I was going to ask what the image was, but then I checked the file name and figured it out. I was just working on a family tree this past weekend, and finally put all 28 known generations into one document. When my mom was doing the genealogical research a few years ago, she said, “I keep seeing this date 1066 all over the place...I wonder if they’re just making that up?” I excitedly assured her it was real! My 25-greats-grandfather William (just A William, not THE William) appears upon the occasion, and there we lose the backwards trail of my maternal grandfather’s direct male line of ancestors...through five discernable shifts in surname spelling. I’d tell you what it is, but I’m not quite dumb enough to publish my mother’s maiden name online!

~Valerie

Just as well it is not The William.  You avoid the scandal of having a bastard as an ancestor!

And a thoroughly nasty fellow, if Robert of Gloucester is to be believed. (See the “Middle English Translation” thread).

JimWilton - 20 March 2007 10:15 AM

Just as well it is not The William.  You avoid the scandal of having a bastard as an ancestor!

Oh, I’m pretty sure I have at least one of those, anyway. We’re not entirely sure that I’m genetically related to the family whose last name I bear, since rumor has it that a paternal couple-greats-grandfather seems to have been away repelling Union troops when his son was conceived. And then there’s a purported horse thief, a possible pirate, an assortment of drunks, adulterers, suicides and wife beaters, and the pièce de coming-up-next-on-Jerry-Springer—my cousin who married her daughter’s ex-husband.

~Valerie

As my grandmother used to say… “You can choose your friends, but family you’re stuck with.” Or as Yoda would say… “Friends, choose you can, but family, stuck with you are.” I think Yoda must have been German.