing their mom. There was a shoot-out, with the only person killed being said girlfriend who was pregnant. For this, one of the boys did a few years prison time.

Their younger brother was my great gtrandfather.

[Call Me Wesley]

61. Long ago,

but does this guy count?



Stupid ancestors haunted Al Qaeda back in these days ...

[Benfea]

62. I am named for a female ancestor.

When one of my Norwegian ancestral families were trying to decide whether or not to come to the new world, they sent over an 18 year old girl by herself and figured "If she survives, it should be safe enough to bring the little ones."

On the one hand, it is destable that the family would have placed so little regard for her life like that, but on the other hand, I'm awful proud to be descended from her and named for her.

[Chemical Bill]

63. Roger Williams was a direct ancestor.

He founded Rhode Island and the Baptist Church.

Bill

[northzax]

79. hah, we have a connection

when Roger Williams was expelled from the Bay Colony in 1635, my great something uncle Stephen Batchilor (Bachelor alt spelling) was the only one to vote against expulsion.

of course, that may have been because at the age of 80 he was sleeping with his housekeeper. Guy named Hawthorne wrote a little book about it. So he left and went to Cape Cod, where he founded Yarmouth. But that didn't take, so he fled to Exeter as the founding minister of the church there. Once again condemmed (he had an affair with someone else's wife, recall he was 90 at the time) he went to Maine. Where he married again. both his wife and he then had affairs and were condemned by the local courts. He returned to England at the age of 94, where he died at the age of 100.

and, for the record, here's a list of his desendants who fought in the revolution. http://www.olin.wustl.edu/faculty/mcleanparks/bearswamp/BatchelderRevWar.htm

[Chemical Bill]

81. He sounds like quite a guy.

I don't have much that's juicy like that, except for my great-grandmother, who is reputed to have disappeared for months on end, only to come home, have a baby, and leave again (without the baby). My grandfather spent time in an orphanage as a child.

Anyway, my family thanks yours.

Bill

[Aristus]

65. My mother is related to the woman who served as Margaret

Mitchell's inspiration for Scarlett O'Hara. Her name was Fanny Hargrove, and she was the daughter of Bright W. Hargrove, who was among the men who signed the secession act for the State of Georgia.

[BikeWriter]

66. Grampaw's younger Sister was thrown out into the snow...

He found her frozen outside the next morning next to their fireplace. He was about twelve years old. He took a shot at their Brother in law, who'd they'd been staying with, and thought he'd killed him. He fled to Oklahoma where they found him and came to visit him years later. Dad said Grampaw allowed them to light and water their teams, then ordered them to get off his property.

[u4ic]

67. As far as I know,

my family are all peasants. :-)

A cousin of mine was in the replacement band for Ronnie Hawkins when his other back up band, ie THE Band, went to the US to seek fame and fortune.

The band my cousin was in didn't find that measure of success, however.

[SoCalDem]

68. Not "exciting" but my grandfather (maternal)

was a farmboy with a 2nd grade education who went on to build about 40 homes in my home town. He had homeless people living with them during the depression, and let people stay rent-free sometimes until they "got back on their feet". He and my grandmother grew vegetables and gave the excess away to people who had less.

The first home he built in 1916 was for him and my grandmother, but in that 3 bedreeom 1000 sq ft house, also lived his aunt & uncle, my grandmothers sister and her husband and a maiden aunt. When he built the second house, he and my grandmother moved out, and sold the first house to his aunt & uncle for $1.00.

They had 9 children, but only 3 survived..My grandmother was pregnant most of her young life, but most ended in stillbirths..(4 before the first one, my aunt, lived)..:cry:

[grace0418]

69. My brother Gerry

is a really interesting fellow. He knows and has worked with the guys from Soundgarden and Pearl Jam (he even lived in Soundgarden's studios for awhile). He's also really into nature and spent many years as the caretaker of a remote hot springs in the mountains in Washington state. He ended up convincing the guys from the bands to buy a tract of land in the Cascades to keep it from being developed.

http://classic.mountainzone.com/news/eco-rockers.html

-snip-

The interest was first shown by the bands' friend, Gerry Amandes, who recruited the musicians and Soundgarden manager Susan Silver. "Gerry spends a lot of time in the wilderness, heard about the sale, and knew the preservation would have an impact on the Mid-Fork Valley; a domino effect on preservation of that area," Silver said.

Amandes was unavailable for comment as he was "in the wilderness," Silver said. Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, who disbanded in April, have been involved in a number of charitable endeavors concerning human rights to ecology (Soundgarden recorded an album for Greenpeace where the studio was completely solar powered).

[SOteric]

70. The one who was the inspiration for a classic film, no doubt.

[Jennos20]

71. My great great great grandfather

Was a Spanish General who was given 600,000 acres of land (In south Texas) in 1792 by the king Alfonso XIII of Spain.

[formerrepuke]

74. My great grand-cestors were a family of monkeys up a tree in East Africa

... I inherited their opposable thumbs and poor sense of smell.. but not their tails.

[henslee]

76. In the early 1900's, my great great uncle was arrested for selling liquor

to Indians.

[Bzzzz]

77. I'm related to the Wright Brothers...

but my husband is distantly related to Sir William Wallace.

[no name no slogan]

82. Not too much going on my family tree

Dad's side is descendent from the Armstrong clan of borders-country Scotland and Bohemian rock farmers. Not much going on there.

On my mom's side, her paternal grandfather (died in 1965) was a small business owner and politician in Depression-era Minneapolis. He was friends with Hubert H. Humphrey Jr. (former Senator and Vice President, and Dem presidential nominee in 1968) when Humphrey was mayor of Minneapolis. In fact, my grandfather (his son) used to get Christmas cards from Hubert and Muriel Humphrey until the day the Humphreys passed away.

My great-great grandfather was one of the original homesteaders and founders of the town of Cambridge, MN. There's a monument in the town with his name on it somewhere, although I've never seen it up close.

[Ravenseye]

84. Prime Minister of Iraq, Ottoman Sultans, Muhammad

My father's mother's father was prime minister of Iraq twice, back before Saddam and all that hooey.

Going further back on my father's mother's mother's side the sultans of the Ottoman Empire

Even further back on my father's father's side direct back to Muhammad.