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Have you ever dug into your family history and uncovered something totally unexpected? Maybe your great-great-grandfather was a pirate, or your ancestor narrowly escaped a historical disaster. Whether it's shocking, hilarious, spooky, or just plain bizarre, we want to hear the wildest thing you've discovered about your lineage. Share your most unbelievable ancestral stories—because the truth is often stranger than fiction!
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#1
Can I have two answers? 1. Bess of Hardwick was my multiple-times-great grandmother. 2. My great-grandfather was also my great-great-grandfather.
Final score:
7points
RELATED:
#2
Great Grandfather ( deceased ) age of 15.. woke up on board a sailing vessel after a drunken evening...became a sailmaker ...sailed around Cape Horn 6 times... fought in the Boer War ... was in line to inherit a castle in Scotland... hundreds of poorly drawn tattoos on his body ( something from every port he said ) Married an Australian Lass... and they lived happily ever after.
Final score:
7points
#3
This is going to blow ALL your minds. I have at least one ancestor who belonged to a tribe that practiced Cannibalism. Okay, so here's the story. My native island is Dominica, in the Eastern Caribbean. It's not Dominican Republic. The indigenous tribe there is called the Caribs said to be fierce and warlike, who believed that eating their enemies gave them their power. During their time, there was also another tribe, called the Arawaks, said to be peaceful and gentle. The Arawaks were all eaten by the Caribs - there are no surviving Arawaks. I have a Carib great, great grandmother. Ergo, I have an ancestor who belonged to a tribe that practiced Cannibalism. Explains a whole lot about my crazy family... But I am the water baby... the outrider... The lone gentle warrior of the whole bunch.
Final score:
6points
#4
My ancestors fled Switzerland in the early 1700s where they were being killed for their religious beliefs. They came to America where half of their group died from starvation. They probably would all have died if some Native Americans didn't help them. The Cherokee tribe in Virginia became good friends with them. I have a knife from one of my relatives named Titus Joder that was supposedly gifted to him by a Cherokee Chief named Swift Fox. Also the oldest American Bible which is in the Smithsonian Museum was from one of my relatives
Final score:
6points
#5
Like a lot of people who come from my part of the world - New Zealand - my ancestors were a mixture: English, Irish, Scots, German. On my Dad's side, it's English and Scots.
The Scott family relocated from Smailholm in the Borders. They were all very religious and long settled down from their cattle raiding days. Most of the village clubbed together to hire a ship. They intended to go to Melbourne and then to the goldfields, but the captain - a d******d - somehow ended up taking them to Wellington, New Zealand. There was a big argument about this, and some of the group got off and refused to go on. They stayed in the area while the rest somehow got themselves to Omaru and Dunedin. A generation later, Dads' Mum got pregnant by a married man (the Englishman) and had Dad. There are strange things about his background, suggesting he was MI5.
On Mum's side, her father was Tasmanian, descended from Irish convicts. They were homeless itinerant labourers. Piery Grace got nabbed for stealing a sheep. His pregnant wife deliberately stole a tea caddy so she'd be transported too. Her Mum's mother was from Killarney - she ran boarding houses and took in washing in the central North Island. Her family had somehow got the money together in the Potato Famine to send her on a ship to New Zealand, and her sister to Philadelphia. She married a road surveyor named Siggelkow, from a Prussian family that had settled in the north of the South Island. They had emigrated when they found they weren't going to inherit anything from their father, a Baron, because they were the children of the second wife. They had two daughters, one of whom died of consumption and the other was my mother's mother.
And then, there are my parents with THEIR fascinating stories. Another time, eh?
Final score:
5points
#6
This isn't really crazy and this doesn't go very far back at all, but I found my bio dad is a d****e with no accountability. He abandoned my mother and me when she found out she was pregnant. He kicked my half sister out when she was 14 because his side piece at the time didn't want her around. He was stationed in Okinawa for a while, and managed to impregnate a married local bar owner, and skipped town just before my half brother was born. Somewhere in Japan I have a brother I'll never meet.
Final score:
4points
Bored Sailor 2 weeks ago
Okinawa is not to large, it is possible you could meet. It is worth the try and a very wonderful place to visit, plus I am sure your brother would also like to meet and is a good person. Bio dad might be an a s s but ty and connect with family even if not raised together.
#7
My grandfather and his brother crossed the English channel on a canoe during WWII to go to help with the Resistance. They couldn't find the second paddle so they used the bread "shovel" they found in a bread oven nearby. They successfully crossed.. but I don't know what they did after.
Final score:
4points
#8
I don't have to go back far. I have ancestors who were involved in profiting from fraud and other crimes. A living relative who embezzled a family member, and is starting c**p with the family. Relatives who've placed their kids in foster care just cause. They're bigots, homophobes and racists. That's just one side of the family. I like to be thankful I take after more from the other side that is traditional but sane.
Final score:
4points
#9
Grandmother had a mysterious trip to Mexico, my mother thinks it was an abortion. My mom died about four years ago so we will never know.
Also, why my great grandparents slept in separate bedrooms. I don't buy the snoring excuse, especially when they had cuckoo clocks going off evert 15 minutes.
Final score:
3points
#10
My grandmother was the first Postmistress in the state of Virginia. She was a remarkable woman, but just a so-so grandmother. 😆
Final score:
3points
#11
My great great Aunt lived for the Indian freedom movement. Followed Gandhi everywhere, learnt Hindi from him, went to jail with all the other people part of his movement, endured the punishments, etc.
Final score:
3points
#12
My father's mother was literally an indentured servant - Granddad paid her father $25 and took her home to raise his five kids after his wife died. This was in rural VA in the '20s. Later they married and had a few more kids, including Dad.
