Share your interesting family stories

[Indy Parise]

My Great Grandpa was in the Mafia and was in prison. When he got out, he was shot and killed by other mafiosas. My Grandpa's mom remarried and had a daughter, my Grandpa's stepsister and my Great Aunt Felicia.

Share any of your own interesting stories.

[Finn]

That makes me wonder about your location, sir... since when has the good ol' IRA mingled with the Southern capos of Sicily?

[ClintonHammond]

"since when has the good ol' IRA mingled with the Southern capos of Sicily?"

Easy... I Mafia use 'Irish Boys' to deliver bombs that go off before they're supposed to....

And there's nothing 'good' about the IRA...

[Webley]

My Great Grandpa was not in the IRA but him and his wife use to hide a member of the IRA in there home.

[Henry Jones, Sr]

My great-great grandfather (grandfather's grandfather) was a soldier in North Carolina's Confederate Army during the Civil War. He supposedly sat on his porch with his rifle and shot any Yankees that came up. That's according to the old people at my family reunions.

The old people at my family reunions also claim we're very distantly related to Thomas Jefferson and Daniel Boone.

My grandmother tells many stories. One is where a relative named Dick fell off the porch one day. His sister said, "Did it hurt ya, Dick?" Dick said, "No. Just my elbow."

[moondrifter]

ok, my family stories...............wow there are way too many. put it this way............................

my grandparents all born in india. mum's side go to kenya. dad's side go to congo. indians told to leave kenya so come to u.k. war in congo, dad's side taken hostage for 1 month. dad goes to belgium for uni. spends 10 years getting degree, phd and god knows what else. grandfather dies of heart attack in congo. dad's side all move to belgium. dad comes to uk to find wife. dad's 8 bros and sis' get married. dad's sis marries-moves to canada. other's marry and go back to congo/stay in belgium. dad finds mum. mum and dad go to america for 2 years with my sis. me born. all come to tiny wales. live in little village by sea. family all over the place still. and now my uncle's moved to dubai...plus some people went to new zealand and many are still in india.

need i say more? u want some funny stories from my dad's life in congo? many involving trapping monkey's in the loo and parrot's falling in love with their owners:whip:

[Henry Jones, Sr]

ok, my family stories...............wow there are way too many. put it this way............................

my grandparents all born in india. mum's side go to kenya. dad's side go to congo. indians told to leave kenya so come to u.k. war in congo, dad's side taken hostage for 1 month. dad goes to belgium for uni. spends 10 years getting degree, phd and god knows what else. grandfather dies of heart attack in congo. dad's side all move to belgium. dad comes to uk to find wife. dad's 8 bros and sis' get married. dad's sis marries-moves to canada. other's marry and go back to congo/stay in belgium. dad finds mum. mum and dad go to america for 2 years with my sis. me born. all come to tiny wales. live in little village by sea. family all over the place still. and now my uncle's moved to dubai...plus some people went to new zealand and many are still in india.

need i say more? u want some funny stories from my dad's life in congo? many involving trapping monkey's in the loo and parrot's falling in love with their owners:whip:

Quite and adventurous family, for lack of a better word. :whip:

[Finn]

Heh, interesting, really interesting family history. :whip:

I bet the history of immigrancy is full of similar stories...

[Indy Parise]

That makes me wonder about your location, sir... since when has the good ol' IRA mingled with the Southern capos of Sicily?


Well, Grandmother's mother lived in good old Ireland and her uncle was an IRA activist.

[Jay R. Zay]

Well, Grandmother's mother lived in good old Ireland and her uncle was an IRA activist.

"activist" or "terrorist"?

[qwerty]

"activist" or "terrorist"?

Well it all depends of who you ask.
Another witty response could be: It all depends of who wins at the end.

[moondrifter]

see that's the problem; you set out to do something good or bad. But the chances of someone else changing how that action will be remembered unexpectedly is almost certain...

[moondrifter]

Heh, interesting, really interesting family history. :whip:

I bet the history of immigrancy is full of similar stories...


but have you ever heard the history of immigrancy told by one unique indy fan living in sheepland? ;)

[Finn]

Another witty response could be: It all depends of who wins at the end. Indeed. I suppose we would find whole lot of other things "evil" as we do now, if Axis had won the WW II, or Soviets the Cold War.

