Somebody asked amateur genealogists about the ‘badasses’ they found in their family trees – 22 impressive ancestors

Although family history sounds a bit boring, anyone who has ever caught an episode of Who Do You Think You Are will know that genealogy can actually throw up some fascinating stories about our ancestors.

They’ve been discussing the wild histories of our forbears on the AskReddit page after user xloganmoose posed this question:

‘People who have researched their family tree, what is the most interesting or ‘badass’ thing you discovered about an ancestor?’

Plenty of people chipped in with stories about people you’ll wish you were related to, like these…

1.

‘My great grandfather was knighted by the King of Greece for inventing a way to save the grape crops that were dying rampantly. He basically built an easy to replicate tenting system to protect them from a drought/heat wave that also worked to preserve irrigation water.

‘When he came to the United States he got the government contract to manufacture all of the tents for our soldiers in World War I.’
–imatiredwoman

2.

‘I don’t have anything distant that is crazy, but recently requested my grandfather’s military records from the National Archives and found out he served in all four theatres of World War Two.

‘North Africa. Europe. Pacific. North American.’
–RedbarnRiver

3.

‘Had an ancestor who came home from months away trapping and found his wife cheating. The man who his wife was cheating with had a really nice rifle so he traded it for his wife. Got married again and had a new family.’
–No_Band_3085

4.

‘My Great Grandmother stabbed a neighbour lady during a fight over a chicken.’
–HappyPappy247

5.

‘Not from researching a family tree but once during a conversation with my mom, she casually said, ‘But didn’t you know you come from a line of circus strongmen?! Your grandfather’s cousin used to lift a car as a party trick.’

FANTASTIC.’
–Gallumbits42

6.

‘My uncle got arrested and used his one call to order a pizza.’
–codenameduch3ss

7.

‘An ancestor helped build the Titanic and got a job to maintain the engines, as a way to move to the US, according to family legend, he of course went down with the ship.’
–Defiant-Tackle-0728

8.

‘I had an ancestor from the midwest thrown out of the church for refusing to stop playing the fiddle on Sundays.’
–Revolutionary_Gain_3

9.

‘Got arrested for showing ankle! No wonder my family are a bunch of degenerates.’
–Silly_Cod5235

10.

‘My great-grandmother was a suffragette in Texas in the 1890s. My 7th great-grandmother, at an advanced age, saved the life of her wounded grandson (my ancestor) during the Revolutionary War after riding miles on horseback to get to him.

If I feel lazy I think of them and know I haven’t got a leg to stand on.’
–JGinMD

11.

‘Aunt and her cousin got into the ancestry thing when ‘ROOTS’ came out back in 1976 or so. Not one, but eight Medal of Honor Recipients in the Family Tree.’
–naked_nomad

12.

‘My Great Grandmother killed a peeping Tom. She was sentenced to two years as a cook at a residential school in Canada. Joke was on them! They needed a maternal figure and she got to keep an eye on her own kids, including my Grandmother.’
–therichauntie11