Do you have any famous relatives?

[NJ Democrats]

So do you? It doesn't matter how famous (and people who have been in a movie or two or are a state senator, for example count).
The only one I think I have is my cousin Dana Levenson, who is the CFO of Chicago.

[Critters2]

1. Direct descendant of Ethan Allen

on my mom's mom's side. Or so I'm told.

Which means I could join DAR if I wanted to. But why would I want to?

[Mutley]

54. LOL!

My family is allegedly descended from Ethan Allen, too. We're not sure how valid that is, but there are a few Allens scattered around in the family tree my grandfather did, and he made the connection to Ethan.

Hey, cousin. :hi: :D

[Forrest Greene]

136. Hello

I'm another faint relation, they tell me, of Mr. Allen.

[Ohio Joe]

62. Interesting

I grew up being told that my family was descended from Seth Warner, who supposedly fought with Ethan Allen. To be honest though, I've never really researched it and I don't really know anything about him.

[Benfea]

2. Not directly.

My cousins are descendents of Tecumseh and Adams from the black side of their family.

My grandfather was a confidant of Tojo.

That's really about it.

[SensibleAmerican]

3. Yeah, me

:D

[1monster]

4. My great grandmother's brother was Amelia Earhart's father...

[otherlander]

36. So Amelia Earhart was your mom's cousin?

I think...

[1monster]

82. My maternal grandmother's cousin.

Also descended on my mother's side to the founders of Strongstown, PA.

[Sannum]

5. I am a distant relative of the Habsburgs

My great-uncle was a well known government official in the 60's and 70's. I won't say who, though:)

[catzies]

26. That's cool! I'm an illegitimate Habsburg (but I don't know the relation)

All I know is according to family lore, somewhere in the distant family tree I must have had a hot great-great-great-great grandmother who some archduke or prince something took a shine to.

Hi cuz! :hi:

[CottonBear]

78. self delete.

[Forrest Greene]

135. Not To Delve [i]Too[/i] Deeply

...but is it true what they say about the Hapsburg Tail?

[catzies]

147. I don't know. What do they say about the Habsburg Tail?

I've hard about the lip & no one in my family has it as far as I know.

[Stardust]

31. Are'nt they royal and wealthy beyond beyond?

[hfojvt]

38. former royals

the Austrio-Hungarians kicked them out after losing WWI and half their territory, although they did marry into Spanish and French royalty. The infamous Marie Antoinette, for example, was a Hapsburg, but I am not sure what happened to those royal families.

[Sannum]

110. My line is waaaay back

so no money, no fake title. Though I have heard that if one wants to, they could buy a title from the internet:rofl:

[Wcross]

113. I'm guessing Liddy? Bwaaaaa! n/t

[Sannum]

114. Ewwwww!

nope

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

6. D-List Celebrity Porno Jim is my cousin.

Awesome guy.

And another cousin's partner is a lesbian erotica author.

Yep, that's about it. We used to have some mobsters on my dad's side too.

[NJ Democrats]

9. That reminds me

My great-grandmother's cousin was head of the painter's union in the 1920s. He "disappeared".

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

12. Yeah, we're Irish, but there was some Italian married in.

Actually, a non-mob family member did some time for kidnapping once. Really nice guy, just don't fuck with him or the family.

[NJ Democrats]

14. Mine was Jewish

The Jews were the mafia before the italians.

[MoseyWalker]

7. My aunt wrote a best selling book

but if I mentioned her name I'd have to kill everyone, so I won't.

[Broken_Hero]

8. nope...just me though! I'm famous! :) nt

[w8liftinglady]

10. my cousin is Mike Lasala-a really good musician

http://www.mikelasala.com/

[w8liftinglady]

20. here's the link to his album..enjoy

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lasala

[everythingsxen]

11. Sort of but not really..

I know almost nothing about my fathers side of the family. I have tried to track him down with no luck. I do know that his grandfather (so my paternal great grandfather) was the last man hung for horse rustling in I think Missouri.

[NJ Democrats]

15. I don't know much abut my father's family

My great-grandfather was an orphan.

[liberaltrucker]

13. General Joseph E Johnston, CSA

The cause he fought for sucked, but who are we to
judge his beliefs by our contemporary standards. He fought proudly for what he
believed in. And so must we!

[scarlet_owl]

16. I'm a distant relative of Diego Rivera.

[NewWaveChick1981]

17. All the famous people in my family are dead.

:( On Mom's side, Edwin Land (inventor of the Polaroid Land Camera) and Charles Lindbergh.

On Dad's side, a lesser-known pirate (HARRRR!), THE Alexander Hamilton, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, famous Antarctic explorer.

[bluethruandthru]

18. I have a second cousin

named "Bud Weiser"...does that count?

