How far back can family histories be traced? Not for us, but for other people.

Started by alfred russel, July 20, 2009, 09:53:43 AM

Previous topic - Next topic
Print
Go Down Pages1 2 3 4 5
User actions

alfred russel

July 20, 2009, 09:53:43 AM Last Edit: July 20, 2009, 10:07:08 AM by alfred russel
I recall reading at some point that someone with some nobility can trace their family history back to Octavian. I have no recollection of who this was and can't say for certain I even remember correctly, but it has inspired this thread.

Do you know of anyone (not personally) that can trace their family history deep into history, and if so, how has the record been preserved? For example, for Octavian, I assume a Byzantine connection would be present to get through the dark ages. In theory, I would think that some people would be able to go back at least a century into the roman republic.

For Asian cultures, I have no idea.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

Savonarola

#1
July 20, 2009, 10:13:37 AM
I don't know anyone personally, but I read that some of the Irish nobility are able to trace their ancestry back to about 500 BC.  Prior to the arrival of Christianity, though, their geneology would have been rememberd through oral history, so it's hard to know how accurate those ancestors are.
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Ed Anger

#2
July 20, 2009, 10:16:42 AM
Best online genealogy page I saw on the internet was some dude claiming he was descended from one of the Spartan royal families. LOLZ. THIS IS PEORIA ILLINOIS! TONIGHT WE DINE ON DEEP DISH!

Ahem.  :blush:
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Richard Hakluyt

#3
July 20, 2009, 10:22:23 AM
If you go back 2,000 years that is something like 80 generations. Just one of those female ancestors needs to have conceived from a different man to throw the whole thing out.

alfred russel

#4
July 20, 2009, 10:28:53 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on July 20, 2009, 10:22:23 AM
If you go back 2,000 years that is something like 80 generations. Just one of those female ancestors needs to have conceived from a different man to throw the whole thing out.

Well yeah--I'm more interested in the continuity of record keeping and tradition than purity of blood lines.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

The Brain

#5
July 20, 2009, 10:29:03 AM
Define traced.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Valmy

#6
July 20, 2009, 10:31:44 AM
QuoteOctavian

I love the fact the dude is known by a variant of his birth fathers nomen.  Why we call Romans by what we do will always be a mystery to me.  I mean why the heck is Claudius known by his nomen even though you could just easily call all of the male Claudians Claudius?  He is just the guy designated to get to be known by his last name?  Weird.

Anyway Octavian had only one child, a daughter, who had four children and only one of those, Agrippina the Elder, had 6 children...

Caligula and his brothers only had one daughter that I know of (Caligula's) and she was killed shortly after her father was assassinated.
The three sisters only had one son that I know of, Nero, and he only had one daughter who died in child birth.

So I do not see any offspring who could have gone on to sire all the nobles of Europe.

I could not possible trace my ancestory farther back than the reign of Edward I of England but there are alot of missing connections that even make this supposed ancestor questionable.  You have to hope for church and court records obviously as they were the only literate people around and you have to hope your family was important enough for anybody to think it worth writing down.  For a family with consistently high ranking aristocratic roots it is an easy thing to trace backwards.  Mine has some minor nobility in it (obviously not my direct ancestors) so people had some interest in writting down who was descended from who.

Famously George Washington from Vladimir of Kiev:

