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** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
INFAMOUS KINFOLK !
Casebook Message Boards: General Discussion: Miscellaneous:
INFAMOUS KINFOLK !
Author: Howard Brown
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 01:47 pm |        | | Dear Posters....after reading the post from Peter Wood about James Maybrick's possible relationship to Myra Handley,and a e-mail or two from PHILIP DOWE,our man in Germany,he and I decided to start a thread listing "our infamous relatives..." I'm pretty lucky in that I can( no kidding )trace my ancestry back 1200 years and there are two very active websites( I'm related to a lot of British royalty ! ) that are out there. Anyway........I will let Phil or anyone else begin this thread....Take it away Senor Dowe ! |
Author: David O'Flaherty
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 02:34 pm | | Hey, Howard
Twelve hundred years! Not me--I can go four hundred in some branches, mostly because of a book "Early Pleasant River Families of Washington County, Maine."
I'm not really related to anyone famous, just people who have a local kind of fame. My eight great-grandfather is Francis Small, who's known as "The Daniel Boone of Maine." He came to the New World with his father as a small boy (from Bideford in Devonshire), and later operated a trading post. The post was burned by angry Indians (Francis received a warning from a friend of his, a chief named Captain Sunday or Sandy, so he was able to escape into the woods and watch his trading post burn). Apparently Captain Sunday felt sorry for Francis' loss of property, and he gave him some land, which is now the town of Cornish. Today, there is the Francis Small Heritage Trust, formed for the conservation of land in southern Maine. There's also a rumor that Francis' father, a cavalier named Edward Small, was an illegitmate son of Walter Raleigh, or somehow related to him, but there's no proof and may just be a story.
Since it's almost Thanksgiving and the Puritans are in the air, I have another eight or ninth great-grandfather, William Worcester, who was the Vicar of Olney in Buckinghamshire 1624-36. He was canned because he opposed Church support for sports and recreation on Sundays (sounds like a fun person). That's when he came to America and was the first minister of Salisbury, Massachusetts, where he lived the remainder of his life with the rest of the Puritans.
Hope others post something of their family history here, famous or not. Everybody's family goes way back, whether you know it or not.
Cheers,
Dave |
Author: Howard Brown
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 04:12 pm | | | Dear Dave...a cool post,buddy.....One of my infamous relations was the commandant of Andersonville,the late and unlamented,Capt.Henry Wirz. He was lynched after the Civil War( winners call the shots )for being in charge of America's Treblinka....Dave,a better,rather,more well-written story is at www.crimelibrary.com,under the Andersonville heading. Howard |
Author: David O'Flaherty
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 04:31 pm | | Howard,
Wirz? I've read a little bit about him and Andersonville. He didn't do it by himself, that's for sure. The locals knew what was going on there, and this was before the Union began practicing their scorched earth policy (which, as a transplanted northerner in Tennessee, I can tell you southerners remember well).
I think Confederate POWs were also mistreated in the North. People who feel comfortable with the idea that holocausts only happen in Europe should read about this chapter of American history. Those Civil War POWs look like they've just stumbled out of Auschwitz, from the photographs I've seen.
Cheers,
Dave |
Author: Brian Schoeneman
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 05:51 pm | | Dave,
From what I've seen, you're right. Both sides mistreated their POWs horribly.
The difference though, in my mind, was that the Union didn't have to. When you're in a total war, and you are doing your best to starve the other side's troops, you've got to understand that by doing so, you're going to be REALLY starving your own POWS - why give a captured Yankee bread when your own soldiers starve? Throw into that mix the Union strategy of refusing to exchange prisoners, and most of what happened down there happened unnecessarily. The Yankees could've ended it, if they wanted to.
The conditions in the camps of the South was out of necessity. In the North, they were out of spite.
You can tell where I'm from. 
B |
Author: David O'Flaherty
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 06:19 pm | | Hi, Brian
Let me get my gun (laugh)
Good points all, and I agree with you, up to a point. But let me add that on top of starvation, prisoners also died from the poor sanitary conditions provided for them. Surely there was no necessity for POWs to drink from water polluted with their own filth? I think there was plenty of spite to go around.
You're absolutely right about the Union refusing to exchange prisoners, thanks for mentioning it. And the South was indeed short of food then, and people resorted to eating pets and all sorts of horrible things, that's true (but I don't think anyone walked out of Richmond or Atlanta a living skeleton).
Andersonville opened in 1864-I thought it was much earlier than that.
But both sides did a lot of terrible things, Bedford Forrest massacring black soldiers, Sheridan scorching farmland.
You're from Norway, right?
Cheers,
Dave |
Author: Paula Wolff
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 07:05 pm | | Just a little bravado here, but I can go back 1600 years on my mother's side. Also from the kings of England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Scandinavia, other European countries. If you can hook up to Edward III,you have it made. Gets touchy when you get to Magna Charta though. Both sides there, barons and King.