[tinfoilinfor2005]

19. My grandson is a future president.

Either that or he will cure cancer or walk on Mars.

We're not sure yet. But he just breezed through toilet training. I'll keep you informed. :)

[swag]

21. I'm second cousin of that high school kid in Great Falls, MT who

ran over a jogger on 10th Ave South with his pickup truck a few years ago because, as he wrote in his high school journal, he wanted to know what it was like to fuck a corpse.

Fortunately for all, he is incarcerated.

[swag]

140. Oh, here he is: Quel un chic type!

Sad story really, all the way around, and especially for the jogger.

The kid's grandfather, my deceased uncle, had some serious mental problems (one example: god spoke to my uncle and told him to load the family into the car and drive from Glendive, MT to Missouri to start a church, and that ended in calamity). Haven't kept up with those cousins, but they seemed more sane than their father.

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/news/stories/20040226/localnews/467498.html

http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060118/NEWS01/601180303/1002

A woman who was run down and nearly killed by a C.M. Russell High School student in 2003 has brought a civil suit against the school district, saying they knew he was planning to try to kill someone.

Patty Emanuel, who was 40 at the time, was struck by a 1977 pickup driven by Daniel Robbins, then 16, who purposely swerved to hit Emanuel.

According to police statements, Robbins and his friend, Brandon Sand, were driving on 18th Avenue Northwest. when they saw Emanuel jogging. Robbins told Sand he wanted to run over Emanuel and have sex with her corpse, according to police.

After aborting two attempts because of other vehicles traveling nearby, in the 1500 block of 2nd Street Northwest, Robbins drove up behind Emanuel, ran her down and dragged her nearly 28 feet. Robbins later told police that after he ran over her, he wanted to throw Emanuel in the back of the truck.

[MrScorpio]

22. Yep

[mzteris]

23. my grandfather's cousin

(not first but not distant) was Sgt. York.



Want to hear something ironic? My daughter's dad is descended somewhere along the line from Kaiser Wilhelm....

[Arkham House]

24. I'm descended from Nathan Hale's family...

...and the poet Fitz-Green Halleck, and Ben Butler, whom Lincoln once called "the worst man in the Union"...and one of my not-too-close cousins has been mentioned as a suspect in the JFK assassination, believe it or not...though he's innocent, I'm pretty sure...

[catzies]

25. Johnny Weissmuller was my grandmother's first cousin

And my dad looks just like him.

[Sequoia]

75. Swoon!

Even as a little girl I thought he was the idea type for a future husband . What a hunk he was!

[tinfoil tiaras]

27. Sandy Duncan is my second cousin

woo hoo?

[Rabrrrrrr]

28. Winston Churchill

His grandmother was my great great grandmother

[bif]

29. Yeah. A child molesting priest.

[Stardust]

30. Sam Houston

[nicktom]

41. My wife's father is also related to Sam Houston,

I am not sure exactly how but his given name is Samuel Houston (last name) from Houston.

[Arger68]

132. Same here. I believe my great grandmother

was a Houston.

[nicktom]

32. Yes, a member of the band the Eagles (founding member) is

a first cousin.

[NMMNG]

33. Bruce Springsteen is my third cousin twice removed

Or so my great aunt told me. :shrug:

[Ava]

34. not that are still alive

[barb162]

35. No, but I can't tell you how many people I know who say they

are descended from royalty. Yeah right

[Ava]

37. i actually am

my mom was doing research for DAR on our family line and she managed to chase us all the way back to charlemagne.

[hfojvt]

40. Kurt Vonnegut wrote that "Anybody with any European blood

in him is a descendant of the Emperor Charlemagne." Breakfast of Champions p. 283

Of course, that does not make it true, but I will bet Charlemagne has hundreds of millions of descendants. (Another DUer who is a distant relative told me that somebody estimated that 1/4 of Americans are descended from Robert White (born 1558)) Way cool to be able to document it though. I have some lines that people have pushed back before the year 1000, but often I am not sure that I trust them. Sometimes they will have supposed parents who are either way too young or way too old. I have seen many that, unfortunately, I have to discount.

[barb162]

45. I can't trace back past my grandparents

My friend is a geneology type and she has problems tracing her family because of a very common name. But there are so many other kinds of problems in tracing back. A lot of it depends on church records and if places were bombed or whatever in various wars, oh well.

[hfojvt]

47. does that mean your parents are no longer living?

Most people can name their grandparents, although with adoptions and early deaths that is not always going to be true. I have found it tough to jump the pond (get back to Europe and places like China would be even tougher I imagine) but if somebody else does it for me I can read the church records of the village. I gave up on my Irish ancestors though, for those two reasons - common name and destroyed records. But usually I do not hit a wall until the early 1800s. After 1850, US census records are very helpful.

[barb162]

68. that's right

I don't know what port(s) they came through in the US for example or they may have come in through Canada. I know their names, but not if they were changed or misspelled by immigration when they came here. I tried the Ellis Island website with their names and got nowhere. I'd probably have to go back to Europe to the towns they were from and see what I could find. I haven' done that. They came here extremely young about 1900.

[hfojvt]

73. usually you do not need to goto Europe

only to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Mormons have filmed a ton of church records. In fact, if you live in a decent sized town or close to one, it may have its own Family History Center where you can order films for $3.25 for 60 days (much cheaper than a huge road trip). Check your local LDS church or www.familysearch.org.

Ellis island or immigration records are not necessary if you know where they were from (a town, that is. Knowing they were from Ireland, or even Mayo, is one step away from useless.) And sometimes Rootsweb message boards can contact you with people working on the same surname or in the same European village. I have scores of cousins from my German towns that went to America and for one reason or other I cannot find them. So I would be happy to hear from a grandchild of theirs and would have a ton of information about their ancestry.

[xmas74]

103. Myfamily.com has helped us out.

We have a family page on there and we've been contacted by a few people from different sides. With info from both us and them we have found our connection and they've provided further information.

[barb162]

115. Thank you!

[xmas74]

117. You're welcome.

It's a paid site. You can set up a family page for your family. They'll help you out.

The administrator board (for each site) is where we've received emails from other page owners w/ similar last names.

[barb162]

116. There is a LDS church in my city. My girlfriend the geneology

type, checked my family names of two of my grandparents and came up with nothing at the LDS church. I think the major problem was possibly spelling changes of the last names when they came here. She came up with names but the ages or first names were off off by miles so I don't know what to make of that. I think all of my four grandparents' sisters and brothers came here around the same time so I know who is in this country but have no idea if they had cousins that stayed in Europe or what.

But thank you so much for the info!

[hfojvt]

126. we seem to be talking about two things

The LDS has a collection of data that people have submitted, actually more than one - they have the IGI and the family registry. Those can be useful resources, but they also can contain errors. However, even cooler, IMO, are the films. Suppose you learn from family legend that your ancestors came from Aixheim. First goto the catalog:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHLC/frameset_fhlc.asp

then you do a place search, and following the links, finally hit the button that says 'film notes' and you get

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=titlefilmnotes&columns=*%2C0%2C0&titleno=78605&disp=Kirchenbuch++

four films.
Of course, you need to learn what taufen, heiraten, and tote mean (birth, marriage and death records) but the site also has a vocabulary list, I believe, under 'research helps'.

Of course, it is much harder if you do not have a village name, and it is possible that your people come from a town that they have not filmed, but you sounded like you had a town name.

[barb162]

139. Thanks!!!!

[xmas74]

101. And some changed their names when they came here.

I found one branch that did just that in my family. It is suspected that the person who came over was escaping from some "troubles".

[Ava]

53. but not a direct descendant

charlemagne is my great great great great great (so on) grandfather. jesse james(the robber) is a great great(not sure how many greats) uncle.

[hfojvt]

66. that is what descendant means IMO

I am related to the Wright brothers, Gerald Ford, Wild Bill Hickok, US Grant and Grover Cleveland, etc., but I am not a descendant of them. Put another way. If you look at Joseph Loomis, who is a son in law of the Robert White I mentioned. Joseph was born about 1590. THe data I have on him shows 8 children, 87 grandchildren, 401 great grandchildren, 1340 in the next generation, 3456 in the next, 7354, and 11,443 descendants in the 7th generation. 7 generations is about 210 years, and keep in mind that my data is not complete.

If you figure that Charlemagne had 100 descendants after 200 years and that half of those 100 each had 100 descendants and so on up to today that looks like a major underestimate to me, but the result is: year 1000 (100); 1200 (5,000); 1400 (250,000); 1600 (12,500,000); 1800 (625,0 00,000); 2000 (31,250,000,000). Of course, inbreeding will reduce those numbers, because when you have a million descendants some of them will be marrying each other, and we know the numbers must be lower because there are not 31 billion people in the world. However, in Joseph Loomis' 11,443 descendants there is intermarrying. Plus, remember I am lowball estimating 100 descendants after 6 or 7 generations when the actual number can be as high as 10,000 or more, but 100 is an average because some lines will die/be killed off and some will be more fertile. But what I am saying is that Charlemagne has at least 100 million living descendants, but most of us cannot document it.

[WoodyTobiasJr]

97. I was told there would be no math

[Sequoia]

76. I read somewhere that 10% of Americans can trace their

ancestors back to the Mayflower (like ours on mom's side) but seeing as how only about 50 people survived that first winter before other ships came in I find that so questionable.

