Do You Ever Find It Hard To Imagine....????  

Ahhh pye - one of my passions - Ancestry and family history.
While my ancestry can't measure up to yours (in many ways), I still find the lives of my ancestors fascinating. To try to understand what they went through just to survive (in their time) is one of the most fascinating things I can do.

My great great grandfather (on my dad's side) left the farm and became a trader with the Cherokee Nation. He traded goods with them throughout southern South Carolina and northern Georgia. He did such a good job, and they liked and trusted him so much, the band he traded with most gave him the 'gift' of his bride. I think now, it was also because they realized they were facing rough times ahead and wanted her to be taken care of in Georgia, rather than having to face the 'trail of tears'. It's still a mystery how they escaped those perilous times, but they did. He helped hide a small band of Eastern Cherokee in the hills and caves of north Georgia. Later they left the Indian Nation to be 'counted' as whites, although my great great grandmother never the roots of her upbringing.

Her children, pretty much, all had something in them that would carry them onward despite the hardships they endured.

My great grandfather on my grandmother's side, started out studying in the priesthood in Ireland. The story goes that he rebelled against the family's wishes and left the priesthood to become a clown in the Barnum and Bailey Circus.
One of his girls carried on that circus blood and smell of grease paint to become one of the 'sharpshooters' in a Wild West Show in Texas. Her husband was a 'forerunner' for the show and booked events throughout Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

From poor dirt farmers in Georgia and Alabama on one side and priests and clergy on the other who became circus people, the family lot was certainly fascinatinng.

Members of my mother's family were opposites. They came from 'well bred stock' who had it better than most families, coming from one of the families that first settled Hartford, Connecticut. When North met South, I guess all hell broke loose, because the family has been nuts ever since. LOL

There seems to have been an entrepeneurial spirit within both families as many of them were business owners and leaders of whatever community they settled in. My research has given me a type of pride for their determination and persistence which (thank goodness) must have rubbed off on me.

Many of my ancestors displayed some kind of talent, whether it was their performing abilities or business sense or whether it was playing an instrument to pass the time. All of it (my research) has brought many years of complete interest for me. It sure makes me wonder if we would have had the 'gumption' to do the things they did to get by. Wow!

Wow what interesting stories and yes a very rebellious crew indeed, so yes I should imagine thats where you get it from LOL...I would love to find out about my ancestors and am going to start looking soon, the only stories I am aware of are the ones my nan told me when I was a child and she was quite fesity. She was a bit of a rebel too and always stood up for what she felt was right and tried to stop any injustice. When she was younger she come out of a dance room to fin about 6 guys hitting just one and she was only petite yet she walked straight into the middle of the brawl and shouted enough you sissies, one on one or not at all. She could have been so hurt but they just all stopped and walked away apologising to her as she went and the poor guy that was being picked on thanked her profusely. Thats about it really that I am aware off. I am still trying to think of a film for your other discussion LOL, difficult one that. Ellie :D

I have some stray facts about my family on both sides but not many details.

Maternal Grandmother was a "Rosie the Riveter" in WW2.

Maternal Grandfather had a very short lived employment with Al Capone's mob family and barely escaped alive.

Maternal Great Grandfather was a monster who got run out of several towns and was hounded by a vigilante mob. (how embarassing).

Maternal Great Aunt lived to be 104 and was, until her death, the woman with the most living decendants in the state of Iowa.

Paternal Great Great Great Grandfather and his brother, brought my last name to the US from Germany but the spelling was changed by 1 letter, so basically everyone in the US with my last name is related to me.

There is a college named after a paternal decendant. Not quite sure exactly how this person was related yet.

That's about it as far as notables in my family that I know about so far. Not too much to brag about. I'm hoping as I look a bit into my family history I'll find out more. It's funny but nobody every talks much about our ancestors on either side of the family. I always wondered why and never got any answers. So I guess I'll have to find out for myself. This could be tragic.. LOL

My grand-father joined the French Navy at 17 during World War 1 and was a gunner on a ship. His ship went to New-York once... and it left my grand-father with dreams of America for the rest of his life. lol

He was around 40 when World War 2 happened... and was not enlisted. My grand-parents were living 10 kilometres outside of Dunkirk... one of the hottest spot of World War 2 in France... and so... they were in the middle of it... and I mean "in the middle of it".