I have John C. Calhoun in my family. He was an interesting(?) guy and, if there is anyone person you can blame the War Between the States on, it's not John Brown but Calhoun. Talk about state's rights!!!!! And a bigot to boot.
Wirz had a horrible position to fill. Why they hanged him and not the Yankee gaolers, I don't know. The Norhern camps were as bad and as someone rightly said on this board (Brian?), the North had food, etc. The South was a beaten part of the country, beaten into the ground and stomped all over. That war will never die. Most of my family was in GA at the time or in MS. They lost so much! But I am glad the North won and we became a complete nation again. A separate Confederacy wouldn't have lasted anyway.
Enough.
Paula |
Author: Julian Rosenthal
Sunday, 24 November 2002 - 11:26 pm | | G'day Howard , Dave, Brian and Paula.
In the very obscure and distant past (well not that distant) there is a bloke called Baron Manfred Von Richtofen who's dangling from a branch of my family tree.
I don't know if you'd call him a villian, but he was a quite well known personality from the past.
This could turn out to be a very interesting board. I wish you every success with it.
Jules |
Author: Ky
Monday, 25 November 2002 - 01:09 am | | Hi All,
My great grandpa, Bowther Erickson was a descendent of Erik the Red. He came to the U.S. from Iceland as an indentured servant, his parents having too many mouths to feed sold him off. Another branch of my family claims Blackbeard and another was related to Cotton Mather of the Salem witch fame.
My sister is currently researching our family here at the family history library (LDS).
Ky |
Author: Graham Jay
Monday, 25 November 2002 - 05:00 am | | My uncle managed to trace our family back to just before the Conquest. In all that time, no-one seems to be particularly interesting other than a couple of Lords, Anne Hathaway, and someone who went to Australia on the First Fleet (although he was a ship's officer, not a convict, which apparently doesn't count). Although he was on the ship (HMS Supply) which decided the location of what is now Sydney, he's not someone to be too proud of, unfortunately, as he managed to get himself drowned trying to catch a turtle a year later.
My uncle also traced the side of our family that moved to the US, I'm related to someone who was apparently quite famous in the navy in the Civil War. Also there was an old US politician (John?) that my uncle was on the verge of linking us to when he finally popped his clogs.
1,000 years of family, and no-one spectacular! |
Author: Philip C. Dowe
Monday, 25 November 2002 - 05:29 am | | Hi all,
here goes: I am related to Dr. Neill Cream (on my mothers side)! When I heard it, it go me started on Jack!
Howard an I were wondering who David Radka would come up with. So come on David, lay it on....
Philip |
Author: stephen miller
Monday, 25 November 2002 - 08:26 am | | Hi All I have traced my line back to 1768 possibly even further to 1550 but I need to check this out
I was told that a cousin of my Father was hanged for murder in 1950's but it turns out that he was only a friend of the family
I am currently working on the fact that my gt grandfather was JTR
1 he had a grey beard always a sign of evil
2In 1896 he married a lady called Maria Jane obviously on a guilt trip there
3 In 1926 he committed suicide by throwing himself in front of an oncoming train he obviously couldn't live with the memories of his past
Now where are those letters so I can check for DNA
from steve
 |
Author: Brenda L. Conklin
Wednesday, 27 November 2002 - 05:02 pm | | | I haven't had much luck tracing ancestry. The furthest I can get is a relation who fought in the Civil War and seems to have been AWOL much of the time. I was told not to feel too badly, that many of the soldiers went AWOL to plant and later to harvest the crops. But this guy was AWOL like in January too. |
Author: Jeff Bloomfield
Wednesday, 27 November 2002 - 10:01 pm | | After years of examining what I can, I have
concluded that most of my family led boring,
and prosaic lives (like the majority of people).
There are (so far as I know) no major figures in
any sphere. My father used to say that as our
last name was Blumenfeld before anglicized into
Bloomfield, we were related to a Yiddish stage
actress named Diana Blumenfeld, but that was about
it.
There is one possibility, similar to what was
said by Philip above. In 1849 a man was executed
for a double murder in Norwich, England named
James Blomfield [or Bloomfield] Rush. Rush actually adopted a step-father's last name of
"Rush", so his real name is James Blomfield [or
Bloomfield]. Some of the etchings and drawings of
this character look a bit like me, but her we
have two problems. Although I have an English
line of family, it is through my mother's mother's
family, not my father's. His family was Polish
and Russian. This still does not preclude a
contact between the Bloomfields, Blumenfelds, and
Mr. Blomfield. The other point is that my facial
resemblance is to my father's mother's family,
the Hanicks. How does this relate to Mr. Blomfield?
By the way, I recently read a very interesting
book on the Civil War, THE DAHLGREN AFFAIR by
Duane Schultz, which discusses the events that
led to the Confederate fifth column campaigns
against the North in 1864. They stemmed from
a raid on Richmond, planned by Col. Ulric Dahlgren, the son of a leading Northern Admiral.
The raid was bungled by Union Brigadier General
Judson Kilpatrick (whose descendent it Gloria
Vanderbilt). Dahlgren was killed, supposedly
trying to free Yankee prisoners in Libby Prison.
The Confederates claimed papers on Dahlgren's
body proved he was planning to murder the
Confederate President and his cabinet. This has
remained a matter of controversy ever since.
One of the fun moments in this book deals with
Confederate General Jubal Early. Early was
never "reconstructed", and always despised the
North. He insisted the Dahlgren Papers were
trustworthy, and not forgeries. Admiral Dahlgren
had insisted that the signature of his son on the
papers was mispelled, and could not have been
Ulric's. Early suddenly did some amateur detective work to answer Dahlgren's arguments, and
showed the signature could have been legitimate.
Nice work Jubal!
Jeff |
Author: Lisa Jane Turner
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 06:25 am | | | Well, hardly infamous, but I am related to Steve 'interesting' Davis on my mum's side. |
Author: Howard Brown
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 09:44 am | | | ...years ago,my grandmom told my mom ( not HER daughter) but her daughter in law,that our family was directly descended from Charlemagne....My mom told me this( before personal computers were available ) and I just said," Yeah..right mom ! Lay off my stash of hashish,okay? "...I mean,what are you supposed to say to that sort of thing! Twenty years later,I tried my hand at my own website. One day,while looking on GOOGLE for my name( which is my dad's name,except I am Junior),I came across the Old Mans name....Now,he alone may be a little "infamous" for working at NASA as a proofreader for the Saturn V rocket,which landed on the moon. He falsified his credentials,much like that Ferdinand DeMara,the "Great Imposter",to obtain security clearance. Although a really bright man,he didn't graduate High School,opting for a life as a cowboy in Wyoming or Montana in the late '30s...Anyway,I clicked on his name and goddamn it,granny was right !! After over 2 hours of perusal,my family name DID go back to Old Charley the Great. Knowing that 'mama's baby is only papa's maybe",at least the claim of lineage COULD be true....How is Charlemagne "infamous'? Well,seems he was the person responsible for,and excuse my sentiment,you Christians,for forcing Northern Europeans to accept that dogma. At least in my opinion,for this he is Infamous. Imagine the course of the World had he not been successful !!! Sort of like that bumblebee that stung the Mongol leader's horse's butt. Had it not been for that bee,the Mongols would have crossed the Channel and not returned to Asia to elect a new Khan...Ivor Edwards would have looked good in epithantic folds ! |
Author: Ivor Edwards
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 03:11 pm | | | Hi Howard,So now we know why all those Saturn 5 rockets kept blowing up!! It would have taken more than the Khan and his Mongol hordes to cross the channel for the purpose of seeing any self respecting Welshman, Englishman, or Scotsman in epithantic folds. Some guy named Adolf with his hun hordes thought along the same lines inasmuch that we would all look good in striped pajamas with swastikas stamped on our backsides but after careful deliberation he had second thoughts and killed himself.Seeing as how you are descended from Charlemagne the first does this mean that I get to call you Charlie for short because I know you? |
Author: Howard Brown
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 06:01 pm | | | Dear Ivor...Buddy,you can call me anything you want...There's obviously no 100% guarantee that that linkage is in fact positively a fact,but at least its pretty neat to be able to go that far back in history,at least I think it is.....Funny you mention Hitler in the above post,as my Dad knew Wernher Von Braun,who turned out to be a pretty agreeable fellow.besides being a true genius. His work for the Nazi Party obviously was terrible. Amazing what a relocation will do for one. Ivor,I dub thee Lord Portly . Bear the title well..yours, Howie,Baron of Gray Matter. |
Author: Ivor Edwards
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 06:38 pm | | | My Lord Howie,Baron of Grey Matter, It truly is neat that you can go back that far because I know people whom cannot go as far back as their father. I should have realized your father may have known Von Braun if he was working on Saturn V. Until next time your loyal servant,Lord Portly. |
Author: Garry Ross
Thursday, 28 November 2002 - 08:56 pm | | I daren't list out mine from the past or how long they spent in the Tower of London etc
*shudders*
take care
Garry |
Author: stephen stanley
Friday, 29 November 2002 - 10:24 am | | Rather put me off mine When I found a Stanley in the Spanish Armada...on the Spanish side......
Steve |
Author: Brenda L. Conklin
Friday, 29 November 2002 - 10:42 am | | | Don't worry Mr. Stanley. To have an affection for Jack the Ripper suggests questionable gene structure anyway. I don't think you're any different than any of these other folks on the board in that regard! I think all of us have at least one screw loose! :-) |
Author: Philip C. Dowe
Friday, 29 November 2002 - 11:11 am | | | If it were only one I would be happy! When my wife saw how much I spent on books last week, she said there isn't one screw which isn't loose! i am sure you have all heard it before "How can you buy all those books, ther is nothing new in them! You already own 34, what do you need another four for!" |
Author: Brenda L. Conklin
Friday, 29 November 2002 - 07:06 pm | | | Don't forget the ever-famous "how can all of you keep finding things to talk about?" |
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