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My great-grandfather's name was William, and his wife's name was Elinor. They had children named Charles Edward and Lill. Later in life after all their children were grown, my great-grandparents adopted a little girl. They decided to change her birth name to a combination of all their previous children's names initials. Her name became Wecel. She hated that name all the rest of her life.
A ggg (etc.) grandfather was a Loyalist who ended up in Halifax, N.S. His daughter married an Irish immigrant and they became homesteaders in an Irish Catholic town in New Brunswick. Ah, to have been a fly on the wall for that engagement announcement.
My wife's 3X-great-grandfather was elected to the Missouri Legislature in 1860, just in time for the Civil War. The elected legislature was initially engaged in the secession issue but officially turned the question over to a special statewide convention that voted not to secede. Of course, everything went to hell as the Governor favored secession. The legislature was driven out of the Capital and my wife's ancestor went back home and sat out the next few years on the porch with a gun, giving up on politics. An unknown number of legislators met later and passed a bill of secession, but it was never considered legal because there was no quorum and they had already abdicated that responsibility to the convention. His son (2X-GGF) was enrolled in the State Guard (Militia) and fought against the Union Army at the Battle of Wilson's Creek but then went home, refusing to fight for the Confederacy. He served as the county treasurer and hid the county funds from both Union and Confederate marauding troops. The county seat was burned but the money survived, and he gave it back to the county after the war. He was elected to almost every elected office in the county after the war in spite of never taking a loyalty oath. There was a lawsuit about the oath, claiming he was unqualified, but it was denied.
I'm related to John Chapman, Johnny Appleseed. The really weird part is that when he was a little kid, his house was down close to the river. Due to terrible flooding the house was moved to higher ground in the late 1700s/early 1800s. And it turns out that the house behind the house I grew up in was it.
...as usual, it gets more weird. Twenty years ago in a different county in a different town I used to take rides out to a farm to get some groceries and coffee. Would sit in the car to drink the coffee and gaze out at a beautiful apple orchard across the street. Never knew the old time owners of that apple orchard were my direct ancestors and I bet it was Johnny Appleseed who gave them the seeds to start it. Their name was Chapman too. Wherever you go, there you are!
Speaking of movies, my great uncle (granddad's brother) owned over 300 theaters across the southern US, and started out owning one tent show. My grandfather always claimed that it was his original idea to serve popcorn instead of peanuts at the movies.
One of my ancestors was a French Huguenot who was the main architect for Yorktown, VA. And several of my ancestors had their own booths in the church in Williamsburg, VA (Bruton Episcopalian) and I've sat in those very booths!
Last edited by KathrynAragon; 08-30-2022 at 10:06 AM..
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