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People often say to do the things you want even if they are risky so that you will have interesting stories to tell your children and grandchildren. While maybe it’s not the best reasoning, hearing the wild tales from our grandparents’ or parents’ youth is always so fascinating because things worked so differently back in the day. 

Writer Jamie Schler asked people on Twitter to tell her some cool facts or stories from their family’s history and they had some very intriguing tales to tell. The writer herself shared a few captivating stories that you will find reading through this list. 

Image credits: Jamie Schler

So enjoy this list delving into some great stories from people’s genealogy and if Jamie Schler’s tweet reminded you of anything from your family’s history, please recount it in the comments! Also, upvote the stories that surprised you and impressed you the most!

More info: Jamie Schler

Now it’s not the same as it used to be. We don’t need to decide whether it’s a good or a bad thing, it‘s just different. That is why stories from the olden times are so attractive—because they are hard to imagine happening in modern times, but they did actually happen.

Also, some people revealed they are descendants of some really famous and influential people who had a great impact on how we live today.

#2

Family-History-Oddest-Coolest-Fact

aktrentalange Report

#3

Family-History-Oddest-Coolest-Fact

stephenfarrow Report

#4

Family-History-Oddest-Coolest-Fact

LowRisingTone Report

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Mary Rose Kent
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nice photo, but it makes me wonder when Germany switched to driving on the left.

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If you ever want to dig deeper into your ancestry, the person you should look for to help you would be a genealogist. They are the ones who study descent lines and if you think that they are only interested in royal family trees, you would be wrong and ordinary individuals can use their services too.

Bored Panda talked to a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Brianne Ellison, to find out what are the most common reasons people go to her when they use her services and according to the specialist it's "curiosity, to figure out if there is truth to family legends, family temple work."

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The whole process starts with an interview and deciding on a goal. Then a person should give the expert every bit of information they have for them to review. And then the professionals start their tedious work of going through records. It may take a while, but if you have a suspicion that your family should have some crazy secrets, they most probably will come out and maybe your boring family won’t seem so uninteresting after all. 

There are times when genealogists just can find anything. Brianne Ellison told us, "There are some areas where not much information has been indexed and scanned to the main ancestry sites or has been lost. I make sure I've done an exhaustive search to my abilities, sometimes refer them to a specialist for their area, and try to find information that they may have not asked for so that they can at least have something new."

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It is quite beneficial as well to know your family history beyond just satisfying your curiosity. Knowing where you came from gives you a sense of identity and belonging. It also makes you more resilient as most families went through tragedies in the past and knowing that they survived all of it can give you courage and assurance that you will overcome the bad times too.

#11

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buzzmom3 Report

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Kate
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Those convicted in Salem were hanged, actually. Unless the ancestor was Giles Corey, in which case he wasn't stoned, he was pressed -- they piled rocks on top of him because he refused to answer the charge of witchcraft.

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It is also always better to learn from others’ mistakes than your own, so knowing what happened to your relatives in the past might prevent you from ending up in the same terrible situation. Or their lives might become an inspiration to work harder and repeat their success stories.

There are numerous other reasons why family trees and stories matter, so it is obvious that it is not a waste of time. It’s just a bonus if you had some really cool relatives who invented television or signed the USA's Declaration of Independence and you can tell about it in a Twitter thread. 

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#17

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tweetybirdnnc Report

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Mary Rose Kent
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Clementines are yummy and your great great grandmother was a honey!

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Laxpup Report

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skint boy
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sorry, but that is completely untrue. The oyster from Rolex was named after the similarity of the case shape to oyster shells. The cases were invented in 1891 by Francois Borgel and patented by Rolex in 1926 after Hans stole/transferred the patent to one of his partner case maker manufacturers.

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#21

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lifesafeast Report

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Vicky Z
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

He was at the wrong side to the wrong countries all the time

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#22

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Jessrm0205 Report

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Mary Rose Kent
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do you know which line? I took SP all the time in my years as a young adult because my grandparents lived about 30 miles south of San Francisco, where I lived.

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#23

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TuckerLangseth Report

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Vicky Z
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Is this the guy that used to hide kittens in his beard or am i confusing him with someone else?

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Bob10092043 Report

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Mary Rose Kent
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mother discovered she wasn’t an only child after all when someone contacted her because this woman’s 63&Me report showed she had a sister in California. She and my mom met and stayed in touch until she just stopped hearing from Jean (pre-pandemic by years).

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spencerwindes Report

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Deutschland Mädchen
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What was his name, does anyone know? This would be an interesting story to research more.

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#30

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KaySwishPoet Report

Note: this post originally had 92 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.

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