• tourist@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Aren’t there a few million people who are direct descendants of Genghis Khan?

    My lineage was apparently having too much trouble with alcohol and heart disease to become famous.

  • ShunkW@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I’m related to Edgar Allan Poe. I don’t remember how exactly because it’s convoluted, but technically he’s somewhere in the chain on my mom’s side of the family.

  • MasterNerd@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Brigham Young, 2nd president of the Mormon church. Unfortunately since that man was a monster

  • vapeloki@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Both, my grand grandparents on Father’s side of the family and my grandparents on my mothers side have the surname Grimm. My luck, only one side is related to them ʘ‿ʘ

  • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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    10 months ago

    I forget who it was, but according to ancestry, I’m related to an old US president 3 different times (dad’s great grandad, dad’s great grandma, moms great, great grandma). And similarly related to one of the singers of the declaration of Independence, I think from NH on both sides of my family. By marriage I am also related to a couple figures that are very famous in my local area, but I’m not gonna name because self doxxing.

    But for real, my family tree has no branches, apparently.

  • Lvxferre@mander.xyz
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    10 months ago

    I can’t get too specific for privacy reasons, but I’m very, very distantly related to a few doges of Venice, by maternal side. (I’m not from Italy.)

    Also my grand-grandma has a street named in her honour.

  • EssentialNPC@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I am descended from Robert Drouin, who is only mildly famous for the ridiculous proportion of people with French Canadian ancestry who can trace their lineage back to him. It is like if Genghis Khan only had one wife, was really into subsistence farming, and still managed to be everybody’s Great^X Grandpappy.

  • HoustonHenry@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Its more recent than the other entries, but I’m related to Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty or give me death”)

  • Nougat@fedia.io
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    10 months ago

    Not me, but a former friend who I was doing some geneology stuff for (really fun hobby) had a family legend that there was some Native American ancestor way back somewhere.

    Turns out that no, that was not true. But what I found was that there was a bit of the family which was very high up in the early Mormon church, back when that was something to be extremely ashamed of.

    • greentreerainfire@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      I have a similar story. A relative was researching one of the family lines (he was early teens I think) and was advised by an older family member not to research that line further since there was a “pirate” and it’s “not good to have pirates in the family.” We were also told we had Native American blood somewhere.

      We’re now pretty convinced the “pirate” was actually black but white passing and the Native American story was a cover for the slightly darker skin his descendants had.

  • tws@lemmynsfw.com
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    10 months ago

    About a thousand years ago, a Duke came over from Normandy as part of an invasion of my country.

    He even built a castle not far from where I grew up. Sadly I’m not allowed to own that castle or live in it.