quiltjoey

My gr. mother died in the 1918-1919 influenza epidemic also. I never knew her and she died when my Mother was 8 years old. Have been doing family genealogy for the past 13 years and am just now finding out about her and her family. A tremendous amount of information is coming on line now. My 5th generation g.father was a 2nd Lieutenant in the American Revolution and his grandson was in the Confederacy and is listed by the DAR membership index. The 6th generation gf owned 3 plantations. It is thrilling to find out about the family that I and my Mother never knew anything about and little sad to learn about some of the hard times some of them had. The family has been traced back to Rob Roy McGregor and but that may never be totally documented as so many records in Ireland were burned in by the IRA in 1993, (I believe that's the correct date). I have enjoyed reading about everyone's family on this thread!! Variety is the spice of life...

MinnieKat

My great great grandfather made the pews that are in the Little Brown Church in the Vale in Nashua, Iowa.

ragqueen03

I think this is interesting. My grandparent's property has been in the family i believe for over 100 years. They died about twenty years ago. My aunt bought the property and my sister lived there until my aunt retired and moved back to the area. While going over the abstract my mom discovered that not only had it been in her family for over 100 years - way back before that some one on my Dad's side of the family owned it at one time. We thought it was strange. But in a good way. Good memories there and when my sister was living there it just felt right with both sides of the family having lived there.

KarenSimon

All of my 8 grandparents were born in this country. All 16 of my great-grandparents were born in Europe. None came thru Ellis Island.

cjr

All 4 of my grandparents were Middle European born. Maternal grandparents came over separately, a few years apart. My grand father worked till he could send passage to bring my grandmother and uncle here.(Of course he continued to work after she got here) my paternal grandparents were teenagers when they came to the USA. My grandmother lived in a convent for a while before they were married. none ever went back to Europe. They all became nationalized citizens. Am I proud to be an American? You Bet!! and very grateful for their sacrifices.

sarahrachel

I'm not exactly, but he's some relatives nephew by marriage. does that count??

oh, and if my great aunt is to be believe, there's an Italian count in my family tree.

and no matter what branch I happen to trace back, they all end up being farmers (except for that count) so I guess I know what history is telling me!

Greenheron

Our family tree's roots in the USA begins with Peter & Roseanna who were born in the eighteenth century and traveled to what is now West Virginia in the early 1800's. Family stories says he was a runaway--broke his indenture and headed for the wilderness. Generations of the family farmed in the area he settled. My sister learned the name of the cemetery where they are buried and after a half-day of searching country back roads we found the graves of Peter & Roseanna.

My great-grandfather was a streetcar conductor. During a strike he took the 'scab' who was running his car by the nose and pulled him into the street. Eventually Great-grandfather was shot and killed. The newspaper reported him as a "known troublemaker." The shooter, though identified, was not charged. That's how workers were treated early in the 20th century.

Ramona Byrd

A couple of my first cousins went "through" my/our Grandmother to be able to join the DAR...lots of interesting folks way back in the papers they sent me.

On the farm during the depression my uncles made moonshine..but it effected me to the point I even had a knee jerk reaction to my own sweet DH when he wore a business suit to meetings, etc.

As a child, my cousins and I were told to look for bad men wondering over the hills..they wore 3 piece suits and hats and did horrid things to little girls. Should we see any, we were to go to our homes and turn the dogs loose and then tell our uncles.

I was well into my 20s (slow developing mind?) when it finally occurred to me that my uncles were of the bib overalls, flannel shirts, big heavy work boots and ragged old suit hats...and the only ones who were snappy dressers back there were the Government men, revenuers!!!

yayaquilts

My family on my father's side is related to Robert E. Lee. My dad was named Robert after him and his sister was named Mary LEE after him.

GingerK

No one famous, but my paternal Great Grandfather married at 19 to a young lady of the same age, who died of consumption 2 years later--no children. Great Grandfather then married an older widow with 2 children (guess he wanted a woman he KNEW would 'produce'--which she did--10 children-- and then she died. He then married a sweet young thing the same age as his oldest surviving daughter (18 years old) who had 8 children by him.

My Great Grandfather died at 64, while his wife was pregnant with their youngest child.

Now for the (to me) interesting part. All of this happened in Minnesota (My family immigrated from Germany/Russia to Minnesota in the late 1800's) My Great Grandmother and her father took her children and moved to the prairies of Canada around 1900, in a covered wagon. She lost 2 little girls to diptheria on the trip. My Granddad was her third youngest and her homestead--20 mile from where I was raised--still exists.

My DH's father was first generation Canadian of Austrian parents. He joined the Canadian Army during WW11 and was detached from his own unit, to serve as an interpretor for one of the first units to secure a beach-head on Juno landing on D-Day. He never ever talked about that day.