Genealogy fans: What are some cool facts about your family's history?

It's riddled with heart disease.

quote:

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what side was he on?

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The side of freedom.

My great^8 grandfather founded a town in Louisiana.

So that's cool.

distant great-great whatever was senator in california. played a large part in the admission of california as a free state which was a very big deal at the time.

Great^8 brought the first documented elephant to Louisiana

my children are related to Jean Lafitte the privateer and King Ferdinand of Spain on their mother's side; and a bunch of river rat coonarses from south la on my side...

My direct ancestors youngest son was killed during the war of 1812 by none other than General Andrew Jackson. He was court martialed for brandishing his weapon, apparently he either just turned 18 or wasn’t yet 18. He started fighting in the war before he was 18 to replace his brother who went home to see his family.

A surviving fragment of the court martial record for John Wood, a private in Andrew Jackson’s army. Wood was apparently no more than 18, and possibly underage, when he joined Jackson’s army fighting Creek Indians. Wood was arrested in 1814. He had, by some accounts, grown angry at an officer’s demand that he pick up bones left on the ground after a meal; the young man brandished his rifle before surrendering. Jackson had him executed for this. An aide later said the execution produced the “happiest effects,” imposing “obedience” and discipline on the army. Years later, when Jackson ran for president, his political opponents cast the story in very different form, as the brutal act of an out-of-control officer. The evidence found in research for Jacksonland reveals a story that is subtly different than either narrative.

You can search Andrew Jackson and “John Wood” or “John Woods” to find different accounts of what happened. Apparently Andrew Jackson spelled his name John Woods on the letter that said he would be killed.

After this happened my ancestors left Tennessee for Marion County, Arkansas where they were some of the first whites to settle among the Indians. There are many interesting stories about that too, including one of my ancestors stumbling on some Indians hunting and being chased by them for miles before narrowly escaping.

My paternal grandmother's 17th grand uncle was the mayor of London 4 times, his brother was a surgeon to the throne and his other brother was Sheriff of Gloucestershire according to records that I found.

She had another great uncle on the other side of her family that was a Bishop of Bath and Wells in the 1300's.

Another cool fact was that descendants on both sides of her family would eventually serve together under Francis Marion in the Revolutionary war. About 3 generations later, members of their families would meet, get married and produce my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

On my side of the family, my 5th Great Uncle fought for the South in the Civil War. He was in several large battles including Gettysburg. He was wounded at Gettysburg after members of his regiment took Union Cannon positions earlier in the battle. Later on, Union Forces would retake those positions and his left arm was injured from mortar shrapnel.

Miraculously, he did not lose his left arm and regained full use of it. Unfortunately he returned home only to have his father shoot off his right arm with a shotgun after a case of mistaken identity at night.

Of course his father was my 4th GGF and what I've found out about him is that he was a bit of a scoundrel, so I wouldn't doubt he got upset for some reason and just shot his second oldest son in an argument.

I found a picture of my 3GGF that someone had scanned in from the original. I have a copy of it framed now and when I look at it, I can see a lot of him in my grandfather's face, my great grandfather's face and my own father's face.

I was also fortunate to come across some old French marriage records and I have copies of my 5th GGF and 6th GGF's marriage records with their actual signatures on it.

My parents did their DNA on Ancestry, I am a mix of Native American (Cherokee), British, German, and a little Russian mixed in. I'm a huge mutt.

great great grandfather came straight from ireland and went straight to fighting in the civil war.