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abjectwoe
May, 2025

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Family History

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KJacks
Posts: 440 - Karma: 2,329
Today i found out that my great-grandfather used to play piano for illegal underground clubs during the prohibition and played privately for Al "Scarface" Capone multiple times. I thought this was super cool considering i thought my family was super boring, but as it turns out he was good friends with Capone nearing the end of his life. He would smuggle booze in his piano when he travelled for the clubs he would go to.


So NSG what interesting things do you know about your family?

12 years ago
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jcc03skis
Posts: 1002 - Karma: 1,020
My great-grandpa was party of the Nazi Party. I have his Hitler's youth pocket knife and bible.

Idk, I thought it was kinda cool.
12 years ago
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Kronor
Posts: 217 - Karma: 167
I'm related to two early kings of Ireland. Wuddup
12 years ago
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fortyvalve
Posts: 1442 - Karma: 1,573
Damn that's really cool! The only thing i really have in my history that i know of goes way back to the 1700's and it's also who i'm named after. My ancestor Matthew Thornton signed the Declaration of Independence for the state of New Hampshire. Last signature on the document. My family tradition is having all the males in the family have the middle name 'Thornton'
12 years ago
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mAAs
Posts: 37 - Karma: 41
i have an ansetor on the mayflower
12 years ago
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snwbrdmilf
Posts: 22441 - Karma: 2,814
My children's (however many great) grandpa is Sir Hiram Maxim, who competed against Edison in the invention of the lightbulb. He also invented the first portable full automatic machine gun. He invented the Captive Flying Machine, which versions are still used in today's carnival's and amusement parks today. He manufactured one of the first menthol inhalers and a larger "Pipe of Peace" *winkwink*

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Them with his lightbulg in NC

Click for larger image


My daughter did a big school project on him, it was a ton of fun.
12 years ago
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yelsel
Posts: 12967 - Karma: 3,451
My Oma was in the hitler youth as well and during WWII, she and her best friend worked as secretary's for SS officers. Her uncle was also a SS officer. She always told the craziest stories of that time.
12 years ago
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SFB
Posts: 8895 - Karma: 26,363
my grandpa owned a cheese factory in wisconsin.
12 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
The Scottish part of my family goes back to before 900 AD.

They all used to own ridiculous plots of land, numerous sizable castles and had more noble titles then the Queen. Sadly around 1900 they decided to spend it all, which seems unimaginable but they managed to do so.

So all I'm left with is a fancy name and title that has no real use in the modern day.
Still cool do.
12 years ago
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lineskier10
Posts: 11339 - Karma: 796
fuck both of your nazi relatives, especially this poster's oma in the fucing hitler youth and being a secretary for mass murderers, im sure she had some crazy stories like watching jews getting gassed and standing by and doing nothing about it
12 years ago
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*ninja*
Posts: 2108 - Karma: 1,144
my great grandma is osama bin laden
12 years ago
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yelsel
Posts: 12967 - Karma: 3,451
omg how did you know?! not only did she stand by while they got gassed, she hit the button.

fuck you dude.

the hitler youth was comparable to what the girl and boy scouts are today.

she was a secretary for the officers so she could earn money to put food on her family's table because believe it or not, but they had nothing because of the war and lost their home due to the bombings.

did she know what was going on during all of that? hell no. she had no idea. all she knew was that they were doing their best to get out of the depression. that was it.

12 years ago
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LoathesRaisins
Posts: 3612 - Karma: 4,735
Because they had a choice, right?
12 years ago
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Gnarbangalakazoo
Posts: 561 - Karma: 262
So did mine actually haha where at? My Grandpa had his in Black Earth.
12 years ago
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LoathesRaisins
Posts: 3612 - Karma: 4,735
Also, is there any legitimate website that is free and will find your family history?
12 years ago
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twin-tip-hero
Posts: 2896 - Karma: 277
there is little story behind my great grandpa, but i know he was an SS officer.... was looking though some old family documents and there was a big SS logo on top of something with his signature at the bottom. It was all in deutch so we can read it, but one day my family will get around to translating it.
12 years ago
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Laurent.
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 25,311
There isn't really a site that will show it all.

Ancestry.com does have a lot of specific info but it requires research.


And this probably applies to no one but If you are of Dutch Noble/Patrician descent try to get a hold of a red/blue book of the year that features your family, depending on how much your family paid them they can contain a massive amount of info.
12 years ago
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errrka
Posts: 2261 - Karma: 6,058
Really only on my moms side:
My oma (grandma) was from East Prussia and immigrated to America when she was 17 with 2 of her sisters (and left behind her parents and 4 other siblings). So I have a bunch of German cousins that we keep in good contact with.

Now my opa (grandpa).... my great grandpa was a solider in the german army during WWI, and they were germans living in Yugoslavia. After the war Tito (the dictator of Yugoslavia) put all non-serbs into concentration death camps, including my family. My grandpa was about 12 or so when this happened. They were there for a while and eventually my great grandma was able to escape (after multiple attempts) and they were able to sneak across the boarder into hungary. They then hitchhiked to Austria and lived there for a few years or so. They then found a sponsor (an uncle or something) in my hometown of Mansfield, OH and they moved here.
My great aunt wrote a book on it, if anyones interested it's really eye-opening.

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The boy in the middle is my grandpa
12 years ago
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lineskier10
Posts: 11339 - Karma: 796
Yes, the hitler youth was like the boyscouts or girlscouts with the addition of hating jews and wanting to wipe them off the face of the earth. And dont give me the bullshit she didnt know if she was working with the SS. Helping the people who were mainly responsible for exterminating a race of people is fucked even if it is to provide for your family. She probably looked the other way like most Germans; what did she think when the Jews were being rounded up and sent to camps, it was for fun? I guess its not as bad as being a member of the SS but if she worked as a secretary for the SS you really can't claim she had no idea what was going on.
12 years ago
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yelsel
Posts: 12967 - Karma: 3,451
Surprisingly, most, if not all, of the guys she worked for/with, didnt know what was going on. She never noticed jews being rounded up because she was either hiding out in her basement during bomb raids or staying in the bunker in the office she worked in. Her life was purely survival at that point.  We can debate this all day if you'd like...or at least until 5 when I leave my office. Up to you. In any event, you're wrong in your depicition of what you think she knew or didnt know during her life there.
12 years ago
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saskskier
Posts: 4774 - Karma: 10,005
You are either trolling or have a seriously incomplete knowledge of history based largely on stereotypes and uninformed assumptions.
12 years ago
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MothaHucker
Posts: 4678 - Karma: 2,591
My great uncle invented the root canal.
Youre welcome
12 years ago
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El_Barto.
Posts: 11661 - Karma: 24,358
My dad prevented 9/11 from happening
12 years ago
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GayWolf420
Posts: 38105 - Karma: 129,826
My great grandpa invented what at the time was the first ever refrigerator motor defeating the purpose of just using ice blocks in fridges.

Then my other great grandpa was on the USS Indianapolis carrying some key components to the atomic bomb to a naval base in the pacific. Then it was torpedoed on the way back. Most of the crew died. Some of the men were so sunburnt and pruned from the sea water that when they grabbed their arms, their skin ripped off. The whole thing got covered up, or at least the government tried to apparently.
12 years ago
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Jon_Taffer
Posts: 1375 - Karma: 5,386
My grandmas uncle was a fighter in the RAF(Royal Air Force) during ww2. He won the Victoria cross which is higher than the order of canada for his service
12 years ago
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SFB
Posts: 8895 - Karma: 26,363
not sure where the factory was but he lived in marshfield. he actually had a really large dairy company. and also he helped invent string cheese.
12 years ago
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Wolfgang.
Posts: 807 - Karma: 866
My grandfather was brought to various concentration camps in russia during WW2 as a 12 year old boy. He some how managed to carry gold with him in his jacket, which saved his family later. Then after the russians joined the allies and released all the prisoners, his family was carted to India, where they became separated and he lived in an orphanage for a while. Once established, he needed to find his family. He eventually found his sisters, but his mother had died of some sickness, his father had long been captured by Nazis and executed. Once he found his sisters, the war had been over for a while, they eventually found a ship they could sneak onto to get to England. He eventually moved to Canada and became a successful business man. He never returned home to Poland until he was 30.
12 years ago
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J-Wile
Posts: 481 - Karma: 804
My grandma worked on the first atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan. She was apart of the Manhattan Project.
12 years ago
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HolySchimmel
Posts: 1601 - Karma: 1,295
If you wanna send me a copy, I can try to translate it for you (I'm german).
Also, there is a lot of stuff to say about my family, too long to put in this thread. A lot of war related stuff (wwII ofc) and the time after + some other stuff from my grandpas side.
12 years ago
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shitpoop
Posts: 667 - Karma: 1,479
My parents are vietnamese and saw dead bodys and shit like that (from the war), lived in slums, and were kicked around by the prejudice government. Now they in america. Started from the bottem now they heeeerrreee
12 years ago
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FLBP
Posts: 1794 - Karma: 310
My great grandparents moved to Canada after WWII. Great grandfather was the village foreman of Osoyoos, BC. He developed most of the towns utilities and had a huge orchard right next to the lake. Farther down the line we can trace our lineage to Eric the Red, and tons of other Vikings.
12 years ago
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Wallisch_pl
Posts: 5260 - Karma: 1,022
my brother is a dick, if that counts
12 years ago
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yourthemannowdog
Posts: 4541 - Karma: 314
Three Generations back and my family was pretty involved with the IRA. My Great Grandfather was caught blowing up roads inbetween towns to stop the british from progressing into Kerry's larger city, Tralee, and was kept as a war prisoner. They kept him in a castle by the ocean where my grandfather played golf.

