My great, great, great grandad :)

[rockyroller]

Turns out he was demoted for being drunk.

hysterical. when I've google searched my family name, a few very old, early 20th century, criminal records, here is the US popped up! eek! I have no idea about the "old country"

 

[rockyroller]

A distant Victorian relative was a well respected pillar of the community. His relatives were later told that he died a very sick man after diving into the Thames to save a drowning woman. Years after, it transpired that he had caught syphilis in the Southwark brothels.

I can see that story turning into the other story ... hehehe

 

[glasgowcyclist]

My cousin was married to a serial killer.

 

[Milkfloat]

I don't know too much about my older family, I have a few bits more modern that are interesting to me at least. My great grandfather was a big cheese in the Belgium resistance and had to spend 2 weeks hidden in a box buried in an orchard hiding from the German's. A while later he got shot while on an escapade and made it to the UK where he married a nurse who was looking after him and went on to invent the petrol pump that told you how much you owed rather than just the amount of fuel dispensed. His brother designed a lot of coins and notes in Belgium and was quite a counterfeiter during the war. On the other side of the family is someone who got the freedom of the City of London, but we have no idea what for and how we are related. My mother has the certificate which she found when clearing out my grandparents house.

I would love to know more and have tried suggesting that my mother put some of her knowledge on paper so I can start but so far she has not been forthcoming. It is hard enough finding out information from this country but doing it for other countries is beyond me.