Family & Relationships Interesting tidbits about your ancestors

[Over The Post]

My grandfather (died before I was born) represented Australia in blind cricket. Yes there is such a thing. They played with a wicker ball that had little cat-collar bells inside.

 

[Caesar]

My great, great grandfather portrayed himself to his family as a retired naval officer. My uncle discovered a few years ago when researching our family in the UK that he was actually a deserter who jumped ship.

 

[La Dispute]

My Grandpa was in the Hungarian army and deserted during the 'Hungarian Revolution' (I call it an uprising since it was squashed and achieved fu** all). That he managed to escape across the border into Austria in itself was an achievement since he was on the other side of the country and not many deserters were actually able to evade capture. He then got a ship out here because his brother had moved out here a couple of years before. He became as Aussie as he could and, according to my mum, he never spoke Hungarian again once he became fluent in English. Despite still having family over there, he never went back even when amnesty was given to all deserters.

Very similar story with my granddad or ‘nagypapa’ as we posthumously know him.

Was a part of a group of Hungarian revolutionaries that ended up taking back part of Budapest from the Russians, cue their government sending in a bunch of armoured tanks, taking back the city and then blacklisting a bunch of Hungarian nationalists including ‘Nagypapa’

He and my grandma (‘Nagymama’) then resolve to make it over the Austrian Alps Sound of Music style, end up boarding a boat with a bunch of other Ex Europeans and move on to bigger a better things: screwing lids on jam jars in a factory in East Melbourne for the best part of a decade. What a time to be alive.

Years later they return to Hungary, it’s still communist as hell with every man and their dog wearing the same set of state-approved spectacles and the whole place outwardly resembling the opening scene of Borat.

 

[Hawk Dork]

Years later they return to Hungary, it’s still communist as hell with every man and their dog wearing the same set of state-approved spectacles and the whole place outwardly resembling the opening scene of Borat.

Fast forward to now and the rest of the world loves those glasses

 

[MatthewB]

Very similar story with my granddad or ‘nagypapa’ as we posthumously know him.

Was a part of a group of Hungarian revolutionaries that ended up taking back part of Budapest from the Russians, cue their government sending in a bunch of armoured tanks, taking back the city and then blacklisting a bunch of Hungarian nationalists including ‘Nagypapa’

He and my grandma (‘Nagymama’) then resolve to make it over the Austrian Alps Sound of Music style, end up boarding a boat with a bunch of other Ex Europeans and move on to bigger a better things: screwing lids on jam jars in a factory in East Melbourne for the best part of a decade. What a time to be alive.

Years later they return to Hungary, it’s still communist as hell with every man and their dog wearing the same set of state-approved spectacles and the whole place outwardly resembling the opening scene of Borat.

we used to call out grandparents a variation of nagypapa and nagymama aswell, when my great auntie told us all the story of how they came to Australia, none of us had heard it before it was very interesting listening to her talk about her soon to be husband fighting for the partisans in Yugoslavia, my great uncle who fought in the Hungarian division of the Waffen SS ended up allied POW camp near Hamburg

if my nagymama's village looked like Borat's village, it would be a upgrade

 

[Gough]

My mother is French Canadian and her maiden name was the same as a very popular Shona surname except there is an accent on the e at the end. When my grandparents announced my folk's engagement in the Rhodesian Herald they left the accent off the e and everybody thought my old man was marrying a black women which raised a few eye brows in the late 60s in that part of the world.

 

[Munga]

I was doing my family tree in year 11 for a class and found the same ancestor on both sides of the family

Hehe it happens! I did my friend's tree for them and found the same ancestors repeating. It is more common and understandable the further back you go, but this was relatively recent. When I finished their tree I just handed it over and didn't point that out to them haha, they can take a closer look after I've gone.

My GG-aunt was a young single lady who came to Australia, found a swag of gold, then sailed back England with the gold strapped around her body. Pretty ballsy back then. She ended up opening some shops.

You never know what family stories to believe. Dad used to say we might be related to Lord Nelson. I've found a surname that matches back in the 1700s, but locations don't match, so who knows?

Last point. I've done a quite few trees for friends and family. If you have ancestors who have served/military or trading around the world then I highly recommend a DNA test, you might have unexplained family connections popping up all over the place! Even if they haven't served, you'll definitely have relatives showing up that make you say, "How did you arrive in this world and who's the connection?" eg adoption, or someone was just a bit loose! They're amazing stories.

 

[adammania9]

My paternal great uncle left Australia in the 60's or 70's and ended up working for the CIA and nobody ever heard from him ever again. Never contacted family or friends, and nobody here was ever able to find him or get a hold of him. All his family presume he's dead but it would be nice to know what the hell actually happened.

 

[Catfish Alley]

On my Mum's side I'm related to Sir Joseph Banks. He got around a bit so I think he has a few ancestral branches.

My grandparents on my Dad's side were 2-pound POMs. They hated Australia at first because people hated foreigners even more back then. They tried New Zealand but it was even worse so they decided to tough it out in Oz. That grandad has a street in Melbourne named after him now.

 

[MatthewB]

On my Mum's side I'm related to Sir Joseph Banks. He got around a bit so I think he has a few ancestral branches./QUOTE]

You could be related to half the south pacific

 

[the fly]

On my Mum's side I'm related to Sir Joseph Banks. He got around a bit so I think he has a few ancestral branches.

My grandparents on my Dad's side were 2-pound POMs. They hated Australia at first because people hated foreigners even more back then. They tried New Zealand but it was even worse so they decided to tough it out in Oz. That grandad has a street in Melbourne named after him now.

I'm apparently related to Cook on my mum's side.