Are you a descendant of a major historical figure?

Descended from Benedict Arnold, OP? Or are you a Booth?

How many generations removed, OP?

The family life says so. No. However, I did visit the historical mansion with my former boss. She said she saw the resemblance. Haven't shared with others except SO and best friend. I think no1curr anyway.

R3 here. "Family lore..."

A few... America isn't that big at the top.

I have a French Impressionist painter on my mother’s side

No. I’m descended from a very old English family but no one notable. One of my ancestors was an Abbot during the Wars of the Roses. Another was a land owner mentioned in some tax records dating to Richard II. And another (in the 18thC) was arrested three times for bestiality.

Mazel tov

Not a MAJOR historical figure, but my grandfather was the prosecutor for the Sam Shepard case...he was county prosecutor for something like 25 years. He brought Eliot Ness to Cleveland and went on to be one of the 3 founders of Cleveland Marshall Law School which is now part of Cleveland State.

[quote]How many generations removed, OP?

From the eldest historical figure in question, seven.

My Great (times 5, I think) Uncle was Sir Christopher Wren, the British Architect.

...I forgot, he was also the prosecutor during the Kingsbury Run murders

Little Debbie is my adopted Memaw

I briefly went out with a descendant of Millard Fillmore. Fillmore was his middle name. I moved on, preferring to meet a descendant of a better president.

I used to tell neighborhood children my real mother was Betty Grable.

Long before there were rumors of an affair, I would tell my Mother that I was the biological child of Bobby Kennedy & Marilyn Monroe.

[quote] I moved on, preferring to meet a descendant of a better president.

That’s a pretty low bar.

My 28th Great-Grandfather was William the Conqueror.

Not me, but I have a close friend who is descended from John Wilkes Booth.

my great grandfather's cousin was Pope Pius Xl

Am related to a former First Lady still living.

Which one, R21? The only formers now are Rosalyn, Hillary, Laura and Michelle.

A certain Royal family of Britain - but not the krauts there now.

Related to the Norman kings of Sicily. Hi, Uncle Roger and Uncle William!

[quote] My 28th Great-Grandfather was William the Conqueror.

I think I read somewhere that literally every human currently living is a descendant of William the Conqueror.

If you go back 7 generations, you have so many other ancestors that having one famous one that far back doesn't seem that impressive.

Sorry, OP.

Ancestry.com asks me for advice.

I am a descendant of Charlemagne. Seriously! I am.

Guaire, King of Connacht

R23 The Plantagenets?

Medieval warlord Niall Noígíallach and King David.

I am related to Frances Folsom Cleveland. I am dressed as her as I type because I am depressed and rather drunk.

My 12th great grandfather was Roger Williams , who founded RI. Pretty cool considering he left Massachusetts due to religious persecution and stated that anyone in RI can worship as they please. Thanks, Grampy Rog

A relatively unknown historical figure. I have a line that goes back to Jamestown in 1610. There were damned few people in Jamestown in 1610. That he was there and worked to make it a success is historic.

R33, our relatives probably knew each other. Mine was Elder John Crandall.

[quote] If you go back 7 generations, you have so many other ancestors that having one famous one that far back doesn't seem that impressive.

Two famous ones, actually. And they’re really famous.

My great grandfather invented the device of tabbing dictionaries with cut out semi circles that show where each letter of the alphabet start.

Where’s my parade?

Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Have you seen, A Lion in Winter? That’s them.

[quote]A relatively unknown historical figure. I have a line that goes back to Jamestown in 1610. There were damned few people in Jamestown in 1610. That he was there and worked to make it a success is historic.

President James Monroe through my father's family, who got to Jamestown in 1618

On my mother's side who arrived 1631, a senior officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War that began his service with the French and Indian War. He and his regiment fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and spent the winter of 1777 to 1778 in Valley Forge with Washington's army.. Dies with lots of land and owning 35 slaves, so there's that.

My father wrote novels.

Amateurs. Our family Royal records go back to the 1st century CE.

I am a direct descendant of John Putnam of Salem witch trials fame. I don't know if this runs in the family but I did enjoy telling on my siblings as a child.

