Why, indeed? There is an expression used among genealogists about people who are like potatoes: the only good belonging to them is under the ground.Why???
Why, indeed? There is an expression used among genealogists about people who are like potatoes: the only good belonging to them is under the ground.Why???
Oh I like that. How about the ancestor with the the worst reputation. We could call it the Skeleton Closet coming to a channel near you. Then others could research and challenge the "proof".I think I'd rather see them in a reality show. We lock them all in a historic house and each week the group votes out the guy with the flimsiest proof. We could call it "Ancestor" instead of Survivor.
I think I'd rather see them in a reality show. We lock them all in a historic house and each week the group votes out the guy with the flimsiest proof. We could call it "Ancestor" instead of Survivor.
I would watch these shows!Oh I like that. How about the ancestor with the the worst reputation. We could call it the Skeleton Closet coming to a channel near you. Then others could research and challenge the "proof".
Hey I am serious. What would we call forum?I would watch these shows!
I guess we all rush to claim the famous, the war heroes, the altruistic rich relatives; the celebrities in our family trees. We're not so fast to embrace the fact that we all possibly have murderers, robbers and various and sundry other classes of villains and other "scoundrels" alongside them...
How about the Bad Ancestor forum under history. We could have a few laughs and get help confirming our passed down family stories. I would love help confirming my family lore. How about you.I would watch these shows!
There are examples of several people attempting to profit from Jesse James ancestry. Growing up I recall reading news stories in the St. Joe paper of one or two men even claiming to be James' son. As I recall, their claims were easily debunked by living James' descendants. Old Jesse's remains in the Kearny Cemetery have been dug up, examined and reburied I believe at least twice in my lifetime.
James' descendants maintain a genealogy website, including a Surname Index here: https://ericjames.org/html2014/surnames.html
I have no clue how accurate it is. It includes hundreds of surnames.
We can ask Mike if we can set up a separate subforum. If that's not feasible, we can start tagging them as "Bad Ancestor." I have a couple of threads I've started here that certainly qualify. We might want to keep them CW-related if we can, though, just to make sure the forum stays focused.How about the Bad Ancestor forum under history. We could have a few laughs and get help confirming our passed down family stories. I would love help confirming my family lore. How about you.
I wonder if it was Zerelda. His mom and wife both had that name too.I saw one of the first shows, when DNA was becoming a thing, about Jesse James. He had a sister named either Zeldo or Zora (a Z name anyhow) that they were able to use DNA from that line. There had been a family that claimed "certain sure" they were from Jesse James. Well it turns out they weren't - the other family was. They kept begging the scientist to just say, "you said there was a 1 in a 3 million chance (I'm making numbers up) that you could be mistaken. Why don't you say that?" Over and over
That's very true. Reminds me of the people fighting over claiming to be related to Charles Manson.I cant help but think of all those guys that claimed to be D.B Cooper or at least claim that they were D.B Coopers brother, cousin, uncle etc. I think some people are just as happy to have an infamous relative as a famous relative.
yes only CW ancestorsWe can ask Mike if we can set up a separate subforum. If that's not feasible, we can start tagging them as "Bad Ancestor." I have a couple of threads I've started here that certainly qualify. We might want to keep them CW-related if we can, though, just to make sure the forum stays focused.
Paging @CivilWarTalk for input.
They were fighting over his estate, such as it was. I think 2 of them claimed to be sons and 1 claimed to be a grandson. My favorite though was the person who then jumped in and didn't claim to be related but claimed to be a penpal and have a copy of Manson's will that just so happened to sign over everything to him. And he was a witness to the will, in addition to being the beneficiary. Yeah, that's not the slightest bit fishy, pal.What weird psychosis would you have to want to be connected to someone like that? It takes at least 500 years to bleach that out to make a claim, like Blackbeard.
I think it would be a lot of fun! Let's see what Mike says.yes only CW ancestors
"looks rather like a blacksmith coming from work" is my new favorite wanted poster description. Several years ago, I used to transcribe the police gazettes from the UK and Australia for Ancestry.com, and they always had the best descriptions.There was a book written some time ago by an Irishman ‘Dan Breen’, his book was called ‘My Fight for Irish Freedom’, my great grandfather and his brothers are mentioned in the book, they were some bad dudes, but that’s about it for my ‘Bad Ancestors’... here’s a picture of a family friend.
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Looks like a blacksmith! ...just what did a blacksmith look like on his way home, I’d imagine that many Irishmen in the 1920s wore flat caps and were covered in dirt after a hard days work!"looks rather like a blacksmith coming from work" is my new favorite wanted poster description. Several years ago, I used to transcribe the police gazettes from the UK and Australia for Ancestry.com, and they always had the best descriptions.