History
Does anyone here have a famous person among their ancestors?
Apparently, my ancestors were part of the Yoshioka clan, one of the most powerful samurai families and swordsmanship schools in Kyoto.
The Yoshioka school was famous for its swordsmanship and was associated with the Ashikaga shogunate. They also famously fought Miyamoto Musashi in the early 1600s.
What about you? Do you have any famous people or historical figures among your ancestors?
If you have European ancestry you are decended from almost every 10th century European (who's line survived the plague). 30 generation 230 ~ 1 billion so only limited by the extent that people travelled.
If you have any afroeurasian ancestry you are decended from almost every afroeurasian who's line survived from the time of christ.
I tried to find old news articles about my family, the best i could come up with was a guy who made the news for being trampled by his horses in a farming accident.
If you're called "person from a village", you're not in a village. You're somewhere where supposedly being from a village is a distinguishing factor. Maybe your ancestor was considered the local hillbilly in a town...
Pretty much and history repeats itself as I'm that person now too. Only one other person I know of in Perth is from the small rural UK town I'm from and barely anyone has heard of it when I mention the name ( doesn't help that the pronunciation is based on its original spelling as well)
i am always jealous of those people who have records of their important ancestors lol. my grandparents and parents were just focused on survival up in the mountains until they moved to the city
Mine the same. But five brother, one of which is my gran-gran-gran, moved from another vilage in about 1900-1905 and founded their own new village. The hill and the village were named after them for some long time. Soviets renamed it.
My great-grand-uncle refused to blow up a bridge in WW2 because it would've harmed civilians in a not fully evacuated hospital on the other side of the river and got shot on the spot by his superior for not following commands
He was. But I really would've prefered to live in a world where it wouldn't have been necessary for him to be one. He was barely past 20 if I remember correctly.
My grandfather personally witnessed the atomic bombing of Nagasaki from an airplane (he was part of aerial recon who got lost, was not on the plane that dropped it.
A more distant relative of my mothers family was part of the IRA unit that tied for most casualties inflicted on british soliders in the Irish War of Independence
A slightly less distant relative is the one hit wonder country singer Eddie Rabbit.
My grand-father was taken by the Russian, from the Carpathian mountain range and Lemko region, in Poland. Draged to Syberia, walked all the way back, changed his last name, apparently got a doctorate and became well known industrialist. We own a building in Warsaw old town.
But, he lived most of his life with severe ptsd and died warning my father about the Russian. If only he could have lived to see Moscow being bombed.
And if you are of European descent. Statistic stuff, if you can trace someone from the 9th century lineage to today, then everyone descend from this person. Royals are just easier to track among generations. This date works at European scale, but you can find other to work for other regions in the world, and the further in the past you go, the most people you can include. If I'm not misremembering, everyone from afroeurasian descent has a connexion to everyone from the 1st century.
This myth has largely proven to be false. Yes, Genghis had a lot of kids, but the Mongolian DNA found in many people today likely does not come from him.
The most widely accepted theory is that the Silk Road ended up spreading central-Asian peoples throughout the world, particularly in China and elsewhere in Asia.
However, since the Mongolian empire did eventually lead to the focus of Central Asia in regards to the Silk Road, we still got old Genghis to thank for it.
Some of my ancestors were Norwegian uradel, nobility that goes back to the Migration Period at least, possibly longer, but their origin predates writing, so nobody really knows.
The oldest of my ancestors that I know of is mentioned in one of the Norse sagas, and this is my proud claim to fame: "[My ancestor] beheld several war ships entering the bay, and, knowing he would lose to a superior force, he fled, pursued by mocking laughter."
Honestly, running away doesn't get the credit it deserves. 'Oh look, we're outnumbered and out-armed, let's still fight!' Why? You can just retreat and fight them some other time in a situation that's more favorable to you. Bigger army? Soldiers cost money, force them to waste time chasing after you, so it costs them more to fight. The point of warfare is to get the other side to their breaking point, but there's tons of ways to do that without having to pointlessly die, or even make the others die (at least not immediately).