We also have a family legend that says our bloodline goes back to King Tut. I'm skeptical, but we know that we were romans at one point in history.
12 years ago
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Titus69
Posts: 9332 - Karma: 17,963
typical veterans who served in a submarine and the other side of the family flew planes i think
cousin worked for cartoon network when it was worth watching
12 years ago
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JeremyClarkson
Posts: 1600 - Karma: 1,932
My great grandfather invented the foam fire extinguisher. His father discovered the cure for plumbers disease.
12 years ago
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a_burger
Posts: 5257 - Karma: 21,143
My great x9-10 grandfather was one of the first people to settle Kentucky in the 1700s and basically created rednecks



help
12 years ago
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Charlie_Kelly
Posts: 11955 - Karma: 12,308
I am blood related to Winston Churchill on my mothers side.

My Grandfather on my fathers side is one of the highest ranked (close to President I'm pretty sure)officials of the boy scouts and had a full article written about him for being a complete badass.

My Uncle is one of the chief developers of hydrogen fuel cell technology.

My grandmother on my mothers side was the model used in advertisements to advertise to become a nurse during world war 2. Got one of the ads framed somewhere.

Greg Kinnear tried to cheat on his wife with my cousin.

Billy Idol grabbed my moms ass in front of her then boyfriend (my dad).


Thats all I got.
12 years ago
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Charlie_Kelly
Posts: 11955 - Karma: 12,308
Oh and my mom has in her possession a medal of honor, though we don't know whose it is.
12 years ago
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.squirrely.
Posts: 7563 - Karma: 7,546
im barely related to him but my grandpas 2nd cousin invented the first television

and my dad knows the guy who owns ea sports jiblife is coming out soon
12 years ago
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Wood_Wizard
Posts: 805 - Karma: 899
My Oma was part of the underground in Holland during world WarII, and she used to deliver papers, and food stamps threw Nazi check points by hiding them in the handle bars of her bike. Her father was the head of the underground and is responsible for helping many dutch people get to Canada, and other safe places during the war, he also had a bomb droped on him during a air raid when he forgot some papers in his car and ran back to get them. He lost his leg in the posses but save 2 families.
My Opa was a bridge builder for the Dutch army and then moved to Canada, when he heard my Oma was moving to Canada. He was madly in love with her and pretty much followed her here and then they got married. Also chances are that if you drive threw B.C. you will drive across one of the bridges he built.
/CoolStoryBro
12 years ago
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Titus69
Posts: 9332 - Karma: 17,963
idk for sure but i feel like i have ancestors from way back in the 1700s that were pilgrims that came here not sure. then my grandmother who lives with one of the 2 ive said before and she used to be a flight attendant back in ww2 or vietnam some war im pretty sure
12 years ago
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Wood_Wizard
Posts: 805 - Karma: 899
That's pretty fucking awesome. When I hear stories like that or ones about my ancestors being good people risking it all for someone they have never met I cant help but feel a little proud, and stoked. And because of what they did, somebody got to keep there life or start a new life.
12 years ago
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LDV
Posts: 516 - Karma: 25
My mum's side goes back to Captain James Cook. On my dad's side quite a few generations ago apparently a however many great uncle was good friends with Riel and co.
12 years ago
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_Jeffrey_
Posts: 1651 - Karma: 572
Yep, that counts
12 years ago
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corona
Posts: 12845 - Karma: 33,290
so your dad is also your 9-10th cousin. cool.
12 years ago
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malonius_funk
Posts: 2249 - Karma: 1,500
this is my great grandfather: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Thayer
12 years ago
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.MASSHOLE.
Posts: 7583 - Karma: 12,741
My family stretches back to the 1100s where they were declared counts by Archbishop of Mainz and pretty much helped run Germany until the 1700s.
12 years ago
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