show us an ancestor

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It's fun seeing personal snaps and yourselves. Now try to find somebody in your past and tell us (if you like) who he or she was. An ancestor, what.

This person is my Great, great, etc. grandfather, Joseph Reed. American Revolution figure who he did a thing or two for the independence of the Colonies from Great Britain. Go to Google and type his name to see. Kinda interesting.
 

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Ah. Not exactly a "defender of the crown", then, eh? ;) Unpatriotic stuff. Me, I believe one of my ancestors was William Tell.

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No proof, though. :)
 
This is some of my family in the old country.

The photo fell out of the frame so into the scanner it went.
 

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I'm not exactly sure of the relation, but here's one of my ancestors. Not sure what that uniform is for - looks like a military-type thing with the flag, but the uniform looks like US Forest Service or something. Or, maybe that's how he dressed?
 

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Ernset Rutherford, my great uncle. New Zealand born Particle physicist who first modelled the structure of the atom, and was the first to split the atom. At that time, he said that getting any really useful energy out of splitting atoms would be "moonshine". Later, he would work on the Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. The element Rutherfordium is named after him.
 

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Daniel Sickles, Yankee general and general crazy character, variously congressman, murderer, exile, millionaire, pauper and lover of a queen of spain. Ended up maried of to the queen's handmaiden, my several greats grandmother.

Symphonix: Nice!! Also the Rutherford-Appleton Lab in the UK is named after him.
 
James Bartley, my great uncle.

He captained a whaling ship called the ‘Star of the East’ off the Falklands/Malvinas Islands in 1891. Apparently the ship harpooned a sperm whale. Captain Bartley and some of his sailors boarded a small boat and attempted to lash the whale with ropes to the side of the ship. The whale thrashed out, capsizing the small boat. It is believed the crew drowned.

However, when the whale eventually died and was taken back to Port Stanley and cut open, Captain Bartley was found inside the oesophagus. He was still alive, although badly burned by the reflux acid from the whale’s gut.

He lived for another four years, albeit insane, and eventually died in a convalescent home in Gloucestershire, England.

Numerous embellished accounts of the event have cast some doubts on the authenticity of the story. Most accounts are simple fantasy, but a report in the London Times in 1891 recounted a very simple version of events that have yet to be completely debunked.
 

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Rhisart: what a story! I can imagine your grandfather telling you that by a fire sometime. Great family history!

I have some other fun ancestors but can't find any pictures. Instead, in a mild plug you can read about my family in my Grandfather's memoirs (pt 2 published soon) or about crazy Dan Sickles in books by Thomas Kenally or to my mind a better one by Nat Brandt.
 
There are lots of funny artists' depictions of my ancestors.

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As far as we can tell, my family is descended from the historical Njord, King of the Swedes, formerly priest of Odin at his chosen new home at Uppsala. Apparently, Odin brought my people from Asia to Sweden, and conquered the short people already there. Njord married his sister, but at least Frey and Freya turned out well, Frey starting the Yngling dynasty of Sweden.

The sagas seem a little unclear whether Yngve-Frey was the son of Njord or Odin.

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Less uncertainly, my family seems to be descended from Harald Hairfair, who united Norway. The legend goes that he wanted Gyda for his wife, but she refused because his kingdom was so small. Having learned not to take strong-willed women by force (His grandmother Queen Asa killed his grandfather King Gudrod for doing that), he decided to conquer the rest of Norway.

Speaking of Asa, she's the best guess for the previous owner of:
160px-Oseberg.jpg
 
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