Presidents of a feather stick together

[Valmy]

I suspect if there were records that go back far enough, you'd find people in the US descended from Pharaohs, Emperors of China, and German Robber Barons.  All in the same person.  It's not hard to imagine some white American has Chinese ancestors from 1500 years back.

True but we are not talking about thousands of years we are talking about just a few hundred.

[Norgy]

It's funny how all Americans have royal genes. Still no Merovecs or tracing their bloodlines to Caesar? Don't worry, you can probably buy a certificate online.

[Valmy]

It's funny how all Americans have royal genes. Still no Merovecs or tracing their bloodlines to Caesar? Don't worry, you can probably buy a certificate online.

I don't.  And if I did I would go back in time and chop their heads off.....which would cause a time paradox which would destroy history.

But seriously where does this shit come from?  George Washington came from an aristocratic inbred English family so of course he was pedigreed.  It was one of the reasons he was made commander of the army in the first place.  I have never heard anybody claim they are royalty before in my life and genealogy is one of my hobbies    It is just a fun way to explore history.

[Caliga]

Even if I could prove royal ancestry... so what?  It doesn't entitle me to anything.  It's just an interesting bit of trivia.

[Caliga]

Also worth mentioning: IIRC the only peer who actually bothered to live on his New World estates was Lord Fairfax (hence why so much crap is named for him in northern Virginia).

[Valmy]

Actually now that I think about it there is one exception to this so maybe this is what Norgy was talking about.  One of the families my wife is decended from comes from an illiterate German indentured servant in the 18th Century named Hans Funderburk.  He went on to be glorious among the Lettowists and had lots of slaves and land and all the sort of shit that indicated you made it big in the bad old South.  Now an illiterate immigrant creating a line of Southern Planters is kind of unusual.    But for some hilarious reason there is this story floating around that he was a scion of the Wittelsbach dynasty and an ancient Ducal family that died out in the 12th century.  There is exactly zero evidence to support this idea but there has even been a book written about this nutty story and plenty of his descendents believe it...mostly because they have never really looked into it.  The story was so stupid it reminded me of the lampooning of Southern pretensions to Aristocracy by Mark Twain in 'Huckleberry Finn'.

But to be fair almost every member of that family who cares enough to think a bit about it laughs it off as ridiculous.

[Viking]

It's funny how all Americans have royal genes. Still no Merovecs or tracing their bloodlines to Caesar? Don't worry, you can probably buy a certificate online.

All true republicans (republican as in anti-monarchism, not anti-sanity) have royal ancestry. I can trace to every norwegian king before Harald Hardråde, plus a few danish ones.

[Valmy]

All true republicans (republican as in anti-monarchism, not anti-sanity) have royal ancestry. I can trace to every norwegian king before Harald Hardråde, plus a few danish ones.

Citizen Bernadotte even had royal descendants

[Valmy]

Also worth mentioning: IIRC the only peer who actually bothered to live on his New World estates was Lord Fairfax (hence why so much crap is named for him in northern Virginia).

Also the Fairfaxes were good buddies with George Washington.  They were neighbors IIRC.  That is probably a bigger reason why so much stuff got named for them.

[grumbler]

It's funny how all Americans have royal genes.

Its funny how all Norwegians have "royal genes" as well.  And all other people.

Actually, now that i think about it, this isn't so much "funny" as it is "trite."

[The Brain]

Traitors often long for the things they gave up forever.

[Norgy]

Its funny how all Norwegians have "royal genes" as well.  And all other people.

You know what I meant, sir. "Claim royal ancestry". I apologise for my incorrect and sloppy use of words and my unfair and highly biased generalisation. I also look forward to more petulance and corrections in the future. Thank you!

On a different note:

Genealogy is fun, and I can trace parts of my mother's side back to the 16th century. But the thing is, church records burn just as easily as, well, churches and towns, and since those records are the basis of geneaology for the non-royal/aristocrat, I suppose tracing bloodlines stops at some point and fiction begins.

I am proud of my 50 % of pure inbred peasant blood and my 50 % of unknown, quite possibly travelling acrobat, blood! 

[Caliga]

Nearly all of my ancestral lines go quiet once they get back to Europe or maybe one generation prior to that.  I suspect the reason is related to church records being destroyed, yes.  For example, my direct paternal line originates from Bad Kreuznach in the Rhineland-Palatinate, and the French decided to completely destroy the town in like 1698 or something as my ancestors were fleeing it.

[Valmy]

For example, my direct paternal line originates from Bad Kreuznach in the Rhineland-Palatinate, and the French decided to completely destroy the town in like 1698 or something as my ancestors were fleeing it.

Served those Lutheran scum right

[Zanza2]

From what I know, all my ancestors were normal subjects of various German regions, no nobility or even royality among them. Most of them were unsurprisingly farmers, but there are some city dwellers that worked as craftsmen, musicians, civil servants etc.