In the end, we wonder... what exactly is "evil" to begin with?

So we wouldn't be completely OT, guess I'll have to tell something interesting about my family... too bad there's much nothing. Oh well, my both grandfathers fought in two wars, but s'pose so did many others at that time of the late century.

[Jay R. Zay]

Indeed. I suppose we would find whole lot of other things "evil" as we do now, if Axis had won the WW II, or Soviets the Cold War.

In the end, we wonder... what exactly is "evil" to begin with?

this is true in a way but still i have to disagree. actually i believe even if the axis had won the war, sooner or later somebody will try to find out the truth. "fatherland" is quite an interesting movie about this subject. i mean, look at the current situation. the states won the war and they aren't free from critizism even though WWII made it easier than almost any other war to distinguish between the bad boys and the good boys. it's not like there were a couple of bad things on behalf of nazi germany. you don't say "well, 4 million dead jews, but never mind, [bad thing] happens". look at caesar. he won. so what? it's not like he was our shining hero today, is he? look at saddam. he was the bad guy after *winning* a war, not after losing twice against the U.S. . history always is redefined again and again. look at the war on iraq - a victory for the US and nevertheless many people compare it to vietnam. the US don't have friends anywhere. not in iraq, not in the rest of the world (except for a couple of countries but support is fading everywhere).

it's a thing about ethics. you can kill 2 billion innocent people and pretend you were the good guy. but this doesn't work because you "won". it only works because the winner can lie without the loser contradicting him. but someday nobody will ask who was the winner. they will look at the facts and find out that the "winner" isn't the good guy at all. you can't keep up a lie forever.

today, left wing people all over the world even take plenty satisfaction in pretending that every "winner" is a bad guy. because the US were always so clean, so rich, so winning, some people prefer to believe that they must be [bad people] anyhow. of course this is simple, of course this is stupid. but that's life. being the winner doesn't make you a saint or untouchable. being popular often even makes you the first target for people who want to dig up dirty details. critizising the germans got boring 60 years after WWII and the only countries who happily keep up this habit are poland and israel. critizising america now is "cool". i mean, take a look at our new chancellor. she is an idiot and many people disliked her. now she critisized america a couple of times and everybody loves her.

note: i do NOT believe that everything america does is okay. i *do* believe that chancellor merkel's critizism against the US is absolutely justified. BUT this doesn't make her a batter chancellor at all and the general anti-american undercurrent has grown pretty annoying. this doesn't mean (for ToJ and shorty to jump at me again ;) ) that i take back anything i said about the USA but i don't think everything is evil just because it's american and my repugnances are well chosen.

the point i'm trying to make is that in the end, most things will appear to man as they are. terrorists are terrorists. you can express sympathy for them (another up to date thing to do if you want to look "provocative") but you probably won't dare saying that they aren't terrorists. people who kill civilians deliberately are either terrorists or guerrillas. or the US army. ;)

[roundshort]

JAY! I am so gald you are back, and well I really don't even know where to begin. I have to run (going to Vegas and SoCAL) or I would jump all over what you just wrote, but I guess I will have to sit this dance out!

Good to have you back.

[Indy Parise]

http://www.mafiasite.8m.com/gfx/gangster.gif

Well good ole great great great uncle joined after his dad was killed in a firefight between birt paras and IRA activists. The IRA stopped firing but the paras didn't so to him I guess the Paratroopers were the terorists. So he joined the "Glorious" cause. It's the kind of thing one days at 16 years old.

[Webley]

One mans "terorists" is another mans "freedom fighter".

[qwerty]

One mans "terorists" is another mans "freedom fighter".

Once again that is the matter of how you look at things.
We are all freedom fighters (well I am at least) it's just what are we prepared to do for the couse is the thing that puts as in the certan category.

[Jay R. Zay]

One mans "terorists" is another mans "freedom fighter".

nonetheless he is a terrorist. terrorist has a certain meaning. it says that you kill people to scare them, not to win a war or something. this isn't a matter of opinions. terrorists know as well what they're doing as we.

[Captain Katanga]

OK.

Enough with this terrorist stuff.

How about this for some old 19th century terrorism (Domestic).

My grandmothers grandmother was John Wilkes Booth's sister. Asia Booth Clarke.

[Indy Parise]

One of my friends is related to Scottish royalty.

[indifan101]

My 4 great grandfathers served in the Civil War fighting for the Confederates. 2 of them were captured at the Confederate prison camp at Camp Chase Ohio. They are buried there still today.

I'm a member fo the family of the McCoys from the McCoy and Hatfield Fued. My great grandfather was the leader Randall McCoy.

My father was a veteran in Vietnam in 1968. He was involved with the ongoing bloody war in Khe Sahn.

My grandfather served in World War 2. He fought in the Pacific in Si Pan. He even earned a medal awarded by the Navy.

My other grandfather served in the Korean War. He was in active duty for 2 months.
Long history of warfare in my family!

[moondrifter]

My friend is the Great-great-great (dunno how many times) grand-daughter of Charles Dickens

[qwerty]

I am my great-great-great-grandfather's great-great-great-grandson.
Would you believe it?

[Henry Jones, Sr]

I am my great-great-great-grandfather's great-great-great-grandson.
Would you believe it?

Nevaaarrr!!!!! :eek: Just kidding.

[IAdventurer01]

My great great grandfather jumped off the boat on the way to Ellis Island. :p He registered later, just to eventually meet up with the rest of his family in...
the mafia. How many of our relatives were in the mafia? Geez. :rolleyes:

[Indy Parise]

My great great grandfather jumped off the boat on the way to Ellis Island. :p He registered later, just to eventually meet up with the rest of his family in...
the mafia. How many of our relatives were in the mafia? Geez. :rolleyes:

don't even ask. There are MAAAAANNNNNYYYYYYYY. I'm a sicilian so the mafia is in my blood.

[Finn]

<small>Trust me, there will be someone simple enough who takes that seriously.</small>

[qwerty]

My great grandfather was Heinrich Himmler. We are very proud. We keep his picture above the fireplace. :rolleyes:

Hey, so was mine. We must be related.

[moondrifter]

<small>Trust me, there will be someone simple enough who takes that seriously.</small>
and look who it is...........!

[Violet Indy]

My great grandfather was a Hungarian soldier during WW2. He escaped a prison camp in Siberia. He was awarded the iron cross by Hitler in 1944. At the same time, my great grandmother hid Jews in the cellar. I'm not kidding.

[moondrifter]

Is that Siberia or Serbia;)

[qwerty]

Is that Siberia or Serbia;)
Actualy it is Syria

[Finn]

Or Sotkamo?

[moondrifter]

yes, i think we've gathered the list goes on so there is no longer a need (if there was one in the first place?) to recite it.

[Johan]

My great grandfather was a bonified Pirate. He had a ship and everything. It was however Ship wrecked in the early 1900's (shot down by officers) ending his life. My grandfather did not take on the family business by being a pirate, but took up being a fisherman. When he retired he sold his ship to a farmer who turned it upside down to use it as a barn.
So if you are ever on the East Coast in New Brunswick and see an old ship turned upside down as a barn, that was my grandpappy's ship.

[Henry Jones, Sr]

My great grandfather was a bonified Pirate. He had a ship and everything. It was however Ship wrecked in the early 1900's (shot down by officers) ending his life. My grandfather did not take on the family business by being a pirate, but took up being a fisherman. [b]When he retired he sold his ship to a farmer who turned it upside down to use it as a barn.
So if you are ever on the East Coast in New Brunswick and see an old ship turned upside down as a barn, that was my grandpappy's ship.[/b.

That's hilarious! You've GOT to post a picture! :D

[Tennessee R]

That thing Webley said, about freedom fighters. Isn't that in a Brosnan or Ford movie?

Anyway, I'm related to one of the signers of the Declaration of Independance,
(Not John Hancock), and I'm also related to Noah, in the Bible (Think about it ;) )

[Junior Jones]

I'm also related to Noah, in the Bible...

Hey, me too!

[Henry Jones, Sr]

Me three! AND I'm related to Adam! Booya! :D :whip:

[IndyBuff]

I'm related to Ulysses S. Grant, a terrible president but quite a good drunk from what I've heard.

I'm also related to Noah, in the Bible (Think about it ;) )

Me too. Wow, I guess The Raven really is one big family.;)

[whipem]

Apparently, I'm distantly related to John Paul Jones -- the naval commander for the Continental Navy, not the guy from Led Zeppelin -- on the Paul side of my family, because his original name is John Paul. Also, I know I have quite a few Paul ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and Civil War (for the Union). This (and a lot more) is in a copy of an old family book called Paul that my great-uncle transcribed for my family.
I also had a relative on my dad's side of the family who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War.
I also know that my great-grandfather (Hackert side of family) fought in the infantry during WWI, and was unfortunately exposed to mustard gas. He survived, but it affected him mentally, although I'm not sure exactly how or when it started.
On another note, my great-grandfather (Haluza side), along with my great-grandmother emigrated from Slovakia in the 1910's, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. He finally returned to Slovakia -- which was then the latter part of Czechoslovakia -- in the 1950's, but didn't return. My great-grandmother received a letter from the Czechoslovak government which stated his name, date of birth, birthplace, etc. and cause of death, which was, according to that letter, a heart attack. My dad actually has the letter, and I used an online translator to make sure that was what it said. The details are somewhat suspicious, so my family wasn't really sure if that was actually the truth. So that's my unsolved family mystery.
On a side note, his brother was a wealthy Communist (but he lived in Czechoslovakia and refused to speak English, even when he visited my grandpa and great-grandparents).

Well, I can't really think of anything else, but I'm guessing that there more that I might never even know. I'll just be busy thinking up crazy conspiracy theories of how the Russian Mafia's after my family.

[monkey]

My father's side goes back to Australopithecus Africansus

My mom had a distant relative named "Lucy" .............no, not Lucy Ricardo.

[DaFedora]

My father's side goes back to Australopithecus Africansus

My mom had a distant relative named "Lucy" .............no, not Lucy Ricardo.

You're cracking me up... :) :D
It's said that Caucasian genes are only 0.4% different from the African type (I refuse to use the term 'race' which is a misconcept and degrading; any raunchy Darwinists around here? hope not), or so I learned a couple of years ago in Pre- and protohistory.

Well, I'll treat you on a particularly interesting anecdote in my family:
my grandfather's uncle is said to have been an activist with the underground resistance in WW II. My grandfather was just entering his teens during wartime in Belgium, and his uncle was a police commandant and because of that status, he acquired special permission to get out on the streets after curfew. What the Wehrmacht didn't know however, that he was as such also an armed resistant member (we still have his member certificate).

They referred to the resistance movement as 'the white brigade' - opposite to the 'blacks' (this is a very inacurate translation from Dutch) who were collaborating with the Nazi's (intel). So, one day that great-great-uncle of mine seems to have been compromised (but not blown his cover, I think - better check up on that detail cause it confused me) by someone unknown and the German command received word/rumor of him having a gun. So one night the SS came knocking on the door at his home. His wife opened, and was completely surprised, because she herself was unaware of his underground activities, and they were looking for a gun that was stashed away secretly. She knew of nothing of course, and they did a search with no results. Years after, accidentally that gun was discovered hidden near the rainpipes along the roof ledge, all rusty.
After the war, the resistance members received special typed word of thanks and praise by the Allied Command Liberation Forces,
manually autographed:


Dwight D. Eisenhower.

When the wife of my grandfather's uncle slowly became retarded, she forgot to properly store the documents, and were retrieved later somewhere between old newspapers... now that 'Eisenhower letter' as we refer to it, is one of my proudest possesions of family history.
If you want proof, I'm happy to scan it in a couple of days...

And my great-grandfather (same side) worked in a flour mill and, ignoring the regulations on rations during the war, smuggled home small packs of flour in secret pockets that his wife sew into his coat during regular nights after work. This way he provided a number of families with some extra's to help them out in these hard times. Luckily he was never suspected, checked or sold out huh !

And my grandmother (his wife) her father was scheduled to be deported to work camps in Germany (though he was not Jewish or a gypsie or anything alike) during WWII but escaped from the train. My gran herself survived a bombing of her house (flattened out, only the basement remained intact), which was very close to the train maintenance depot (target for the Allies since a lot of the train traffic in Belgium came through our town, Malines, which was in fact the FIRST railroad startpoint on the European continent in 1835, tracks between Brussels and Malines, with carriages straight from the Stephenson factories).