People Share The Best Historical Facts They Know About Their Family
"Reddit user ForthrightPedant asked: 'What is a historical fact about your family that you think is kinda neat?'"
Every family has its secrets.
It's up to every new generation to unearth it all.
Don't we all want to know if we're related to famous people?
Or what if we have a familial stake in lands and businesses?
Also, this is a good way to NOT end up dating blood relatives.
The more you know, the less awkward later.
As much as there is a lot of trauma there could be a lot of cool facts to to discuss at parties.
Redditor ForthrightPedant wanted to hear some interesting family histories, so they asked:
"What is a historical fact about your family that you think is kinda neat?"
I don't have any family history.
Of course I've done no investigating.
Maybe I do.
I should look!
Super Talent
Excited Happy Hour GIF by Boomerang OfficialGiphy"Great-grandpa created the Flintstones. Dan Gordon. Drew lots of Hannah-Barbara cartoons, and directed the first three animated Superman films at the beginning of WW2 as well as several seasons of Popeye, Scooby Doo, Smurfs, Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound."
downnoutsavant
Bad Voyage
"My grandfather disliked America and wanted to return to Ireland. He booked passage on the Titanic’s return voyage. If it wouldn’t have sunk, no of us would be here."
mrseddievedder
"My great-grandmother was a Titanic survivor. She was a steerage-class Lebanese immigrant in an arranged marriage. Her husband went down with the ship but she managed to make it to a lifeboat and made it to the Carpathia. Then she remarried in a Lebanese neighborhood in Virginia. Had it not been for the iceberg that struck and sank the Titanic My family lineage would be different and I wouldn't be here. My family's official toast is 'to the iceberg.'"
jaspersurfer
Forgotten
"My husband's grandfather was one of the 'forgotten soldiers' in Canada. He was a Canadian-born Chinese man who asked the Canadian government to fight for his right to vote and a passport. Even tho he was born in Canada in the 20’s since he was Chinese he was not considered Canadian."
H"e was dropped into the Burma jungle and was told he would likely never return. He was in the 10% that did return. He was given the right to vote, to a passport, and to University."
"His wife is still alive today and my son is named after him."
cowskeeper
Can you imagine?
"My great-grandmother had 13 kids, so she was pregnant for literally a decade. There’s two hundred of us now, all because of this one woman."
CoverlessSkink
"My great grandma had 14 kids. My grandma was the youngest. She died giving birth to my grandma. The oldest child who was like 22 years old raised my grandma. My great-grandfather remarried a woman who had 10 kids of her own. My grandma would tell me stories of them all living together. Can u imagine? 😦."
Content_Pool_1391
Long Ago
american wtf GIF by unimpressionismGiphy"The land my dad was raised on and my cousins still live on was deeded to the family by George Washington as compensation for service during the Revolution. There was a document with his signature on it at the courthouse until a fire destroyed the records a few decades ago."
mustbethedragon
So much land and fortune and HISTORY has been lost due to fire.
Thank God we keep more than paper records now.
Over the Moon
Michael Jackson Dancing GIFGiphy"My second cousin is David Scott who walked on the Moon and drove the moon buggy. My mom does. He was so busy during the time when I was young that he even said later in life that he wished she’d gotten to know more of his family."
Roadgoddess
The Union
"Great-great-great grandfather on my mom's side was working his field in the part of Virginia that split off and became a new state because they didn't want to secede from The Union. Union soldiers came along looking for conscripts and he was a young, able-bodied man so they told him to come with them. He informed them he was a Quaker and thus a pacifist. According to family lore, that discussion went on for a bit but he would not give in. So they shot him and left him there. Good thing he had a couple of kids well before that day."
SpottyNoonerism
Opportiunities
"My great-grandfather was offered a chance to invest in a new invention by a guy by the name of Alexander Graham Bell. He declined, saying at most there would be one telephone per town."
Carson4307
"That is apparently my family too."
"One uncle apparently built a version of a hot water heater and then sold the design to GE for a good sum back then."
"Another uncle was asked if he wanted to be in a photo during his military service. He said no so they raised the flag on Iwo Jima without him in it."
