Question of the Week: What's a funny anecdote you've found in your research?

Question

Have you found a funny story while doing genealogy research?

Tell us about it with an answer below. You can also answer on Facebook or use the question image to share your answer with friends and family on social media.

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Answer 1

My first cousin once removed William “Willie” McGirk McGirk-30 and two other inmates constructed a makeshift 14-foot kayak using wood, plastic sheets, duct tape and Formica. They made their craft in the San Quentin lumber shop. They stenciled the name "Rub-a-Dub-Dub" and the words "Marin Yacht Club" on the side. They snuck it from the prison and into the water and attempted to paddle away as the guards looked on. Their craft was sound, but strong winds caused giant swells to flood the boat. It started to sink before they made it past the edge of the prison property at San Quentin. Fortunately for them, they were wearing sweatshirts and hats that they had painted bright orange, with the logo of the Marin Yacht Club. A guard spotted them clutching to their overturned craft as they kicked to the shore. He asked if they needed help. My cousin, Willie, held up his wrist and shouted, "We just lost a couple of oars, but my Timex is still running." The guard laughed and returned to his post, still unaware that three prisoners had escaped.

Comments

Some tv show I watched years ago had an episode about this escape. How cool to hear about it from an actual family member.

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Donna, thank you for your comment. I wish I had seen the television show. I was living in California until 1977, and Willie’s mother and I were very close. She often talked to me about visiting him. In 1979, I only saw it on the news here in Oklahoma. I understand that it is considered the most famous escape from San Quentin.

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If, by chance, it ever pops up again I’ll try and let you know. It think it was a segment on a show either on the History channel or Discovery. Maybe that way you can find it online to watch.

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Donna, thank you. I really enjoy the History and Discovery channels.

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You’re welcome. Thank you very much for the badge!! You didn’t have to do that but it’s much appreciated.

Answer 2

This is one of my all-time favorites! If you have ever wondered why you could not find some ancestors on a census, this might explain it.

The certification by Hery Swearington, the Marshall and Census Taker, indicates his frustration.

"I certify to be 64 pages & a piece of page Inhabitants. I done as near in a cordance with my oath as I coud do it. The people was hard to get a long with." Signed H. Swearingen, Asst. Marshall. 1850 census Panola County, Texas.

Comments

Love it, Virginia. 

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Boy, do I believe this one! Guess, we've got to give them some credit, though. If you consider all the immigrant ethnic accents and dialects, it would be challenging.

I noticed on a Census for my G.Great Grandmother, (who immigrated from Germany) that she still continued to speak German even after living in the U. S. for quite a few decades.

Answer 3

Continuing with the Census theme, discovering a close relative was a guest of the state (i.e. a prisoner) in 1910 was a bit surprising. Fortunately, his occupation was listed as a 'machinist,' as opposed to his previous role as a burglar. It was comforting to know he was at least able to retain gainful employment while on involuntary sabbatical.

Answer 4

It's not really an anecdote, but one definition says 'An anecdote is "a story with a point". 

So maybe it is a anecdote. Pay attention to names and ages on census records. 

My step great grandmother, in the beginning she married and had several children, husband #1 died, most of her kids grew up and got married. One daughter did not marry and lived in the family home. 

Next she remarried to a person who had a daughter and the daughter had an illegitimate child. 

Next one of her sons moved back home with his kids after his wife died. 

Husband #2 died. 

The entry on the census form is recorded correctly, my step great grandmother, at age 75  is recorded correctly as the head of household and a widow. 

The unmarried daughter is listed as a daughter. 

The son who came home is listed as a son and a windower. He is transcribed as husband of his mother. 

The step daughter who had the illegitimate child is transcribed as the spouse of the son whose wife had died. 

All the various children ranging in age from less than 10 years old, and up plus the step daughter have been transcribed as the sons and daughters of my step great grandmother. 

Lesson learned: look at the history of the family and know who is who before you accept the transcription of a record. 

Comments

I have seen this type of mix up which is why I try to look at the image and check out other records when ages do not line up.

Occasionally I find a mother who was slightly older than you might expect but certainly not by more than a few years.

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Yes, Hilary I always look at the image, as the transcriptions are very often really wrong.

Answer 5

A collateral relative of mine (b. 1883 - d. 1972) shows up twice in the 1910 Census.  On April 19, a census taker counts him as an inmate of the Park County Jail in Livingston, MT (USA).  Interestingly, the jailer is noted as "head of household." :)

By May 11, 1910, he's counted as an inmate in the Montana State Penitentiary in Deer Lodge.  Tried, convicted, and locked up in less than a month - and thus, double-counted!

My cousin, his niece (who had known him), thought this was funny - but didn't know why he'd been in prison.  I did some research and found that he'd been convicted of horse theft!  I was telling her this story at a reunion, and an even older relative chimed in that it hadn't been Floyd who stole the horse, it was his brother - but he took the prison sentence, because he was single, and his brother had a wife and children to provide for!

Something new and strange comes up every time I really dig into the stories.

Answer 6

My second great-grandfather, Norwegian immigrant, Simon Simonson, whose parents were obviously feeling incredibly creative at the time of his naming, had quite the acclimation experience in Minnesota. He had his share of alcohol and made the paper with all the troubles he got himself into. His mischievous attitude always somehow seemed to help him along. He might have done $500 in damage to his employer's business in one drunken stupor, but not having to pay for it, he had that exact amount saved within 3 years to buy real estate and also ended up owning the shoe business! Yeah, you show em', Simon! You can enjoy reading all the rest of the comic amusement, and about his dramatic end, on his profile Simonson-638.

Answer 7

My 9th GGF, Thomas Lucas, was the town drunk in Plymouth, Massachusetts in the mid-1600s.    Lucas-2931

Comments

Nearly 400 years later and his legacy still lives strong! Great find.

Answer 8

My Great-Grandmother Frederika married 2 of her widowed brothers in law.

One of her sisters, Christine married a man named Ernest Gensrich. They had a son, Otto. Shortly after Otto's birth, Christine died.

My Great Grandmother married Ernest (her brother-in-law) and had children, one of whom is my Grandmother.

In time, Ernest died, leaving my Great-Grandmother a widow. Her children were grown and living their own lives.

A couple decades later, my great-grandmother's other sister, Augusta who had been married and had a family and whose children were and had their own families.

Her brother in law, now a widower, and my Great-grandmother, got married.

So my great-grandmother's name was Frederika Shroeder Genserich Roeder.(which, as a child, always confused me)

Answer 9

My link is Duncan Campbell Eldridge, born 3 August 1801, Woodbury, Gloucester, NJ, to Josiah and Sarah Middleton Eldridge.  Duncan, bricklayer and cooper, married Rachel Brown(e) 22 January 1823 in Haddonfield, Camden, NJ.  They had my 3rd g-grandfather, Jacob Mullen Eldridge, the only child of 4 to survive. Rachel, born ca 1800, died in 1827.

He and 2nd wife Rebecca Elizabeth Lippincott Eldridge came from Rochester, NY, to what would become Davenport, Scott, IA.  Davenport was not in existence yet, but a coal-mining town, Rockingham, was surviving. It would haul out over 60,000 tons of bituminous coal, referred to as "by2minutes" because it burned quickly with heavy black smoke.   

The question came as to the Scott County seat.

Since Rockingham had been in existence, it was the heavy choice.  

Duncan, mover and shaker, took a horse and buggy to the Wisconsin territory capital, Dubuque, Iowa, rounded up the German, Welsh, Cornish miners, promised all the beer and alcohol they could drink, and food, if they would come with him to Scott County downriver, say they were residents, and vote for Davenport as the county seat.

It failed and Duncan was admonished by the Judge.

It came up for a vote again, Duncan again went to Dubuque and brought miners to Davenport.  The vote failed and Duncan was again admonished.

The third time worked.  Davenport, Scott, IA was named the county seat.  Davenport was platted in 1839 with Scott County, already in existence, named after Gen. Winfield Scott, as the county seat.  Duncan helped build the courthouse, since demolished and replaced with its 3rd iteration over time.

Answer 10

If an anecdote is story with a point (as suggested by another WikeTree member above), the point of my story is that as bad as a workday can feel sometimes, it can always be worse.

A beloved granduncle of mine was a motorman on a local interurban railroad. One day in 1913 he had his train motoring along at about 45 mph when he realized the number on the front of the train was wrong. To fix this, he grabbed hold of a support inside the cab and reached out the window and around the front to change the sign. Unfortunately, a sudden swerve of the train caused him to lose his hold and he was thrown from the train. Amazingly, “none of the passengers took notice of the man rolling along the roadway as the train sped on”.

Well the train continued along at 45 mph for two more miles until it reached a rising slope where it began to slow down.  Puzzled, the conductor went to the front of the train only to discover there was no motorman in sight!  Shocked, he stopped the train, pulled it onto a siding, enlisted some passengers to help, and went searching for my granduncle.  

Fearing he had been killed, they first looked under the train, but happily found no evidence of an accident.  So they started walking along the tracks back towards where they had started.

About a mile into their search they saw a man running towards them. Fortunately, it was my granduncle running to catch his train. The good news is that his body only suffered slight bruises… the bad news is that his pride suffered much worse!  

To add insult to injury, this tale appeared in a big article in the local newspaper.

That story just kills me… thankfully I’m the only casualty. If I could, I’d give him a big hug!

