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Original poster

Do you have any famous or we'll known Ancestors or members of your family?

73 replies

Buttybach · 12/09/2019 21:29

I am a massive geek when it comes to family history. Who do you think you are is legit my favourite TV show!

I have a few cool branches of my family tree.

Dylan Thomas is my 3rd Cousin x2
I am a huge admirer of his work so this was a pretty amazing discovery.

I am also distantly related to Jemima Nicholas who was the lady from Haverfordwest who stopped the last British Invasion with a pitchfork and bit of feistyness.

On my paternal side my 26th x great grandfather was Sir Alexander Stewart the 4th High Steward of Scotland. 3 generations later the Stewards became the Stewart royal family!

Also later on down the tree Lord Darnley who was married to Mary queen of Scots is one of my many time grandmothers brother.

My 22x Great Grandfather is King Edward the 3rd
And my 23rd x Great Grandmother is Isabella the she wolf of France (which is pretty epic)

You may have seen the Danny Dyer family tree programme.... we both share the same ancestry in Phillipa Plantagenet.
Probably along with a couple of thousand other people. But it's still epic.

Who have you guys discovered that make up your DNA?

OP posts:
Prokupatuscrakedatus · 12/09/2019 21:48

That is fascinating!!! And I'd be thrilled as a family historian, if I'd reliably found that, but mine:

So far about 400 years of small craftsmen, shepherds, farm hands hired for the day, sefs...

Dowser · 12/09/2019 22:56

Disney world Florida is built on some of the land my great aunt Beth used to own

TonOfLead · 12/09/2019 23:02

My family tree is much like yours Prok. The headiest height my ancestors seemed to reach was that of tenant farmer (rather than farm labourer).

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Families
Original poster
Buttybach · 12/09/2019 23:36

That's cool you guys have found out occupations.
My maiden name is rather posh sounding but my paternal side were incredibly northern and normal as far as I knew. But it's fascinating to get past 500 years and to see they owned land and titles.
My great great grandfather on that side ended up collapsing outside a pub and died in the workhouse from alcoholism. His kids had no idea what happened to him.

One of the coolest ones is on my grandmas side he is called Edward Haye gentleman of Liverpool. He seems to be a self funded version of sir Walter Raleigh and moved in similar circles. Going on various expeditions.

OP posts:
Original poster
Buttybach · 12/09/2019 23:36

@Dowser that's so cool!!!

OP posts:
Hadenoughofitall441 · 12/09/2019 23:44

My 4th great grandfather was an established accountant, what ever that means 😂
My 11th great grandfather was William ‘of mickleham’ blundell. Is anyone surprised about where some of your ancestors are from. I knew my dads Mum and dad are both Anglo Indian and were both born in Bombay. However when I’ve dug further it turns out my Nan’s family started in Ireland. I really didn’t expect that. There were always rumours about my mums dads family being German, I’ve traced them back to 1600’s and no German family members but do have a Portuguese 8th great grandfather. It is interesting. A bit sad I can’t dig any further on my surname as only goes to my grandads Mum... nothing else what so ever.

Cooroo · 12/09/2019 23:51

My great great uncle was a meteorologist who became famous after a series of balloon ascents - he is being played by Eddie Redmayne in a highly fictionalised film coming out in November!

Cooroo · 12/09/2019 23:52

I may have missed a 'great'...

AHintOfStyle · 12/09/2019 23:58

@Dowser
I bet she didn't get paid even 1/5th of what it was worth to them!

GodolphianArabian · 13/09/2019 00:43

I am descended from the Harvey family. A number of famous people but the most famous is William Harvey physician to the king and who was the first to describe the circulation of the blood. Through this family I share ancestors with Prince Charles.

I'm also descended from a Dutch family by the name Ritzema. Reverand Johannes Ritzema moved with his wife and son from the Netherlands to America. The son Rudolphus Ritzema fought on the American side in the war of independence he then switched sides and joined the British army. After the war he settled in Devon and married an English woman.

