Do you have any Famous Ancestors? (person, related, record, cousin)

[SunJoaquin]

I don't, but my mate's ancestory includes Bat Masterson and Mary Queen of Scotts.

[Cookiemeister]

Joanne Gair is my cousin!

[Bayarea4]

I am a direct descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

It has long been rumored (but can never be proven) that my mother's side of the family are descendants of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas's love child, an ancestor of mine named Peregrine Smith. In reality Pocahontas married John Rolfe, had one child by him, and was not known to have been romantically involved with Smith, but the rumors have persisted for generations. There is even a website dedicated to this story.

On my father's side I am said to be distantly related to Robert Fulton and President Grover Cleveland, but I cannot verify this.

Originally Posted by Bayarea4

I am a direct descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

It has long been rumored (but can never be proven) that my mother's side of the family are descendants of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas's love child, an ancestor of mine named Peregrine Smith. In reality Pocahontas married John Rolfe, had one child by him, and was not known to have been romantically involved with Smith, but the rumors have persisted for generations. There is even a website dedicated to this story.

On my father's side I am said to be distantly related to Robert Fulton and President Grover Cleveland, but I cannot verify this.

Hey we are cousins! She was a descendant of Samuel Chapin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Chapin

[Snort]

Who is Joanne Gair? My computer only gets citydata. Otherwise I'd use google to look this one up.

[in_newengland]

[quote=Shiloh1;27240783]Hey we are cousins! She was a descendant of Samuel Chapin.

Oh! The Puritan! I always remember that statue standing in front of the library and asking my dad who that was.

I descend from Puritans too but not that one. Another ancestor, infamous in some ways, was Major Robert Rogers of Rogers Rangers who formed an army of sorts for the French and Indian War. He was a ruthless fighter and a very smart man who wrote books about his style of warfare and the movie, Northwest Passage is about him.

He wasn't a very nice man, apparently. Mean, liar, dishonest, gambler, drunk, not a good person, and George Washington thought he was probably a traitor as he volunteered to fight on either side--he just wanted to fight. His wife even divorced him and how often did that happen back in those days?? He finally ended up fighting for the British.

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Oh! The Puritan! I always remember that statue standing in front of the library and asking my dad who that was.

I descend from Puritans too but not that one. Another ancestor, infamous in some ways, was Major Robert Rogers of Rogers Rangers who formed an army of sorts for the French and Indian War. He was a ruthless fighter and a very smart man who wrote books about his style of warfare and the movie, Northwest Passage is about him.

He wasn't a very nice man, apparently. Mean, liar, dishonest, gambler, drunk, not a good person, and George Washington thought he was probably a traitor as he volunteered to fight on either side--he just wanted to fight. His wife even divorced him and how often did that happen back in those days?? He finally ended up fighting for the British.

Wow! Never heard of this guy. I will have to read-up on him - thanks! Yeah, I always wanted to go see that statue with my mom (her maiden name is Chapin) and get a picture. One day!

[CAVA1990]

Originally Posted by Bayarea4

IIt has long been rumored (but can never be proven) that my mother's side of the family are descendants of Captain John Smith and Pocahontas's love child, an ancestor of mine named Peregrine Smith. In reality Pocahontas married John Rolfe, had one child by him, and was not known to have been romantically involved with Smith, but the rumors have persisted for generations. There is even a website dedicated to this story.

I love the stories, even if not true. Some still claim my 5x great grandfather from NC, Abe Enloe, was Abe Lincoln's real father after he got Nancy Hanks, who was a house servant at the time, pregnant. After his wife found out, he had Abe and Nancy shipped West with my 4x great grandparents and then arranged Nancy's marriage to Thomas Lincoln.

Another good one is my 6x great grandmother who was supposedly the daughter of the commander of the King's Guard and against his wishes sailed off to sea with an English ship's captain (who looked like Russell Crowe I'm sure). The ship of course wrecks in a storm and she's picked up as salvage by a French merchant ship whose captain then sells her into indentured servitude here in Virgnia. I have no evidence on the veracity of this one but other less than reliable family stories on that side lead me to believe there likely isn't any.

[Jayess1]

One side has been in VA/WV for nearly 400 years, the other side ~ 4,000 or so (depending on who's research one goes with).
In all that time, no political figures of note, celebrities, scientists, whatever. I guess someone had to muck the stables & dig ditches...

[Frank Merton]

I had a distant aunt trace the family on my mother's side all the way back to Connecticut before the revolution. Turns out my family were Tories and had to flee to upstate New York. Well, there went my hopes of joining the Sons of the American Revolution.