Interesting things you find in family history

[Crow Hunter]

I recently got back into family history when a relative gave me a book about local history.

So I started delving into it again with the help of the internet. My previous delve was back in the early 2000's, before widespread scanned in data, and it was a laborious process of digging through microfiche. Now, it is all at your finger tips and in a lot of cases someone has already done a bunch of the work for you.

Interesting factoid #1.

I grew up in West TN and I knew my family had been in the area since the 1840's and in America since the 1600's. I grew up in an area that in the 1840s had a small village/town that my family founded and has since disappeared. I had assumed that in the War of Northern Aggression that my family had worn the gray. Nope. Every member of my family of which I am a direct descendant of, that participated in the War Between the States, was a member of the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Calvary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7th_Te...valry_Regiment

Luckily for me, my direct ancestor was captured prior to the disastrous Union City battle that resulted in most of the unit being sent to Andersonville prison.

There are family members that did fight for the Confederacy, but none that I am descended from.
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Interesting factoid #2

Growing up there were lots of people that I was related to that had Love as part of their name. I had always assumed it was because their family were hippies or something. Also wrong.

My several greats grandfather was Thomas Love, who was involved with the lost State of Franklin and was instrumental in surveying large swaths of West TN after the Jackson Purchase. In honor of this ancestor a large number of my relatives would use Love as a middle name.
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Interesting factoid #3

I had always heard about an ancestor that had been murdered by a group that was looking for money and the gold had never been found. My Dad used to tell me about going to the old house and seeing the bullet hole in the wall. The circumstances were completely different than what I had always assumed. He was murdered by people wearing white hoods and cloaks who, upon being captured after a running gun battle in the area, were revealed to have been former slaves who had been dressing up and preying on locals.
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Interesting factoid #4

According to the genealogical records, I am a descendant of a Cherokee woman who moved to the area with her children after the discovery of gold on their north Georgia reservation land in the 1820s. The record is strong enough that several relatives have been formally accepted into the Cherokee Nation as members. That would mean I have more Cherokee than Elizabeth Warren.

Quite an interesting weekend, to say the least.

Anyone else find out anything interesting in their family history?

[Joe in PNG]

My sister did a bit of research into our history. We've located our first known American ancestor as being born in Virginia in the early 18th century, after which they moved to the Carolinas, then to Florida after the Civil War.

I'm also descended from Odet Philippe.

Family lore held that my Great Grandfather was murdered in Arcadia for his payroll, but it turns out it was a disgruntled tenant.

[blues]

I've looked up the Ellis Island records of most of my great-grandparents and grandparents, as none were here before the late 19th century to early 20th century, and as I suspected, I'm a true American mutt descended from various European bloodlines. If there was anyone particularly notable or notorious, I'm unaware.

[okie john]

My maternal grandfather served in Company G, 328th Infantry Regiment, 82nd Division during WWI. He soldiered with Alvin York and introduced my father to York many years later.


Okie John

[Seven_Sicks_Two]

My father's side of the family had an interesting story about our very Hispanic last name. They claimed that a Native American relative changed it to something that "sounded Mexican" around the turn of the last century in order to find work in Colorado and Utah. A branch of the family was convinced enough that they changed their last name to what it was "supposed" to be.

A couple of years back I found our genealogy posted online. The Native American name doesn't appear anywhere until the early 20th century, but the "fake" Hispanic one goes back decades further. Some traditional family first names changed through the generations. Andres became Andrew, Maria became Marie, and Luis became Louis. There's no information that I could find about that side of the family earlier than about 1850, when they were using the Hispanic name in the then-new New Mexico Territory.

[ccmdfd]

On my father's side, one of his great ^ x uncles was the commander of the Alamo on that ill-fated day.

On my mother's side, we had a couple of blockade runners in the Civil War. Also, a local fisherman who one night picked up a person stranded, swimming in the water by himself. Turns out it was President Grover Cleveland. His duck boat had sank underneath him in the weather.

[blues]

On my father's side, one of his great ^ x uncles was the commander of the Alamo on that ill-fated day.

On my mother's side, we had a couple of blockade runners in the Civil War. Also, a local fisherman who one night picked up a person stranded, swimming in the water by himself. Turns out it was President Grover Cleveland. His duck boat had sank underneath him in the weather.

A friend had brought to my attention a section of a book about European families going back several centuries, and my somewhat unusual surname was being discussed. The author pointed out that many of the men were fishermen and the women, domestics.

I told my father that our coat of arms must've been a crossed fishing rod and mop.

[Duces Tecum]

I had assumed that in the War of Northern Aggression that my family had worn the gray. Nope. Every member of my family of which I am a direct descendant of, that participated in the War Between the States, was a member of the 7th Tennessee Volunteer Calvary.

Won't help you a bit, Crow. They will still expect you to pay reparations.

[Coyotesfan97]

I’m related to Rutherford B Hayes through my maternal grandmother.

[JAD]

I’m a direct descendant of Dragging Canoe, an insurgent Cherokee badass. The rest of my bloodline is unremarkable on my mother’s side and under researched on my father’s — most likely half German, half Polish Jew.