Famous Ancestors/Relatives

[SquishierCobra]

Why am I making this thread? I just found out that I am distantly related to some pretty famous people.

Like President Calvin Coolidge, authors Edgar Rice Burroughs (who wrote Tarzan) and Laura Ingalls Wilder (who wrote Little House on the Prairie), and a crapload of others.

 

[Tailsy]

Gerard Butler crashed in my uncle's bath once.

 

[Murkrow]

I should have an answer to this question because my dad does tonnes of family tree, but I can't think of anyone famous he's found a direct link to.


I think he found a connection to someone in this picture, but that might have turned out to be untrue.

 

[Tarvos]

Absolutely zero interesting people.

Or well, I probably am, amazingly distantly seventh cousin 4 times removed or something, given the size of my family tree.

 

[goldenquagsire]

My great-great-grandpa (I think that's the right number of 'greats'?) on my mother's side was the Chief Rabbi of Britain in the early 20th century, according to my grandma. That's about the most famous person I'm related to...

 

[shy ♡]

Gerard Butler crashed in my uncle's bath once.

Was your uncle still occupying the bath?

 

[Tailsy]

Was your uncle still occupying the bath?

No, but that definitely would have been a more interesting story. (They were both law students at Glasgow at the same time. Fun, fun, fun, fun lookin forward to the weekend etc.)

 

[Datura]

My ancestors from a few generations ago were higher-ups in the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (Nazi Party) and I'm pretty sure some not-too-distant relatives are/were active Klan leaders. Fuck my family, seriously.

 

[Stormecho]

Some dude on my dad's side was a Spanish duke who travelled to Poland and got some land in what became Ukraine a few centuries back.

...That's it, really. I don't know anyone else that is fairly important or famous and definitely not anyone recent.

 

[Cap'n Sofa]

The guy who invented mirrors on cars. If you go really far back, like 700+ years, you get a lot of royalty type people from the British Isles and France, including Henry I, Duncan I, Charlemagne, and a whole bunch of other people, some of whom have very silly names like Hextilda.

 

[Phantom]

The guy who invented mirrors on cars. If you go really far back, like 700+ years, you get a lot of royalty type people from the British Isles and France, including Henry I, Duncan I, Charlemagne, and a whole bunch of other people, some of whom have very silly names like Hextilda.

Totally read 'Hextilda' wrong. Guess what I read it as?

Anywho, I have no idea. I know someone wrote a book on my family, dating it back to colonial times. Apparently they came from somewhere near what is now Maine. I sort of want to ask my gram now.

 

[Superbird]

My friend's great grandfather was apparently involved in creating Mountain Dew.

 

[bulbasaur]

Huh, uh my grandfather was the chief engineer for Beijing's subway and owns a commercial centre somewhere in Beijing :/ Farther back I wouldn't know.

 

[M&F]

My uncle plays bass for a moderately famous band.

 

[ultraviolet]

One of my cousins is an actor who's been on a few TV ads here and he writes his own musicals and stuff iirc. And my great-grandmother used to live on the same street as Rolf Harris when they were kids! apparently he was an annoying little shit, too.

 

[Dannichu]

Apparently, my godfather (once married to my aunt, but they've been divorced for nearly two decades and I've not seen him in years) is related to Scott of the Antarctic.

Nothing especially exciting other than that, except if you Wiki my surname, the following comes up: "[...] The Rundle family was then centered in the southwest, where amongst other things - and like many in the area - the family was a prominent member of the seafaring community and owned a large number of taverns until the mid seventeenth century." Which I have taken to mean "The Rundles WERE ALL PIRATES :DDDDD".

 

[Phantom]

I found out I have a cousin who is an active duty US Navy SEAL. That's cool.

 

[Cap'n Sofa]

Oh! I forgot: one branch of my ancestors came over from the Mayflower, and another guy came to America possibly fleeing the law as his immigration records are pretty much nonexistent. In the islands of North Carolina one of my ancestors was some folktale superman.

Family history is fun, man.

 

[Flora]

Some guy on my dad's side founded a village in Scotland!

uh, other than that not really

 

[Monoking]

I'm releated to the guy who played Doc Brown in the the 'Back To the Future' movies.
:D
And Charlemagne, if you go far enough back. I know there's a bunch more, but those are the only ones I can 'member at the moment.