"No idea if any of these are true, at best they are enhanced truths, but for me, I really hope they are true."
Jormungand1342
Underground
"I have a relative who worked for the Underground Railroad and had a price on her head in the South."
dahlia6767
"My uncle was a carpenter. And was doing restoration work on old houses in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Many of those old, historical homes had underground railroad passageways and hidden walls. He got to see and restore many of them. He had photos of some of the work he was doing and I got to see those as a kid. Living in Southern Ohio, we have a lot of rich underground railroad history here."
AddictiveArtistry
Family Empire
blood discussion GIFGiphy"My great-grandfather was the town police chief in the 1920s. His brother was the Mayor. Their cousins ran the casino."
"My family was a smaller version of Boardwalk Empire."
nowhereman136
Wouldn't we all love a show based on our families?
Then that's even more neat family history.
People Explain Which Dark Family Secrets They Were Finally Let In On
Reddit user EgglessYolk asked: 'What dark family secret were you let in on once you were old enough?'
Content Warning: Mental Health, Suicide, Domestic Violence, Child Abuse, True Crime Cases
We've likely all had a really good friend or close family member whom we felt we could share all of our biggest dreams and deepest, darkest secrets with. But truth be told, most of those deep, dark secrets were having a crush on the "bad boy" at school or cheating on a math test in sixth grade.
Some families have genuinely dark and troubling secrets, the stuff from true crime stories and the best psychological thriller fiction, and upon being revealed these secrets, it might become hard to ever look at the family quite the same way again.
Bracing themselves, Redditor EgglessYolk asked:
"What dark family secret were you let in on once you were old enough?"
Not the Best Sledding Day Ever
"My paternal grandmother had an affair with our small town’s mortician in the 1940s. She got pregnant and he performed an illegal abortion. The fetus was buried behind the funeral home he owned where we kids used to sled every winter."
"My dad told me this as I was getting ready to take a ride down the hill on the sled when I was 12."
"Also, my paternal grandfather had multiple illegitimate children around our small town. Turns out one of my best friends was also my half-cousin. My father told me that when I was 17."
"My father was educated, intelligent, honest, and moral, but also Autistic and not always the best with timing. The fact that his parents were so wild was absolutely shocking to me."
- arjacks
Wonderful Bonus Brothers
"I found out when I was in my early 30s that my mom didn't just have four kids, but actually six, though she gave two up for adoption before I was born."
"Also, I was the last baby she had with some rando before she married my stepdad and she had intended to give me up for adoption, as well, but somehow kept me."
"The silver lining? One of the babies she gave up contacted her a few years after I learned about this and now I have an awesome new brother!"
- Pandora1685
A Terrible Family History
"1. My grandfather killed his own son by throwing him on the floor because he was crying (he was just a couple of months old)."
"2. My uncle tried to rob a bank and ran away on foot. He later got married and his wife ended up committing suicide. At the time, the police thought that my uncle killed her since he had a criminal past, but he didn't (he was at work and there were witnesses)."
"3. I have multiple half-siblings (my dad was, and is, unfaithful)."
"4. My grandfather burnt the house down with his wife and children inside with the intention of them dying. My grandmother ran away with her seven or eight children, I don't recall, and she asked a priest that she worked for (she cleaned his house) to give her a space to stay, and he ended up giving her a home that an old lady left for the church (and if I'm not mistaken, she was paying it off little by little)."
"5. My aunt's neighbor (who I went to the beach with when I was little) apparently killed his own wife abroad."
"6. There was a rumor that my uncle's kids weren't his."
- _leticia_
A Tragic Family Tree
"My grandpa (15) kidnapped my grandma (14) from a convent. No one even bothered looking for her thereafter because she was an orphan and didn't even know who her family was. They had 16 children together."
- afa78
An Assisted Ending
"My extremely wealthy uncle was going downhill quickly with Alzheimer’s. Before he was too far gone, he apparently made a deal with my aunt that when things got the the point that they would have to send him to a nursing home, she would kill him instead."
"He wrote all of this in a letter and gave it to the attorney of their estate."
"When the time came, I don’t know why she chose to shoot him in the back of the head instead of something less violent, but she did."
