Weird Ancestry

Before digging trenches around your house, there is a state service you call (#811) that will dispatch a technician to make sure no buried utility lines are hidden in that area.

But when you start digging into your family’s past, no such service exists, so you might just hit a buried sewer line which will gush out with all sorts of mysteries, secrets, spicy and tragic stories, and bizarre ancestors.

I have just begun to scratch the surface of mine and have already dug-out:

1. An unknown ancestor who looked like Rasputin.
2. A great-grandmother who gave up four daughters for adoption and married seven times, topping sexually-precocious Sue Lyon who was cast at age fourteen in Stanley Kubrick’s 1962 movie ‘Lolita’ and who married five men.
3. A great-grandfather who was euthanized by the Nazis.

"Drop it!" My father said a few nights ago.

You know what that means...

I’ll keep digging and bring out more to light in Book I of my Memoir: The Age of Baku, the Dream Eater.

Re: Weird Ancestry

I found some very interesting things too.

Re: Weird Ancestry

When my first wifes mum died we found out that my wife had a younger step sister who was adopted over Lancashire way. We didnt know who the father was or anything else other than proof of her being adopted.
My ex could remember being sent to stay with an Aunt for a little while her mum was "ill" but didnt want to enquire any further.

Re: Weird Ancestry

I knew someone that had to trace her roots, using just a slave bangle that had been passed down through the generations.

Re: Weird Ancestry

Bi jingo !! One of my Gt.gt. uncles ended up in Guatemala, Theo, in the 1870's. He was the one that disappeared, but we found him listed in a cemetery only about 2 yrs ago after decades of searching. From that we found he had children , but don't know if he was married to their mother . Didn't Guatemalan women keep their surname (family name) , or something like that ?
His children carried his surname.
I think he originally went out there to work on the building of the railroad.

Re: Weird Ancestry

Careful, Theo, it becomes addictive! But isn't it fun - we have a whole thread on genealogy in the ' Leisure' section - lots of interesting posts!