[slummymummy]

I have been on a family history mission and have traced myfamily back to the 1730s in England on one side and to some convicts on the other.
anyway found out anything interesting, similar to this:
Barrack Obama's family has been traced back to Ireland in the 1700s and one of his ancestors was a politician as well

[TeamBlue]

My grandfather is working on tracing the family tree and he told me about a guy in the gold rush days who killed his wife and got sentenced to hanging for it. Thats all he has told me so far, I am guessing it was the most intresting thing he could find at the time

[Atomac]

My mum is doing her side and found out that a distant relative went down on the Titanic. He was also an advisor to the American president.

[klizanne]

wow thats so interesting! I'd love to find out more about my family tree but don't know where to start! My husbands family tree only goes back a few generations then stops!

[slummymummy]

klizanne - The best way is to start an account with Ancestry.com.au. It links you up with other trees that link to yours. If you have English or American descendants this is the best way to go.
Minimacs mum - wow! Tres impressive

[**Xena**]

I know that on my mums side we came to Tasmania as convicts. My great, great, great (however many greats LOL) Grandfather had my Grandmother sentenced to here for seducing and sleeping with the servants

[Guest_BBlessed_*]

Oooo there's some juicy (and tragic) stuff on my mum's side.
I'm a little sketchy on the details as I've been told this verbally and haven't read the written version (yet!)

The family lived in Ireland until a couple of generations ago. (My great great? grandparents migrated to Australia)

Whilst in Ireland there was a fairly nasty Protestant-Catholic split which was highlighted when a couple of the daughters moved to the US, and one married into "the" Kennedy family. Their father cut all ties with these women, and insisted the family do the same, and then they all moved to Australia.

The disowned women's mother continued to keep in touch with them through letters which she kept hidden in a locked wooden chest, and she collected them over the years.

Eventually her husband found out that she was writing to the daughters and was furious. He demanded she open the chest, she refused. It escalated and he grabbed an axe to smash the chest. She threw herself onto the chest and he hit her instead, killing her and ensuring he spent the rest of his life in a prison hospital/mental assylum.

We also have (another Irish!) ancestor who helped build St Mary's Cathedral.

On Dad's side, the family were one of those given "lots" of the Australian outback, where they packed up their entire life and went to live in the absolute middle of nowhere with nothing and no one to help them, and worked on turning the land into the farm it is today. As a child I loved to visit the site of the original settlement, where my grandfather, as a child, lived in a small hut made of tree branches and tin!

[*Hayley]

I love family tree stories. On my mothers side we are related to Bin Crosby which is pretty cool.

My dad has heaps of info, I recently found our family crest through facebook, Ours is a very uncommon name and we now have a group on facebook for it!

My great great great grandfather owned a winery in rutherglen we went and saw it and it is now a petrol station. We also found death information for that grandfather, his wife was illiterate and she needed to sign it but instead of signing her name there is just an X. All very interesting.

[rollagirl]

Hmmm,

- On my mums side, my 6 Great Grandpa's (i think) found Norfolk Island
- Some one from that era also married a Black Tahiatian lady ... mean while I'm still waiting for my tan
- I can't remember whose side its on, but apparently on one side there are traces that my family go back to King Henry the 5th or 8th...
- My great grand mother on my dads side was (excuse the racism) black as black aboriginal...see above about my tan

Nothing too exciting, but well yeah, thats my family


rollagirl


**Note: no racial discrimination is intended at all.....I just make the comments about how dark my great grandmother was, as I am so pitifully white

This post has been edited by rollagirl: 18/09/2008, 10:21 AM

[Mamabug]

OUr academic claim to fame is that we are related to the Fisher of Fisher Library at Sydney Uni.

Salacious claim to fame - and never proven!!: One of Dad's direct ancestors married a younger woman two months after his wife died of a sudden illness... allegedly after eating pie made by, wait for it, yep, the younger woman!

I come from a distinguished line of forgers, sheep rustlers and petty thieves transported here.

We have also discovered some weird and wonderful names that DH insists we won't resurrect!! Mountford, Gervaise (I actually like this one), Sackville, Elder...