[1monster]

84. While researching the family tree for a family school project for my

son, I found that in the early days of the colonies, there were a lot of families that would marry members from another family in different generations. The relationships would sometimes be second or third cousins and sometimes would be related-only-by-marriage lines of the same families marrying each other. The reason, of course was that there were not all that many different families to choose from for probably over a hundred years.

That's why one person, say the founder of my husband's family in this country can have soooo many descendants. The Founder was married twice. He had three children with his first wife, who died in child birth (a common occurance in that era) and I believe eight or more with wife number 2.

In a direct line his son (Number 2) married and had fifteen children. (God have mercy! I'm sure glad I wasn't his wife!!! :evilgrin:) His son (No.3) had eight children. His son (No.4) had only three children. His son (No.5) had fourteen children. (Gosh, not much better off than wife of Number 2!)

That takes us to about 1785.

On my side of the family, my great grandfather was one of eighteen children. He fathered nine children, my grandfather, seven, my father ten...

Consider if only half of the decendants of the Founder survived to have similar numbers of children. You can then understand how so many people can trace their families back to one or more famous people. It is simply because there were not too many people around to begin the great proliferation of population in this country. And compared with the population of today, that can probably be said of almost every country in the world.

[xmas74]

100. I've heard the same about Robert White.

I'll post if I ever find my connection.

I supposedly have the Charlemagne connection but I tend to discount it for one reason-everyone seems to have it.

[barb162]

44. That's amazing!

[Spider Jerusalem]

43. Actually, the odds are that probably everyone ...

with some European ancestry is more or less distantly descended from royalty, just based on the numbers involved. For instance: King Edward I of England is my 25th great-grandfather; that's 28 generations back. 2^28=268,435,456, which is about one hundred times the population of thirteenth-century England, and is nearly equal to the total number of people estimated to have been alive on Earth at the time. So with mostly or entirely European ancestry, it's almost an impossibility NOT to be descended from European royalty. It's just that comparatively, the number of people who are able to TRACE their descent from royalty is smaller than the number who can't, because records only existed for the elite social classes up until the sixteenth century in England (when records of births, deaths and marriages began to be kept in parish registers), and not until the seventeenth or eighteenth century on the Continent.

[Rabrrrrrr]

95. Of course they are - and it's usually hundreds and hundreds of years ago

and I always say "Big fucking whoopty whoop. At this point, and for a royalty that goddamn far back in time, EVERYONE who is white (or pick whatever ethnicity matches the ethnicity of the king) is related to that king."

I knew this guy who was so proud, and constantly bandied about that he was related to some king from around the year 1000. Like he was something special because of it.

Hell, I bet every european is a descendant of that king on both sides of their family....

:eyes:

Assholes. "I have royalty in my past! ROYALTY! I'm special"

No you aren't, fuckwit. For one thing, who gives a goddamn anyway; and for another thing, we're ALL related to that asshole.

[Spider Jerusalem]

39. Several...

most of them are fairly distant cousins (and most of them are dead). On my mother's side of the family: F. Scott Fitzgerald; Francis Scott Key; Diana Vreeland (who was editor of Vogue in the '60's); Dr. Samuel Mudd (sentenced to life imprisonment as a conspirator in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln); Thomas A.R. Nelson (Unionist politician from Tennessee who represented Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial); Clint Eastwood; and (ugh) George W. Bush.

On my father's side of the family: Ed Dodd, creator of the 'Mark Trail' comic strip; Senator John Edwards; the Marchioness of Hertford, who was mistress of the Prince Regent (later King George IV); several 18th and 19th century governors of Maryland and Virginia; and I'm also related by marriage to Mathew Brady (the phtographer), who married my gggg-aunt.

[njdemocrat106]

42. I'm distantly related to Pope John Paul II

Yes, I'm half-Polish (insert Polack jokes here :evilgrin:).

[JohnKleeb]

148. How many Polacks does ti take to screw in a light bulb?

None, because all Polacks do is eat Kielbasa and Pierogi.

[Nicole]

46. Yes

I'm too much of a privacy freak to name them here though. Hell I won't even post my own name here. :P

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

48. My cousins are crooks

John Dillinger is my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side.


and please don't ban me from DU for this one!


















Richard Milhous Nixon, distant distant cousin from my mother's side I might add! Funny thing a uncle from my father's side lived on the same street as Nixon in california, small world!

[HEyHEY]

49. Some guy who swam the English channel way back when

He's so famous I can't remember his name.

[sakabatou]

50. Mitch Albom

[MissHoneychurch]

51. If you are doing problem chess

then you might have heard of my grandfather and have solved some of his compositions.

[dipsydoodle]

52. Adam & Eve

:rofl:

[Fox Mulder]

55. Archduke Franz Ferdinand

My family is related to him somehow...I don't know how or on who's side, but we are.

