[serious] What’s an interesting part of your family history?

1. My family used to trade with the native americans in Arkansas before the civil war. When the natives decided to burn down their town, they visited my family's house to warn them, and told them to get out before it happened.
   — 0w1


2. My great grandmother (mom's side) was a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. My great grandfather (dad's side) was a Nazi.
   — krilu


3. My grandfather's grandmother was a newborn Apache Native who was left in his great grandfathers barn one night. The Apaches would occasionally travel thru his land in New Mexico and setup camp and leave a day or two later as they were passing thru. Well one day they left this baby in the barn and he raised her as his own daughter... That girl is my great-great-grandmother. Always found that interesting...
   — fatboynic






4. My grandfather was a secret service agent and was standing behind Roosevelt during the "Day Which Will Live in Infamy" speech.
   — followthepull


5. My Great Great Grandfather (Austrian immigrant in the US) left on an expedition to South America to study cocaine and never returned.
   — DNAsplicelatte


6. Cuba in the 50s and 60s shit even up to 70s was a scary place man. I had an uncle who had schizophrenia , He wasn’t naturally violent but was quick to anger and then he would get violent. One day he got into an argument with some guy or a fight I don’t remember. Eventually they arrested him and since he had schizophrenia he was an undesirable , He was in the same camp as gays and hippies according to Castro - So they sent for him to be executed. He was to be taken up a hill and shot and killed. I don’t know how my grandma did it but she somehow got to talk to the commanding officer of the camp he was in and somehow swayed him to let him free. My uncle who passed away in 06’ lived that long thanks to my grandma. He was supposed to die that day.
   — joshrichardsonsson






7. Of my great great grandpa’s siblings, 3 fought for the North and 3 for the south during the civil war Edit (addition information)- I was talking with my grandpa and he told me that somehow the brothers never fought against each other in the same battle
   — raindropsonrainboots


8. When my great grandmother came over from Russia in the early 1900s, her friends and family told her she had to try a banana when she got to America. Naturally, the first thing she did when she got off the boat to Ellis Island was go to a banana stand and buy a banana. She took a bite out of it, angrily said it was disgusting, and spit it out. She had no idea you were supposed to peel it first.
   — beaverteeth92


9. My Grandfather was doctor from England traveling in the states. He apparently knocked up my then 15 year old grandmother and dipped back to England. Father was put up for adoption.
   — RetainedByLucifer






10. My grandmother's cousin was Sharon Tate, who was killed by the Manson family.
    — Obsessivefrugality


11. Great great granddaddy raped his daughter, and she had a baby, who was my great grandmother. Now there’s an autoimmune disease which is passed from mother to daughter, but I lucked out because it’s on my father’s side. Appalachia.
    — missdrywit


12. My dad did a plumbing job for Michael Jackson.
    — TheGoldenGlow






13. My mom does genealogy work on our family, and the most interesting thing she found was some fairly distant relative of ours around 1940s-50s just walked into his house one day, shot both his wife and daughter, dropped the gun in the kitchen, and just walked out of the house, and was never seen again.
    — ceedubs2


14. My aunt was born about a month after my grandpa returned from the Korean War...he was over there for 14 months straight....
    — korny4u


15. My great grandfather was a cabinet maker in Belfast, and he helped built the cabinets in the Titanic. Before the maiden voyage, he was asked if he wanted to come aboard and act as the ships carpenter if repairs etc needed doing while at sea. He declined, due to the fact his wife was pregnant and due to give birth while he would be away. The man who replaced him died. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him turning down that offer!
    — get_in_the_sea






16. 1. I am directly related to the guy who asassinated the swedish king 2. My grandmother was (most likely) the product of an affair with a russion POW 3. My great-grandfather was the victim of the one of the greatest court-skandals in swedish history
    — Nightshade75