Weird things you find when searching family history!

[margecat]

I was poking around in some census records from the late 1800's for Dad's family.  

His family had taken in a boarder, who I will call George.  He was from New Jersey.

I decided to search his name, as that last name was family lore, as a relative (still haven't figured that one out yet).

I found his name in a much later census. 

He lived in the County poorhouse--right down the road from where I live now!  (I wasn't from this area originally ; we bought a house here when we married.)

Weird--but fun!

 

[Kieka]

Luckily I have a select detailed family history on boths sides. My great grandma on my Moms side traced through the mothers to Paraliment Members in the 1600s and Founding Families of America in the 1700s. My Dads uncle through his mother did a more personal and detailed account through the early 1800s of that branch. Oddly I know nothing of either grandfather or their family. Both my parents lost their fathers in their early teens and I never had a grandfather that I knew on either side.

My weird (but true) family story is a few generations back there was a relative who hated the shortening of his name. So he vowed to give his kids names that couldn't be shortened. And so, Y, LZ, D and two others were named.

Yes, my many times great grandmother was named Y. I know she was still alive when my Dad was born. She told my Dad that one time she got pulled over and the cop asked her her name, she said "Y". They went back and forth and she got arrested because the cop thought she had a fake ID and was playing a joke. Luckily growing up as Y gave her a good sense of humor about it.

Oh and all the kids did end up having nicknames they went by. One went by their fathers name.

My great grandmother on my Moms side was a character too. She was 6 months pregnant in the great depression and decided she wanted to go to California. So she told my great grandfather he could follow her or not but she was going. She hitchhiked to California from Pennsylvania and was 8 month pregnant by the time she made it. She found a little lodging place and a job. My great grandfather got a transfer by the railroad company he worked for just before my grand aunt was born. They had one more child and lives out the rest of their lives in a little house in San Diego.

More recent my Aunt was a playboy bunny. Her husband was an old school blacksmith. My Uncle raced motorcycles and still goes off roading and desert camping at 67. My brother got married on a roller coaster and was on Wipeout. My Mom used to work for a circus and would randomly park her car along roads and backpack. I am the boring one, lol.

 

[AbbysMom]

That's cool! One of my cousins was on Ancestry recently and she sent me a screenshot of my father being listed as a female in an early census. :lol3: