Famous Ancestors

MrP

Banned
I'd say his argument is more akin to "You will always get at least one 5", which, though no less false, describes a more likely occurence.

(1-(5/6)^6) ~ 66.5%; (6/6)(5/6)(4/6)(3/6)(2/6)(1/6) ~ 1.54%

Yeah, you're right. In all honesty, I felt he was just posting in this thread to annoy harmless family historians, and I got a bit grouchy when he humourlessly failed to appreciate that there was a flaw in insisting that the specific had to be the same as the general. I get a bt picky about this, as my experience of probability is a bit funny. For instance, in a recent wargame: http://i86.photobucket.com/albums/k98/MrP_01/Blogging/DSCF3807.jpg Anyway, I'm clogging this up now, so I'll shut up about it henceforth.
 
Not so famous

Well, here goes...
On my mother's side, it's pretty well documented. Most of them have been here since the early 1600's (Jamestown). Had ancestors who fought in every major war since the English colonized North America. Related to Hugh Williamson, founder of Williamson county Tennessee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Williamson
Also related to John Hancock
On my Dad's side, my great-grandfather was a 49'r who struck gold in California in the 1840s. Second cousin to Lyle Lovett, the singer.
:cool:
 
My grandmother's older brother was Charles Schwab--yes, that Charles Schwab of steelmaking fame. One of my wife's ancestors was hanged for witchcraft at Salem in 1692, for what that might be worth.
 
My family is tracked back to some knight in the 1200s, Im sure of it. But I cant find the name right now. Anyway, my ancestor was created a Baron by Kaiser Sigismund, and there is still a town in Holstein with our name. There are a bunch of famous guys on the way, including the German Foreign Minister who was at Versailles, and a load of Nazi Generals. Fear not though, Im also related to a female resistance fighter who got excecuted by the Nazis. Also, the mistress of Augustus the Strong. A bit closer to home, the Maltese branch of our family was quite famous locally for lithography and illustrations. And Im damned sure that somehow I am distantly related to... yes... Kaiser Wilhelm II. :eek:

Oh, and I do have the right to call myself a Knight of the HRE, actually. No, we're not loaded nobles, just an ordinary upper-middle family with cool heritage. :cool:
 
Ha! small fishes, everyone! :D

Caesar.jpg
 
Well, I know that my Grandfather from My Dad's side fought in the Peruvian - Equadorian War back in the 1940s, that's what I know at the moment, but I DO know that my Grandfather's Father was Born from a Chinese Immigrant and Local Peruvian woman, so which probably means I have ties to China, and I've heard that we also have ties to the Spanish/French (I think My Grandmother from my Dad side) and Eastern Europeans (My mom's side)
 
Father's side: My Uncle several times removed is George McClellan (by marriage) one of my grand-sires is Elder Brewster of the Mayflower. My Grandfather was in Korea and at the Bikini Atoll Atomic tests. Additionally he played the trombone in Truman's campaign bands in the late 30s. My Great Grandfather was gassed in the Arrogone and founded a country club as well as had his land emminent Domained by the Government to add to a State Park in Arkansas (his house became the ranger station).

Edit: one more another cousin of mine gave Joseph Smith the wagon he used to court his wife for the first time. Who knows maybe if he can't procure a wagon he doesn't prophesy Mormonism.

My Mother's side: My Great-Grandfather was a close friend of Trotzky in the early 1900s (1900-1910) which caused him to leave for America. Interestingly enough he always walked the other way when he say the police.
 
Grandpa George, an ethnic Serb, claimed to be a first or second cousin (my memory isn't too clear on this one after fourteen years) of Gavrilo Princip.

That's about it. Every other ancestor was a beet farmer in the old country. Yippee.
 
My great great grandfathers fled from Spain when the Civil War erupted. I guess that's my most historical connection, as least as far as I know:p
 
You've completely missed the point. This is not a matter of degree, but of kind.

The fact of broken pedigrees means that no genetic material has been "inherited" from a specific someone who lived 500 years ago. As genetic researchers and counselors have learned, after a certain point family trees are basically lies.

Roughly ten percent of every generation have a biological father who is different from the father the mother named, different from the father who appears on a birth certificate, different from the father who appears in the parish records, and so on. When enough generations have passed, the chance that any line of descent remains intact enough to be traced in a genetic is nil.
Except that other studies have trashed this completely.

People with the same surnames have the same Y chromosome, in HUGE numbers. Levites and Cohens have the same Y chromosome (or descendants)


The ONLY way that infidelity can work on a large scale historically, is if women are being unfaithful with their husband's brothers/fathers/uncles.

So, that 10% figure may possibly be true for a brief period of time and space, but is clearly false in general.
 
I'm a direct descendant of Thorfinnr Karlsefni, father of the first white child recorded as born in North America, although the genealogy traces our descent through a different child (not Snorri).

OTOH, since Gramma was Icelandic, we're descended from essentially EVERYONE in Iceland far enough back.

G'ma was also a cousin, of some sort, of Vilhjlalmur Stefansson, the Arctic explorer.

Dad's a officer of the Order of Canada. Does that count?
 
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