The simple answer is that you find out if you have a famous ancestor the same way you find out any of your ancestors (famous or not) by step by step research, working back in time one generation at a time. Unfortunately this desire to find some kind of famous connection has been used for decades by less than honest entrepreneurs to sell ';family histories'; based on Surnames, all of which, miraculously, lead back to some nobility in a European country. NEVER accept as truth a family history that purports to show for sure that you have famous ancestors since most of us don't but all of us want to.
So it is back to setting up family group sheets for your parents, then getting the same done for each set of your grandparents, then back to the 8 sheets needed for great grandparents. About this stage or even before there will start being gaps where you can't find the maiden name of a grandmother but if your ancestors kept any records , particularly out of Europe, you will likely be able to trace at least some lines back as far as the 1600s perhaps further.
That is exciting enough and along the way you may find some small 15 second moments of fame when you find out as I did that your great-great-great etc. grandfathers and brothers were in the choir at Armagh Cathedral and that is one of the reasons that you like to sing so much, you are carrying on a family tradition.
So don't go into family research to find famous people go into it to find real people, people who cared and loved and made you possible.How could you find out if you're the descendent of a famous historical figure?
I was told growing up I was related to Daniel Boone. So I started searching. 9 years later what do you know. Not only am I related to him but, Abe Lincoln and John Chandler (youngest person to step foot in James Town) and lots of other famous people. After all of this I realized yes it's great that all these people are in my family tree BUT the ones who where my hero's my grandparents are gone now they weren't famous or anything but they were special to me. I've dedicated a part of my life to writing about them and who they were, so they can be remembered by my grandchildren. If I don't who will? G-grandpa use to always say ';Oh how sweet it is'; and It really was in the days he lived. I'm only 28 and I'm glad it didn't take a whole life time to figure that out.
Cool? I dunno. I do know that hard documented links that far back would be scant and likely unreliable.
I feel much more fondly and warmly about the farm families who came before me and their accomplishments. Some men had to at times lay aside their plows and scythes to take up arms to protect their families, communities and their country while the wives and mothers, sons and daughters took up the slack at home.
Just work your family tree back. You have to take the good with the bad.
Usually these things are part of the family ... public records are sometimes scanty ... but that is ok .... maybe someday someone will say about you: Oh! I am ...................'s
descendent! You never know!!!!
We all dream of that but remember that the same principles apply as in any family history research
Start with existing faily and work backwards. It is hard work but very rewarding. Good luck. If you think that you are related to a particular famous person get a good biography of them from the library and then extract all the possible family details given in there - mother father siblings etc
If you have to ask?!... Chances are that you are not a descendant of anyone famous!... Unless he or she was a famous criminal. In that case you might not want to know.
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