I've been doing genealogy on my family for 40 years (!). I've found exactly zero ancestors who did a single thing of note, except farm their farm.

I've found Ancestry.com to be very useful for this pursuit. I have learned to be extremely wary when the research starts to connect me to someone famous. Every family would love to be connected to George Washington. When you start getting near to him in time and location, you begin fine records of women giving birth at 60 years of age and living to 110 years old. All to stretch a useful name to make the connection.

I always forget that I am related to Teddy Roosevelt but I can't remember how.

I'm my own grandpa

[quote] Every family would love to be connected to George Washington.

Fun fact: Washington had scarlet fever as a child, which rendered him sterile.

[quote] always forget that I am related to Teddy Roosevelt but I can't remember how.

By your similar mastadon chompers?

[quote] always forget that I am related to Teddy Roosevelt but I can't remember how.

By your similar mastadon chompers?

[quote]Fun fact: Washington had scarlet fever as a child, which rendered him sterile.

Yup. That's why he's a genealogical mess. He had 9 siblings, but no issue of his own. Every connection to him is indirect.

My grandfather's family was kind of prominent, and in Southern Missouri there are a bunch of streets, towns, and various areas named after the family, plus a couple of great aunts married somewhat famous men.

I don't go to Springfield MO that often but when I do, my last name does sometimes attract attention, which I don't like, because if they know anything about the family they figure out who I am real quick and I get some variant of, "Oh, your grandmother was the crazy lady, right?" She wasn't crazy, she had early onset Alzheimer's and rich/famous grandpa dumped her the second she got sick, telling everyone she was nuts. But now it's local lore.

[R35] Hi cuz! My grandmother was a Crandall descended from Elder John.

23andme says I’m closely related to Neanderthals.

Yes, I guess. My great great great grandmother was Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

My mother's grandmother used to swear she was descended from Daniel Boone, but my own grandmother never believed that and told my mum it was a fib. This was conveniently while the 'Daniel Boone' TV show was on, so my mum would tell all her friends he was her great great great uncle or something like that.

Daniel Boone? My mother had more style. She always claimed to be related to Jesse James.

Go, mom!

I descend from the Macapagals, a prominent Pampangueño family that gave the world two Philippine presidents--Diosdado Macapagal, the 9th President, and his daughter, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the 14th President. The family traces its origins back to Don Juan Macapagal, Datu of Arayat, great grandson of Lakan Dula (Christianized as Don Carlos Lancandola), the last lakan (king) of Tondo.

I have a different surname, however,

John Adams and John Q Adams.

I was reading about Charles Manson and his family and recognized one of the last names in his tree. So turns out he's like my 6th cousin or something. My mom didn't think it was funny when I announced that at Thanksgiving.

Meant to add on R59 that I was thinking of going on Ancestry.com and marking every one of those ancestors with "Ancestor of Charles Manson".

Candy canes used to be shipped in a bag, or something. Many would get broken. My uncle co-invented the box with the individual cut-outs where the canes are placed. It was long ago, but I was told that some of the boxes were still stamped “Workman-Powell” on the bottom.

[quote] R28: I am a descendant of Charlemagne. Seriously! I am... just like every other living European

Me too. That’s not a big deal, but what is, is that we know it.

To a Royal Danish Navy leader. There is an island off of Greenland named after him

Pocahontas. Dad has been doing the ancestry dot com thing and found a link to someone who had gone down branch. He was quite skeptical but apparently it checks out.

Miss R61 smells like peppermint.

Um, no.

Ulysses S.Grant. The alcoholic gene is heavy in my family too.

Apparently I’m descended from Pocahontas. It’s not that impressive though, and since it was so far back in history the chance of sharing any significant genetics with her is slim.

Isn't everyone also related to Atilla the Hun as well?

Noah.

Japheth, bitches?

[quote] John Adams and John Q Adams.

We’re cousins!

I’m somewhat related to both LBJ and Zachary Scott.

