Ancestral Anecdotes

[Loyalist]

Do you have a story or family lore about any of your ancestors? Regardless of how distant, please for free to share.

Let's see...

My paternal ancestor, a Scotsman who came to Canada in the early 19th century, was in the process of fleeing from the Red River Colony (in present day Manitoba) to Ontario when he became engaged to another Scottish settler. He and his wife-to-be were encamped with their families on opposites sides of a river. On the day of the wedding, he and the minister who was travelling with the group went to the riverbank where there was supposed to be a boat in which they planned to row across. However, someone had stolen it the night before, but instead of giving up, they shouted their vows to eachother from across the river.

On my maternal side, another ancestor had an eventful life. He was born in Wales in the early 17th century, and moved to London at a young age, where he became a constable. He killed somebody in a tavern while on duty, but was pardoned by King Charles I in 1625 for "justifiable manslaughter". He anglicized his surname shortly after, and migrated to the Colonies in 1635, becoming an indentured servant to a noblewoman. After the contract was finished, he was kidnapped by men loyal to Cecilius Calvert (2nd Baron Baltimore), but managed to escape and settle in New Amsterdam, where he became a Quaker.

Finally, another paternal ancestor (7 x great-grandmother) was a French Huguenot who survived numerous pogroms against Protestants. On one occasion, she hid inside a chimney while French soldiers searched her house. The family later fled to Switzerland, where she married a Swiss-German man and eventually emigrated to Pennsylvania. They lived there for less than a decade before the Revolutionary War broke out, and once again fled, this time to Canada with the Loyalist migration. They built a church bearing their name which is still standing, and is less than a ten minute drive from my house. She and her husband are both buried in the adjoining cemetery. This excerpt from a local history book is posted on RootsWeb:

She was born in France, 21st May, 1748, and at the age of twelve moved into Switerland with her parents. Sophia spoke French, German, and English, and had a remarkable memory. Her descendants often listened at her knee to her stories of life in France, in Germany, in Switzerland, in Pennsylvania and of early days in Upper Canada. As a girl in France, she once escaped when she stepped up into their wide old chimney, while soldiers searched the house on a round-up of heretics.

Source

[Æmeric]

One of my ancestors was kidnapped by Indians on the Virginia frontier when he was a young boy, sometime in the 1730s. He was eventually ransomed after several years but kept going "native" & was suspected of aiding the Indians druing the French & Indian War. His brothers finally got him to settle down & marry. He died in his 96th year in 1820 in Tennessee.

[Brynhild]

My Irish GxgxGrandmother had a child born out of wedlock to a Scottish man who became her husband (my GxgxGrandfather). They left Victoria and moved to New South Wales, had about 7 or 8 children and opened two pubs out in the Central West when the goldrush of the 1870s was booming.

[Electronic God-Man]

This story used to be online somewhere, but for the life of me I can't find it, so I shall recount it as best I can.

A certain family that I am directly descended from used to live in New York state before the revolution. Shortly before the revolutionary war had started they had moved to the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania. In 1778, an army of British soldiers, but mostly filled with Iroquois warriors, attacked the towns in the Wyoming Valley.

Before the actual attack the people living in the area had built a fort in preparation. They knew that an attack was coming. The men had gone out to gather food and wood the one day. That evening the husbands of two of the young ladies, who were sisters, did not return. In a panic they demanded to be let out of the fort and search for their husbands. I think they each had children at the time as well.

The guard would not let them out, because he felt that it would be too dangerous. The two women apparently fought their way through the guard and escaped from the fort with their children. I think they knocked the guard out.

They wandered through the woods searching for their husbands until they found a small hut that had light glowing from inside. At first they feared that it might be an Indian hut, but it turns out that this was both of their husbands camping out for the night.

That very night as these two families were away, the British and the Iroquois attacked the fort in the Wyoming Valley. Most of the English settlers died that night by the hands of Iroquois warriors. Many were scalped.

But my ancestors had escaped by sheer luck. up

Here is the story of the Wyoming Valley Massacre.

[Gooding]

My great grandfather, Melva Lawson McDonald, on my mother's paternal side, was both a lawyer and a teacher.He had the first school bus route established in that part of Tennessee and during the 1930s, he moved up to Washington,D.C., with his wife, Bertha Baird, and found work with the government.LOL, my great grandmother got my grandfather a shirt, but they quarrelled and she took the shirt back.My grandfather, Boyd McDonald, was so pissed off that he joined the Merchant Marines! LOL, he wasn't with the family when they moved back down to TN. My great grandmother, Marie Pecot,on my mother's maternal side, moved to DC after she married my great grandfather, James Cornett and was disowned by her family in Louisiana for marrying a Protestant.They talked to her again after she had three kids and divorced my great grandfather.
My great grandfather on my paternal side, James Gooding, was a businessman who owned and operated a furniture store in Loudoun County,VA.My gggrandmother on that side, Olivia Dennis, had my gggrandfather sign the first prenuptual agreement in Purcellville,VA.Yeah, we're quite the family.

