52 Ancestors Week 1: Family Lore

Question

From....Me: ( I wanted to get ahead of the game.)

Every family has their story. Did Uncle Joe really make it big at the race track? Are you really descended from a king or queen? Or did someone say you were descended from a "Cherokee Princess". That last one annoys me. Well, whatever the case is sometimes family lore can last for hundreds of years. See the Star Trek: Voyager episode "11:59" for details. 

Remember, some family stories do turn out to be true. And sometimes the truth can be stranger than fiction. Let's see what ya got and let's start 52 Ancestors 2024 off with a bang!

Comments

Some families have weird connections to royalty. I have a statue. Go figure: https://allroadhaverhill.blogspot.com/2024/01/52-ancestors-week-1-family-lore.html

Answer 1

Same here - trying to be ahead of the game :D

Family lore has it that my maternal grandmother Inge Graul was the original author (lyrics and melody) of the famous East German kindergarten song „Kam ein kleiner Teddybär“ (e.g. this version on YouTube). She worked as a primary school and kindergarten teacher (Hortnerin) in post-war East Germany. Of course, as she left East Germany in 1959, the GDR authorities would not credit her with having come up with that song, so that in most songbooks it is now credited to an anonymous artist, or not at all (family lore usually has logical arguments for suspect claims). I remember her singing it to me when I was really young. Well, so she knew the song from her East German working days, but was she also the author?!? I guess there is no way of proving it now one way or the other …

Btw, here‘s a photo of my grandmother teaching primary 1, and yes, I am in the picture too ;-)

Comments

Sorry, but the photo is not displaying.

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If I understand photo privacy correctly, by having changed my grandmother’s privacy level to public, the photo should now be viewable by everyone (and not just those on the Trusted List as previously).

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Yes, I can see it now.

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Thanks, Ros, for confirming!

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Great story! Extra bonus points for that YouTube link, loved it.

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Thanks, Vicki, for the feedback. Glad you liked the song. :)

Answer 2

Just the opposite, actually. No mention of connections to Presidents, Washington, Madison and Taylor or Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Francis Scott Key or numerous famous outlaws. No stories of Uncle LeRoy who died on D-Day except, he was killed in the war. Not a word about Cousin Clay who, by age 39 made a name for himself in auto racing, before his untimely death. He must have escaped everyone's attention, or someone would have said something. Even Cousins that fought alongside of Cole Younger and Frank James and associated with thereafter, nothing. Mom did mention a 'distant' relationship to the Dalton Gang- her 2c2r. If it didn't happen in Twentieth Century Raytown, it didn't happen or, at least wasn't talked about. My guess is they wanted me to be surprised and excited as an old man when I make these discoveries now.

Comments

My parents loved researching (and telling) us all sorts of stories - they literally planned family trips around visits to ancestral gravesites, and mom was always eager to share her latest discovery. One I still remember is how her great-uncle "scooped" news of the 1905 war between Russia and Japan by meeting an incoming ship at their first US port (in Seattle WA or Portland OR, I think) and then telegraphing the news to the Chronicle in San Francisco.  I have to admit, though, that we children didn't always share their enthusiasm. Now that she is gone, I wish I could remember more of those stories... 

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I got a couple good ones. Like how my great-grandfather Alfred Hamel was a Rough Rider. Kinda hard to be a rough rider when you're two at the time. I know the twos can be terrible but I don't see him hanging out with Teddy Roosevelt.

I'll have a good one for my blog this week. =D That one I've already discussed.

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@ Chris- you must have had an uncle like me. My nieces and nephews are still in therapy from misinformation I fed them. Teachers used to note my nephews 'overactive imagination' on his report cards. Probably cost him some grades and a scholarship.

Answer 3

My grandfather George W. Garrettson was wounded in the shoulder on his first day of action in WWI. He had to wait over a week before arriving by train at the Field hospital in Blois - by then he had developed severe gangrene. The head physician told him "don't worry sonny, we'll make sure that your mother gets your things", and declined to perform the life-saving but complicated amputation he needed. A French volunteer nurse, Mme. Raguin, who had dedicated years to self-financed training in the use of Dakin's solution against gangrene, insisted that the doctor proceed with the amputation - threatening to quit if he refused. Obviously, her plea was successful (he did, after all, live to become my grandfather and namesake). Mme Raguin stayed in contact with him and many other American soldiers whose lives she saved, and I treasure the box of her letters which has been passed down to me. My grandfather, who returned to the USA from France almost exactly 105 years ago, was fitted with an early artificial arm at the Presidio military hospital in San Francisco. Heavy and awkward, it was rarely used. It is now among the undisplayed artifacts at the local museum in Whittier, California. I will always remember his fierce determination that he was not "handicapped" - he proved over and over again that he could do anything with his one arm - no sympathy, charity or assistance required!