R67, my late friend was descended from U.S. Grant and his biological family was full of alkies, addicts, and chain smokers. His adopted family were Baptists so smoking and drinking were not allowed, which made his teenage years unbearable since he had that addictive gene.

Abraham Lincoln. Not directly of course, but my mother’s family is from the area of Ky where he was born, and we are cousins.

R33, I too am related to Roger Williams and various other early MA/RI colonists. Wish he were alive now to talk some sense into the theocrats currently in power.

Related to Lord Athelstan , the last Canadian admitted to the British House of Lords

I don’t know quite how it works, but I’m related to John Galsworthy, who wrote [italic]The Forsyth Saga.[/italic]

I think this would have been a bigger deal in the 1930s.

Nope

My 11-great grandfather was Myles Standish. So we’re original Mayflower.

My great-great-etc. grandparents were Dabney Carr (Thomas Jefferson’s best friend) and TJ’s sister, Mary.

[QUOTE] My Great (times 5, I think) Uncle was Sir Christopher Wren, the British Architect.

He’s my great-great-etc. grandfather. We’re cousins!

R55 here, and I phoned my mum this morning for Thanksgiving (and my dad's birthday) and asked my mum about the Daniel Boone thing again. She said she's meant to tell me that according to Ancestry.com and 23 & Me, we are "now related" (big quotes) to Jesse James. My mum's family on both sides were from Missouri where he's from, so it's possible. Perhaps it accounts for my tendency to steal office supplies.

I don't know much about my own family tree. In the Boston suburb where I grew up, a lot of people were either Mayflower descendants, or just had the same surnames. Brewster, Bradford, Hopkins, Mullins, etc.

Ps I forgot - also Standish, Fuller, Winslow and and few others

Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, cousin.

R72, I’m related to LBJ as well. Distantly. His great-grandmother and my great-whatever grandmother on my paternal side were sisters. (Baines).

I’m a descendant of the Custis family, a sibling or cousin of Daniel Custis, Martha Custis Washington’s first husband. So I have an indirect connection to George, R50!

In college, I had a crush on a guy whose first and second names were Gouverneur Morris.

R9 John J. Mahon, Saul S. Danaceau, Thomas J. Parrino: Cuyahoga County Prosecutors at the 1954 trial.. Which was your grandfather?

I moved to Brooklyn, when doing some family research I discovered one of my ancestors had lived a few blocks away on a farm as one of the original Dutch settlers.

It was a little freaky. Like something out of Angels in America.

Basically all people who have even an ounce of European blood is descended from Charlemagne.

What is this with Charlemagne? Was he a notorious pussyhound?

No, but he's 1200+ years ago or about 50-60 generations. Do the powers of two math and it's not inconceivable that at least one line from most Europeans ends up there.

My great uncle was a world champion wrestler. Taught boxing and wrestling at West Point for many years. Had Eisenhower among others as a student.

R82 are you related to the Fullers that died with his wife when the got off the Mayflower? If so another branch of that family married into the Putman line I hail from.

*Putnam

Supposedly, someone on my grandfather’s side invented linsey woolsey.

Omg

A 9th or 10th great aunt was hanged in 1693 as part of the Salem witch hunts. Not "famous" with name recognition, but she is honored in the memorial in Salem.

Yes, but it's so many generations ago that our blue blood is rather aqua by now.

Yes, my ancestor signed the constitution as a founding father. Has institutions named after him. We're a big deal.

Descendant of Robert E. Lee. I have to periodically remind my mother as gently as possible that he was a racist goatfucker.

[quote]Has institutions named after him.

Penal?

[quote]Yes, my ancestor signed the constitution as a founding father. Has institutions named after him. We're a big deal.

Why are you not saying the name?

Not famous nationally but locally. There is a town named after a branch of my family.

We're?

R98 Say my name, say my name, you actin kinda of shady

R76: It may be splitting hairs, but I don't believe it's entirely accurate to say Lord Atholstan--Hugh Graham, 1st (& only) Baron Atholstan--was the last Canadian granted a peerage and thus gaining admittance to the House of Lords. He was, however, the only Canadian Peer of the U.K. to be born, and live his whole life, in Canada; thus, if using the strictest definition of who is Canadian, you are correct.