"It was a pretty big trial with a fair bit of news coverage, and it really blew up when the lawyer testified and brought forward the letter. My aunt served like two years, I think, and was released on parole."
- Cannoli_Emma
"That's extremely sad but also really bada** of both of them. I'm sorry for everyone who was involved."
- tsunaminatpot
"It’s kinda insane that this even had to happen. If we lose control of our body, we should be able to say what we want and when."
"She was doing what he asked. I think most would if they could. Sad that she had to go to jail."
"End of life for a lot of people isn’t something they want but they’re forced to do it for the sake of everyone else."
- jazzhandsdancehands
A One Night Stand
"I found out when I was about 32 that apparently in 1973, my dad had a daughter he never knew existed."
"I found out because he texted that to me while I was working, after finding out about it himself about one week earlier. She was in her late 40s by that point, I think."
"What's sort of tragic is all this time we thought I was my dad's only kid, and he always wanted a daughter but never got one due to marriages ending. He would have f**king LOVED this girl. His daughter was the result of a one-night stand with a girl he never talked to again, and according to his daughter, the mother had a mental breakdown not long after giving birth and never really had custody of the daughter anyway."
"Dad never would have had any way to find out, the baby grew up with the mother's parents in another state, and the mother kinda went AWOL."
- ManicDigressive
A Disney Trip to (Not) Remember
"My parents took me to Disneyland for my seventh birthday. I recall landing, going to the park, and having a great first day or two."
"Then my parents had to step out and take a bunch of phone calls. They sounded very stressed. They kept telling me nothing happened and everything was okay."
"Eventually, we flew home, and surprise! We took an extra couple of days to go to a big Waterpark away from home."
"I fondly remembered this birthday and eventually forgot about any of the weirdness."
"Maybe 10 years later, my parents finally told me what happened. My uncle, my dad's brother, tried to kill himself on my seventh birthday. He shot himself in the stomach with a rifle. He was poor, addicted to drugs, no work, etc. He felt depressed my dad had the life he always wanted, so tried to kill himself."
"He ended up living. My parents took me to the Waterpark so that we didn't have to come home to him leaving the hospital. By not telling me, my parents let me keep my birthday as my day, not the day my uncle tried to die. Knowing how a seven-year-old's brain works, I probably would've thought I had something to do with it."
- No-Ice-9612
The Documentary in the Family
"My dad's first cousin is serial killer Kenneth McDuff. We saw the 'America's Most Wanted' episode when it aired and were so surprised to hear about another McDuff, not knowing he was a relative."
- lolabam3
"Google Search Result: 'McDuff was given three death sentences that were reduced to life imprisonment consequently to the 1972 U.S. Supreme Court ruling Furman v. Georgia. He was paroled in 1989 and went on to kill again. He was executed in 1998 and is suspected to have been responsible for many other killings.'"
"Jesus H. Ch**st, they f**king paroled him after he had been given three death sentences commuted to a life sentence?!"
- dcbluestar
The Motherly Figure
"My uncle was actually my cousin."
"He was kidnapped as an infant, and when he was returned a year later, my aunt didn't want him back. My grandparents adopted him so he was legally my uncle."
"My aunt was a real piece of work. To backtrack a moment, this side of my family isn't biological. Technically my dad is my step-dad, but he raised me from toddlerhood and he's my dad, pure and simple. All of his family treated me as one of their own."
"Except my aunt. She would always tell my grandparents that she just couldn't understand how they could love me, because I wasn't 'blood family.'"
"I have no idea why she didn't want her son back. It was a familial kidnapping, a non-custodial father. When my cousin was returned, she ditched him with my grandparents and got back together with her other half."
- EhlersDanlosSucks
23AndMe Discoveries
"I found out I had a sister who had been given up for adoption. The only reason I found out was the person who informed me no longer felt bound to secrecy after my mom died. And the person who told me had 'receipts' solid enough that I have no reason to doubt them."
"It also explains why mom freaked out when I told her I'd done a 23AndMe test."
- zombiemann
"23andMe is how my father discovered he had a bonus cousin. As it turns out, his uncle had a fling before leaving for WWII that resulted in a child he either never told anyone about or didn’t even know himself."
