re: What's the closest you or a family member has been to a part of history?

My grandmother had a massive Doolittle Family Book that I only looked through briefly, but it is an exceptionally proud and well documented family in the country. She herself was a Doolittle, but yeah there were lots of family charts in that huge book.

I mean save for the slaves they owned that also took the last name upon being freed (and let’s face it I’m probably directly related to some of them) and the people married into the family, all Doolittles are directly related in this country.

EDIT: Thank you very much for that link. May have misremembered the bastard clan I claimed (although William allegedly really got around where I probably still am one of his descendants), but as the article points out that the Doolittles do start with William the Conquerer where my ancestor was close and important enough to become an Earl of his. And yeah, Abraham is certainly my ancestor. So thanks for it. Really appreciate it.

But yeah, outside of my great uncle and his children and grandchildren, never met another person with the last name of Doolittle. Will put it on my calendar to try to make the 2033 Doolittle Family Reunion.