Answer 11

My great great grandparents had a little difficulty in obtaining a marriage license.  I’ll let this newspaper article speak for itself. 

https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-daily-gazette-ha-ha/41127655/

By the way, they did get the license and were married Christmas Day of 1890.  

Incidentally, my gg grandfather taught penmanship in a school!  

Comments

Hilarious! Thanks for the link to the article.

Answer 12

My granduncle's wife, Mrs. Etta Mae Buster Beal, was written up in an Alliance, Nebraska, newspaper twice within two weeks in 1915:

1) Machine Driven by a Mr. Clark Ran into Buggy Occupied by Mrs. L. M. Beal: Wednesday afternoon a Maxwell auto belonging to Leo Frohnapfel, driven by a Mr. Clark and occupied by both men, ran into a buggy occupied by Mrs. L. M. Beal, while driving along Box Butte in front of Brennan's drug store. … Eye witnesses to the incident say it was rather peculiar. ... the horse driven by Mrs. Beal seemed to possess a notion that he wanted to see how close he could come to the machine without running into it. The automobile was also possessed with the same idea, evidently, and the crash resulted. 30 Sep 1915

2) Buggy and Auto Clash on Main St. Disobedience of the traffic roles of the city resulted in a bad collision on the main corners Wednesday afternoon when Mrs. L. M. Beal, driving a horse and buggy, collided with an automobile driven by Alex Olds of Hemingford. The wheels of the buggy were smashed and the automobile was damaged on the hood and wind shield. The accident was not so serious as it might have been since Mrs. Beal had an infant child in her arms and was driving the horse. The animal was caught just before it started to run away. ... The autoist was one the right side of the road while Mrs. Beal was turning the wrong way, according to traffic rules. 1 Oct 1915, Alliance, Nebraska

After that, nothing about Mrs. Beal and her horse and buggy in the papers. Perhaps her husband bought her a car! Here she is years later: Etta Mae Beal in a go-cart

Answer 13

from an article in

Newspaper Marriage Notices 1829 for Huntingdon, Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire & Northamptonshire, England

At Fakenham, for the third time, Mr. Thos Hubbard, aged 79, to Miss Martha Frary, aged 21.

It was ludicrous in the extreme to the multitude assembled, to behold Hubbard limping along with the bride's maid, whose age somewhat exceeded 80, preceded by his daddy, and followed by an unfortunate cripple driving his curricle of dogs to the church.

Immediately after the flymenea knot was tied, the bridegroom was torn from his fainting partner, thrust into an open carriage decorated with rams' horns and drawn through the principal street of the town, amidst the firing of guns, and the shouts and ridicule of the people.

Comments

evidence of the marriage :-

Thomas Hubbard marriage to Margaret Frary on 25 Aug 1829 in Fakenham, Norfolk, England.

Archive: Norfolk Record Office; Reference: PD 204/165; Page: 89

and he survived 3 years :-

Thomas Hubbard burial (died age 79) on 8 Aug 1832 in Fakenham, Norfolk, England.

Archive: Norfolk Record Office; Reference: PD 204/171; Page: 97

Answer 14

I found out this morning I am 2nd cousin once removed of none other than [[Angel-2329|Clarence Angel]]. I am sure you remember him from "It's a Wonderful Life" right?

Answer 15

Judge George Hildreth, Commodore of the yacht club, Hildreth-1533, used to dive headfirst into Peconic Bay, NY USA. His mother, age 99, used to say “ Georgie, don’t do that.” He said, “Mother, as long as you call me Georgie I will dive head first into the water.”

Comments

Marion, my grandmother called my uncle Buster. He hated that nickname, and he let her know it. She lived to be 93, and she called him Buster until the day she passed away.

Answer 16

One census record said a location of the residence was from the crack in the floor to downtown. This was in Marion, Ala

Answer 17

My grandparents always had a ranch, farm, or dairy. They always had horses and always kept one dog (often given to the new owner of whatever property they sold to move on to the next). These animals were frequently included in family photos, and we were taught which horse went with which person, the animals’ name and temperament plus it was expected we knew the horses on sight: Gypsy was Grandma’s high spirited, barely broke mare who loved carrots and was as accommodating as you can imagine with Grandma, but no one else could ride her. Mom’s horse Creamy was Gypsy’s foal and never needed to be “broke” she easily accepted all tack and seemed to know exactly what you wanted her to do without having to be guided, and while she especially loved Mom, even the youngest, most inexperienced rider had the same amazing experience with her. Since they only ever had one dog at a time, the expectations were easier to meet. For example, every one of them: sweetest dog for miles. Every single one. Plus, every dog they owned, regardless of sex, breed, coloration, markings or personality, was named: Brownie. Clearly dogs ranked lower than horses.