[StellaBlue]

56. According to your criteria, several

Direct descendant of Joseph Warren, "The Hero of Bunker Hill", great-granddaughter of Texas State Senator Charles R Floyd (D-Paris, 1917-1927, and House, 1945); ex-cousin-law of Vanilla Ice.

[QuettaKid]

57. I hooked up with Traci Lords once

does that count?

;) ;) ;)

[underpants]

72. Yes , in fact you win

:party:

[rug]

58. I am a direct descendant of Oscar Wilde.

[myrna minx]

61. I am really impressed.

Wilde is one of my favorite authors. Have the descendants taken back the Wilde name or are they still using Holland? :shrug:

[rug]

70. Got me, it was a joke.

I don't think he had any direct descendants.

[myrna minx]

92. Oscar Wilde had two sons, that's why I believed you. n/t

[1monster]

86. Oscar Wilde was gay... I don't believe he had any descendants...

Tales from Redding Goal were written about his time in the pokie for sodomy.

[myrna minx]

91. Oscar Wilde, while gay, was married and had two sons.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/080505894X/102-3623796-9617737?v=glance&n=283155


After his imprisonment and scandal, his wife took the last name of Holland, to protect her sons from the dubious name of Wilde.
Oscar Wilde's grandson, Merlin Holland, wrote a book about him.

[1monster]

93. I stand corrected!

Thanks for the info.

[1gobluedem]

59. Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin

And Robert Motherwell, the artist.

[LynneSin]

60. I have a chimp for a 5th cousin

[LynneSin]

130. I can't believe no one commented on that one

:eyes:

[noonwitch]

63. My grandpa invented the Camloc ratchet wrench

It's a wrench with tiny springs inside the coil for tightening bolts. He got to meet Werner von Braun when he sent one to NASA to prevent the early rockets' gas tanks from leaking.

I descend from Richard Warren, who came over on the Mayflower. So did the Roosevelts, so in a very distant way, I am related to two past presidents.

[deutsey]

64. One of the founders of Reading, PA, and served as an Indian interpreter

Conrad Weiser...on my wife's side of the family.

Conrad Weiser (November 2, 1696 – July 13, 1760) was a German Pennsylvanian pioneer, farmer, monk and tanner. His most significant contributions, however, were as an interpreter and emissary in councils between Native Americans and the colonies, especially Pennsylvania.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Weiser

[grace0418]

65. My brother was one of the stars of Everwood.

Here's his imdb listing (I even get the briefest of mentions!)...

my brother

[WoodyTobiasJr]

99. For real?

I remember when he was in The Untouchables, that was a good show!

[grace0418]

124. For real.

He's coming to Chicago this weekend to visit, in fact.

[Treclo]

67. My great, great uncle

was a Senator in the South who owned a Kentucky derby winner- but I guess I'm not related to the famous one here- the horse. :) ;) And on my Dad's side- not famous but notorious- were bank robbers in the 30's who always stuffed the loot in their young kids toys. They finally were caught when the head of a doll popped up at a police checkpoint, exposing the bills inside.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

69. My cousin way back, Daniel Edgar Sickles...

Was a Union major general. Shot Francis Scott Key's son in broad daylight in D.C. and was the first person to use "temporary insanity" as a defense. Ambassador to Spain, and said to have had a thing with the queen. Got his leg blown off at Gettysburg and sent the bone and cannonball to the Smithsonian with a calling card. Insulted Mary Todd Lincoln at a dinner at the White House, and was a friend of Mark Twain's, who said that he loved his lost leg more dearly than he loved the one he had left.

:)

[AlCzervik]

71. My uncle was once the federal HUD secretary, does that count? Not very

glamorous i know.

[Sequoia]

74. If the dead count:

Cousins:

Roger Williams of Rhode Island

Henry W. Longfellow, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and Hiawatha

[Maestro]

88. Longfellow?

Wow!

[Sequoia]

107. I just found out about it this year.

My daughter was doing a family tree so I wrote to my mother's sister and she said that and also during the Revolutionary War some Hessians came over who became my mom's dad's relatives. History is so cool. Funny thing. I just finished "Mayflower" and it never mentioned the bit about Miles Standish, Priscialla and John Alden. However, when I checked out the notes page it mentioned "The Courtship of Miles Standish" which was by Longfellow and I had forgotten that he was the one who penned that poem.

[Chan790]

77. Franklin Pierce.

Unfortunately, that means that I'm related to a bunch of fuckwits named Bush as well. x(

I don't remember how though.

[CottonBear]

79. Back in the 1700s in Western NC, My Aunt Elizabeth married Davey Crockett.

Davey took another one of my ancestors (his nephew by marriage) along with him to the Alamo. That was the end of that part of the family tree. My Aunt Elizabetrh and her father (my Scots-Itrish Presbyterian grandfather who emigrated from (Northern) Ireland were both mentioned on a history channel biography of Davey Crockett.

