Sorry in advance if this is the wrong board but it seems to fit.
Has anyone else done their genealogy research and found... less than stellar expectations?
I am all the way back, on all lines, to the "old" country, and so far I have 3 war heros, 4 convicted murderers, 2 ancestors who were acquitted of murder, a person who killed hundreds of Native Americans, a WW2 military deserter, and 2 currently registered sex offenders, one of which, a 3rd cousin, molested a girl
>registered sex offenders, one of which, a 3rd cousin, molested a girl
>Has anyone else done their genealogy research and found... less than stellar expectations?
I don't about you, but I'm the last of kin of Captain Morgan.
True story: My grandfather got wayyyy into Genealogy in his later years, and unearthed the usual grab bag of characters.
A civil war surgeon who hacked mad limbs, William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony, and specifically a Revolutionary war soldier. This made me eligible for Sons of the American Revolution, but the guy was a damn deserter. He marched for like 6 days, and said "screw you guis, I'm goin home." In good conscious I could not take the claim, and am only a member of the Mayflower Society.
I have a distant descendant that to this day has a statue, The Boy Martyrs of Baltimore, My entire lineage up until the late 1800s had proud land, slave, and military ownership/standing
Then the family moved from the sticks of Kentucky to Pennsylvania, and it seems, there the bloodline rots. My family is truly brother vs brother during the civil war (Kentucky vs West Virginia) I have solid links to the Hatfield/Mccoy feud
I guess I am just a little sad that right around 1930 my family tree takes a solid headwind turn into trailer trash and drug addicts
Ill be naive and think Veeky Forums wont dox me
I guess it's on you to reclaim the glorious lineage, then.
Where I come from we all descend from some sort of medieval nobility (lords and knights) that took refuge in the mountains during the occupation, although we own shit now. however we can all lay claim to being noble, however since we are all 'nobles' noone actually is.
All our families have probably done worse at some point if you trace them far enough back. Unless your line ends with you it doesn't matter.
Be hopeful and bring honor or at least stewardship to your family name.
>I guess I am just a little sad that right around 1930 my family tree takes a solid headwind turn into trailer trash and drug addicts
It's kind of like that for my Moms family. Rich as hell, used to have people thrown into debtors prison, important politicians in the colonies, all that shit. Then we get 2 generations that screw it all up. One dumbass who thought he could play real estate, and one alchoholic, the we're blue collar for a century.
Robert E Lee was my greatxwhatever-grand uncle.
Meow that's pretty neat. Tell us more.
>Mother's side of the family practically unknown, but most likely farmers and teachers
>Father part of a landed family in South Australia, about ~100 years of cattle and sheep
Ironically, I can't find any criminals amongst us. I guess that's not so unexpected as my ancestors were Scottish migrants and not convicts, but that ruins the joke.
I don't my parents were 'rich' because he grew up with a bunch of brothers and sisters during the depression on a farm, but then he did things like attend a prestigious boarding school in the state capital. He's also a self-made man in nearly every sense of the word, and the assets his parents ultimately left him were not worth a hell of a lot in a modern sense; save his mother's house, which she still lives in.
My brother and I are probably the first generation of our family to be born into wealth.
>Brother isn't an academic, but achieves well in sport and ends up compensating with hard work
>I am the prodigal son/wasteful genius stereotype, but seems to remember how to work hard at the end of the day and maybe that's all that matters
>Tfw we're going to the generation that fucked the family's wealth up and plunged us into mediocrity after all the hard work
Found out in the last year that my great-something-grandmother was... "... the first white female born in the colony of New Netherlands". Few generations later, a something-something grandson of hers served in the American Revolution under George Washington. Mostly farmers and the such until my great grandfather, whom served in the US army as a doctor in WWII. Never had much wealth in the family, never much fame or anything. I'm content though.
I don't know but I'm interested. I know for a fact I'm mestizo (yeah yeah those trump memes) cause the part of my arms that gets covered by my shirt sleeve is white-ish(it's pale compared to the rest of my body). This makes me curious where that part of my blood comes from. All I know is that my paternal great-something grandfather fought in the Mexican revolution in Zapata's army. My mom's side of the family used to be wealthy/decent money but they lost their lands during the revolution. All I know is that my family were mainly farmers so I don't know anything whether somebody was a convict or anything like that.
Yes.
>Great Grandfather was a cooky amateur historican who did some research into the family history
>Discovers a tenuous link to aristocracy as you always do if you go back far enough
>Great Grandfather decides to wear a sword because he believes it's his right to do so and gets arrested for wearing it in public (because Bongistan)
>Creates massive family tree to prove this
>Doesn't work, obviously
>Several decades later
>Clearing out old loft, find the family tree he made
>Fascinating to examine even if it's mostly bollocks
>See that the male line has a link to the Palaiologos dynasty
>TFW related to Roman emperors, only its the worst dynasty ever
My first ancestor in the Americas was a pirate captain.
But not the cool kind of pirate, the shit kind who never really captured any boats and ended up retiring from piracy because he literally couldn't figure out how to steal things.
Like a hundred years ago my fathers ancestors had a circus,with a lion!.my great grandfather had a petsnake on a leash and made plans to build a tree house by planting the seeds letting them grow together with time.my mothers ancestors come from england.I dont know, seems like the the thing I can relate to the most is that they were all a bunch of weirdos.
Helped my Grandfather with some research, I'm fairly sure that his father worked with the Nazis based on his job history, but Opa is stubborn and was raised on stories of his dad walking from construction job in Poland to get home to Berlin, so I'm just going to let it go.
The financial roller coaster is a hell of a thing. People talk about the rich staying rich forever, but that's not true; even the ultra-rich can watch it all go away thanks to a couple bad apples.
Forgot my pic.
Where would one begin researching their genealogy?
The only thing I know about my ancestors is that I'm partially German.
...
>says the gay space nazi
Gay yes, but space Nazi, no.
The Empire was much more comparable to Prussia, but in space.
It's cool knowing what the fuck you're ancestors where doing.
Everyone in my family has and will serve in the millitary... Except for me because I am both physically and mentally unfit for service. Feels pretty shitty. I'm going to keep trying.
My mother's side is Polish. When they came to America before world war 2 they got their last name changed and started a mechanics shop in Michigan. All 15 of their children did something war related during World War 2 to get back at those Nazi bastards. Opa!
Ayyyy
That gif is the best man
Nope.
>tfw descendant of Charlemagne