They had the Germans one kilometre to the South and the English one kilometre to the North. The two were shelling each other... with everything passing above the house. The house got hit three times... but survived. I grew up in that house and saw all the scars of World war 2. My grand-father dug over 100 empty canon shells out of his garden after the end of the war.

My grand-mother would invite the English high brass for dinner and sleep over... which made her a target for the Germans if they had found out what she was doing.

After the English exodus... the North of France was under German occupation for 4 years. The Germans would round up all the men in the villages... like my grand-father... and make them plant poles in the fields... so that no ennemy plane could land.
My grand father would go back in the field at night with a group of men... and they would knock down all the poles they had planted during the day.

My father and his brother were 12 and 13 at the time. Not far from their place... there was a mini railways that the Germans were using to carry their ammunitions and everything else. My father would go and put things on the line at night to derail them.

My grand-mother was not afraid of anyone. My grand-father had a short wave radio in the attic... which he used to listen to the news. If was forbidden to have one of them... and the penalty was death on the spot if the Germans caught you.

One day... my grand-father is listening to the radio... when two Germans knock on the door. My grand-mother start chatting them up... while my grand-father is hiding the radio. Then one of the Germans tell her that they will soon invade the UK. And my grand-mother start making fun of him... by telling him "How do you plan to do that? Are you going to swim to the UK?"

One day a German stole her bicycle... and she went to the German headquarters and screamed at them until they gave her the bicycle back. lol

Unfortunately, my father didn't like to talk about his exploits during the war (WWII) much less his life before it. We found out on his death bed that he had been married before the war and had two kids. I'm guessing they didn't survive...

I really do not know a whole lot about my ancestors. My mom and dad never did tell me a whoile lot about any of their background. I have never looked any of it up either but I have often wandered about it. I would love to know more about where I came from and the background my family had on my dads side also. My dad died when I was 12 so I really don't know a whole lot.

Hi, pye,

My God, what an interesting family history,your great-gran mother a suffragette eh? now I could imagine you chaining yourself to a railing for a good cause and Mexican riding with the Pancho Villa, yes I remember that film hehe I could just picture it. Well can't remember my family history that much although my mu sed to tell us things about during the war and how she and my father and her neice treke it from Burma to India on foot running away from the Japs and how there closing in on them. My grandfather was caught and tortured, left for dead fortunatly he was found by the local villagers and was nursed back to health. my grandfathe was Italian and he was accused of been a spy for the British,he did't tell theem he was. My grand father was lucky to be alive. Don't remember much of my other relatives. Yours makes a very interesting reading pye.

Bless.


Tamara

Dont know that much history of my family they didnt talk much about it or I didnt listen sigh! But I do know that my grandpa and dad worked in the copper mine outside of Salt Lake City Utah and they also worked on a road gang building roads between Utah and Idaho. My grand pa was a blacksmith and when the motor driven combines came in to the vally he was the machanic that would work on them he was the only one in town that did it.
My great gandpa on daddys mom side had a ranch in Star Valley Wyoming close to where the Hole in the Wall gang hide out. dont know if the gang visited the ranch or not!

gee, your ancestors make mine seem a bit ho hum. except for a couple. on my moms side, a great uncle was highly decorated in the union army, even tho he was from KY! cant remember all the particulars, but it was in our family reunion newspaper when we went as i have a cousin doing research. my grandfather was on dads side was closely related and married into the hatfields, that fought terribley with the mccoys. one of my great aunts, dads mothers sister was a Shawnee princess.

hi pyewacket yes my gr gr grandfather Christopher Ladd was accusedof murder and they were going to hang him but they found
an iterant peddlar that had the civil war buttons from the
dead mans uniform and was trying to sell them, they then got
a confusion to the murder out of this peddlar and my poor gr gr
grandfather won a reprieve and they undid the rope from around hjis neck and he became their postmaster soon after. another gr gr grandfather William spencer along with a group of men all ex union soldiers waylaid a conferate sympathizer and murdered him in the great missouri murder trial, its a document you can down load from the internet, these guys wheedled their way out of being convicted by all sorts of schemes, they were all finally let go as the evidence somehow just sort of got lost. okay I evidently have some skeletons in my closet but they are sort of interesting. and here is another weird one, my gr gr grandmother on one side of family tree remarried after her husbands death to my gr gr gr grandfather Amasa Spencer,and his wife before her, was my gr gr grandmothers sister, my family tree has some tangled branches but I have had fun going back so far and learning all sorts of odd things.