Your ROOTS are showing aka who is the black sheep in your family?

Just read the thread about Trump's grandfather and why/how he got booted out of Germany.

It got me thinking.

What colorful "roots" do you have in your family tree?

My family tree is somewhat "incomplete" but I can say that a distant relative was hung for horse thieving.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Two Uncles who did time for armed robbery, one got caught when he ran off and his false leg fell off....
Bit of a black sheep myself most of my family are just like the show shameless so I got away from most of the drama years ago.
Times sure changed my descendants were French nobility.

a reply to: DBCowboy

I have two.

They're both my brothers.

One was a Carney, he's now an allegedly recovering methhead. 5 Kids with 5 different women, been to jail multiple times for not paying child support.

The other is just a useless turd. Got "Layed Off" from 7-11 Kicked out of Marine Corps Bootcamp for popping on the Urinalysis, 4 kids with 4 different women, been to jail multiple times for not paying child support.

I haven't talked to either in over 10 years.

a reply to: DBCowboy

You mean, besides me?

Well, I'm sure this is not as exciting as anyone else's as I have no tales of the why.

My birth father left Belfast as a young man under mysterious circumstances. I say mysterious because he never revealed the why and as far as I know, his other daughters don't know or won't say.

Anyway, no one has or will tell me so far.

*shrugs*

a reply to: watchitburn

You can pick your friends but not your family...

Looks like we're all in good "pirate" company!


Thanks for the submissions!

One side, my Dad, the other side, an uncle.

Families, you can't choose them, learn to live with them.

a reply to: DBCowboy

Heck I bet If we all went back 10 generations we would all have a murderer or villain in.
Oh I forgot my Grandad Monkey (his nickname) brought a Chimp back home in the 50's and ended up strangling the poor bugger.

a reply to: DBCowboy

I am sure some people on my maternal Grandfather's side did some hard prison time. But it is difficult to track down. He left my grandmother high and dry with 5 kids and started a new family. Some of which I have met., the 'new children' who are about my age.

I have a very good idea of my father's side of the family as they have a massive genealogy website I am a part of.

On my mother's side of the family, there is some odd thing the older relatives didn't talk about. Something about 'Black Irish' blood relatives and the Portugese ones not liking them. The Portugese part are descendents of King Ferdinand of Spain, as am I.

Interesting stuff, but I haven't found anything particularly bad.

What about those of us who are adopted?

I'm of the mindset we can pick and choose our family, I certainly am considering dis-owning my adoptive parents.

I'm the black sheep, or so my adoptive mother says.. 'cuz I'm not being a pot head, living in her basement like her other son. /smirk

My fifth cousin was Jesse James. His full name was Jesse Woodson James. Woodson was a great times X grandfather of mine. He was a doctor who was killed by Indians near the original Jamestown settlement. I have full documentation for this.

a reply to: TheKnightofDoom

I can choose not to have anything to do with the dirtbag oxygen thieves.

originally posted by: Cygnis
What about those of us who are adopted?

I'm of the mindset we can pick and choose our family, I certainly am considering dis-owning my adoptive parents.

I'm the black sheep, or so my adoptive mother says.. 'cuz I'm not being a pot head, living in her basement like her other son. /smirk

Well, that is sad.

But my mom (may she rest in peace) always said, if your family treats you like crap, there are others out there experiencing the same and to make a new family.

I have had several thanksgivings and Christmases with friends of hers that were fantastic.

originally posted by: schuyler
My fifth cousin was Jesse James. His full name was Jesse Woodson James. Woodson was a great times X grandfather of mine. He was a doctor who was killed by Indians near the original Jamestown settlement. I have full documentation for this.

WOW! Now that is cool.

My great grandfather was a farmer who made and ran whisky up north during the depression and "grew" a lot of things too lol.

A cousin of his was Al Capones mechanic (or so the story goes). There's a picture of him on the wall at my grandmothers standing beside a fast looking old car in a mob suit haha. I don't know if that's true or just a family story.

My great grandfather wasn't exactly a black sheep though, when I think about it. He built a big house and let a lot of people stay for free who had no place to go back in those days. That wasn't easy to do during the depression.

My great great grandfather on my dad's side was a deputy sheriff and constable in Andersonville Georgia during the civil war. He kept a viscous pack of doges used to track down escaped union prisoners from the notorious confederate run Andersonville Prison that was built partially on his land but was never paid for. The story tells that this vicious pack often tore the caught prisoners to shreds. Both he and his brother that lived with him at the time just disappeared from history without a trace. Some suspect they were drug out and hanged in the night by union forces. Not even a grave site remains of his existence.

Oh right, I'm the black sheep of my family.


ETA: Several of my lineage were named after the 3 brothers of the bible that were cast into the fiery furnace. Meshack, Shadrack and Abednego.

My grandmother was doing some genealogy and found out that someone married a Plantagenet on her side way back.

Other than that nothing interesting I know of. My gay cousin is a bit of a black sheep. He got kicked out of his moms house for drinking there when he wasn't supposed to, then he goes out and tells people he meets that his mom kicked him out for being gay. He's really a tough person to get along with. The type that lies about anything and everything, even banal nonsense just to seem interesting. Did some time for robbing a crisp-e-creme that he used to work at with a machete, too.

It would be interesting to do that DNA stuff to see what % and whatnot is in there.

My italian ancestors got kicked out of italy, they where mercenaries and they lost the war, they moved to france and joined the pioneers who built new france.

What colorful "roots" do you have in your family tree?

To play on your words, my 4th great uncle was vice president under Abraham Lincoln. He was an active opponent to slavery and even served in a Maine militia unit during the American Civil War.

Hannibal Hamlin

In 1860, Hamlin was the Republican nominee for Vice President; selected to run with Abraham Lincoln, who was from Illinois, Hamlin was chosen in part to bring geographic balance to the ticket and in part because as a former Democrat, he could work to convince other anti-slavery Democrats that their future lay with the Republican Party.

The Lincoln and Hamlin ticket was successful, and Hamlin served as Vice President from 1861 to 1865, which included the majority of the American Civil War. The first Republican Vice President, Hamlin held the office in an era when the incumbent was considered more a part of the legislative branch than the executive; he was not personally close to Lincoln and did not play a major role in his administration.

Even so, Hamlin supported the administration's legislative program in his role as presiding officer of the Senate, and he looked for other ways to demonstrate his support for the Union, including a term of service in a Maine militia unit during the war.

Let Freedom Ring!

originally posted by: TheKnightofDoom
Times sure changed my descendants were French nobility.

So you married into the French aristocracy, and your children, your descendants, inherited nobility on their mother's side?
Or perhaps you mean that your ancestors were French nobility?