"When my father looked her, the cousin, up she happened to live in the same city. He and my aunts contacted her and all met up for lunch. Turns out the woman had been searching for years to find her father's side of family. As far as I know, they still keep in touch."
- pyroagg
Hidden in Plain Sight
"My grandfather had severely scarred legs from burns he got as a kid. Growing up, we were told that he was in a fire in an apartment building and sustained the burns while escaping. He died when I was seven, and one of my few memories of him is an image of those scarred legs."
"Well, when I was 23, my great aunt (his sister), told me that it wasn't a fire. Their father ran a bath with scalding water and put my grandfather in it as a punishment."
"My great-grandfather was an abusive alcoholic piece of s**t who f**king maimed his son."
- idksomeusername42
An Unhonorable Sword
"My mother grew up in the American South. Her brother died in his early 20's and she always told me it was a freak accident. A bullet came through the window killing him. They lived in a rural area so I never questioned it."
"One year, I inherited an old Korean War officer's sword after my grandpa passed. My mom freaked out and told me that it was too dangerous to keep and that we should sell it or get a safe to lock it up in. I thought it was weird so I asked my dad and he got this sad look on his face."
"Turns out my mom's brother was brutally murdered with a similar sword in the 80s. He had gotten involved with some drug dealers and they thought he had snitched about one of their big deals that got busted. No idea why they decided to use a sword but it was pretty f**ked up to hear about. My mom had to ID the body."
"I found this out when I was 16 but she never directly acknowledged it until years later. My mom said he was just trying to make some extra cash by introducing people who partied to the dealers. I'm about his age now and I can see how he just thought he was making a quick buck. Never thinking something like that would get him killed."
- plurperonipizza
The Miniature Farm
"When I was very young, my family lived in a townhouse, and against all local bylaws, my mother decided to keep a horse in our backyard."
"Not only that, but it was an ex-racehorse that came as a package deal: the goat companion that slept in the closet of my nursery."
"I also later found out she was running a grow-op in the basement."
- SlyGuy011
Inspiring Our Own Inner Glorias
"Y’all’s stories are WILD! Mine is super tame:"
"When I was in my early 20s, I found an old photo of someone in a family album I didn’t recognize."
"When I asked my mom about it, she said, 'Oh, that’s your Aunt Gloria.” Then she lowered her voice (even though we were alone) and added, 'She’s a NUDIST.'"
"Poor Aunt Gloria. She just wants to be a nudey-lady and everyone acts like she’s a leper."
- WithoutDennisNedry
"I aspire to be a Gloria."
- breadanudes
The Redditor who posted this marked it for "Serious Replies Only," and their fellow Redditors did not disappoint.
While some of these might have had a happy ending in a way, like a family expanding with "bonus" siblings and cousins, but some of these, it's hard to imagine moving past the news. It's a delicate reminder of how resilient humans can be.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
They say that you should never meet your heroes.
But what if your hero is someone close to you, someone you love? No one is perfect, but best case scenario, the person you look up to isn't a complete jerk deep down. Worst case scenario, their bad behavior crushes any respect you've ever held for them. Redditor u/Weeb_Memer-Oof got to hear stories of such situations when they asked...
What was the moment you lost respect for someone close to you in your life?
20. Arguing over the wrong things
"My aunts from my moms side of the family also my mom because they will always have religion wars no matter what the ocacion is"
19. They weren't there when their friend needed them
Friend of 10 years who always pretended to be this super hard dude almost like he's a thug didn't step in between me and some dude who came uninvited to my birthday party even when I directly asked my friend to do so because I didn't wanna ruin my own birthday by getting into a fight.
18. This manipulative sister
"i lost all respect for my little sister when i was in highschool and to make friends she told everyone that i was an abusive ******* that stole her stuff and beat her.. i was kicked the **** out of daily by boys and girls and didnt know why..
it was years after when i met one of the girls and i confronted her about it, she told me and i told my sister that knew what she had done, she clings to innocents but her ex-friends have come out and said the same, so officially she is dead to me"
17. This sister did... a lot
"My sister recorded me screaming at her because she trashed my mom and made her cry for not giving her everything in her will. She sent the recording to my mom and my boss. Not to mention she slept with a married man several times. She may be my blood but she is not my family."