[BrotherBuzz]

83. Do you mean the 1800's (he was born in 1786)

Did you catch the Antique Roadshow episode about the 'other' Davy Crockett mariage that didn't happen?

Davy Crockett marriage license appraised
By pbs.org
Jan 11, 2006, 14:31


 
Britney Spears' first marriage, a 15 minute altar fiasco lasted longer than Crockett's.

The king of the wild frontier's first adventure — marriage — was over before it even started when his first love left him at the altar.

Even though Davy Crockett's wedding ceremony never took place, the marriage license that had been filled out was saved, and it eventually found its way into the hands of Margaret from Tampa who brought it to the ANTIQUE ROADSHOW.

Margaret's uncle, a Davy Crockett fan, had grabbed it when the archives of the Dandridge, Tennessee courthouse were being cleaned out. They were throwing away all things that were considered "unimportant," and since the marriage never happened, they felt the marriage license had no value whatsoever. Appraiser Francis Wahlgren was delighted to see such a treasure at the ROADSHOW. He told Margaret that it was well documented that Davy Crockett was to be married and the license was issued, but his wife-to-be ran off and eloped with someone else. Francis explained that the document's significance is priceless; it gives insight into the early life of someone that we all know as a backwoods statesman and the hero of the Alamo.

The license shows that he was to marry Margaret Elder in October of 1805, when he was just 19 years old. Francis gave the document an auction estimate of $20,000 to $30,000, but since Margaret intends to keep it, he advised her to insure it for $40,000 to $50,000.

[CottonBear]

89. Sorry. Correction: 1800s. My aunt was not Margaret Elder.

My many times great grandfather came over from Ireland in the 1700s.

http://www.texasescapes.com/MikeCoxTexasTales/228-Davy-Crocketts-Widow-Elizabeth-Patton-Crockett.htm

Davey Crockett was the executor of my Grandfather's will:

ROBERT PATTON
submitted by Bruce Whitaker
Robert Patton was born in Ireland in 1741, the son of John Patton and his unidentified wife. In 1755 John and two sons, Robert and Elijah, came to America, eventually moving inland to Rowan County, NC. From there they moved into Burke Co., and Robert moved to Swannanoa in Burke County (now Buncombe County) in the 1780's. He and his wife Rebecca, established a home on the site of the present Laura Shuford's home, near the present Swannanoa Elementary School. They owned 1000 acres of both sides of the Swannanoa River.
Robert and Rebecca Patton were Presbyterians, and donated the land for the Patton Meeting House (Presbyterian) which is believed to be the first church established west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The couple also donated the land for the Patton Cemetery, located 100 feet east of the Meeting House, and believed to be the first white cemetery in Buncombe Co. The Patton Meeting House was later moved about a mile away and became the Swannanoa First Presbyterian Church (Piney Grove).

Robert and Rebecca had a family of eight children, 2 sons and 6 daughters. Rebecca Patton died sometime between 1820 and 1830, and is believed to be buried in the Patton Cemetery.

In 1831 their daughter Elizabeth Patton Crockett, wife of David Crockett, came home from West Tennessee for a visit, and when it came time for her to go back, Robert decided to move to West Tennessee with her, as he had a stake in that part of the country. He had had 1000 acres of land granted to him out there by Col. Griffith Rutherford on April 1, 1784, when it was still part of North Carolina. He died there in Gibson County, Tenn. on November 11, 1832, just about a year after making his move, and is believed that he was buried on a bluff overlooking the Obion River.

He left a will in which he named his son George Patton, and his son-in-law David Crockett to be administrators of his estate. George thought it unnecessary for him to travel to Tennessee so "Davey" Crockett became the sole administrator. Because the will left them only $10.00 each, Robert's daughters Sarah Patton Edmundson and Ann Patton McWhorter contested the will. However, they supposedly had received their share of their father's estate prior to his death.
The eight children of Robert and Rebecca Patton were as follows:

<snip>

6. Elizabeth Patton, born in Swannanoa on May 22, 1788, married, first, her first cousin James Patton, son of Elijah, her father's brother, and they moved to Tennessee. He was mortally wounded in the Creek War and died in 1814. She married (2), David Crockett, and they also settled in Gibson County, Tenn., and they had three children.

more...

Sources: Thomas, Lillian Bird. "Patton History," 1961. Census Records, Buncombe County, NC and Gibson Co., TN. Research of Sarah Y. Stockinger, and Laura Shuford.
--Heritage II, article #442, p. 289
http://www.obcgs.com/patton.htm

[Maestro]

102. That's cool

We've traced my great, great, great grandfather on my mother's father's side to a town in Cork.