Comments

Awesome story!

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Great story and shows that even back then some physicians had little conscience to shirking their responsibilities and ignored their Hippocratic Oath.

Answer 4

I will continue this year to try to connect branches that have in one way or another a connection to Amy's topic.

So this time I went into the surname "Story". There I found unconnected Clara (Story) Behle. She was named as mother of Helen (Behle) Kilshaw. Turns out she was the stepmother. While creating a profile for the correct mother and connecting Helen's siblings also to her, I could date Helen's brother who had an undated profile. Helen's husband didn't have a profile, so I created it. I had a look in the Kilshaw surname list as I went up the family on FamilySearch. Eventually I found Gradwell's greatgrandfather and could connect the branch to William Kilshaw.

Answer 5

My great-grandfather, often after polishing off an amount of wine best lost to history, would often regale us with stories of our family both in Italy, and after they moved to New York. This included Uncle Danny’s supposed involvement in organized crime, and interestingly Aunt Angelina’s tragic but strange death. He, and my great-grandmother, both told me she had died after being hit by a streetcar, but after getting a copy of her death certificate she passed away from pneumonia while pregnant. While both are equally tragic, I do have to wonder why the family made up a different cause of death, though I can probably imagine my great-grandfather would claim that the certificate was falsified in some way. Uncle Frank very soon after Aunt Angelina’s death married back into the family as was very common back then. He married Angelina’s (and my great-grandfather’s) sister Aunt Carmela. 

Another story he was absolutely consistent on, and would not hear anything else, is that of his grandmother. He swore up and down that his grandmother was an illegitimate daughter of a royal. He always called her a “Princess”. He told us her mother was a royal of some sort, and that she fell in love with a man she shouldn’t have. To spare some sort of embarrassment, someone lost their station, or some sort of title was lost. The way he spoke about this, you could tell he fully believed it. He passed before I started genealogy (and when I was a child), so I never could ask him about the nitty-gritty. What I did find out was very interesting though. His grandmother was a foundling! She was given up in infancy. She was left in the wheel at the Cathedral in her city, where she was found by the nuns at about 3 pm. She was swaddled with white canvas, and while it was common for mothers to leave some sort of memento (commonly a ripped prayer card or something similar) to help them identify their children later in life, my ancestress was left with nothing but that piece of canvas. She never learned who her parents were, and I can’t find who raised her, but interestingly her godfather was the city mayor and head of a local baronial and military family. I do have to wonder if she later found out, and told the story to her children, who passed it down, or if she made this story up to fill the gaps in her own family, or perhaps it’s even an invention of my great-grandfather.

Comments

Oops, Noa it seems you and I are related (we're not, just kidding) but part of my answer was: 

... A far ancestor, from the Carrol family, married the supposed secret daughter of Princess Amelia, daughter of George III, King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover....

Answer 6

Family Lore can hide a lot of uncomfortable truths.  My mother was told her grandmother Augusta (Streich) Loock had a younger brother Henry who Anglicized his surname to Strike.  My research revealed Henry was Augusta's son by a man who quickly moved away. Augusta's parents became known as the parents of Henry.  Augusta married Albert Loock.  Family Lore stated Albert was a bachelor without children.  My research revealed Albert had a daughter with a woman he didn't marry.  Her parents became known as the parents of the child and the family quickly moved away.

  On my father's side my cousin just learned through DNA that all her cousins on her father's side of the family are not related to her.  It was a bit awkward as family trees had been made and sent out.  My father, deceased long before commercial DNA, would have been astonished. Family Lore did not include this event happening.