16. The spoke poorly of their sibling
"My little brother got into drugs and my sister said to me 'he chose this if he dies that's his fault' my brother is the most important person in the world to me and I couldn't have made it through my life so far without him. The fact that she wasn't willing to have empathy and want to help made me realize why he's so important to me and she isn't"
15. They lost a bad friend and gained a best friend
"A good friend of mine in school came up to me and told me not to talk with another girl anymore since she wasn't 'cool' enough. At that moment I stopped being friends with her and actively pursued a friendship with the 'uncool' girl. We are still best friends almost 7 years later and the only friend I still talk to from high school."
14. They got a new family
when my father divorced my mother when I was 10 then he divorced his kids it seems, because he went and raised another womens kids and left our lives, never forgive him for that
13. This mom overreacted and said something terrible
"When my mother compared me to my abusive and emotionally manipulative biological father when I told her I changed my major."
12. Yeah, that's hard to respect
"One of my parents sent me a video explaining how COVID-19 was caused by 5G cell towers in a ploy to get people to stop using paper money so we all have to use digital money. This of course is a step forward in the plan for everyone to need to have a chip or bar-code in their hand or forehead which is the sign of the beast."
11. People who refuse to emphasize
"Anytime you see someone on social media ignoring the lack of police accountability and instead choosing to focus on the looters and rioters and being casually racist."
10. They didn't respect their goals
"To preface: I still love my parents, and they're usually pretty loving and supporting, but the moment I lost respect for them is when they laughed at me for saying I was going to lose weight. They said I would never be able to reach my goal. They discouraged me for eating healthy, and for joining the gym. Well I still have a long way to go, but so far I've dropped 40 lbs since January. I can't wait to prove them wrong when I reach my goal weight."
9. They took advantage of an elderly family member
"When they got my grandfather who was suffering from dementia to sign away most of his possessions to them on his deathbed"
8. Their college plans were ruined
"My own mother... when she gambled my college tuition money weeks before the deadline... I think of her now as a biological egg donor who's dead to me and will never look past such disrespect from her smh"
7. It was so bad, they got as far away as possible
"When I discovered my father and sister frauded me in our family business. I don't speak to them anymore and I moved across the country."
6. They apparently like to reward bad behavior
"I was never close with my older brother. My parents drove 8 hours to come see his new house. He wouldn't give them their address until he decided he wanted dinner. So we sat at a restaurant for 2 hours then he decided he didn't want to see us, so he had them pick up dinner, take it to his house. He of course just took his food and shut the door.
Meanwhile my parents don't want to acknowledge the house I bought, and its a year later and they still haven't seen it.... I should act like a ******"
5. That is not, "just how it is"
"When they said that my sister was going to burn in hell for being lesbian, then apologized to me but 'thats just how it is'."
4. They mocked their mental health
"When I told a close family member that I had PTSD they made fun of me and then called me a liar. This was years ago and they deny they ever did it too. They still don't think my diagnosed PTSD is legitimate either."
3. Their horrible behavior at a funeral
"When she decided to make a scene in her sister's(my aunt) funeral and yell that it should have been her other sister (my mum) the one who died. She also tried to demand her death sister's husband money since she supposedly gave her/owed her. She left her daughter with her grandparents and went to live somewhere in the middle east."
kar98kforccw
2. Their mom wasn't there for them
"I mean, I never had much respect for my mother. 30+ years of drug abuse, lying and stealing will do that to a child. But what little I had evaporated when she went through a downward spiral of withdrawal a couple years ago."
1. They showed their racist colors
"when my grandad started spouting racist and homophobic views, first happened when I was in my early teens.
I still love him but from that point he became the complete opposite of how I aspired to be."
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
People don't usually live their lives considering the future generations too heavily.
Sure, one's children and grandchildren are in the plans. But rarely do the children 200 years from now factor into the plans.
Thus, people live life rather precariously. They take chances, go pursue strange adventures, carry on risque and dramatic relationships. In the vacuum of a single life, that's all well enough.
But for the people generations down the line, looking back on those old biographies, an ancestor's approach can seem wild. It might even leave one feeling that if one small detail turned out differently, the whole story would have went in a different direction.
And that is of existential importance for the person looking at the history.
starman123 asked, "Reddit, what parts of your family history is interesting?"
Infamy
"Interesting, if not incredibly sad. I had a great great grandma (or aunt, can't remember) who had 13 children out of wedlock, all by different men. She was nicknamed notoriously loose Julie by her town."
"The doctor told her not to have anymore children after the 12th, but she did so, and both her and that baby died."
"The community felt she was such a stain on the town's reputation they refused to bury her in the town cemetery (back in the old days, small town)."
Life Took a Turn
"Grandfather had an affair with my grandmother's sister. He got her pregnant and when the little boy turned 7, he went to live with my grandparents...and they raised him as their own."
"The pain my grandmother must have felt is insane. I didn't learn this until this year at 36."
-- London82
Nearly There
"My Swedish ancestors arrived to Australia by boat. When they arrived one of them got crushed by a crate that fell off a crane on the docks. He made it all the way and didn't even get to set foot in Australia." -- nimernith
"Dam even just the flight from Europe to Australia is anxiety fuel, can't imagine taking a boat all the way there. I'll take my chances in Europe eating potatoes." -- Another_Human
Expand on that Takeover, Please
"My great uncle traced our family back 14 generations. We tried to take over in Wales, failed and were then banished." -- [deleted]
"Did you find this out after trying to enter wales?" -- c0ber
"Do you ever sit by a window during a cold, summer rain; looking out soulfully into the darkness? And as you slowly draw your fingers against the fogged glass; yearn for what could have been yours?" -- IronCorvus
An Empowered Line
"Women in my family have been going to college for seven generations (since the 1840s). Most of them have Master's degrees."
"Also one of these women (either my g-grandma or my g-g-grandma) was involved in the first car wreck in her city as a teenager when she stole her parent's car and drove it into a horse-drawn buggy. A legend."
Still Uncertain
"I'm related to John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln. There's a family legend that John actually survived the manhunt and lived in a family attic until he died of old age. There are also various other escape theories running about."
"When my family tried to get the bones of the body the US government claims is John Wilkes tested, a judge first denied exhumation."
"There are three vertebrae being kept by the US Army Medical Command, and they also denied permission, claiming that the test which would require less than .4 grams of bone would be too destructive."
A Very Great Grandmother
"My great grandmother was the first woman to vote in Maine." -- Jeffveilleux2
"Get that suffrage girl!!" -- Nopef***this
"Epic Gamer Moment #53" -- SSJRobbieRotten
"Hot" -- DuncansAlpha
An Alarming Discovery
"My family tree has this one branch that loops back to itself..." -- The_Blatalian
"Break out the banjo." -- steven_hawking_legs
"Are you your own grandpa?" -- Myfourcats1
"Fellow loopedy-loop tree, I see you." -- Chieftain-drake
Double Dipping
"My grandfather is an identical twin. During WW2 he joined the military and his twin took his place at his job. Grandfather got out of the army made up a new name he's been going by since." -- handsthefram
A Historical Claim
"One of my great something grandfathers was Thomas Wolsey, the cardinal over England during the reign of Henry VIII and the guy who attempted to get the pope to let Henry divorce Cathrine of Argon. Apparently I came from one of the bastard children he fathered with Joan Larke."
An Organized Crime Plot?
"There were two Tilley's on the Mayflower that I could potentially be very distant relatives to. Apparently a prostitute and a horse thief." -- cockapooch
"Elizabeth Tilley is my 14th great grandmother. No word on her profession or penchant for equine thievery." -- hedpe70
In Limbo
"I'm both Austrian and Italian, but also neither of those."
"My ancestors immigrated from a place that was technically Austria, they wrote Austria on all their paperwork. But now it's Italy. My ancestors would tell you they were Italian."
"Anyways. I should be eligible for Italian citizenship by blood, but when I applied, they essentially said, 'No, you're Austrian". So I attempted the same in Austria. Their reply? 'No, you're Italian.' "
-- [deleted]
A Succinct Description
"I probably have the factor wrong, but somewhere around my 8x great uncle was President James Buchanan: the US's only bachelor president who was most likely gay and hands-down the worst president in our history."