[CottonBear]

120. Hello my Irish friend! I'm Scots-Irish to be exact! n/t

[tigereye]

80. one aunt by marriage is related to the acting Sorvinos...

and on my dad's side, I'm peripherally related to a well-known academic testing researcher. It impressed my grad school profs, but no one else, I'm afraid. ;)

[Magrittes Pipe]

81. Mary Kay LeTorneau

[xmas74]

104. Dude, I thought my family was fucked up!

You win.

[Magrittes Pipe]

108. Not a blood relative.

My paternal grandmother's sister's husband was the brother of Mary Kay's mom (and John Schmitz's wife -- which I find more horrible than Mary Kay).

So she isn't really RELATED related, but she did stay at my house when I was 2-ish.

And no, she didn't try to fuck me.

[xmas74]

109. I thought the really fucked up part was the

John Schmitz part.

Mary Kay-pedophilia is fucked up but you have to wonder what her life was like in the first place. Could you imagine coming from those parents and being normal?

(At least she's not blood but it's a good story to tell in a bar one night.)

[NNadir]

122. My father had an uncanny resemblence facially to Adolf Eichmann.

My father's grandfather was Austrian, but I really don't want to know. I would never dream of looking into it.

[Maestro]

85. My great, great, great, grandfather

fought in the Texas-Mexican War and founded Jacksonville, Texas. I'm much more Texan than our Pretzelnut. It's even documented here. He's the Jackson Smith mentioned in this article. And here is a picture from late in his life. Click on the pic.

[Roon]

87. My Uncle invented the mobil winch for 4WDs

You could take the winch off the front bumper and slap it on the back bumper within seconds. He sold it for 500.00.

[MadHound]

90. My grandfather, four generations back, had a town named after him

That would be Branson Missouri.

Don't blame me, my family hasn't had anything to do with the place for generations.

[querelle]

94. Yes

Robert Goulet on my mother's side of the family. I'm so proud of that fact.

Q

[Beaverhausen]

96. Jennifer Bartlett, the artist

Kind of obscure but...

http://www.artnet.com/artist/2040/jennifer-bartlett.html

She's my first cousin once removed.

[NV Whino]

106. Cool!

I love Bartlett's work!

[TimeChaser]

98. I'm a descendant of Capt. John Smith of Pocahontas fame

[China_cat]

105. I'm related to about 3/4 of the zombies

in the original Night of the Living Dead.

[Metta]

111. Aside from a couple of Kabbalistic saints and Stan Getz.

I have relatives buried in Palestinian Israel along side of Rachel from the Bible. It's a far stretch on SG, though. My mother's sister's husband's sister's husband is cousins with him. He was dead before I found this out. A great sax man.

[CBHagman]

118. That has to be the best subject line of the thread.

In addition, your family gets points for breadth and versatility.

[Metta]

138. Thanks, CB. We're nothing if not broad and somewhat versatile.

Opera and pre-WWII country blues.

[CBHagman]

141. Oh, now that's even better.

"Opera and pre-WWII country blues."

And now you've just made me think of the song about Pagliacci that Homer and Jethro did for Spike Jones years ago. :rofl:

[Metta]

144. Good one.

Ever hear any Mickey Katz? He played clarinet and did the gargles for Spike Jones. Later, he had a career doing sendups of '50s pop tunes in Yiddish/ English. Also, father of Joel Grey.

[CBHagman]

145. Yes, I have.

I didn't know about the Joel Grey connection, though I had heard he was originally Joel Katz. Six degrees of separation all over the place here!

[grannylib]

112. Probably not real famous, but my cousin is really well known in

Christian music; he writes a lot of stuff for the Catholic church in particular, and a lot of his music is used in liturgies as well. He travels a lot doing workshops and seminars with church music groups and stuff, Marty Haugen.

My dad also told me that his great uncle was the guy who really came up with something to do with the assembly line process at Ford, and Ford bought the patent or whatever from him, but I am really shaky on the details. Don't know his name either.

[CBHagman]

142. Wait. Are you saying you're related to Marty Haugen...

...or that someone in your family works with Marty Haugen?

I've seen Marty Haugen live and of course have sung his music many times. A friend of mine just went to one of his workshops.

[grannylib]

146. Yes, he's my first cousin. He sang at my wedding. His mom and my mom

were sisters (my mom is still living; Marty's mom died last September).

[Tikki]

119. An uncle invented a....

specific type of baby "teething ring".....it is still being manufactured today..
some big corporate conglomerate bought the patent many years ago.


Tikki

[pagerbear]

121. Isadora Duncan

...if my deceased grandmother is to be believed.

[SiobhanClancy]

123. Michael Collins

Irish patriot...his mother and my great-grandmother were sisters. He is my avatar.
Actually,my signature,not my avatar:)

[Forrest Greene]

125. American Impressionist Painter

...Childe Hassam was, let's see, my father's mother's mother's nephew, IIRC, making him some kind of distant cousin. Next time you see a shot of the Oval Office, look for a vertical-format painting of an American flag hanging down from a building with a parade passing below. They usually even go so far as to include it in fictional films & TV shows set there. Hassam painted it. Many people think that's a Middle Eastern name, but it's not. Pronounced HASS-um, not huh-SAHM.

