American Patriot
Mayor
I don't know how many of you have ever gone to one of those ancestry web sites to find out about your heritage but I did and it was shocking. According to this site my family came to America in 1654 and settled it what is now North Carolina. Apparently, they were wealthy and they had a large farm and raised cotton, tobacco, corn, and peanuts. My ancestors also fought in the revolutionary war, the war of 1812 and the civil war, the first world war, the second world war, Korea, and I was in Vietnam. Apparently, my tribe liked fighting. Looked to me like they were true died in the wool Americans. But what I found quite shocking was what my family did before coming to America.
The origins of my family name can be traced back as far as 1054 in Yorkshire, England. Mine is a noble family of knights in service to the King and they had vast tracts of land and were considered nobles. But this is were it gets kind of troubling. Evidently back in this time it was not uncommon to marry your sister, your cousin, or even your mother's younger sister. I guess incest was best back in the day. My family actually has a real Coat of Arms that was displayed on the battle shields these knights took into combat with them. I also discovered that multiple marriages were also very common. I guess if your present wife pissed you off you just had her killed and married a new person or two. Looked to me like the King was very generous to his knights and they lived a very comfortable life compared to everyone else of lesser standing. At any rate this incest thing really bothered me. One of my ancestors married his sister who he later had killed and then married his wealthy cousin. He was a knight and evidently in exceptional favor with the King. It looked like to me if you were lucky enough to be a noble person you pretty much did what ever you wanted to do. The only person you answered to was the King and if the King liked you, well the sky was the limit.
It really troubled me that many in my original family were guilty of incest and for that matter murder. It must have been a very different time back then and it looked to me like if you were a person of privilege and status you could run around having sexual relations with any one you wanted. If your wife turned out to be a dud you just had her done away with and got yourself a new one. I guess if you don't have TV, videos, cell phones and football to watch you get this. Strange.
So, my advice to you all is this. Unless you are willing to discover things about your family you may not really want to know, just leave well enough alone.
The origins of my family name can be traced back as far as 1054 in Yorkshire, England. Mine is a noble family of knights in service to the King and they had vast tracts of land and were considered nobles. But this is were it gets kind of troubling. Evidently back in this time it was not uncommon to marry your sister, your cousin, or even your mother's younger sister. I guess incest was best back in the day. My family actually has a real Coat of Arms that was displayed on the battle shields these knights took into combat with them. I also discovered that multiple marriages were also very common. I guess if your present wife pissed you off you just had her killed and married a new person or two. Looked to me like the King was very generous to his knights and they lived a very comfortable life compared to everyone else of lesser standing. At any rate this incest thing really bothered me. One of my ancestors married his sister who he later had killed and then married his wealthy cousin. He was a knight and evidently in exceptional favor with the King. It looked like to me if you were lucky enough to be a noble person you pretty much did what ever you wanted to do. The only person you answered to was the King and if the King liked you, well the sky was the limit.
It really troubled me that many in my original family were guilty of incest and for that matter murder. It must have been a very different time back then and it looked to me like if you were a person of privilege and status you could run around having sexual relations with any one you wanted. If your wife turned out to be a dud you just had her done away with and got yourself a new one. I guess if you don't have TV, videos, cell phones and football to watch you get this. Strange.
So, my advice to you all is this. Unless you are willing to discover things about your family you may not really want to know, just leave well enough alone.
Last edited:
