Obscure Family History…

[Starman]

Most of my GG-GF's money eventually dribbled away through real estate and stock deals that went bad, including more or less depressions in the 1890s and 1910s. My grandmother , the last member of the family with inherited money, was born in 1896, just at the wrong time to ever quality for Social Security and Medicare, then made the financial blunder of living to age 99 with several high priced health conditions, so the money eventually boiled away. Ironically, the Michigan lumber industry dropped dead almost the same time my GG-GF did, as they had literally stripped the state bare down to burnt stumps without thinking of replacing most of this forest land. So after booming for billions between 1865 and 1900, the lumber industry packed up and moved to the northwest after that.

 

[Driftwood]

I discovered today that - allegedly according to Ancestry and Find a Grave - that Abraham Lincoln and I are about 97th cousins twice removed (along with thousands of other people) through a guy named Mordecai Lincoln (1657-1727).
I wouldn't wager a $5 bill or one red cent - see what I did there - that it's true, but it made me chuckle.

 

[Woody Long]

My grandfather, who went on to become a judge, t-boned a cop car at an intersection in Queens in the 1920s, killing the officer who was driving. The cop was driving drunk, having spent a portion of his shift in a bar, before going back out on patrol and running a red light.

He ended up not being charged, though there were briefs on it in a few of the New York papers. The officer's name is on one those websites that list cops killed in the line of duty, and when I saw it, I kinda morbidly laughed. Even 100 years later, the blue wall of silence protects him.

 

[Driftwood]

This I know to be true and will sign papers to the affirmative:
Lincoln's VP, Andrew Johnson - the 17th President - was a tailor before getting into politics. He hand made my X-great grandfather's wedding suit.
I have held it in my hands and personally took it to donate to the National Park Service.

 

[Twirling Time]

This I know to be true and will sign papers to the affirmative:
Lincoln's VP, Andrew Johnson - the 17th President - was a tailor before getting into politics. He hand made my X-great grandfather's wedding suit.
I have held it in my hands and personally took it to donate to the National Park Service.

Was he a hairy headed gent?

 

[Driftwood]

Was he a hairy headed gent?

Some say he ran amuck, but not in Kent.

 

[Brooklyn Bridge]

For those that have done it, how was Ancestry? I don't have much history, as both sets of grandparents came over in the late 1800s. Unfortunately, they are all long gone and anything interesting along with them.

I did hear about the family drama, alcoholism, substance abuse, fighting, on my mom's side, but im sure plenty of families were in that situation.

I'd like to take a DNA test to see what comes up. I would be surprised to see English, Irish, or Scandinavian ancestry.

 

[justgladtobehere]

What happens if 23andMe goes tits up?

 

[Starman]

While researching via newspapers.com last year, I learned my maternal grandfather once held the Eastern Pennsylvania record for most points in a high school basketball game. Of course, the sport was only about a decade old at the time. He also played minor league baseball (which we knew), but discovered his team and stats. Let's just say, it's not surprising he lasted only one season.

He also broke up a live sex show in the 1950s that was part of a carnival that came through his county.

 

[Machine Head]

@Starman has posted on this matter over the decades, here.

I have added on, be ready for what you may find.

Some good, wonderful..