[Loyalist]

Seuthanan, I see the British regiment responsible for that massacre was Butler's Rangers. I have at least two ancestors who served in that unit. If any of my family was involved in that incident, allow me to apologize on their behalf. up

[Electronic God-Man]

Seuthanan, I see the British regiment responsible for that massacre was Butler's Rangers. I have at least two ancestors who served in that unit. If any of my family was involved in that incident, allow me to apologize on their behalf. up

Yes, it was Butler's Rangers, wasn't it?

To be honest, I think most of the "massacre" was due to the Iroquois. I think that they had been previously attacked and dealt with rather harshly by American revolutionary forces, so they were looking for revenge. If I remember correctly the British did try to call off the Iroquois but they had a different sense of war and honor and would not hold off.

I really don't hold anyone responsible for these sorts of things. Shit happens, as they say.

And of course, this massacre led to hundreds of Americans leaving the area and eventually forming the state of Wyoming way out west, if the legends are true.

On a similar note, I also have at least one ancestor who was actually scalped by Indians, but she survived. I'll try to find that story.

[Treffie]

My great uncle (Alban Leyshon) was a goldsmith and was very friendly with Dylan Thomas, they used to drink together in a local pub. When Dylan used to visit my uncle at work, my uncle used to heat up copper coins and throw them out into the street while they were still hot. They both had a childlike sense of humour (sounds familiar ), so I can imagine them laughing at other people's expense as they tried to pick up hot coins in the street.

Here's the story.

http://www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=383

[Aino]

Ah, I have lots of ancestral anecdotes to choose from. Some of the stories come from published books, some directly from court records. I love reading old court records, as they usually paint a very detailed picture of the people involved and their lives. In addition, many of the stories can be incredibly hilarious.

Here is a story about my 10th great-grandfather, Johan Dewitz, who was a bugler in the cavalry in the 1660s. He was arrested and taken to court for stabbing a young man to death with a sword. He told the court that the man he had killed, Juho Martinpoika (Johan Mårtensson) had attacked him with a big backsword while simultaneously singing an impudent song, although Dewitz had already mounted his horse and was about to leave.

After the attack, Dewitz had dismounted his horse and asked Juho Martinpoika why he had attacked him. Juho Martinpoika had responded by hitting Dewitz in the head with the sword, which had made Dewitz fall to the ground. However, he had immediately gotten up, and a sword fight had ensued between them. Dewitz was unable to explain how he had wounded his opponent.

Witnesses told the court that the two men had been perfectly friendly with each other at first, and Juho Martinpoika had even joked about a dog owned by Dewitz's brother-in-law. But then Juho Martinpoika had tried to kiss Dewitz, which had annoyed Dewitz, and he had told Juho Martinpoika that it is better to kiss one's bride than a man. This, in turn, had angered Juho Martinpoika so that he had pushed Dewitz, and Dewitz had fallen to the ground. An argument had then ensued, and finally Juho Martinpoika had fetched his sword and attacked Dewitz while he was about to leave the place.

The district court gave Dewitz a death penalty for manslaughter and for breaching the duelling prohibition. However, the case was transferred to the court of appeals, where the punishment must have been reduced as he is still shown in records for many years after this event.

[Loxias]

One of my great-grandfather was a doctor, he would still give me the most painless injections when he was past 90.
He led a very strict lifestyle, never drank anything while he ate, always followed a very strict timed routine everyday, he practiced golf, horse-riding, tennis and aviation. He was a kind of person that doesn't exist anymore.
His wife, my great-grandmother is 96 and still alive today. She often tells anecdotes about life during the war.

Another great-grandfather was a bit of a crazy scientist, he worked on creating gasmasks, and tested them on himself, he lost one of his lungs in the process.
My mother also says that apparantly he invented some form of paper lamination but he was a bit too oblivious of real life, one of his associates stole the idea.
I don't know the amount of truth behind that, though.

One of my great-great-grandmother came from a noble family from Eastern Brittany (near Rennes), they suffered quite a lot from the revolution, and the last ancester to have lived in the castle had been an officer in Napoleon the IIIrd's army who ended up crippled from war and completely out of money, so he had to sell the castle, he didn't outlive it for long.

Another Great-great-grandmother lived a part of her life in a ranch in Argentina (where she gave birth to my great-grandma), there she wrote some book that had a moderate success at that time about being a woman in the pampa. Her husband, my great-great-grandpa was nicknamed Uncle Tchad (like the country), because he was a bit of an explorator, had traveled a lot through African colonies.