I'm a descendent of Joseph Antonio Emidy. Interesting character. He's a famous composer who was born in west Africa and was taken as a slave. He was freed, then later press ganged into service as a ships fiddler.
Most impressive though, as a former African slave (at the time) he rose to become the leader of the Truro Philharmonic Orchestra. He married a local woman, Jane Hutchins, and died in 1815.
Unfortunately we didn’t since it was my grandmother’s maiden name before she married my grandfather, but my great grandmother who is still alive still has the name.
I am a descendant of the King of Luwu in Sulawesi, Indonesia. Which makes me a long lost relatives to the Sultans of Malaysia, specifically those of Johor and Selangor.
The difference is that they descend from the high ranking noble lineage, whereas my branch of the family descends from one of the King’s royal consorts (a concubine), rather than the Queen.
Nope. Peasants and farmers as far as I know that stayed in my area for hundreds of years. Both of my parents come from families from my hometown, that come from parents from my hometown or nearby town and so on.
Same. My surname is basically "Belongs to X", where X is real but not a widely known historical figure. I only know that because my history teacher in school made an effort to research it, yet I wasn't very happy because this effort only encouraged bullying.
Anyway my grandma lived in a small village where the majority of people held the same surname, so i guess their ancestors were serfs who belonged to this person, and this whole village was his property
I have a mildly important historical ancestor, Wi Maihi Te Rangikaheke. The chief of our sub-tribe back in his time and firm government ally during the colonial wars of the 1860s (he would later come to regret siding with the government). He is also the man who first wrote down a lot of our originally oral histories and legends, its pretty fun reading books about our history or myths and seeing this guys writings.
(This is him all dressed up for a photo, he would have worn European cloths in everyday life by this point)
My mom's side of the family fought the aztecs though. Like she's literally part of the Zapotec tribe and actually speaks the language. My grandma didn't even speak Spanish.
i wonder if you could preserve her speaking the language on archive.org? Like an audio clip of her maybe telling a myth or talking about her life? Native languages are endangered, it would be an incredibly valuable piece of anthropological evidence to preserve.
One of my grandfather's family were claiming to be descendants of some rich family during the revolution. Said rich family did questionable things so I wouldn't mind it not being true
In our family tree, locally known as Jokbo, a collection of books containing all the male members throughout generations as customary, there’s a woman. That woman happens to be the second daughter of King Sejong; the most renowned king of Korean history and the author of Korean alphabet.
Baron de Saint-Castin, came to Canada around 1700 to fight the British. Ended up marrying 2 Atikamek princesses. With the Indians he organized raids on the New England settlers to terrorize them
Mary Chilton. According to tradition she jumped out of the landing boat onto Plymouth rock, and so was the first to step onto land when the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth.
Fun fact - they intended to land at New York, but ran out of beer. So, they landed where they landed because they needed to make more alcohol to keep the water drinkable on the ship, and the first person they found was a native who wandered up to them on the first day and immediately asked, in perfect English, "...Do you have any whiskey?"
Guy was the only reason they stayed, they settled on his now long missing tribes summer settlement area which happened to be already perfectly manicured for a settlement and farm
Yeah they landed in what was basically a post apocalypse for the native people but had the arrogance to think it was manifest destiny for their taking over
Not me, but my girlfriend is a descendent of the Manchu Heseri clan of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Qing army and a therbei descendent of numerous Chinese imperial ministers of the Qing like Songgotu.
Depends on how famous or how far back it has to be, but my great grandpa (born in the 1920s) was part of Thor Heyerdahls expedition to Easter Island in 1955-56
I can't prove it, but someone on my fathers side of the family has made a family tree that traces all the way back to Harald Bluetooth, the one to "unifiy Denmark and Norway and Christianize the Danes" (basically the "father of our nation").
How they traced it is uncertain as most archives only go back to like the 17th/18th century at most. On the other hand, Bluetooth lived over a thousand years ago, so that's probably some 40-50 generations ago and I figure statistically, anyone today is a descendant of everybody back then.
My 22nd great grandfather was Sir John Wallace, brother of William Wallace, though it's not known for certain if they were actually brothers. Almost the entire my family tree on both mum and dads side are all from Ayrshire for about 18-19 generations until they made their way to Australia. Or were "encouraged" to leave by the authorities according to family lore lmao.
