Does this one question give you the creeps like it does me? I wrote about this last year, but this is not going to be a repitition of how upset it makes me when I get this probing question.
No. I’ve found another, a bit dusturbing way of coping with the jerks who just have to weigh, measure and find others wanting. Family Folklore!
That’s right, Family Folklore. That’s right, folks, my family is chock full of cracka
jack adventurers, soundrels and wastrels. There was Captain Grey – hung for piracy in the Caribbean. He was a nice guy, but he took up with the wrong bunch.
Then, there was the first Robinson in my Mom’s Family. He sailed into Providence Island with Morgan on his way to sack Panama and left a family behind; yup. You might say Privateering was a way of life for the family. And by the way, it was privateering…see! Gentlemen of Fortune, mate, and don’t forget it, or you’ll be counting the family doubloons on a Deadman’s Chest. See!
The on my Dad’s side there were the members of the Catalan Company, some called them mercenaries…but they were good guys, and after all you had to support the family back in Barcelona; right?
My Grandmother’s kin were all Central European Steppe nomads who wanted to do good. Yes, they did help destroy the Roman Empire, but it was in such a bad state that a good thunderstorm would have knocked it down anyway! And besides, who could leave all that loot lying around?
There are lots more stories where those come from, but you say you have an appointment with your genealogist? Your family is boring? Just staid people who stayed home and were snotty? Don’t worry I’m sure that if you look hard enough You’ll find a version you’ll like. A nice Highwayman hunting the crossroads? A bank robber who hung around with Capone.
I know it’s tough to be whitebread when everyone else had fantastic Family Folklore!
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It is tough to be white bread when I hear these fascinating adventures.
Dig and be creative!
I thought you were serious! My lineage is pretty much drunks and domestic violence, so I was actually jealous!
Violet…you have ti dig into the farther past…you know…that scallywag who rode into the bar shooting in 1880, the great great great grandma who was a serial poisoner of bad husbands.. or how about that uncle who…well you get the picture.
and by the way my granfather did ride his horse into the hotel bar, but he forgot his gun.
There was a Kennedy pirate whose jolly roger featured a naked man. I don’t know if I’m justified in claiming him or not…
Always go for the gold, Martha. After all, that’s what our Gentlemen of Fortune ancestors did!
Yeah, but he ended up hung in Galway, I think. I’d like to go to Galway, but maybe not for my own hanging.
Ohhhh so he was hung on an Admiralth dock…perhaps tarred and hung in a cage where inbound and outbound ships could see him. Classy!
Only the best for the Kennedys!
Here! Here!
Cool post! Very colourful heritage you have. My dads mums sister did some research into the family tree when I was a child and apparently we are descendants of the Romany… gypsy royalty.. but I think a lot of English say that….no one wants to be a descendant of just a regular person lol, just royalty… or pirates 🙂
I suspect that a lot of genealogy was cleaned up. Who in the 18th century wanted it known that Grandad had started off life as a drummer ( traveling salesman) before becoming hugely successful. The myth of gentility was much more satisfying. My mother hated that I dug into the family history. She found it very embarrassing.
Then there are the surprises that come out of the DNA reports – I have six percent Native American that no one in the family ever suspected.
Ah, yes, lots are hidden in the closet, waiting to clamor for attention and get out.
Are you continuing to explore?
I am struggling with finding my mother’s father. He is a cipher. A hurricane literally destroyed many of the documents on the Island where my mother was born; she came here as an eight-year-old orphan. It’s made the process hard.
Oh that is so sad, your poor mum. I hope you have some luck soon.
Lol! My ex-husband’s sister traced their paternal lineage back to British royalty. Thus, my ex sometimes puts the cap back onto his front tooth for photos.😉 MY immediate beginnings told me everything I could want to know: 100% Irish ginger Dad, swarthy Mi’kmaq (& Fr. Canadian) Mom…I took after the Casper the Ghost side, of course.
An adventuress lineage!
😂
White bread?
An American term for very plain commercial bread, no flavor, no flair,
I think you went to a fortune teller! 🤣
My favourite story is the Truelove-Ayers legend. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Origins_of_the_Ayer_Name Sadly, my dad was adopted, and I cannot claim to descend from this awesome Truelove whose descendents took the name without the E – Trulove, as I am called. Still, it’s a cool surname. Instead of Trulove, my paternal grandfather is apparently Carter. I’m sure there are some fabulous Carter stories, but I can’t track that guy down to figure out which shade of Carter he is, and none of his descendents respond to messages. So…I’ll leave it to someone more ambitious.
I have simliar issues. It’s a real pain.