What were your ancestors like?

[Corvette chic]

peasant irish stock on mother's side from Sligo came over during the famine Great grandad was mate's with Michael Davitt.

Dad's lot were border Lancashire/Yorkshire engineers/farmers

 

[Hover Fly]

Father's side can be traced back as fitters and turners or "mechanics" (before that came to mean only car adjusters) to the early 19th century. One was one of the first employees of the Stephensons, later one worked on the LNER "Hush-hush" at Darlington.
Mother's grandfather was Captain of a three-masted sailing ship at the age of 23, one of her uncles was an army captain, having signed up as a cavalry trooper, but died at Mons.

 

[Fnaar]

All Irish of various backgrounds and abilities (from successful to locked up for the public good ) One stray English great grandfather. My parents both came over to Blighty to escape long-term unemployment in the 1950s, and met over here

 

[mr_hippo]

My great, great, great, great uncle, Jeremiah Odd owned a genuine Stradivarius and a genuine Rembrandt. The problem was that Stradivarius was a lousy painter and Rembrandt made crap violins.
Jeremiah was often teased about his surname but would not change it as it had been given to an ancestor who was court jester to King Edward II and he was proud of that fact. He asked that his grave be marked with a plain, unlettered granite stone so that people would no longer mock his name. It never worked - the last time that I went to visit the grave, two old ladies were standing there.
First old lady "Ethel, look at this grave stone. There's no name on it."
Ethel "OHH, that's odd!"

 

[DJ]

Daniel Mendoza. My maternal grandfather changed his name from Solomon Mendoza to Richard Ward

The likeness is uncanny

DJ chuckling to himself

 

[Cranky]

Devon farmers on my dad's side until my great grandfather - a carpenter - moved to east London in 1879. The family seemed to have considerable wealth and land in the south west during the 16th century.

My maternal grandfather's side were mariners from east London and grandmother's family were silk weavers descended from the Hugenots.