The only "we're related to famous people and/or great wealth" Family Lore story was on my father's side.  His grandmother http://WikiTree.com/wiki/Bartlett-7643 , Elizabeth (Bartlett) Prichard, claimed the family once owned a huge part of Manhattan.  This was through the famous Anneka Jans and I wrote about it under "Lizzie's Legacy" on her profile page.  I should add an update to the story because I eventually found the connection through a marriage that would have entitled our family to absolutely nothing. The people who were direct descendants got nothing.  

Happily in my research I have found so many interesting stories that were never part of Family Lore.

Answer 7

I thought I had posted about this story before, but I can’t find an answer I posted about this relative anywhere. He, Joseph Walter Jones is my 1C3R. He used Walter his second name as his preferred name. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jones-89342 

So here goes: My paternal grandmother told stories about a relative who lived next door to Princess Anne of the English royal family. None of it seemed to make sense so we said, ‘thanks Granny what an interesting story’. 

After my dad’s death I became the guardian of all the family photos and documents. In the family photo collection, there were pictures of a young Prince David-yes the one who became who became Edward 8th-skating on a frozen pond at Sandringham-the royal estate in Norfolk, plus other photos with handwritten notes. 

One note said Joseph Walter Jones with the King Haakon VII of Norway. It’s a long story, Walter was the village school master at West Newton, Norfolk, England. West Newton is the village on the Royal Estate at Sandringham.

Walter was asked to take over for the tutor of the royal princes (known formally as Edward, his family called him David, who became Edward 8th and Albert who became George 6th) when the tutor went on holiday. Over time he became involved with the Royal Family, as confidant to the young prince David and keeper of the royal pigeons.

Walter went on state visits to Australia in I believe 1901 and to Norway in 1908 which is the visit when the picture was taken that includes King Haakon VII of Norway, who was great grandfather to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark who just announced her abdication. 

On May 11, 1937, J Walter Jones was named to the Coronation Honours list as Member of the Royal Victorian Order By His Majesty King George V.

So my grandmother was incorrect, her relative did not live next door to Princess Anne-she wasn’t born until 1950. Walter died in 1938, but there is a fascinating connection with the Royal Family. 

I have posted 4 of the photos on Walter’s profile and there I think 6 more I could add. The skating picture was taken by Walter Jones.

Comments

Fascinating story.

There a couple of Danish royal stories in my family, I just don't know how true or which profiles to attach to.

1. On my paternal grandmother's side, a great grandmother (maybe Ellen Marie Nielsen-13373) from the Jægerspris area sat on the knee of a King while her father rowed across a river/stream/mote to lower a bridge to cross.

2. On my maternal grandfather's side, a great uncle was a Royal guard and he would have to stand at attention outside the castle door. Whenever the prince or princes visited whatever castle this uncle was at, they would take aim and spit down on the guard's hats - the big black fur hats. How horrible for those poor guards.  

Answer 8

Oh, my favorite family lore....

I was always told that my great-grandfather's first wife ran off with the preacher, and that is why my g-gfather made his way up to Ohio.  

Yeah.... NO proof of that whatsoever.  None.  Zilch.  Zero.  

What we do know is that he left his first wife and family and ended up in Ohio, in the same town that his father, who ALSO left his first wife, moved to.  I also have the chancery divorce decree, and a letter from the lawyer basically saying, hey, you can't get remarried for a certain period of time, 6 mths I believe.  Guess who got remarried pretty much exactly 6 mths after the divorce was final...

Then again, this guy was also apparently known for doing other shyster-type stuff, so saying the first wife ran off with a preacher wasn't really surprising.  Let's also mention they also had 8, count them, 8 living children.  I don't think she was going anywhere!

Answer 9

Family lore tells me that my Great-aunt, Ida Petrini, died after being poisoned by her husband. He was jealous because she had an affair with Rudolph Valentino. Did it really happen that way? I wrote about it on my blog.

https://familytreesandbranches.blogspot.com/2024/01/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-1-family.html

Answer 10

Nice Voyager reference.

There are some things about my mom's side.  She always said her grandfather visited the U.S. several times, but he never technically immigrated.  The thing is I'm fairly confident that the paper trail shows he resided in the U.S. and ran a small business.  He died before my mom was born and my grandma died when I was a toddler.