Final score:
3points
#13
not exactly crazy but interesting. my grandfather was the world lightweight boxing champion (1917-1925), benny leonard. his birth name was leiner but due to his parents being orthodox jews (immigrated from russia) he changed it in order to not cause embarrassment to his parents. now, if you look up his history you won't find a legal (marital) connection with my grandmother, kathrine 'kitty' abrams because they weren't married. seems my grandmother worked as a dancer with a short stint as a 'zeigfield girl' who performed in the zeigfield follies on broadway. her family immigrated from poland to escape building persecution against the jews. in fact, she and her twin, who did not survive, were actually born in international waters outside the united states when coming into the country. the story goes that my grandmother caught benny's eye one night (not sure if was during a show or somewhere else) and he pursued her. as it is obvious, one thing led to another and my father was the result. while they never married apparently benny did keep in touch at least for a while when my father was a young child. after i became an adult and felt comfortable in doing so, i asked him if he ever got to know his father. my dad replied that he did have some contact with him in later years but it was after he had retired from boxing. i asked him what he was like, especially since he had come from such an orthodox family. my dad said that he didn't think benny was very religious but he was very fond of his mother whom he spoke of to him. however, he said he also felt that he had some kind of brain damage because he was temperamental and volitile in mood so he really didn't want to have too much contact with him. my dad also casually mentioned that some of his personality/mood could have come from the fact that he was a bit bitter from losing all his money. then, dad really didn't want to talk about him anymore.
from my own research it seems he had been doing quite well after he retired from the ring but the crash of 1929 pretty much took everything he had worked for and established. so maybe my dad's perception of his bitterness was correct. i also discovered that he has been inducted into several 'halls of fame' including both the international jewish sports and international boxing halls, ring magazine hall, and national jewish sports hall.
now, as for a tad bit of craziness in my family: obviously, my dad was jewish and raised with in a reformed jewish family. however, my mom was catholic. my maternal grandmother was very strict in controlling her daughters dating so she was very inquisitive of those that showed an interest in any man who was interested in her or my aunt. somehow my dad picked up on this and claimed to my mom that he was catholic in order to date her. it wasn't until after they were married (they eloped) that mom found out he was jewish. my nan was far from pleased - especially when mom converted to judiasm.
Final score:
3points
#14
According to 23 and me I am 68% Italian first generation not born in Italy, and 31% Irish and 1% random European. Yet my name is 50% Irish and 50% French, think the item cutting off heads. So even with being raised thinking we are from French decent, we are not. I am thinking the name changed back in the day when Ireland was under attack by the Brits and family may have escaped to France and took a new name. Why that of a head slicer who knows. But looking at the blood line you either see Italian or Irish so it does make sense. Trust me my wife is special to handle an Italian-Irish man.
Final score:
2points
#15
Not mine, but my husband's family. Great grandfather was an escaped m******r, great grandmother was a Cherokee who left tribe to marry him.
Final score:
2points
#16
My ancestor, Marquis de Lafayette A--, killed a Black man way back in the early 19th century. That's bad enough, but he decapitated the guy, sawed open his skull, planted peanuts, and replanted the head.
Final score:
1point
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What do you think ?
Lene 2 weeks ago
An ancestor of mine was working in the fields one Summer when he got a heat stroke and fell unconscious. Of course, the locals tried to save his life. Right. They did some bloodletting on him (this was mid-1700s iirc) and they seemed confused that he died anyway. Lol. Makes me grateful to live in a time with more advanced medical understanding. This happened in Denmark, btw.
John Starr 2 weeks ago
Belle Starr and Henry Starr are in my family tree. Belle Starr was known as the Bandit Queen and her nephew Henry came to be known as the Cherokee Bandit. He robbed 21 banks during his outlaw career, more than the Jesse James Gang and Dalton Gang put together. While on parole, he starred in a Hollywood silent movie about one of his robberies, A Debtor to the Law.
FlamingoPanda 1 week ago
One of my ancestors was one of the first 1820s settlers to come ashore in South Africa. He got tired of been on the ship and decided not to wait for it to dock so he jumped overboard and swam ashore. Somewhere on my moms side something happened that led to some family members going by the surname Rogers and others by Rodgers. No idea what happened to cause that.
Huddo's sister 1 week ago
My surname is Hudson, but my grandad said some ancestors were called Hoodson and some Huddson because literacy was good at the time, so people wrote it however they heard it/thought it should be sspelled.
Load More Replies... Lene 2 weeks ago
An ancestor of mine was working in the fields one Summer when he got a heat stroke and fell unconscious. Of course, the locals tried to save his life. Right. They did some bloodletting on him (this was mid-1700s iirc) and they seemed confused that he died anyway. Lol. Makes me grateful to live in a time with more advanced medical understanding. This happened in Denmark, btw.
John Starr 2 weeks ago
Belle Starr and Henry Starr are in my family tree. Belle Starr was known as the Bandit Queen and her nephew Henry came to be known as the Cherokee Bandit. He robbed 21 banks during his outlaw career, more than the Jesse James Gang and Dalton Gang put together. While on parole, he starred in a Hollywood silent movie about one of his robberies, A Debtor to the Law.
FlamingoPanda 1 week ago
One of my ancestors was one of the first 1820s settlers to come ashore in South Africa. He got tired of been on the ship and decided not to wait for it to dock so he jumped overboard and swam ashore. Somewhere on my moms side something happened that led to some family members going by the surname Rogers and others by Rodgers. No idea what happened to cause that.
Huddo's sister 1 week ago
My surname is Hudson, but my grandad said some ancestors were called Hoodson and some Huddson because literacy was good at the time, so people wrote it however they heard it/thought it should be sspelled.
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