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I am related to Jesse James through my mother's father's family line.
I am also related to Robert "King" Carter - which makes me related to all sorts of interesting people.
I am a direct descendant of Nicholas Martiau, the first emigrant ancestor of George Washington. He was French, and built the fortifications that saved Jamestown from being decimated by the native Americans of the region. He was also a prominent city planner and architect for Yorktown, Virginia.
Several of my ancestors held positions in the Williamsburg, Virginia House of Burgesses during the early years of Virginia.
I am related to the Plantagenet royal family in England.
One of my ancestors, John Willis, sailed with Captain Cooke on the Endeavor.
My great uncle, Joy Houck, Sr. was an early (1930s and 1940s) movie producer and theater owner. He worked with many early film stars. His son, my cousin Joy Houck, Jr. also produced several (very stupid) movies and starred or played a role in a wide variety of movies and TV shows.
Cousin!! I'm also kin to Jesse James, through his mother's side - he came from "nice folks", and Mama tried with those boys...sigh.
My people were also in the House of Burgesses, way back when. And some claim Plantagenet ancestry as well (but isn't half the population of Europe descended from the Plantagenets??). Though an Irish line, we descend from the High Kings, or so DNA says.
My g-g-grandfather's first cousin owned a gold mine - does that count? Of course, he went broke, moved far away and his family told everyone he had died. Nope, he just started a new life as a farmer on the frontier...
I have a great uncle who won a superbowl with the eagles....this was back in the 50s, so I think it might've not been the superbowl, but the championship....but, then again, supposedly he had a superbowl ring that I've never seen.
Don't even remember his name, his nickname though was "wrong way earnie..." (apparently he ran the wrong way once trying to avoid a tackle..lol)
Guy died relatively recently, too.
I have distant relatives in politics, even today.
Last edited by dub dub II; 11-25-2012 at 08:46 PM..
Ben Franklin is a direct ancestor through my mother's side. Other then that, not many famous people who are related, although I have two family members who were on the SS Eastland, a whole host of family members who lived in Langtry Texas. Apparently my g-g-grand father threatened to shoot Judge Roy Bean if he didn't reverse one of his "judicial" decisions regarding a boy who had been accused of stealing a horse. Even more surprising, Bean actually backed down.
My wife's family is more interesting, she's descended from Hungarian Royalty, and has a highly placed Nazi Party member as as her grandfather's second cousin.
My people were also in the House of Burgesses, way back when. And some claim Plantagenet ancestry as well (but isn't half the population of Europe descended from the Plantagenets??).
Yes. A large proportion of Americans are, too - as I'm sure you know, a number of prominent emmigrants from England in colonial days were younger sons of noble families; they all had smatterings or more of Plantagenet blood. Nearly all of us of Anglo descent can claim royal blood.
Yes. A large proportion of Americans are, too - as I'm sure you know, a number of prominent emmigrants from England in colonial days were younger sons of noble families; they all had smatterings or more of Plantagenet blood. Nearly all of us of Anglo descent can claim royal blood.
That's not really true. I know my state's history pretty well and the elites such as the Randolphs, Byrds and Lees were mainly from the merchant class. Most nobility came over temporarily and went back without leaving any progeny. Just look at our early presidents who came from elite VA backgrounds. None were descended from emigrant nobility.
@ CAVA1990: eh I don't know about that. My fam. is pretty much 100% (with one exception) colonial stock and almost all came into Virginia, and just using my own genealogy as an example there seems to be a fair amount of "second sons" from noble families. Many of them were the cavaliers who supported King Charles in the English Civil War and so were rewarded with land in Virginia. There were many merchants as well.
@ CAVA1990: eh I don't know about that. My fam. is pretty much 100% (with one exception) colonial stock and almost all came into Virginia, and just using my own genealogy as an example there seems to be a fair amount of "second sons" from noble families. Many of them were the cavaliers who supported King Charles in the English Civil War and so were rewarded with land in Virginia. There were many merchants as well.
Do you have examples? I had some in my tree that were purported to be but further research showed they were not. They just had the same name. There's a lot of bad VA genealogy. People here really wanted to believe they were blue bloods.
In fact, lack of ties to nobility amongst the VA gentry is likely one major reason why there were so few tories here during the revolution compared to some of the other colonies.
Last edited by CAVA1990; 12-02-2012 at 04:29 PM..
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