Obscure Historical Links

[lightcrystal]

Do you have an obscure link to someone or something historical?

Here's mine. A bit lame but here goes. My family comes from from Yorkshire. Before he became famous in the Bond films Oddjob was a wrestler in the Bradford, UK area. When my Dad was young his father took him to watch Oddjob wrestle. He didn't last long. Oddjob was a dirty wrestler. He would kick the other guy in the groin. Then Oddjob would be disqualified and walk off.

Bad, bad Oddjob! Bad dog!

[TriciaG]

Charlemagne was my great- great- great- something. I am in his lineage, anyway.

[mightyfelix]

I'm not quite sure of the exact relation, but someone on my father's side (one of his cousins? uncles?) was among the team of people who first discovered Inner Space Caverns in Georgetown, TX, while working on the construction of IH-35. He is the man (I'm pretty sure) that you see pictured on the pole in the photograph here: https://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/8429?offset=5

The highway as it stands today takes a wide curve around the caverns, but the original plan, before the existence of the caves was known, was of course to go straight across. While drilling core samples to check the stability of the ground, the drill suddenly punched through into empty space, and my (great-uncle?) was the first one to be lowered in and see what they had found.

[paullawleyjones]

Charlemagne was my great- great- great- something. I am in his lineage, anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/commentisfree/2015/may/24/business-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford

[annise]

I'm descended from Stephen Greenleaf and Elizabeth Coffin who landed in America in 1642 - which I find mildy interesting because there are such interesting records kept from then. But I'm also descended from someone who lived in Hesse , where the rulers made money by providing armies of their citizens, so in the "war of independence" I may have had ancestors fighting each other - which I found odd.

Anne

[ChrisGreaves]

Do you have an obscure link to someone or something historical?

(1) In the Australian summer of 1966/67 I worked on Len Casley's farm on the Hutt River. Len went on to secede from Australia, and one afternoon we stood on a low ridge, twin D9-caterpillars were chaining the scrub and Len remarked "The post office will be there, the hospital there, the school, the motel, ...". I thought that he was mad, but he went ahead and di it all, made money from it, too.

(2) In 1979-80 I rented a bed-sitter in the 19e arrondissement in Paris from Raymond Nivet, at that time head of catering for Air France. He invited three of us over to dinner, and afterwards produced a bottle of brandy (I think), poured us each a small glass, and as we sipped, told us that it was presented to him by W.S. Churchill. Turns out that Nivet was on a roster to ferry Churchill back and forth during the second world war.

I suspect that many of us are but one-link away from great historical events or people, but that most of the time, we are not aware of the link.

Cheers
Chris

[TriciaG]

Charlemagne was my great- great- great- something. I am in his lineage, anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/commentisfree/2015/may/24/business-genetic-ancestry-charlemagne-adam-rutherford

Suuuuure. Burst my bubble, why don't ya?

[Dulcamara]

Perhaps this might count? The new Chilean president's great great grandparents used to live next door from my great grandparents. (That IS obscure, right?)

[kristakz]

My ancestor, Stephen Peer, is the only person ever to die tightrope walking across Niagara Falls.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Peer

My aunt was a genealogist, and had many, many stories about our family.