Cool Things Your Ancestors Have Done

Forgot to mention he was one of the designers of Buckingham Fountain in Chicago.

 

Thanks
I forgot to add that my wife's grandfather (passed away 20 years ago) fought in WWII. He personally drove G. Patton to church every Sun. I carry his army poke around with me. It's quite an honor to say the least.

 

I haven't really investigated it too much, but after reading some other people's posts, I might have to start looking.

I do know however, that my grandparents (dad's side) lived very interesting lives in my opinion.

My grandmother was born in Vienna, Austria in 1928, and then moved back and forth between there and Berlin throughout her child and teenage years. She lived through WW2 Berlin, and had both homes she lived in bombed by the RAF in mass aerial attacks. I actually did a project on WW2 in high school and incorporated them into it a lot. She used to have to go to bed with a suitcase filled with her belongings right next to her. When the air-raid sirens started, she would have to run down the stairs into her families bomb shelter. When the Russians came to Berlin, she was actually followed by a group of Russian soldiers; she feared that they would rape her so she tried to lose them and went to hide behind a pile of rubble. Unfortunatley the pile she chose already had an older Russian soldier sitting on the other side. Fortunatley, this guy was a 'good guy' and when the other soldiers came looking for her, he said he saw her go the other way and let her go unharmed She was sent to a Hitler-youth work camp type of deal prior to WW2 and was forced to peel potatoes in an old palace the Nazi's had used to house the children in these camps. After the war she was a model for clothes and hats and gloves.

Her father (my great grandfather) owned a company that produced music players (what were they called in the '30s?) Anyways, it was a very good business and allowed them a good lifestyle in their time. He owned a lot of different cars; I've been meaning to borrow her photo albums and look up what he was driving!! Once Nazism came to power though, his company was forced to start making materiels to help the German war effort (what I don't know though, I'll have to ask her). It's a little weird to me that my direct ancestors produced stuff for the Nazis, but at the same time...he really didn't have a choice.

My grandfather was an American and fought in WW2. He was on artillery and had some crazy stories about almost getting hit by German's artillery, and having to go up to the frontline and hear bullets whiz past his head. He collected all kinds of stuff from the war and gave them to me a while ago. I can't post pictures, but they include Nazi armbands, SA Daggers, Crosses that the Nazis gave to the mothers of soldiers and his medals. He also gave me a photo album that chronicled his journey from basic training all the way until VE day.

I enjoy WW2 stuff, so hearing them tell these stories and show me memorbilia and pictures is awesome.

That's what I got for now...

 

My grandfather was a tank driver in the Pacific campaign, basically fighting their way to Japan from 1942-45. In 1995 my dad and I each received a copy of this book from him. http://www.amazon.com/Ww-II-Turret-Dwight-Strickler/dp/096246810X/ref=cm_pdp_review_teaser_product

Apparently he and Strickler were in the same company and my grandfather is featured throughout the stories of the book. Both were just plain lucky to have survived, my grandfather was on his fourth tank by the end of the war, three had been destroyed around him. They were in Tokyo Harbor as the surrender treaty was being signed on the USS Missouri. They were part of the immediate occupying force of the city as well. Strickler died around '92, and my grandfather died in 2004, it is probably one of my most cherished possessions.

The last paragraph of the book is one of the most sobering to think about how hard the fight was with the Japanese.

"...At last roll call I stood at Camp Drake there were four left of the original 124 that were in the company when we landed in Australia over 2 years ago. Some had gone home earlier to get sewed up or get new parts, but many were left scattered in soggy graves from Brisbane to Tokyo. I'm sure some will never be found. One married guy with 4 kids went home on points a couple of months earlier. 603d Tank Co. didn't get as much relief from combat as most units. 24 months in combat zone...."

 

My grandfather performed on the vaudeville stages in New York City......

My father once got in a fight with Mickey Rooney outside the stage door waiting for Judy Garland to come out. While they fought she left with someone else.

 

My father was a tank driver during WW2 but never made it overseas. The war ended before he was to ship out.

Oh, he also drove the Generals jeep as his driver in Camp Hulen in Texas. While the General was in the jeep a cow walked out in front of the jeep and my dad hit it, throwing the cow into the windshield and parts of it all over the generals uniform.

 

My family roots trace back to Körrnir, the first to enter Valhöll. He died in a battle with 365 Jötunn after being led into a trap by Loki. The battle lasted for a year; each day saw the death of a single Jötunn. On the final and 365th day, only a single Jötunn stood against the dying and weaponless Körrnir. Körrnir, worn and near death from the year-long battle, smashed his right fist into his open left palm releasing tordendon, an explosion of sound and air that rent the flesh and sinew of the remaining Jötunn. Although he won the battle, he was mortally wounded and very near death. Exhausted and bleeding, he saw a small acorn near the shore.

He picked up the acorn and examined it against the backdrop of the moon and he bled his last blood upon it. "From this seed." he said, and hurled the acorn into the green forest well beyond where he lay dying.

With his last breath came the final tordendon.

Neither trumpets nor symphonies accompanied Körrnir to Valhöll, just the lone Valkyrie that took him to Valhöll on her skirt, she with a complexion and emotion of alabaster but with expression so kind and welcoming.

 

Yup Darby Dan farms, I guess the Derby thing is a typical word slip, I've done that before.

And it was John W. Galbraith, not John Kenneth Galbraith that owned the Pirates. He was a builder, owned the Pirates until 1985.

