your claim to fame?

paky

after researching my family tree, i discovered that i had a great unlce who fought in the irish war of independence. he was an IRB organiser before the war and fought on the anti treaty side during the civil war. he was captured and sentenced to death during the civil war but escaped. he was a founder of fianna fail and held a ministerial position for a couple of years..(slight embarrassment).
have you discovered anything while researching your family tree? it sure is a great delight when u stumble on this kind of info!

Delancey

My , ahem , err , ' claim to fame ' is that my Grandfather fled Britain on the very last boat to Ireland before conscription was introduced in 1915

owenc

Yes i have on both sides of my family. Some of its embarrassing so don't laugh.

Mums mothers mothers family: set up some school in derry and was the head of it i think it was the waterside school or something.

Mums mothers family: Related to some king in spain through the mclaughlin family.

Dads family: Well this isn't famous but its still quite bad, i have a gg uncle who killed a jypse because he got her pregnant by accident and he had to goto america to escape and now we have family in america. How awful. It also led to the separation of our family and a formation of a new one with a different spelling and religion. The family are still angry about it because we lost 100s of acres of land to another family because my ggg grandfather did not want him getting the land so he gave to his daughter and now the family she married has it. I'd love to go over and say thats our land. :P

Dads family: I have a gg uncle who went to france in the war who ended up being a prisoner. :pac: Also my granda was in the b specials in the late 1940s.

Dads fathers mothers family: My ggggggg grandfather came over with sir thomas phillips from Warwickshire as part of the first/failed plantation of county londonderry in 1620 and he was part of 25 families who came here and only 10 stayed and he was one of them. Unfortunately the family name is now extinct.

HarryGorman

My grandfather was a nazi. ALthough lucky for him he was a very skilled mathematician who the US felt would be a useful kinda guy to have around so he didnt face any kinda punishment...... that we know off.

Deborah Lafave is a 2nd cousin... :rolleyes: I dunno why so many lads have the hots for that woman.

The OH, one of her cousins is a chef in some posh restuarant in the US. And seemingly old Bill CLinton is a big fan of his food.

Red Hand

Nothing major. It seems like a few of my granduncles fought in the British Navy in WW2. Great granduncle fought in the Boer War, survived it and in the 1960s at the end of his life, had his old fashioned gold pocket watch stolen in hospital. It seems like the BA was the only option for many of my father's family.

Kalimah

Grandfather's uncle was a prominent socialist in the early part of the 20th century. He spoke out about anti-semitism, votes for women, Irish independence and the hypocrisy of Irish society. All subjects dear to my heart. He described himself as a "freethinker" in the 1911 census where it asked for religion.After his death some of the family burned his books on the grounds that they were irreligious. I'm incredibly proud of him.

Irishlad11

My Great Uncle was executed aged 19 during the Irish Civil War at the Curragh Camp, Kildare for his part in raiding trains for the anti-treaty side in Kildare. He was in the largest group of executions carried out during the Civil War at the one time.

Also I think I'm a descendant of one of the main engineers behind the Grand Canal.

All this from my father's side of the family. Don't know much about my mother's side

SM746

After researching the family tree a few years back we discovered on my mums side that she is a very distant relative of the Kennedys that left Wexford in the 1800s which is a small JFK connection.

Dads side, his 2nd cousin starred in a film back in the 1980s - TAPS - with Tom Cruise. His name was Brendan Ward.

Dr.Nightdub

Was researching my granda's life earlier this year.

Turned out he joined the IRA in 1917, went on to become adjutant of the Belfast Brigade before being appointed O/C of the Antrim Brigade at the end of 1920. He was in the process of forming the Brigade's first flying column when he was captured in March 1921. He was sent to the internment camp in the Curragh, from where he escaped in Oct 1921. Incidentally, the Curragh military museum put me in touch with an officer serving in the Defence Forces today who's a grandson of the man with whom my granda escaped. Pretty neat.

After his escape, he was appointed adjutant of the 1st Northern Division of the IRA in Donegal. After the Treaty, like the majority of that division, he remained in the Free State army. In May 1922, he was caught up in an ambush by Republicans on a Free State convoy in Newtowncunningham which, although generally omitted from most accounts of the Civil War, was significant in that it was the first incident in which there were multiple casualties (all on the FS side) and it happened six weeks BEFORE the shelling of the Four Courts.

At the end of 1922, he was a member of the military court that sentenced the Republicans who went on the become known as the "Drumboe martyrs". Obviously, I'm disgusted by this bit. What's especially heart-breaking is that he most likely didn't know at the time, but one of the men he sentenced to death had actually saved my granda's life a few months previously by preventing Republicans under his command from ambushing my granda and his commanding officer when they were leaving a meeting beteween the two sides aimed at putting an end to the fighting in Donegal.

Years after the Civil War, he met my grandma when she was a nurse in the Curragh, where he was then stationed. Turned out she'd been in Cumann na mBan since 1917 and had been a nurse attached to the Clare IRA. One of her brothers had taken the Republican side in the Civil War and had been on hunger strike in 1923.

I'm not necessarily claiming it as a metaphor for post-Civil War healing, but when my grandparents returned to Ireland in the early 1930s after emigrating to Australia, my granda was welcomed to Clare and they (and my da) lived with my grandma's family.

HellsAngel

Dr.Nightdub wrote: »

Was researching my granda's life earlier this year.

Turned out he joined the IRA in 1917, went on to become adjutant of the Belfast Brigade before being appointed O/C of the Antrim Brigade at the end of 1920. He was in the process of forming the Brigade's first flying column when he was captured in March 1921. He was sent to the internment camp in the Curragh, from where he escaped in Oct 1921. Incidentally, the Curragh military museum put me in touch with an officer serving in the Defence Forces today who's a grandson of the man with whom my granda escaped. Pretty neat.

After his escape, he was appointed adjutant of the 1st Northern Division of the IRA in Donegal. After the Treaty, like the majority of that division, he remained in the Free State army. In May 1922, he was caught up in an ambush by Republicans on a Free State convoy in Newtowncunningham which, although generally omitted from most accounts of the Civil War, was significant in that it was the first incident in which there were multiple casualties (all on the FS side) and it happened six weeks BEFORE the shelling of the Four Courts.

At the end of 1922, he was a member of the military court that sentenced the Republicans who went on the become known as the "Drumboe martyrs". Obviously, I'm disgusted by this bit. What's especially heart-breaking is that he most likely didn't know at the time, but one of the men he sentenced to death had actually saved my granda's life a few months previously by preventing Republicans under his command from ambushing my granda and his commanding officer when they were leaving a meeting beteween the two sides aimed at putting an end to the fighting in Donegal.

Years after the Civil War, he met my grandma when she was a nurse in the Curragh, where he was then stationed. Turned out she'd been in Cumann na mBan since 1917 and had been a nurse attached to the Clare IRA. One of her brothers had taken the Republican side in the Civil War and had been on hunger strike in 1923.

I'm not necessarily claiming it as a metaphor for post-Civil War healing, but when my grandparents returned to Ireland in the early 1930s after emigrating to Australia, my granda was welcomed to Clare and they (and my da) lived with my grandma's family.

Interesting about your grandfather been from Belfast and joining the Free State army. I remember flicking through a local history book in Belfast about the bitterness between two brothers who were in the IRA up to 1922, don't know the circumstanes but one joined the Free State becoming an officer and the other remaining in the IRA in Belfast. Interesting also about the ambush on the Free State convoy in Newtowncunningham before the Civil War offically broke out.

green_dub_girl

These all seem to be political, mine is more silly than that.

Great Granny (from Roscommon) was the crowned Miss New York back in the 1910s and at the time was engaged to gentleman who owned a toothpaste company (Colgate) left him a few weeks before the wedding, returned to Roscommon where she married someone else (my GGF) a few short months later. Not so much a cliam to fame as a good story!:p

Dr.Nightdub

HellsAngel wrote: »

Interesting about your grandfather been from Belfast and joining the Free State army. I remember flicking through a local history book in Belfast about the bitterness between two brothers who were in the IRA up to 1922, don't know the circumstanes but one joined the Free State becoming an officer and the other remaining in the IRA in Belfast. Interesting also about the ambush on the Free State convoy in Newtowncunningham before the Civil War offically broke out.

I'm guessing that book is "Northern Divisions: The Old IRA and the Belfast Pogroms" by Jim McDermott. His two uncles took opposite sides in the Civil War, they were probably the two brothers in question.

Most of the IRA in 3rd Northern Division (Belfast / Antrim / east Down) stuck with Collins and Mulcahy, less so from ideological reasons but more so cos they made better promises about providing the northern IRA with arms to fight the new unionist government. After the failed "northern rising" in May 1922 and the introduction of internment, hundreds of them fled south and enlisted in the FS army.

steddyeddy

My uncle played a major part in organising the first civil rights marchs in the north. My great grandfather helped rebels in india fight the british (If I think of more Ill come back).

Judgement Day

steddyeddy wrote: »

My uncle played a major part in organising the first civil rights marchs in the north. My great grandfather helped rebels in india fight the british (If I think of more Ill come back).

What rebels in India?

Incidentally, all these various claims by different posters without any links are kinda pointless.

Guy:Incognito

My mothers uncles as well as my Grandfather were in the German army during the war. One of the uncles is still very much a Nazi sympathiser.

Kind of the opposiite to a claim to fame though.

steddyeddy

Judgement Day wrote: »

What rebels in India?

Incidentally, all these various claims by different posters without any links are kinda pointless.

There was several armed struggles to free itself from British rule in india. A non violent aproach was only undertaked from the nineteen twenties. My great grandfather had experience in the irb and used it in india. I have no link for that but I have a link about my uncle and the civil rights movement. This is the ruc's report detailing my uncles proposal to march in Derry. The Ruc man suggested a less crowded street needless to say he was ignored.

http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/proni/1968/proni_HA-32-2-27_1968-08-28.pdf

steddyeddy

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

My mothers uncles as well as my Grandfather were in the German army during the war. One of the uncles is still very much a Nazi sympathiser.

Kind of the opposiite to a claim to fame though.

Very interesting all the same though!

Guy:Incognito

steddyeddy wrote: »

Very interesting all the same though!

Tis. He speaks really good English aswell having been a POW for ages

RIRI

Guy Incognito - That is facinating! we always hear stories of the allied forces but very few of the equally brave Germans.

My claim to "fame" my great grandfather who won several medals as a medic in the Anglo Boer War & his son who at 16 was a true hero of WW1. I am so proud to be decended from them both & they continue to inspire me every day. - cheers lads