Family legends, some of which may be true.

[oak]

Friends, before a winter windstorm likely knocks out my power in the next day or two, I'd like to offer some legends from my family of origin. (Just because we're estranged doesn't mean I can't spill the tea, as the young people say.)

I also offer how much I believe each one.

Feel free to add your own family legends.

The Scandalous
Shake My Head (Fools)
Prosaic
A Story of Post-war America


The Scandalous

1. Legend has it that in 1850s Sweden my many-great grandmother was a great beauty, and drew the attention of the local oafish noble failson. Soon pregnant, she had to hastily leave for America because of scandal.

How much do I believe this?

While I don't doubt she got pregnant, I don't believe for a second it was the local prince.

Shake My Head (Fools)

1. My mother's grandfather was a drunk who worked as a railroad switchman circa 1875. His drunk ass didn't do his one job, switching tracks, and two trains were about to collide. His buddy, who was as smart as my dumbass ancestor was stupid, saw what was about to happen and switched the track at the last second.

How much do I believe this?

I don't doubt this happened, but I do doubt the subsequent story that this drunk jackass was so shook that he stopped drinking that day. Too convenient.

2. My father's father, discussed elsewhere in this forum, was an overall good man named RJ.

However, RJ disgracefully had significant prejudices and bigotries as a young man.

He redeemed himself, and turned away from hate by his later years. He'd judge a man by the content of his character.

How much do I believe this?

I have no reason to doubt this. By all reports he left those grievous mistakes in his past.

Prosaic

1. My father's mother's father was a destitute boy in the streets of Boston. Or New York.

At any rate, they put him on a train with dozens of other children. Once out in the country, they'd be trotted out and chosen by farm families.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Train

By all accounts he was treated like a son, like a full member of the family.

How much do I believe this?

I have no reason to doubt this.

2. Sometime in the 1950s my mother's grandfather was riding his bike downtown. A gust of wind blew him into the path of a bus. He died.

How much do I believe this?

I have no reason to doubt this.

A Story of Post-war America

1. My father’s great uncle (RJ’s brother, IIRC) was a smart cookie who served in World War II as an MP. Unlucky enough to be in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his friends stuck together and kept some German POWs from overpowering, in the thick of that nightmare battle, the Americans detaining them.

This great uncle lived and later became a professor of German of some note at a Big Ten school.

All of my father’s great uncles and their descendants (who stayed in our ancestral hometown) were always extremely kind and welcoming to me when I was a child and teen in the 80s and early 90s.

Unfortunately their town has since been gutted by opioids by the late naughties: all of the good jobs are gone. Thank goodness RJ moved in the 50s to the more prosperous city and encouraged my father to get a degree before all that mishegas.

Though we weren’t originally from Appalachia, I think I have cellular memory of family leaving the land for jobs and education, which is why I’ve always had an affinity for bluegrass music.

All’s well that ends well.

[troebia]

My father’s great uncle (RJ’s brother, IIRC) was a smart cookie who served in World War II as an MP. Unlucky enough to be in the Battle of the Bulge, he and his friends stuck together and kept some German POWs from overpowering, in the thick of that nightmare battle, the Americans detaining them.
This great uncle lived and later became a professor of German of some note at a Big Ten school.

Interesting! Btw there's an excellent podcast about this battle: https://www.artofmanliness.com/character/military/podcast-953-duty-honor-and-the-unlikely-heroes-who-helped-win-the-battle-of-the-bulge/

I have my own "family legends" but they are all about my dysfunctional immediate family. There are no written (or oral, that I know) records about anyone in my family before my grandparents. You are very fortunate to have these transmitted memories.