Are you related to any famous people?
By webduck
@webduck (238)
United States
January 26, 2007 3:53pm CST
I have been doing my own, and my husband's, family genealogy for many years now, and in doing so we have found ourselves related to several 'famous' people. For instance, I descend from Robert the Bruce through my Poindexter family. Are you related to any famous people? Not just kings, queens, etc., but anyone that has ever been noted in history.
1 person likes this
9 responses
@MadameLaCouyan (149)
• United States
27 Jan 07
Oh there are a few. William Tecumseh Sherman was a cousin and so was Ethan Allen. And then there's Sir Robert Dudley off of my Giffard line and some other interesting characters. Documentation is a must for stuff like this! What I enjoy the most is disproving family legends. For years people in our family have been very proud of the fact that they were decended from Daniel Boone. Fact or fiction? Definitely fiction.
1 person likes this
@webduck (238)
• United States
28 Jan 07
What?! You too?! LOL Yes, we have a Boon (no e) line that would have been in the right place at the right time, and my uncle used to even tell people he was related to ol' Daniel, but alas, no proof of that exists. We are however, related to Doc Mulkey Boon, who had some mental health issues.
@MadameLaCouyan (149)
• United States
30 Jan 07
It almost seems like mental health issues were prevalent in all families...lol. That happens to be one of my favorite entries in the census! Funny how one little piece of data can be so helpful in building a medical pedigree. I gave a class on Genetics and Building a Health History last fall and you would not believe how many people actually brought up mental health issues during the discussion. It was unbelieveable! It seemed that everyone had an uncle or a grandmother or some other relative that was a few lightbulbs short of a pack.
Thanks for getting me thinking today. And funny about that Boone thing. Small world!
1 person likes this
@iamiramadnama (421)
• Canada
30 Jan 07
I am related to a few famous people that I know of. I'm related to Robert the Bruce through my great great grandfather which I found out doing a school project on our last names. I'm related to Donald Sutherland (Kiefer Sutherland), they're actually from my home town and we share a cousin, and I'm related to Harry Connick Jr. through marriage, which I think is pretty cool.
1 person likes this
@busstoptoyshop (136)
•
31 Jan 07
Closest we can come so far is my wife has the first person to carry out a Blood Transfusion in Scotland in her tree. Hmmm, not that famous... I'm desperately trying to prove a link to the landed gentry of Dumfries, so far without success. The family names and places say there must be a link. Aside from that, we have the usual collection of sheep-stealers and philanderers, but mostly just plain ordinary folk who are nonetheless fascinating.
1 person likes this
@trouble4u2avoid (2915)
• United States
28 Jan 07
no, I haven't gone back to far yet, but one of my relatives claim I am related to Jack PAAR, but I have found nothing to prove that theory.
@webduck (238)
• United States
28 Jan 07
One of the things I would suggest for anyone who would like to research their family but they don't have a lot of money is to go to Rootsweb. That is a free site and you can do many kinds of searches there for locality, surnames, and they have some great advice tools too.
@Soozzeekew (41)
• United States
26 Jan 07
Supposedly, I had several ancestors at Jamestown. One ancestor, Thomas Savage, was said to be the translator between Pocohanta's father and the settlers. I haven't got a clue if it's true. This information just comes from trees others have done.
@webduck (238)
• United States
28 Jan 07
Even trees that others have done can have some bad info. I always caution my own family to not take anything I have given them as "proof" unless it has at least three different forms of documentation: like three census records, say from 1850, 1860, and 1870. Even then, you have to be careful and look for other types of docs.
@albert2412 (1782)
• United States
21 Feb 07
Hello. Since my grandmother was descended from Elizabeth Ann Seton and Franklin D Roosevelt is also descended from Elizabeth All Seton Franklin d Roosevelt and I are cousins. John Nance Garner is my wife's grandfather (her grandmother was Garner's maid). Have awonderful day. Albert
@Patranye (35)
• United States
23 Feb 07
Yes, actually I was quite pleased and surprised to find out that my ggg grandmother is a Mayflower descendant. There is also ancillary family descended from Myles Standish from the same era. It's all quite interesting really! Supposedly my mother's surname goes back to William the Conquerer and the crown. I haven't gotten quite that far yet though!
@ashlee914 (1)
• United States
9 Dec 08
I am a descendant of Robert the Bruce as well. My grandfathers name is Robert Bruce and his father before him and so on. We have a family crest and a detailed genealogy book dating back to the 1200s. I have found so many people related to him that I've been joking that I'm afraid to date because we will probably be family or something.lol.