-- bluejer
Middle Age Success
"My family was running one of the biggest french pottery businesses during the middle age." -- julos42
"You mother is a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries." -- AlienStories
GiphyTough Act to Follow
"Up until me, every single person in my blood line got laid." -- dlordjr
"I hear it skips a generation." -- omgwhatsavailable
"Ah so you followed sex ed nice." -- Ovisers318872
A Slight, Permanent Tweak
"When my family came to America (somewhere around the late 1800s, early 1900s) we added an 'O' onto the front of our name to make it sound Irish."
"Everyone was giving low-paying jobs to the Irish and it was an easy way to get a job at the time."
-- GreekNord
A Big Reveal
"My grandparents were dating and got engaged. During this time my grandmother's mum and my grandfather's dad began having an affair. On the day of my grandparent's wedding they left their respective partners and told people they were together. So it makes them step brother and sister."
"My grandmother is still salty about it as you can imagine."
Do you have something to confess to George? Text "Secrets" or "" to +1 (310) 299-9390 to talk to him about it.
Family is everything. But... family is also crazy and burdened with deep secrets. When we start to excavate some of those secrets we learn why some much makes sense and we learn things we can NEVER unlearn!
Redditor u/starman123 wanted to hear about everyone else's family dramas by asking..... Reddit, what parts of your family history is interesting?
You're Banished!
GiphyMy great uncle traced our family back 14 generations. We tried to take over in Wales, failed and were then banished. dansden
The Community Stain.
Interesting, if not incredibly sad. I had a great great grandma (or aunt, can't remember) who had 13 children out of wedlock, all by different men. She was nicknamed notoriously loose Julie by her town. The doctor told her not to have anymore children after the 12th, but she did so, and both her and that baby died.
The community felt she was such a stain on the town's reputation they refused to bury her in the town cemetery (back in the old days, small town). PeppermintCarnations
The Affair.
Grandfather had an affair with my grandmother's sister. He got her pregnant and when the little boy turned 7, he went to live with my grandparents... and they raised him as their own. The pain my grandmother must have felt is insane. I didn't learn this until this year at 36. London82
To Australia!
My Swedish ancestors arrived to Australia by boat. When they arrived one of them got crushed by a crate that fell off a crane on the docks. He made it all the way and didn't even get to set foot in Australia. nimernith
The Loop.
GiphyMy family tree has this one branch that loops back to itself... The_Blatalian
Oh yeah? My family tree is essentially a family diamond.
My dad is my cousin and my grandpa is my uncle.
No, I'm not kidding. lukan2
Just the 2 of Us.
My grandfather is an identical twin. During WW2 he joined the military and his twin took his place at his job. Grandfather got out of the army made up a new name he's been going by since. handsthefram
Generations.
Women in my family have been going to college for seven generations (since the 1840s). Most of them have Master's degrees
Also one of these women (either my g-grandma or my g-g-grandma) was involved in the first car wreck in her city as a teenager when she stole her parent's car and drove it into a horse-drawn buggy. A legend. beesareoutthere
The Tilleys....
There were two Tilley's on the Mayflower that I could potentially be very distant relatives to. Apparently a prostitute and a horse thief. cockapooch
Elizabeth Tilley is my 14th great grandmother. No word on her profession or penchant for equine thievery. hedpe70
Wife 2.0
My great grandfather came over from Germany with his wife. They had one child, but her second was an ectopic pregnancy, which killed her. So he brought her older sister over from Germany and made her wife 2.0. littlest_ginger
Shatner/Eastwood.
GiphyI have pictures of my great great grandpa, great grandpa, regular old grandpa and dad. They look exactly alike. You couldn't tell them apart.
My dad just had girls, but my sister has a son and he looks exactly like my dad. They all look like a William Shatner and Clint Eastwood combo. The male genes are strong in our family.
ETA - all the girls in our family look like their mothers. My sister and I are a carbon copy of our mom, my aunts look nothing like my grandpa. If I was standing next to my dad you'd never know we were related. It's like the DNA said 'I have one job and one job only.'