People have been sharing the most amazing stories about their ancestors – 23 favourites
It all began when someone called @Irish_Atheist on Twitter asked people to share the most amazing stories about their ancestors.
Tell me about a super-cool thing one of your ancestors/older family members did.
— The Irish Atheist (@Irish_Atheist) January 21, 2020
And it prompted a whole bunch of incredible stories which made us want to do more research into what our ancestors got up to (though they’d be hard pushed to beat this lot).
1.
1/x My Irish mother was the oldest child of two alcoholic parents. When just a little girl, she dropped out of school to take care of her tiny siblings. She never went back to school but ran the household until she turned 18, when she left home. Her younger brother took on duties
— Halfway to Galway (@GranularityRUs) January 22, 2020
2.
2/x When I was 4, my mother would sit with me as I learned to read. When I didn’t know a word, I would find it in the dictionary, we’d read the definition together, and she would explain it to me. I didn’t know until years later that she was learning to read along with me.
— Halfway to Galway (@GranularityRUs) January 22, 2020
3.
My grandmother, a 15 yr old daughter of a dalit farm labourer, rebelled against an entire village, faced stone pelting and worse for her education. She demanded that my grandfather hold up their wedding until she was done (which took 10 yrs) & made an entire generation of doctors https://t.co/u85HEHqO7W
— M (@unkittenish) January 25, 2020
4.
During the depression my grandfather had a friend who was offered two jobs: one at Ford the other at Chrysler. He took the better job at Ford; my grandfather took the one at Chrysler. Worked under his friend’s name for 30 years until retirement.
Gravestone lists both names.
— “Subpeona Bolton @GOP” Rawgabbit 🐶 (@OleRawgabbit) January 22, 2020
5.
During the occupation of Norway, one of my grand-uncles had to smuggle radio equipment past a Nazi checkpoint. When the guards asked him what he had in his backpack he said "Oh, you know – radio equipment for the resistance!" which was such an outrageous joke they let him pass https://t.co/EiEq9uoKaC
— Thåum? (@ThaumPenguin) January 23, 2020
6.
My papa saved someone on the side of the highway while working the “worst accident of his career” as a police officer.
A young girl had her wind pipe collapsed. He used a pen to keep her “breathing” till paramedics got there.
She later graduated college with my mom.
— Witchy Riley ♿ ♋♋♋ (@WittyApothecary) January 21, 2020
7.
Even cooler: my papa was at the ceremony and he and the girl he saved recognised each other.
She had a massive scar across her throat from where he’d had to cut her open to get the pen in, but was otherwise 100% perfect.
— Witchy Riley ♿ ♋♋♋ (@WittyApothecary) January 21, 2020
8.
One of my ancestors, Rudolf, while he was still a count, offered his horse to a priest to transport the Blessed Sacrament. 1273 he was King in the Holy Roman Empire. The rest, as they say, is history https://t.co/Z3UypJwQtF
— Eduard Habsburg (@EduardHabsburg) January 24, 2020
9.
Great Grandpa lived in a town that was abt to be invaded by Nazis during WWII. Knowing the Nazis would commander all vehicles, he took apart his truck & buried the pieces & barrels of fuel in different locations. After the war, he dug it up & had the only working vehicle in town.
— “Probably Some Malarkey” Ugh (@ContrarySarie) January 23, 2020
10.
1/x My great-granddaddy was the first Black man in his town to own a brand new Cadillac. Paid for it in cash.
When he brought it home, the white man that owned the gas station said, “Hey there Mack, I hear you got a new car. Real nice. Where you gonna get your gas?”
— Hermioneisha Granger (@SerieuseBlack) January 25, 2020
11.
My aunt fought for accessibility in the 80s/90s. She used a wheelchair as a mobility aide and would chain herself to inaccessible public busses. One time she was arrested for this, the cops were unable to transport her chair and were forced to let her go. She never backed down. pic.twitter.com/G7cH9ZJBs8
— ✨emily d’internet✨ (@emilyherself) January 23, 2020
12.
I've told this story before, but, when Reagan cut 40K fed gov. jobs my mom was tasked with getting rid of all "non-essential positions" in her division. She promoted everyone in her office in rank, and then made her own position "non-essential" and took early retirement. Baller. https://t.co/1QAYuy0Rlh
— Joe Biden is a Racist (@BethLynch2020) January 24, 2020
