discovering you have really long roots
I tend to think of family lineage within the past few generations… who came over to America from where and basically how in the heck both sides of the family ended up in Northern California. But my highly ambitious Uncle decided to hop on to ancestry.com for the past few months and try to firmly establish and trace our roots officially, rather than simply relying on hearsay about certain relatives.
In his searching, he discovered that the alleged “Indian blood” in the family did not come from anyone of native descent, but rather just someone born in Indian Territory. And while my grandmother’s side of the family’s traceable roots only go back a few generations to the Swedish and German immigrants from the mid-1800s, my grandfather’s tree turns out to be huge… and allegedly goes back through some fairly famous Brits.
You know, like King Henry I, King Henry II and King John.
King John is actually my 23rd great grandfather according to the research my uncle has been doing. Huh. Guess there was a good reason for me to love Robin Hood growing up… just not sure I knew my family ended up on the evil side of that story.
Sir Walter Raleigh pops up as a great grand uncle. as does the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot. And perhaps there are more hidden treasures among the 1100+ people in that side of the family tree… or in the uncovered braches. Even if there’s not, it’s pretty neat to think that my see-through skin is somewhat royal in the tiniest little way.
Has anyone else had any crazy discoveries while looking back at their ancestry?
4 Comments
AmyC83
My whole life I thought my maiden name was Dutch, but a few years ago my aunt and uncle traveled to the Netherlands and Holland and Germany and discovered it’s German! Then, my cousin and I found a German girl on Facebook with our same last name, which really confirmed it.
I love your royal heritage!
Kate
There’s no fame (or infamy) in my family tree-just brushes with greatness. Although I once heard someone say that all ancestry.com searches reveal a link to someone famous.
Kim
Yeah, I think they used to have a feature where you could click and see what famous people you were related to via cousins and such. It’ll be interesting to see what else pans out, as my uncle continues to verify everything up and down the line!
Rycrafty
I feel like a lot of those ancestry sites trace people back to ancient royalty of some sort. I’m not sure if I think they are just wrong, or if there are enough people in 23 generations that anyone can be related to anyone. :) Plus, once you find your relationship with one royal, then you’re related to all of them! :)
I know who in my family came over to Canada and when – mum and dad in the 70s after they got married in England.