DM

 

I dated a girl in the 70's who was the executive chef and events planner at Darby Dan. She had a residence on the farm. I knew everyone and could slip into anything going on. She was sweet and hot. Turned out she liked girls as much as I did. The time period where she became aware of this was interesting.

 

My Great-Grand Father was a prominent business-man in India in a town called Bantva. His business was trading - specifically in grains and he had branch offices which he controlled from Bantva in around 15 countries (in the 1920's, 30's & 40's). He was responsible for the construction of schools and hospitals as well in Bantva and Quaid-e-Azam - popularly hailed as the Founder of our Nation - Pakistan - came to live with them in Bantva when he was asking the prominent families of the town to come to Pakistan when it was being formed, the purpose of which was to start the industrialization process of the newly established state.

When my family eventually moved to Pakistan (Indian soldiers ransacked the town and everyone had to flee), my family started many businesses in the country and at its peak, the group had 2 banks, an insurance company, 2 shipping companies and many other businesses. We were one of the "22 Families" in Pakistan. Collectively, these 22 Families controlled about 80% of the industrial assets of Pakistan and it was on the basis of this argument that a politician and the then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (Benazir Bhutto's father) nationalized all the key business and industrial units in Pakistan belonging to these 22 Families, not realizing that we were an AGRARIAN economy and that when talking about the collective wealth of the Nation, these families did NOT control a very high percentage at all.

Even if we did, Nationalization is something we are paying dearly for today. If one were to think about the argument for Nationalization today, then we should be looking at another round since our countries wealth is controlled today by about the same number of families.

An American researcher - Hannah Papanek actually wrote a paper on this and there's another book too - Who Owns Pakistan, which mention my family in some detail.

 

My father unknowingly did one of the greatest surealist art projects of the 20th century by pasting pinup photos of Rita Hayworth on the Fat Man Atomic Bomb that destroyed Nagasaki. He and his friends did this on Tinian before the bomb was loaded on to the plane. He also saw the first atomic bomb go off at Los Alomos NM and the first Hydrogen Bomb at Bikini atoll.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquis_de_Denonville

 

I almost forgot. One of my relatives on my dad's fathers side (so my grandpa) was high up in the RAF. He did a TON of stuff. He lived on a desert island for ages with the locals when their plane crashed there. He has this scrapbook of everything he did. He sunk U-Boats and everything. He was also in the first plane that flew over Hiroshima (or Nagasaki, i can't remember) to assess teh damage and still has the pictures. He has some REALLY really special medals too. I'll try to find out more.

 

That's crazy, just finished watching a documentary on Frank Lloyd Wright last night.

I remembered another. It's not non if it's true, but we think Matthew Broderick is related to my family through my dad's moms side. We've never looked into it far enough to see if it is true or not.

 

2nd cousin was Bob Pfarr, raced bikes in the Olympics one year, passed away recently:
http://www.333m.com/natchamp.htm#bobpharr96

Other than that, had a distant relative who fought in the Spanish-American war and family supposedly had a castle in Poland. We always thought it was a joke but after doing some history my mom found out that her name originates from the more affluent eastern area of Poland where it is quite possible that they had a castle. Nothing confirmed though.

 

These are my ancestors too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Forbes


Since i'm the first born son of the oldest son, i have forbes in my name. My name is Christopher John Forbes Dodds (John is my Dad). I'm not sure how we relate to Forbes but there is some relation there.

 

All mine did was lose the Civil war. Robert E. Lee

My dad designed the plumbing at the U.N.

 

Wow!
Your dad was Slim Pickens?
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

My grandfather started Goldstar. It got merged/acquired by LG.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Bremner

 

Harvey Hubbell
From Wikipedia,
Harvey Hubbell II (1857 - December 17, 1927), was a U.S. inventor, entrepreneur and industrialist. His best known inventions are the electrical plug, and the pull-chain light socket.

In 1888, at the age of thirty-one, Hubbell quit his job as a manager of a manufacturing company and founded Harvey Hubbell, Incorporated, which is still in business today. Hubbell began manufacturing consumer products and, by necessity, inventing manufacturing equipment for his factory. Some of the equipment he designed included automatic tapping machines and progressive dies for blanking and stamping. One of his most important industrial inventions, still in use today, is the thread rolling machine. He quickly began selling his newly devised manufacturing equipment alongside his commercial products.

Hubbell received over 45 patents, most were for electric products. The pull-chain electrical light socket was patented in 1896, and his most famous invention, the electrical power plug, in 1904. This invention eliminated possible mis-wiring and the need to hard-wire electrical devices to their power source.

 

Bill,

I was stationed at Mare Is. from 1985-1987
SSN-621
Spook boat
(SSSssssssssssssss be vewy vewy quiet.)

Edwardo

 

So did your dad create the Hubble space telescope?

 

My uncle played breifly with the Pittsburgh Pirates back in the early 80's.. He now coaches local college ball..

My GGGfather sold a horse to John Wilkes Both that he used to get away after assinating Pres. Lincoln. He was tryed and convicted, sentenced to hang. last minute appeal of some sort and he was released because he had no idea of who Booth was or what he was planning...he was good friends with Dr. Samuel Mudd, the doctor who treated Booth after breaking his leg jumping from the balcony at Fords' Theater after killing Lincoln----I still live in the area where all this occurred--Mudd's house is a couple miles from me. It is preserved by a historical society..

Another uncle retired a few years ago from the Professional Bowlers tour..

I have a first cousin right now who plays with an affiliate team of the Milwaukee Brewers, he hopes to make the majors real soon--He has been playing great..

Another first cousin was on a NASCAR pit crew for awhile...Tire changer