Family trees- rooting out interesting ancestors

[Sovaal]

I've got more than a few interesting ones.

Grandpa was in the US Navy in WWII and fought at Okinawa, where he lost the tip of his middle finger and stole a sword off of a dead Japanese soldier.

Meanwhile his brothers on the European front stole some of Hitler's silverware.

And then there was my mom's crazy aunt. She hoarded old newspapers in her attic so she could read them later- until it caught fire and 30 years of local news went up in flames. She also used to steal flowers off of graves to make into her own arrangements to put on her husband's grave.

I can't think go any more off the top of my head right now. I'll update when I can think of them.

My Great Grandfather was station in Japan after the war ended and smuggled a rifle back. I once heard a joke that while everyone else goes off to war for glory and honor, Americans go to war for souvenirs. Kinda true when you look at all the Nambus and Arisakas brought back lol.

[Farnhamia]

My surname is mentioned in the Domesday Book

What's that?

In 1086, after 20 years on the throne of England, William I had the country surveyed. The Domesday Book (or the Book of Winchester) is the manuscript of that survey. You could look this stuff up.

[Myfanwyski]

I supposedly am related to Mary Chilton, a person on the Mayflower.

dont know if link might give you any clues(apologies, if somebodies alredy linked something)

https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=e ... &n=chilton

but at least it'll have a good slab of the tree

there are many things like this that people have researched before - especially with historical people or unusual names,

[Nui-ta]

I don't know much about my family's ancestry. I've actually been thinking about taking a DNA test just to see what I might be made of.

What I do know is that my family are all descendants of Portuguese and other such sailors that stopped off in India in the 1500's and set up shop there, though to what extent this penetrates the family tree, I can't definitively say.

There might be some Dutch, some British, some other things, and some Arabic in me too --- I'm not sure. Obviously, there's Indian in me.

However, there's not much I can do besides travelling to India and searching church records to find out anything else.

[Cupofchar]

Nui-ta

don't know if any of these are any good for you

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-trace-ba ... s-in-India

http://www.city-data.com/forum/genealog ... india.html

https://forebears.co.uk/india

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/familyhist ... s_01.shtml

- one thing I did glance from looking though some of these- there are pandits who keep family records(written in sanskrit) going back thousands of years- or something like that. Looks like your right- but it would be an interesting journey.

[Pax Nerdvana]

I've got more than a few interesting ones.

Grandpa was in the US Navy in WWII and fought at Okinawa, where he lost the tip of his middle finger and stole a sword off of a dead Japanese soldier.

Meanwhile his brothers on the European front stole some of Hitler's silverware.

And then there was my mom's crazy aunt. She hoarded old newspapers in her attic so she could read them later- until it caught fire and 30 years of local news went up in flames. She also used to steal flowers off of graves to make into her own arrangements to put on her husband's grave.

I can't think go any more off the top of my head right now. I'll update when I can think of them.

My Great Grandfather was station in Japan after the war ended and smuggled a rifle back. I once heard a joke that while everyone else goes off to war for glory and honor, Americans go to war for souvenirs. Kinda true when you look at all the Nambus and Arisakas brought back lol.

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

[Kubumba Tribe]

My Great Grandfather was station in Japan after the war ended and smuggled a rifle back. I once heard a joke that while everyone else goes off to war for glory and honor, Americans go to war for souvenirs. Kinda true when you look at all the Nambus and Arisakas brought back lol.

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

Also, skulls and jawbones.

[Xmara]

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

Also, skulls and jawbones.

There’s two types of people

[Internationalist Bastard]

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

Also, skulls and jawbones.

I remember one guy in Mali got booted cuz he cut fingers off terrorists. Never got it

[The Two Jerseys]

Also, skulls and jawbones.

I remember one guy in Mali got booted cuz he cut fingers off terrorists. Never got it

Apparently Gurkhas go for the entire head...

[Myfanwyski]

My uncle was a natural at metalwork and ended up being a farrier. The skills for it seemed to be inherited as my mother's side of of the family has been a long line of blacksmiths. This seems to be true of sportsmen and artistic people - my skills must lie elsewher in the family tree-I wouldn't be surprised if the only thing I have is a liking for beer(from both sides of the family). Hic! next bottle wont be in the fridge much longer.

[Nui-ta]

-snip-

That was really nice of you! Unfortunately, thumbing through the various sites, they're largely exclusive to people who can trace their British ancestry in India.

I'm not 100% sure if I have British ancestry. The only people I am absolutely sure of who passed through my family tree from Europe are the Portuguese (because of all the Latin last names). It gets increasingly confusing as I go up the list because many women in my family have their father's first name as their surname --- according to my grandmother, my great-grandmother's maiden name was her father's first name (Benjamin). His last name and everything after him are lost to anyone living. They're either in church records, or nowhere at all.

[Auze]

I found family search to be useful. Course, my family has an interesting (and somewhat depressing) history from the last 100 years.

[Sovaal]

My Great Grandfather was station in Japan after the war ended and smuggled a rifle back. I once heard a joke that while everyone else goes off to war for glory and honor, Americans go to war for souvenirs. Kinda true when you look at all the Nambus and Arisakas brought back lol.

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

From what I've read Lugers where especially sought after.

[Farnhamia]

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

From what I've read Lugers where especially sought after.

The samurai sword of the European Theater.

[Cetacea]

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

Also, skulls and jawbones.

I know a guy (in his early 60s now)who has a necklace of human tooth which were collected over the years

[Kaitjan]

My grandfathers uncle lived in a small village in Siberia during the Russian Civil War. One day, the Whites roll in, and arrest him on suspicion of Bolshevik sympathies. After a short trial, they decide to execute him. One of the soldiers escort uncle out of the village to shoot him in the forest, but not before confiscating most of his clothes and boots. This is in the middle of winter. In the forest, the soldier tells uncle to run for it. Somehow, in freezing sub-zero conditions and almost naked, my uncle manages to get all the way to the neighbouring village, where he is taken in by a couple of relatives. Come spring, he joins up with the Red Army.

[An Alan Smithee Nation]

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

From what I've read Lugers where especially sought after.

I can remember visiting a friend's gran's house when I was young, and the fire place was absolutely covered in war souvenirs. The fire irons were in a polished shell casing, smaller ones were used as vases, there were polished hand grenades, bayonets on the wall above...

[Myfanwyski]

There was a mention of someone's forebear being interred in a POW camp(Japanese, I think). This reminded me of something I heard about the Germans keeping immaculate records of things during the second world war- just did a brief search and they even kept records of lice inspections of Jewish inmates. There seems to be records on POWs going back to 1715.

I watched a Time Team program recently about a Napoleanic POW camp and it showed examples of some of there artistic work -stunning. It also mentioned that some got so bored they gambled so much that they even lost the clothes they wore. These soles were known as 'Les Miserables' according to the program and i wouldn't be surprised if these naked folk were the origin of 'haven't a stitch to wear'.

[Ethel mermania]

Grandfather was a professional race car driver and his brother helped invent fiber optic cables. Also, according to lore which is notoriously sloppy we were the “bad guys” in Irish history (land owners)

According to family lore, great uncle mickey taught jerry Lewis how to tap dance. Uncle mickey was a vaudeville performer in his youth, was a phenominal dancer, and the times and places do match up. Sooo....

[Faas Wilkes Booth]

On my dad's side, revolutionary in the Southern USA.

On my other dad's side, Dutch footballer from Rotterdam.

[Pax Nerdvana]

Grandfather was a professional race car driver and his brother helped invent fiber optic cables. Also, according to lore which is notoriously sloppy we were the “bad guys” in Irish history (land owners)

According to family lore, great uncle mickey taught jerry Lewis how to tap dance. Uncle mickey was a vaudeville performer in his youth, was a phenominal dancer, and the times and places do match up. Sooo....

That's cool.

And not just Ariskas. Helmets, flags, Lugers, and other stuff, which could end up making good things to show your grandkids.

From what I've read Lugers where especially sought after.

Yeah, and helmets.

[Myfanwyski]

An interesting 1/2 ancestor- i think one of my great, great grandmother's daughter from a previous marriage had a kid which was called Cowlip Marshall.

Shurely not? but that's how it looks and has been transcribed for the website as.

Any ideas of a name this might be.

need to look into this a bit more to see if this 'unfortunate' youngster appears on another census or is recorded on bmd certificates.

There seem to be a few other interesting christian names- some of which may be surnames of ancestors or something.

Looking through a trace your ancestors book I saw that some puritans named their kids after psalms- an example given -
'Bind their kings in chains and their nobles in links of iron'.

bit of a mouthful - but shouting for their kid could be called sedition?

[Katganistan]

Isn't it amazing everyone ends up related to someone famous, and no one to the village idiot?

[Luziyca]

Isn't it amazing everyone ends up related to someone famous, and no one to the village idiot?

It's probably because the typical village idiot tends to have few, if any, records that they have ever existed, while people who are famous tend to have more records about them, which increases the likelihood that they will be remembered in a few hundred years.