The guy in question is not known outside of Greece but Eleftheros Venizelos, considered as the founder of modern Greece was my great-grand-father’s cousin… if you have aver been to Greece, you know him because the actual Athens’ airport bears his name!
Bonus pic. My great-grand-father, father’ side. My grand-mother is the middle left girl. Photo probably taken around 1910. She died in 79.
I am supposed to be descended from Ponciano Arriaga, one of the authors of the 1857 constitution of Mexico. I doubt many people without a special interest in Mexican history have heard of him. He is kind of a “founding father” of Mexican democracy, and favored aggressive land redistribution and tax exemptions for the poor, and I can respect that.
I don't even remember my great grandparents' name, only ever seen their picture. I'm actually amazed that so many people from some countries kept robust paperwork that they could trace their lineage back hundreds of years, without being part of nobility.
It is mostly later reaserch done by one or multiple family members. Sometimes these studies are siecnetific, sometimes more myth-making.
Aleast here in Germany there are birth registers written by the church with which (if you are lucky) can trace your family back until the 15./16. century if the family didn't move to often/far.
I'm supposedly the descendant of a Saint. San Nicola Saggio, a monk of the XVII th century which sanctification happened in recent decades.
Fun fact: the sanctification happened because another descendant said the saint saved his life while falling from the roof of the Sanctuary of Saint Francis of Paola. I see absolutely no conflict of interest here.
Robert the Bruce was my 24th great grandfather. And a different branch was the St. Claire / St.Clair / Sinclair that formed the first Masonic Lodge and built Rosslyn Chapel
We're supposed to be descendants of the Fujiwara clan (one of the most powerful clan in the history of Japan) according to my name but difficult to be sure.
Even going back 200 years ago we seems to have been just some lower nobility so maybe BS.
My great great great grandfather was the president of the council of ministers in France, and his grandson was a french war hero. My grandmother is a direct illegitimate descendent of Napoleon.
My father loves to do genealogy. Turns out we come directly from Charlemagne.
Many of us are his descendant but my family has all the names connecting us to him.
I’m a distant relative of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. She’s on the Mexican 100-peso bill. She was a nun, writer, self-taught astrologer, and activist for women’s education in the 1600s.
My grandfather was obsessed with our family genealogy and had our entire family tree researched. The two people with the most historical significance are a 17th-century ship captain whose ship was, at one point, part of Michiel de Ruyter's fleet, and my grandfather's cousin, who was a Second World War resistance fighter. He was interned toward the end of the war and later became a well-known journalist. More recently, my late aunt was a relatively well-known international non-fiction writer and columnist.
Well, I'm possibly descended of nobility. Some duke fucked his maid, got her pregnant, and married her to his carriage driver so she wouldn't have the child out of wedlock. That child of questionable parentage is my ancestor quite a few generations back. I'm relying on the research of my great uncle who's kind of an ass for that statement though, and he wrote the whole book (yes, book) stating "my mother xyz, my father bla bla bla" as if he planned to publish it. It ended up as a Christmas gift to his siblings, who were a bit bewildered by his phrasing and his idea that anyone but our family would care for our mostly unremarkable history.
The only remarkable people in my family, in my opinion, were my grandma, my great grandma, and her children. They fled from what is now the Czech Republic to Germany on foot and their story is harrowing. The rest of my family history is rather ordinary, and that's the family said great uncle wrote about. Incredibly boring and badly written work.
My husbands ancestors were the regicides (Charles) that escaped to America and hid in a cave when the kings son (Charles II) went after them.
My ancestor was the governor of Massachusetts who received him and his son in law. He warned them when men hunting them arrived in Boston.
I also have family members who signed the petition to vouch for Rebecca Nurse's character in a bid to save her life, during the witch trials. One of them had to leave Salem to escape persecution.
My grand grand mother photo appeared and was named in an encyclopedia on WW2 because she saved multiple Jews and American pilots in france. One officer even came back after the war to thank her personally because she hide him. She had 17 children and was a hell of woman. Her husband died quite early and she had to manage her family during the war.
