I can’t get too specific for privacy reasons, but I’m very, very distantly related to a few doges of Venice, by maternal side. (I’m not from Italy.)
Also my grand-grandma has a street named in her honour.
Allegedly I’m related one one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence…and Pocahontas.
I am descended from Robert Drouin, who is only mildly famous for the ridiculous proportion of people with French Canadian ancestry who can trace their lineage back to him. It is like if Genghis Khan only had one wife, was really into subsistence farming, and still managed to be everybody’s Great^X Grandpappy.
Brigham Young, 2nd president of the Mormon church. Unfortunately since that man was a monster
So many wives. So many kids. So many Danites.
I forget who it was, but according to ancestry, I’m related to an old US president 3 different times (dad’s great grandad, dad’s great grandma, moms great, great grandma). And similarly related to one of the singers of the declaration of Independence, I think from NH on both sides of my family. By marriage I am also related to a couple figures that are very famous in my local area, but I’m not gonna name because self doxxing.
But for real, my family tree has no branches, apparently.
Both, my grand grandparents on Father’s side of the family and my grandparents on my mothers side have the surname Grimm. My luck, only one side is related to them ʘ‿ʘ
I’m descended from John Billington, the first Englishman convicted of murder in North America.
Honestly, though, it’s 50/50 that he even did it. He and his family were one of the “normal” ones that the Pilgrims’ glorified travel agent recruited to make up the numbers to make the trip financially feasible, and they never got over the fact that these heathens survived the first winter and then did reasonably well at farming the land.
Of his two sons, IIRC one accidentally shot off a pistol and almost set the Mayflower on fire, and the other got lost not long after arrival and had to be delivered back home by the local Native Americans. I think one of them also set a bunch of gullible Pilgrims off looking for an “inland sea” that turned out to be an overgrown pond.
About a thousand years ago, a Duke came over from Normandy as part of an invasion of my country.
He even built a castle not far from where I grew up. Sadly I’m not allowed to own that castle or live in it.
Go, and claim what is rightfully yours!
According to my online family tree my 11th Great Grandmother is Joan Shakespeare, William Shakespeare’a sister, making The Bard my 11th Great Granduncle. When I was looking around that was the only notable one I could find who is a direct relative…if you allow 9 times removed and shit basically everyone is related to Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga and Abraham Lincoln.
I’m related to Edgar Allan Poe. I don’t remember how exactly because it’s convoluted, but technically he’s somewhere in the chain on my mom’s side of the family.
Not me, but a former friend who I was doing some geneology stuff for (really fun hobby) had a family legend that there was some Native American ancestor way back somewhere.
Turns out that no, that was not true. But what I found was that there was a bit of the family which was very high up in the early Mormon church, back when that was something to be extremely ashamed of.
I have a similar story. A relative was researching one of the family lines (he was early teens I think) and was advised by an older family member not to research that line further since there was a “pirate” and it’s “not good to have pirates in the family.” We were also told we had Native American blood somewhere.
We’re now pretty convinced the “pirate” was actually black but white passing and the Native American story was a cover for the slightly darker skin his descendants had.
It’s entirely apocryphal, but it’s said my family can trace itself to the Carthaginian royal family.
Aren’t there a few million people who are direct descendants of Genghis Khan?
My lineage was apparently having too much trouble with alcohol and heart disease to become famous.
Close to 40 million I think? As I recall it was said about one in 200 is a direct descendant.
That man (and many of his descendants) fucked.
Raped, I think. Some of both, but those numbers aren’t the result of consensual acts.
This post has convinced to ask my mom to see the family tree.
One of my ancestors printed some of the first US currency in 1777
