kso

My ggrandfather was a conductor on the Underground Railroad and became a sergeant in the Union Army. His brother died, imprisoned, at Andersonville.

alapetitechaise

My great-great grandfather and uncle left Germany before it was a unified country when it was still little city states. All young males had compulsary military service with the Prussian Army but everyone was allowed to go home in the spring to help with the planting. Later they returned to military duty to what ever war the Prussian Army was fighting at the time. My male relatives escaped from Germany and the Army when released in the Spring by hiding on a ship leaving England to start a new life in America.

jad1044

No fame and fortune in my family - but I can relate to many enjoyable days watching a great aunt weave rugs and got to help her string her loom, as she could not bring the warp up and string it alone - so guess who was there to help! ME.

Then I remember my grandmother on my father's side making quilts; she'd set for hours cutting out every piece by hand; no rulers, nothing to say it was square - other than eyeballing everything she did and those quilts were wonderfully warm, made with wool batts, and tied. One was so heavy it was a bunch of 4-5inch squares of old overcoats and heavy fabrics sewn together with a big wool batt, and a flannel backing- once you were put to bed, you didn't move - it was too heavy to allow you to even roll over! :) But, it was the comfort and warmth we needed in teh old farmhouse - the fires would sometimes go out overnight and the mornings were very brisk in the house till the old stoves got heated up again... and we think we have things rough now - oh to go back to the good old days though!

Linda - K.

On my father's side (Knapp - my maiden name) we are decendants of Nicholas Knapp that came over from England in 1630--I was told the first group of Puritans. Nicholas was the first person in the country to be found guilty of being a quack--sold water as healing potion!

rrbrown

My ancestors on both maternal and fatheral
linkage help establish the great state of Texas.

nonymac

On my Dad's side:

A ggggcousin was captured in a raid on Ruddell's Fort in KY and grew up the 1/2 brother to Tecumseh - then as an adult became an interpreter for Tecumseh. A movie was made of this life. I think the title of the movie is Brave Warrior.

My grandmother grew up in Illinois and remembered traveling back and forth between Illinois and Oklahoma by covered wagon.

My gggrandfather and his 2nd wife were killed the same day by a lightning strike
Ggggggrandparents were members of the church depicted in the story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”. Yes it’s a real church

Ggggggrandfather lived around the “Goodrich” castle in England. Yes – his last name was Goodrich.


Mothers side:

My grandfather, they said, grew up on a riverboat on the Mississippi river.

Don’t know much else about this side of the family – they didn’t talk much about family but am continuing to do my genealogy research. Hopefully I can find more information on them.

Abby'smom

One ancestor on my mother's side, the Dobbs, came to America from Ireland in the mid 1750's to mooch off his kinsman Dobbs who was governor of North Carolina -- but alas Governor Dobbs died a year or so about his arrival! LOL

fmhall2

Hey YRNSTR, Thanks for putting this question out there. I found a distant cousin, and she is a quilter. My only relative who is a quilter.

clem55

Maternal side has lots of good stuff, goes back to the Saxons in England, related to Samuel Chase , signer of Dec. of Indepedence, elegible for DAr, ETC. But on dad's side, until about 10 years ago, little was known of his family. Dad was orphaned at the age of 5 or 6, and never even knew if he was born in America or Belgium, and come to find out, he didn't even know the correct spelling of his name. Back when he searched for his baby brother at the Catholic orphanage where they were placed, he was told there were no records( at that time they didn't give out that information). My sister and I were finally able to unravel that information, and learned that the way Dad spelled our last name was close , but not correct. So , I have the distintion of having as a surname, the only surname like that in the USA. Dad and mom were able to locate his mother's sister and an uncle , to reunite all of his siblings except for baby James Emile, and we couldn't find him either. During the search, it was heartbreaking to learn of the things children went through back in the early 1900s, when they became orphans. Some were just used as cheap( FREE) labor by the people who took them from the orphanages. Dad was only able to attend school to the 6th grade, but he was one of the smartest men I know. He raised 6 children, in a comfortable home, family was the most important thing in the world to him, he was highly respected in his community, none of his chidren caused any illegal problems. I am the youngest of his children, born when he was 48 years old. His wish was to live long enough to raise me through high school. Dad died two months after I graduated. He was born and died on the same date, 65 years apart. I salute you Dad, and I love you so much!!!!

champagnebubbles

One story, there are more...:)
My great Aunt was raised with 4 sisters on a farm. She was very close with the 2nd oldest. When my Great Aunt's favorite sister passed away,she found out her sister was her Mother. It was in the obit. That is how she found out. So the story goes.