Saint Vladimir 'The Great' I Grand Prince of Kiev (956-1015)
Father of: Jaroslav 'The Wise' I Grand Prince of Kiev (978-1054)
Father of: Anna Jaroslavna Princess of Kiev and Queen of France (1036-1082)
Mother of: Philippe 'The Fair' I Capet King of France (1053-1108)
Father of: Louis 'The Fat' VI Capet King of France (1077-1137)
Father of: Louis 'The Younger' VII Capet King of France (1119-1180)
Father of: Philippe 'Augustus' II Capet King of France (1165-1223)
Father of: Louis 'The Lion' VIII Capet King of France (1187-1226)
Father of: Saint Louis IX Capet King of France (1215-1270)
Father of: Philippe 'The Bold' III Capet King of France (1245-1285)
Father of: Philippe 'The Fair' IV Capet King of France (1268-1314)
Father of: Isabella 'The She Wolf' Capet Princess of France and Queen of England (1292-1358)
Mother of: Edward III Plantagenet King of England (1312-1377)
Father of: John Plantagenet Duke of Lancaster (1340-1399)
Father of: Joan Plantagenet Countess of Westmoreland (1379-1440)
Mother of: Eleanor Neville Countess of Northumberland (1407-1472)
Mother of: Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland (1421-1461)
Father of: Margaret Percy (1447-??)
Mother of: Elizabeth Gascoigne (1471-1559)
Mother of: Anne Talbois (??-1566)
Mother of: Frances Dymore (??-1610)
Mother of: Mildred Windebank (1584-1657)
Mother of: Colonel George Reade Governor of Virginia (1608-1671)
Father of: Mildred Reade (??-1694)
Mother of: Mildred Warner (1671-1743)
Mother of: Captain Augustine Washington (1694-1743)
Father of: General George Augustine Washington (1732-1799) 1st President of the United States

And of course with that sort of ancestory it is easy to trace George back to any major medieval dynasty...

I still need to pay the money to get those 17th century documents from Chester County in England to figure out the exact lineage of the last dude I know of but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  It is not that important after all, just interesting.  There are sources of genealogy from Euro public records offices wanting to make a few Euros out there...except for the Germans since we sorta blew up most of their stuff.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Pedrito

#7
July 20, 2009, 10:32:11 AM
The Massimo noble roman family say they descend nothing less than from Quinctus Fabius Maximus "Cunctator", so they should be able to trace their ancestry up to 200 b.C.

Meh. I can trace up to my great grandfather, who spent all his material belongings betting on women and fucking horses. Or vice versa, maybe.

L.
b / h = h / b+h


27 Zoupa Points, redeemable at the nearest liquor store! :woot:

Valmy

#8
July 20, 2009, 10:34:03 AM
Quote from: Pedrito on July 20, 2009, 10:32:11 AM
Meh. I can trace up to my great grandfather, who spent all his material belongings betting on women and fucking horses. Or vice versa, maybe.

I bow before your glorious lineage.
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Viking

#9
July 20, 2009, 10:35:55 AM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodoric_the_Great

thats me... my sources don't trace to his dad though, which is strange.

But then again, I'm Icelandic. So can automatically trace back to the 8th century with certainty. A bit further with some educated guesses.
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

Valmy

#10
July 20, 2009, 10:38:17 AM
Quote from: Richard Hakluyt on July 20, 2009, 10:22:23 AM
If you go back 2,000 years that is something like 80 generations. Just one of those female ancestors needs to have conceived from a different man to throw the whole thing out.

My ancestors were not sluts :angry:
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."

Ed Anger

#11
July 20, 2009, 10:40:49 AM
My ancestors fucked a lot of Natives. Bring many shiny beads for pussy. How.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

alfred russel

#12
July 20, 2009, 11:04:53 AM
Quote from: Valmy on July 20, 2009, 10:31:44 AM
QuoteOctavian



Anyway Octavian had only one child, a daughter, who had four children and only one of those, Agrippina the Elder, had 6 children...

Caligula and his brothers only had one daughter that I know of (Caligula's) and she was killed shortly after her father was assassinated.
The three sisters only had one son that I know of, Nero, and he only had one daughter who died in child birth.

So I do not see any offspring who could have gone on to sire all the nobles of Europe.


I don't know about siring all the nobles in Europe, but it seems possible that one of Octavian's had some records survive. Six grandchildren opens up a lot of possibility.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

PDH

#13
July 20, 2009, 11:08:23 AM
At my last look, I traced my family history back to December of '02.
I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had an underlying truth.
-Umberto Eco

-------
"I'm pretty sure my level of depression has nothing to do with how much of a fucking asshole you are."

-CdM

Valmy

#14
July 20, 2009, 11:10:19 AM
Quote from: PDH on July 20, 2009, 11:08:23 AM
At my last look, I traced my family history back to December of '02.

102?  Is your ancestor Trajan?
Quote"This is a Russian warship. I propose you lay down arms and surrender to avoid bloodshed & unnecessary victims. Otherwise, you'll be bombed."

Zmiinyi defenders: "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
Print
Go Up Pages1 2 3 4 5
User actions