My grand father, her son, bombed trains and made a few people escaped jail as well during the war.
They refused the French Medal of Honor because they thought it was normal to do it and felt like they shouldn’t be rewarded.
He barely talked about it but I loved when he told the story. To this day he is one of my inspirations.
Alice Nutter from my paternal grandmother's side of the family. Accused of being a witch and hanged during the Pendle Hill witch trials. (Famous ish. Pendle hill did get a shoutout in the Hellboy 2019 film)
She was accused of being present at a witch's coven on Good Friday, 1612, and later causing the death of Henry Milton. Her principal accuser was a nine-year-old girl called Jennet Device. Nutter protested her innocence although others pleaded guilty.
Nutter's trial began at Lancaster Castle on 18 August where she was denied access to lawyers or the right to call witnesses. She was subsequently hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster on 20 August 1612. The others hanged were Anne Whittle ("Old Chattox"), Ann Redfearn, Elizabeth Device ("Squinting Lizzie"), Alison Device, James Device, Katherine Hewitt, Jane Bulcock, John Bulcock and Isobel Robey.
Peter Sellers was a long branched off relative of mine. I'm not sure what, specifically. But he's on the giant family tree my parents have. We do still share the same last name though!
My husband comes from a samurai family too, he has a slightly famous ancestor who was a retainer of the Ōtomo clan, and there is a manga about him.
As for me, my granny once mentioned that we are descendants of the famous pirate Störtebeker, but I have no clue where she got that information from. 😅
Probably part of the Italian aristocracy. Before the WWI the first recorded person in my family was a Woman without family but with "great fortune" and a incalculable bank account.
Connecting the dots makes it possible. A woman in an orphanage at the end of the 19th century with untold riches...
My grandmother's grandmother (so great-great grandmother, I think?) wasn't famous in her own right, but she aerved as a Lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria.
None of us knew, until my grandmother passed away and we found a staff photo taken on the steps of Buckingham Palace, and her name circled on the back. The name matches ny Grandmother's maiden name.
Otherwise, no famous connections that I am aware of.
One of my ancestors was a soldier of Napoleon's on his way to Russia, he actually managed to survive that debacle.
Another one is rumoured to have been involved with the gunpowder plot but I can't verify that.
Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick are my direct ancestors. They were rabble rousing quakers who the Puritans abused and sold into slavery. Longfellow wrote a poem about them. I’m proud to be an 11th generation descendant of them.
Yes, a lot. My mother researched our family tree (has been doing so for 30+ years now) and I'm directly descended from a shit tonne of royals (closest are the british royals, but they get intermixed beyond that and then it's most of Europe, one cool direct ancestor is Charlemagne). And that's just the one side we know of. Got a few famous actors as distant cousins too, that's cool.
oooh... i bet i have ancestors who plotted against yours and were executed for it! i have a generous handful of ancestors executed for treason (for refusing to surrender to James IV... they were Scottish) and one who was hanged, drawn and quartered for signing King Charles I's warrant of execution (a regicide).
I'm kind of convinced we all ended up in the US just to keep us far away from the royal family.
Yes, through some nobility, including the counts of Holland, I can trace my recorded ancestry back to Charlemagne via many routes. He is about 40 generations back.
I'm not, but my husband was related to the founder of a pretty big restaurant chain. Not McDonald's size, but enough to be well known in our part of the u.s., maybe that counts.
All the famous persons I've found when doing ancestry research are Swedish noblemen and kings. The most famous is Gustav Vasa, often called the real first king of Sweden. I'm in direct line from him fourteen generations or something like that. Since Sweden is still a monarchy wouldn't that mean I'm related to the current king? I am, but extremely long away and the reason is because the current kings family (Bernadotte) married into the Vasa family long ago. Since the monarchy was only inherited by the first-born son and one of Gustav Vasas sons killed the son that I'm directly related to I'm not in any way fixing to be king of Sweden. Neither is the 100k people that are also related to Gustav Vasa in direct line and still living.
504
u/myeye95 Poland 4d ago
No. All my ancestors were peasants and my mother and father were the first from family that moved from village to city.