When King George V created him Baron Atholstan, of Huntingdon in the Province of Quebec in the Dominion of Canada and of the City of Edinburgh, in 1917, it was very controversial and opposed by both the Governor General of Canada (Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire) and the Prime Minister of Canada (Sir Robert Borden). His was the peerage that eventually led to the Nickle Resolution, which requested the Sovereign to stop granting knighthoods, baronetcies (hereditary knighthood) and peerages to Canadians.

However, there were still several peerages granted after the Nickle Resolution, like the Viscountcy Pirrie, Viscountcy Bennett (the only peerage granted to a former Canadian Prime Minister), Viscountcy Greenwood, Barony Thomson of Fleet and Barony Coleraine, third creation. The holders of these peerages were all Canadian-born, except Richard Law, 1st Baron Coleraine; his father, Andrew Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for 211 days in 1922-23, was born in Canada. There have also been several life peerages (always of baronial rank, of course) granted to Canadian-born Britons.

Yes I’m descended from Napoleon.

I’m descended from Charles Carroll of Carrollton who signed the Declaration of Independence. Nowadays we are all Maryland ner do wells. Who can’t spell ner do well.

[quote]Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

We're related, r38.

No. But I AM the very model of a modern Major-General.

I got lucky and have someone infamous in the family tree. Bruno Tesch- one of the chemists who invented Zyklon-B. He did not end up so well (and totally had it coming). If you go to any of the Concentration Camps, my last name is very prominently written on just about everything. He was not someone I got to talk about when researching my family tree growing up.

Clyde Barrow is a 4th cousin.

Evel Knievel

[QUOTE] Clyde Barrow is a 4th cousin.

That’s kind of cool.

As I understand, Barrow himself was impotent.

The second Earl of Snowden and Lady Sarah Chatto are my third cousins. I've never met them and probably never will.

SAnta Claus

Everyone is descended from major historical figures. Almost everyone with European ancestry could be traced to Charlemagne, for example, simply based on the principles of genetics and reproduction. You don't end up with a billion people from a few million 40 generations ago without this occurring.

I'm related to George washington's mother. One of my first ancestors came to this country in 1622.

This reminds me of an acquaintance named Andrew whom I met online and tried to convince me he was descended from the Donahue Woolworths while living a decidedly downscale life in rural Illinois. Lots of social media posts of amazing vintage pictures of his society deb, but unnamed grandmother. You could tell all of his family treasures came form antique shops and estate sales, and so I did a little digging and discover, obviously, that it was all I lie. But I was amazed at how much of a lie.

He grew up in a trailer his father had lived in before his marriage, where the papers described his hobbies as raising and selling hanging houseplants, crafting the requisite macrame plant holders, and decorating his trailer for Christmas. Yes, Mary! and where as a nearly 40-year-old bachelor had been allowed to adopt a troubled teen boy. Of course, once the boy reached adulthood he came forward with tales of molestation and had plenty of receipts, but being the 1970s, the father was not convicted, and during the trial quickly married a woman you'd expect him to given that situation. Andrew was born soonthereafter. And then the troubled teen, despondent over the abuse and losing the trial, killed himself in dramatic fashion in a public place in town.

Sordid. But it gets better.

On social media, someone came forward to actually challenge Andrew's familial assertions, and linked to the article I'll link here, that showed that 5 years earlier Andrew had claimed to be the descendant of yet ANOTHER family and was publicly exposed as a liar and sociopath. Unbelievable. Yet he plugs away, posting images of his downstate life, and yet a $500 a month hovel filled with all of these ridiculous antiques. Utterly fascinating...

This one time, at band camp (seriously), a kid told me, with his hand over his mouth like it was a big secret, that he was descended from Queen Elizabeth. I wondered if he was a love-child of Prince Charles, or did he mean the Virgin Queen? It was such a strange thing to say.

R113 Maybe it was all the ass raping he received in prison left him conflicted and confused?

It supposedly was the reason he got so mean and murdered people.