On that same side of the family, my mom had an uncle whose death came into question.  He died back in 1960.  The story is that he just slumped over and died of an apparent heart attack.  Well, after reading multiple books and watching multiple movies about the mafia, my mom decided her uncle was the victim of a mob hit, and that he was probably shot because people don't just slump over and die.  I ordered the death certificate to see what it says about the cause of death.  It says he died of a heart attack.  When presented with that information, my mom suggested the medical examiner must have been paid off to falsify the record.  I don't know how to get through to her.

Answer 11

Hopefully, I will find some happy family lore this year in my discovering my family.  

Unfortunately, one family story I heard about turned out to be true.  I had to do some hefty research at our local library years ago, going through old newspapers. My Grand Aunt was murdered by her last husband. Because of that, the family would not allow him to be buried near her, in the same cemetery.

Answer 12

Here i am speculating, but, i think my ggf was murdered by ?, and his wife remarried within a year, that is why no one ever knew anything about his wife, for years, until this technology age.

Answer 13

I just came across typewritten notes that my Dad recorded on 16 September 1970 after my great aunt Freida Anderson Nicholson visited.  They read:

Uncle Al (Freida’s husband) also had interesting ancestors. His father's side was Catholic Irish. He was born in Nova Scotia 95 years ago and came around the Cape by ship to Puget Sound as a baby. His mother's side was also Irish. Her grandmother was a Lady [noble] whose sister was married to the famous Irish rebel Robert Emmett who fought against England in 1803. The rebellion failed. He died and was secretly buried. His grave will, according to Northern Irish legend, never be revealed until Ireland is again free from the English yoke.

Well, that triggered a host of research that led from the tragic United Irish Leader Robert Emmet (1886-1803), hanged in Dublin for high treason from the Irish Rebellion of 1803 and immortalized in song and story, to his equally tragic betrothed Sarah Curran (1782-1808), youngest daughter of John Philpot Curran.  In her grief she married Captain Robert Henry Sturgeon, nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham, in 1805 and lived in Sicily where her son, John, died one year old.  Sarah died of tuberculosis in 1808.

The romance between Robert Emmet and Sarah Curran was immortalized by Washington Irving as "The Broken Heart" in his magnum opus "The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.", while Thomas Moore devoted several ballads and poems to it, e.g.

She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps,
And lovers around her are sighing,
But coldly she turns from their gaze, and weeps,
For her heart in his grave is lying.

I'll stop here, but this was just the start of months of reading and research that immersed me in the world of Lord Byron, noted Irish portrait painter Amelia Curran (Sarah's sister), Percy Bysshe Shelly, Mary Shelly (Frankenstein), and finally Eliza Odelia Curran Taylor (Sarah's sister and Uncle Al's great grandmother).

Answer 14

Well this is not Family Lore Story but one that might be one, one day, This about Andrew Kerestesy (Kerestesy-4)

Back in the town of Jownstown , Pa, on Payday. All the men at the steelmill would  gather at  the local bar "Social Club" they called it back then. Well, this story took place at the Hungarian Social Club supposedly on Wall St just above the Brownstown Bridge.

Before I start the story my mother would always tell me there were two "Andy's" that belong to the club. Both were real good friends. To tell them apart  they called my grandfather "Little Andy" and the other guy  "Big Andy"

Big and Little Andy were happy it was Friday the last day of the week, they got paid and they were looking forward to the weekend. They decided to stop by "The Hungarian Social Club" get a few drinks, visit with their friends before they head home to be with their families.

After visiting with their friends and having just a "few drinks" both Andys got up to pay the bartender.  When it was little Andy turn, he noticed that his paycheck was not in his pocket.

"Did you check all your Pockets"   Big Andy said.

"Yes I did." Little Andy said.

They around where they sat no pay check. This made Big Andy mad. He stormed to the door and locked it.

Big Andy yelled in his Hungarian voice, "NOBODY LEAVES THIS PLACE TILL ANDY GETS HIS PAY CHECK BACK."

All the men looked at each other wonder who would do such a thing. They all knew that Little Andy had four children at the house, and he didn't make much money at the steel plant. At matter as fact none of them did.

The men got up looked around the "Social Club" couldn't find his check. Men kept going to the door wanting to get home to their family, but Big Andy would not let them. He kept saying. "Nobody leaves this place till Andy get his paycheck back."

Men outside were at door wanting to get in but Big Andy would not let them in till little Andy had his paycheck back. The bartender was about to call the police to straighten thing and get everything under control when "Little Andy" happen to put his hand in another pocket. He felt something, it can't be he pulled it out it was it paycheck. He showed it ti Big Andy and Apologized.  

I am told that until the day he died the men at the Hungarian Social Club still teasing him about it. I am sure if the building is still standing today the ghost  are still chucking about that one too.

Answer 15

In 2023, I found out via WikiTree that I descend from not one but two 1630’s PGM families - the lore/stories just go from there!  

I was a bit shocked considering 1) I didn’t know much about my dad’s side of the family due to my parents being divorced, 2) all the people on my mother’s side started arriving to the USA in 1846 - many of which I already knew about, and 3) my father’s mother’s family is from Italy and migrated in the 1900-1910 timeframe.

I was able to prove that Martin McNary Sr did indeed know and served with Richard Blake in the F&I war, marrying Richard’s widow Mabel upon his return.  That the soldiers did indeed get taken prisoner on their ship before arriving in Cuba and were eventually set free.  However, we will never know for certain if the men ate Martin’s leather boots to stay alive on the ship while being held prisoner!

I also learned about the legendary Lt. Nicholas Stillwell of New Amsterdam who resided in Manhattan and Gravesend, Brooklyn, New York. His farm on Manhattan is where the United Nations building is located today.  Margaret Stillwell is my ancestor; when I recently connected her to her father Elias (a 2024 goal), I learned that I am related to WikiTreers from everywhere - plus loads of royals and famous people too! WOW!!!

I also discovered that my BFF and I are related by marriage (Fishkill, NY - imagine my surprise when I see her unusual last name in my CC7) and another friend and myself are descended from the two sons one of the Pilgrims.

Answer 16

A lot of family lore! Some old, some newly discovered, some I have solved, some I'll never know...

1. Heard from my cousins when we were like 6 y.o. "Manuel Blanco Encalada, first President of Chile, is our 4th great grandfather": TRUE!

2. "Our grandmother is related to Diego Portales" (Minister and Vicepresident of Chile): FALSE! He was related to our grandfather, Portales was his 2nd great grand-uncle.

3. "Our earlist known Borchers ancestor "sat at the right hand" of the Kaiser in the Imperial City of Goslar, Germany": I STILL NEED TO RESEARCH

4. And this one comes from my research so I'm starting my own Family Lore... A far ancestor, from the Carrol family, married the supposed secret daughter of Princess Amelia, daughter of George III, King of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover. WILL WE EVER KNOW? 

I JUST  GENEALOGY

Answer 17

Don't you just love it when you hear these tantalising gems of information?

• My paternal g-grandmother Letitia was supposedly born during an aboriginal attack on the property "Thistle Hill" where her parents lived at Musket Flat, near Maryborough, Queensland, Australia. She was born inn 1866, so it is entirely possible.
• Her husband Thomas died of a heart attack in the stockyard at home in 1912 at Musket Flat. Family lore says he was placed on the kitchen table to do an autopsy! However, his death certificate say his autopsy was done two days after his death.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction!

Answer 18

The only family story I can verify was the fact that the man I thought was my dad isn't my dad. Yeah I know it's a weird one but I don't know anything story-wise for the rest of my by logical family to be able to say that in our family stories there. Same with my adopted family.

Well the fact that in my biological family I did have Cherokee princess story. And ethnicity basically do that one right out of the water that we still have people thinking otherwise.

Answer 19

My mother's cousin Phyllis wasn't known for having a red cape, but her maternal grandmother, Fredriika Stranius, lived in the cottage used as a model by Elizabeth Orton Jones for her illustrations of A Little Golden Book edition of Little Red Riding Hood. The cottage still exists and is a showcase feature on the grounds of the Pickity Place Restaurant in Mason, New Hampshire http://www.pickityplace.com/

Comments

I love it when these family stories have visual aids. 

Advice: Don't follow the link if you're hungry.

Answer 20

For the past two years I've been saying "ordinary people are so extraordinary". It's certainly true in my family... and I'm sure it's true in every family. World War II brought out the best in the American Family but not always the way I thought. My first 52_ancestors public blog.  This Surprising House - Planting Seeds