Tell me something cool one of your ancestors did

[JustOneLastThing]

Stolen this idea from Twitter, I don't really have anything of my own to share apart from my grandma is pretty bad ass, raising my Mum and Aunty by herself in the 60's, facing a ton of social stigma and hardship. She is a hard act to follow.

@margaritasbythesea thank you we were all really shocked when we found out.

@margaritasbythesea pressed too early...your cousin is truly amazing...without him and the others who risked their lives like this who knows where we'd be now?

My husband's direct maternal line has some astonishing people. One ancestor has a VC, he was an incredibly brave man and gave his life protecting his men in some utterly appalling circumstances over many days.

Another ancestor invented a particular type of forceps used in abdominal surgery, which also saved lives. There is also a modern day Olympic medal winner, a previous cup winning national rugby captain, a Wimbledon doubles winner, and an international cricketer. Plus two MPs, and high court judge and a bishop.

My Great Aunt worked round the world on her own in the 1950s, she started with one ticket and got a job and then saved for the next ticket.

Some of my ancestors were famous Lancashire witches, who were condemned to hang, by the ancestors of my aunts husband

Oh & my ggg.. I forget how many uncle was Robert Scot (of Antarctic)

My great grandmother was a Tiller Girl and ran away to Paris to dance at the Moulin Rouge.
My great grandfather went out to the States or Canada as a prospector and came home penniless after the camp was overrun by natives.
Great grandfather on the other side used to go a bit "mad" at the full moon and wander the North Yorkshire Moors naked and howling! The farmers used to bring him home in the morning

One my ancestors was a sea captain and is buried in the sea captains grave yard in Amlwch.

Did you know that we are all descendants of royalty? We are all descended into from Alfred the great and Charlemagne for example

Oh, and my Granda spent two weeks under the floorboards of a Dutch farmhouse kitchen during WWII.
He stayed in contact with the family until they all passed away.
And my late FiL was at Dunkirk (sp?) He was rescued by a "little ship" and all he ever said was "aye, we got a bit wet that day"

Oh & my Grandad was a dispatch rider at Dunkirk. If you ever asked what he did in the war he'd tell you he rode a motorbike & nothing else, yet he was awarded medals & was the first in running important messages & checking information by riding into the thick of it, that helped win. He was injured, but still swam out to meet the boats when it was over & the only reason we know any of it is through records & Grandad spending time in a Lake District military hospital & my dad & uncles going to visit him.

He was a direct descendant of Irish royalty too, one of the original clans & there is a film about them. I watched it & it really reminded me of family weddings on that side of the family

In World War One, my Grandad was put on guard outside a tent with a very young German prisoner inside. He said the boy was sobbing all night and saying something that sounded like "Mama". Grandad pulled him out of the tent, pushed him and told him to run, which he did, in the darkness. He then told the officers he had been attacked by the boy, and had to let him go, so he was given a week in confinement and "lost a stripe" as he put it. We loved his story, it was one of the few times he ever mentioned that war.

@sewingbea. Me too! I have a line of descent from John Okey who was the 6th regicide on the list. We still have an old trunk that supposedly belonged to him. Which one are you descended from?

One of my ancestors was Bishop Ridley, as in Ridley and Latimer, who got burnt at the stake - not cool at all!

The son of one of my ancestors sailed to America and later on two of the descendants became president. Not cool. At all.

My other DGF captured a U-boat in the war and my g-aunt smuggled a significant keep-sake off his submarine in my aunt’s pram.

What was the keep sake? Your DGF must have been a very brave man.
These stories are fascinating - Keep ‘em coming everyone.

One ggg+ gf was the man in charge of a work house (I imagine something like in Oliver?!). He was denounced in a report as incompetent.

A ggg uncle taught the king French, wrote some translation books and was with Garibaldi in Italy when he went on the march with his thousand men. Him or possibly a brother was friends with the Rothschild's.

One set of gps emigrated from India. Grandad sold his stamp collection and the proceeds from that funded the passage for four people to the UK. Some stamp collection!

elf1985 wrote : "My g,g,g,g,g.... Grandad was David Livingstone. Can never remember how many greats in there"

DH is convinced he is also descended from David L. There's a remarkable visual resemblance between them, admittedly. Helpfully, the Livingstone family tree is well documented, but when I traced back from DH, it seems that the only connection is that one of DL's sons married DH's gt-granny's sister. Not exactly a descendent then!!
DH insists I must be wrong ...

My grandfather sailed from Scotland to New York and worked in the Pullman factory in Buffalo, in the 1880s. He only did this for a few years, and brought back souvenirs from Niagara Falls. This was long before he married.

My g g g grandmother was a navigator on family owned sailing ships between the east coast and mostly Baltic.

Oh!

One of my forebears was John Harrison who won the Longitude Prize.

I always think with these sort of threads that those who go back far enough it becomes much less special and indeed we're probably all related and can find a link to fanous/noteworthy people if we go back far enough.
400+ years and you're looking at thousands of possible family lineage's, it's not really anything too unique that far back.
I had to pull someone up at work who said they were a direct descendant of Shakespeare, despite there not being any since his grandchildren died in 17th century.

My great uncle was involved in implementing education in prisons in the UK.

@Bombaybunty 👋 from another distant relative of Elizabeth Fry, a very impressive woman.

My great great aunt was a wealthy mill owner’s daughter, who ran off with a pig farmer. I’m named after her.

One of my grandparents achieved considerable sporting fame, but being more specific would be far too identifying.

One of my great-grandfathers drowned in the Navy in WW1, leaving great-grandmother with three small children. She was a very strong-willed lady and refused to enter a church ever again because she blamed God. Her children also grew up staunch non-churchgoers, which caused a bit of a scandal in those days. I wish I'd met her because apparently she was awesome. I think of her especially since DH died last year, although my children are older than hers were and I was left much better-off than she was. But I do wish I could compare notes with her about being widowed fairly early and how much it sucks.

Some of mine had very public weddings and funerals with thousands lining the streets, reported by Pathe news, and were Royalty, of a type .

Another was served by Queen Victoria during her confinement, at the time when Queenie wasn't going to let her people starve. She visited daily, on her walks and ordered her staff to take blankets and hot food to the family. Then two weeks later the family were gone and Queenie said she'd miss them.