Family Secrets???

[LWJ]

So I have always known that there were some secrets in my family. My Brother and Cousins agree. I was hoping a favorite Aunt would drink too much and let some tidbits slip. It never happened.

But, the internet is a funny thing. So are those genetic testing companies.

Since my parents and an Aunt (who are the holders of the following secrets) will never explore PPOT, I am comfortable sharing:

1) I have an extra Cousin who I didn't know about. She shares the same parentage as a Cousin that I did know about but was conceived out of wedlock and was adopted. Most of my extended family doesn't know New Cousin exists.

2) My Great Grandfather upgraded his wife with a newer model but didn't get rid of the old one. He was convicted on Federal Mann Act charges. It is unclear if he ever served time. There was an appeal but a FOIA search turned up nothing.

Let's hear the secrets that you have stumbled onto.

[wdfifteen]

Yeah, we have a doozy.
My cousin is not a blood relative.
No one knew except my aunt and uncle, and perhaps my grandparents. All four of them had passed on when "Bill" died (names have been changed), so no one knows the story of how he came into our family. There were rumors in the family that he was adopted, but the rumors were never confirmed.
We always knew him as "Bill Smith." When he died his obituary told his life story, which is the life story of the man we all knew as Bill. It got all the details of his life right, the name of his "parents" and "sister," his childhood home, schools he graduated from - everything. But it called him "Joe Jones" throughout the story, until it got to the end. In one short sentence it said, "Joe was called Bill to his friends and family," with no other explanation. After his death his wife, who always called him "Bill" confirmed that the name on their marriage license is "Joe Jones"
We don't know where is birth parents went, why my aunt and uncle took him on, or why he was never legally adopted, or why all of this was kept such a secret.

[fastfredracing]

Im related to Don Knotts

[MBAtarga]

A cousin of my Dad wrote a book on the genealogy of the family. As part of research he had all 7 male cousins submit a DNA test. My dad and one other cousin did not match DNA of the other 5 - so somewhere someone's mom strayed a little.

[id10t]

Found out about 4 years ago that Grandma ("Gammy") on Dad's side used to make some mighty fine moonshine, and Dad used to do some of the delivery runs (would've been pre-WW2)

[rockfan4]

Let's see..
One of my wife's ex-husband's ancestors, and her husband at the time, were tarred and feathered, then ran out on a rail. One of my indirect ancestors, a great-great uncle or something, was one of the mob that did it.

Said ex-husband's ancestor's husband was later shot dead by a neighbor over a dispute whether a road ran through his property or not. Said neighbor was acquitted of murder, calling it a justified shooting.

Someone has been linking family trees up on Familysearch.org, and if the lineage is true I'm descended from a long line of Scottish kings, going back to 140AD. I do have Mayflower ancestors.

My wife qualifies to be a daughter of Texas, she has a Great great (I don't recall how many) grandfather who fought for Texas at San Jacinto.

[rfuerst911sc]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

Im related to Don Knotts

Wow that explains a lot

[pwd72s]

I'm an adoptee...not blood related to any of the family members I know. But it's no secret. Never had a desire to do the dna thing or search for blood relatives. Figure it's best to let sleeping dogs...

[varmint]

Every year around thanksgiving my mom would get a call from the FBI asking if she’d heard from uncle jack. He owned a couple shifty used car lots out near Denver. Never paid taxes and was probably a bigamist.

Those were the things we knew of. Think there was more.

[DavidI]

I have an aunt (deceased) who left California (East LA) and moved to New Mexico in the early 1970s. She changed her name and began a new family, but nobody in the family ever knew why she left.

I discovered that she and a few "friends" were doing take-over bank robberies in Los Angeles in the late 1960s into the early 1970s and were wanted by the law! She was super sweet and nice and I loved her dearly. I discovered this a few years after she passed away.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by DavidI

I have an aunt (deceased) who left California (East LA) and moved to New Mexico in the early 1970s. She changed her name and began a new family, but nobody in the family ever knew why she left.

I discovered that she and a few "friends" were doing take-over bank robberies in Los Angeles in the late 1960s into the early 1970s and were wanted by the law! She was super sweet and nice and I loved her dearly. I discovered this a few years after she passed away.

Thank goodness. It would have sucked to have to turn Auntie in!

Wow! Some wild stories are getting posted.

[cockerpunk]

the worst one i know about is that my great aunt (?), sister to my great grandma, ran off with a bootlegger in the 1920s, and the family told her it was a terrible idea that it would ruin her life etc. but she did it anyway. moved the chicago, etc.

then 6 months later they got a letter that said "yeah hes a dick, i dumped him, but i totally understand if i've been disowned on account of my actions, please write back if im not, id like to come home"

and the letter had no return address.

so even though the family would have welcomed her back, she probably never knew and took the lack of letter back from her family as them having disowned her.

[craigster59]

My Wife got me the Ancestry DNA test for Christmas one year. Sent it in, checked my results later and never looked again.

A year later I got a call from a woman who had been looking for her biological father and submitted her DNA to Ancestry, 23 and Me and one other test site. We were a match. Turns out my dad got her Mother pregnant in Florida while stationed there in the Marines. He was transferred to Hawaii and skipped out on his responsibilites. No surprise there, he came around every 5 years or so for me and my 2 Brothers and would dissappear again.

Turns out she has 12 kids, 37 Grandkids and 8 Greatgrandkids. Quite the family!

She lives in Huntsville Alabama and her and her Husband flew out to visit. We talk often, she's very intelligent, funny and a great source for advice. She's a great fit with the family!

[flatbutt]

I was well into my 40's when I found out that my grandfather HAD to flee Sicily. HAD TO! The reason was left to my imagination.

[A930Rocket]

No skeletons in our closets, that I know of.

[L8Brakr]

I'm told an ancestor through my mothers side of the family rode with the Jesse James Gang. Other relatives of the same period owned some of the farms where hide-out locations were maintained.

There has never been any significant mention of my Dad's parents or lineage (he died three years ago). I always got the feeling he came from worse stock than Mom.....

[Dixie]

[Bill Douglas]

My Uncle Bill - I'm a Bill but purely coincidental I'm sure. Had a shootout with the neighbours and won.

They hung him for murder. But after having read all the details of it, it was a justified case of self defence.

I think a minor detail that didn't help his case was after the gunfight he chopped them up and fed them to the pigs.

So moral of the story is get a better lawyer, and maybe don't feed them to the pigs.

[Arizona_928]

I’m related to Hugo Black

[LWJ]

Bill D.

"Feed them to the pigs." Epic.