I find the stories of famous people fascinating but I also love the more mundane stuff. My great grand dad was a farmer but also in the military. Searching online in newspaper articles he is mentioned quite a number of times. He fought in the second Boer war, he was a very good shot, and ended up in court after deliberately shooting a pony which had strayed onto his land. He tried to rescue a pilot from a crashed plane unfortunately the pilot was already dead. During WW1 he was accused of theft from army supplies of meat and was acquitted after a major someone or other vouched for him. In may 1917 Folkestone was bombed and my great grandfather lost his son, sister and nephew. I can't begin to imagine the horror of that day.

Daisypie · 13/09/2019 00:59

I share a common ancestor with Winston Churchill and Princess Diana. This makes me 6th cousin to William and Harry. Think there might be 20,000 others!

chomalungma · 13/09/2019 07:16

Probably along with a couple of thousand other people. But it's still epic

Probably with most people in the UK

If you go back far enough, most people can claim common relations. It's basic science and basic maths.

It sounds impressive - but iDanny Dyer's talk about being related to Royals means nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Sorry....

chomalungma · 13/09/2019 07:26

Assuming my grandma was famous....and she was born 100 years ago, there are 16 people alive today who claim her as a relative.

If we go back to my Great Grandma, you are adding a whole split in the branch.
And go back to even more greats, well you get the picture.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04jzfx7 shows all this.

lonalsland · 13/09/2019 07:31

King John and all of them going backwards of course Smile

DailyFailAreTwats · 13/09/2019 07:47

William the Conqueror. But that's quite far back..... and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one!!

lonalsland · 13/09/2019 08:09

DailyFailAreTwats - we could probably work out how we are related! Smile

lonalsland · 13/09/2019 08:15

I'm also related to the last Prince of Wales Llywelyn ap Gruffudd Smile

x2boys · 13/09/2019 08:31

We are somehow ( apparently )related to the royal family via a cousin of the of Queens, going back many generations a relative of my maternal grandmother had a relationship.with an ancestor f the cousin and a child was born ou of wedlock though so it wasent official Hmm

tierraJ · 13/09/2019 10:59

My great grandad Joseph's cousin was a surviving Steward on the Titanic & gave evidence at the inquest.

A great great great great? grandfather in the 18th century was a fur trader & a place in Alaska is named after him.
He was also a spy for the Spanish against the French.
He died in a debtors prison sadly.

My great uncle aged 95 was chief chemist at Mars in the 1950s & 60s & invented Galaxy chocolate, Bounty & Topic bars. He's a multi millionaire.
Mars executives from the USA attended his wife's funeral.

My great grandad Bill was known locally in Salford in the 1920s as a champion bare knuckle boxer.
He was also a bigamist who married twice & had 22 children, only about 14 survived to adulthood.

My great great aunt Maud married a man named Walter who was head of the Czech bank in London in the 20s. I don't know if he was actually Czech.

I love family history!!

x2boys · 13/09/2019 17:23

@tierraJ When I first started working as a mental.health nurse mid 90,s I worked in Dementia care and there were several gentleman that had been bare knuckle boxers and it was as thought that some had possibly had brain injuries related to their fighting ,I did my training in Salford and worked in surrounding mental health trusts

BunchMunch · 13/09/2019 17:34

One of my distant relatives on my pa's side was Robert Catesby, from the Gunpowder plot.

Feilin · 13/09/2019 17:54

I share mitochondrial dna with richard the 3rd and am apparently also likely descended.from Niall of the 9 hostages. Only other interesting factor when I did the dna tests was finding a family members illegitimate child .

Goatrider · 13/09/2019 18:12

I'm related to someone infamous from recent times. Not really something to shout about.

My DC, via my exh, are related to a Scottish actor who's been in lots of US shows (but not really well known)

tierraJ · 13/09/2019 20:13

x2boys that's interesting!

My g grandad Bill the bare knuckle boxer died in the late 1920s too young to suffer from dementia.
He'd taken to beating my g grandma Elizabeth whenever he was drunk so her son Billy (my grandads half brother) finally snapped & threw my g grandad out of the house after beating him up.
So my g grandad Bill moved into lodgings but never recovered from the beating he got from his stepson & died young.
Then g grandma Elizabeth died young too in the early 1930s leaving a house full of young adult children & younger teenagers as orphans to look after themselves... most were working so kept up with the rent & food bills & all avoided the workhouse.

exbrummie · 13/09/2019 20:25

Duane chapman"dog the bounty Hunter " and Peter Powell are both very distant cousins of mine