This same father's mother's mother was one of the founders of the DAR -- her father (who fathered her at age 80!) was a water boy at the battle of Bunker Hill. There's also supposed to be an Ethan Allen connection there, through one of his cousins, a fellow named Remember Baker, who was beheaded in a clash with an Original Inhabitant. He died shortly thereafter.

I myself am fairly well known to people who know me.

Can we do Brushes With Greatness? I gave directions to where the Dead were playing to Jerry Garcia, shook hands with B.B. King on my eighteenth birthday, gave a cigarette of dubious origins to Buddy Guy, & I'm pretty sure I once shared a subway ride with Thomas Pynchon.

[NJ Democrats]

127. Holy Crap!

80 when she was born!? Eww...

[Forrest Greene]

133. Yeah, I Suppose

...although I must say I'm happy to have those genetics working for me. They tell me he was on, so to speak, his second or third wife when the DAR woman was born.

[CBHagman]

129. Here's the chart you need!

First of all, I am very impressed that you are related to Childe Hassam! I live in the DC area and of course have seen his work displayed in the District's galleries.

It sounds as though he was your first cousin twice removed. However, to figure it out for sure, use one of the charts in the links below.

http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~reavis/kinchart.html

http://www.fuldaohio.com/kinship_chart.htm

If you can get a copy of the article "Hey, Cuz" from this issue of Family Tree magazine, you will be able to figure out most relationships with no problem. I actually find this chart less confusing because it states more explicitly who the common ancestor is. However, the magazine might be hard to find at this point.

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/trace05.asp

Other suggestions from that same magazine:

http://www.familytreemagazine.com/morefreebies.asp

[Forrest Greene]

134. Thanks!

Those links will be useful -- people are always trying to figure out the proper terms for those steps & gradations of relatives.

I always visit Childe's work when I can. Haven't been in the Oval Office ... that's probably a good thing. It runs in the family: I'm a professional graphic designer & illustrator, all my siblings can draw well, & I have in my home gemstones cut by & sculptures carved by my father, & paintings by an aunt & uncle.

[Fountain79]

128. Supposedly a distant relative in Germany invented the Frankfurter...

I'm still waiting for my royalties.

[NJ Democrats]

137. I thank your relative for that

Cause I love hot dogs!!!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

131. My uncle's ex-wife was a State Attorney General in a conservative

Administration. Although she was a conservative, I think she was quite moderate in her views and she definitely had some very feminist and independent ideas while she was married to my uncle so she was not one of the wingnuts.

[Whoa_Nelly]

143. Mickey Mouse!

Via my maternal grandfather's cousin, Ub Iwerks (Original Frisian Dutch name Ubbe Ert Iwwerks.)

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0786853204.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

"The Hand Behind the Mouse : An Intimate Biography of Ub Iwerks"
by Leslie Iwerks

Book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786853204/103-7388918-4867023?v=glance&n=283155

Movie:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179496/


Other info:
http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID115280.asp
Ubbe Iwerks.

<snip>
If you’re an animation buff, that name should ring a really large bell. If you’re a Disney history fan (or just a trivia buff), you should probably be able to offer up some pretty amazing factoids. For example:

It was Ubbe - not Walt - who actually did the bulk of the animating on those early Mickey Mouse cartoons.
After getting tired of Disney hogging all the credit for his hard work, Iwerks struck out on his own, starting up his own animation studio in the 1930s.
And - when that effort failed - a chagrined Ubbe returned to the Mouse’s employee in the early 1940s as chief technical designer for the studio, a position that Iwerks would remain in for the next 30 years.
Which, as it turns out, was a pretty lucky break for Walt. For many of the innovative camera process and techniques that Disney staffers used in production of the company’s hit films of the 1940s, 1950s & 1960s (which helped the studio earn the reputation of having Hollywood’s top special effects operation of that era) were Ubbe Iwerks’ own inventions.
But after that, the well of Ubbe Iwerks’ stories usually runs dry. Why for? Well, in spite of all he accomplished in his lifetime and the huge part he played in the success of the Walt Disney Company, Ubbe was a modest, fairly soft spoken man. He was never one to beat his own drum. So - if that meant he had to remain a footnote in Disney corporate history, forever hidden in Walt’s enormous shadow - that was okay with him.



Here's a list of his animations:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412650/

You can read about him here:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0412650/bio

<snip>
He served as the principle animator for the first Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies. Iwerks was so prominent in the production of these shorts that it was speculated that Ub was the dominate force behind the success of Disney Productions.