What incidental trivia have you learned by doing Genealogy?

Question

Have you ever learned of some trivia about history, family connections or otherwise insignificant information that made you laugh or say wow, or both!

Answer 1

The expression "I'm going to hit the hay!" or "I'm going to hit the sack!"

We say it all the time when going to bed.

But back in the day when they had feather beds, straw beds and a mattress filled with hay, they use to take a club and beat the stuffing around to even it out!  They did that in the morning so the bed would look nice!

In Gettysburg at the Jenny Wade house, the tour guide will give you a demonstration.  Some beds have a storage system built into the head board to hold the club.

Comments

I wonder if they also hit the sack or the hay to make sure there were no bed bugs or other bugs too.

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I did hear many woman had flea problems. I'm sure those mattresses had crawling critters!  My grand parents would take the mattress out in the winter and freeze those pests!

Answer 2

I googled around to see which of my great grand uncles was married to that woman who had married into the family. I have her as godmother for some of her nieces and nephews, but I didn't know which of the brothers of my greatgrandmum was her husband.

Now while googling I used several combinations of given names and surnames and suddenly I found a link to a book edited by the Genealogical Society of Descendants of Martin Luther (the reformator). The link showed a marriage. I saw the name of the woman and the marriage location (the town where my greatgrandmum grew up and my grandfather was born) and I knew that I knew that this is my family. To get confirmation I mailed the chronist of that town and asked him. Answer: "Yeah, that is the aunt of your greatgrandmother." So, in November 2016 I learned that my 2xgreatgrandaunt married a direct descendant of Martin Luther (wow!) and reading that, I started to roll on the floor laughing.

Comments

I could hardly misbehave w/o hearing grandma's voice in the back of my mind. It must be tough being you!

Answer 3

My maternal grandfather worked as a pin boy in the bowling alley industry. During the last week of March in 1950, he worked 40 hours. He worked with two of his brothers there just before being drafted into the Korean War. We didn’t know this fact until the 1950 census release. So we enjoyed this tid bit of info 

Answer 4

That the brother of my great grandmother was an author. We always understood he was a fancy attorney on the east coast (which he probably was); but he also wrote science fiction. That was never discussed.

Comments

Was he published? This makes perfect sense when you think about it. Who else, besides an attorney, practices stretching the truth to its breaking point and expects their audience to believe  it.

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He was published, it was a collector of Sci Fi who asked about him and told me about the book(s). I have not found it.

I did find a book he wrote with the catchy title "Administration of Decedentsʻ Estates". Likely didn't stretch the truth much in that one!

As long as I am thinking about him, I recall my Dad referring to him as Uncle Useless. His name was Eustace. Thatʻs really all I ever heard about him.

Answer 5

This fellow grew a spooky potato and was intrigued enough to bring it to the newspaper office:

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/114619957/j-reynos-potato/

Comments

Where was Ed Weston when we needed him? * see Pepper No. 30

Answer 6

My great-grandmother, who was born in the United States, and was 0% German, automatically became a German citizen when she married my great-grandfather, who hadn’t yet been naturalized. They both had to carry alien identification cards during World War I. I have the cards.

Comments

Makes me wonder if older generations of German-Americans were required to carry identification. Also makes me wonder how your great grandfather's bro-in-law's perceived him. I had a Scottish gr gr grandpa that married a German that caused his brother to disown him 50 years prior to WW I.

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In answer to your first question: these cards (really booklets) were issued during World War I. The dates bear that out, as does a story that my great-aunt told me (Her dad accidentally went to work without his,  He was supposed to have it on him at all times, so she had to run it over to him.)

In answer to your second question: this was an interesting case. My great-grandfather immigrated at the age of 3. He was orphaned, and later legally adopted, by a couple by the name of Lindsay. So, for almost all of his life, he had a Scottish last name.