Ancestral brushes with the rich or famous

[VivienR]

I don't recognize a lot of the names mentioned but then I wonder if these names will be familiar to most of you.

My grandfather shook hands with John Diefenbaker - that was a big deal to him.  My sister in law kissed Pierre Trudeau and got a mention in the local paper  and my daughter's student teacher when she was in Grade seven was Pierre's son Justin. 

all the way from Canada
Vivien

[Mark1973]

My great Gran told me we were related to the ex Manchester United goalie Alex Stepney, I managed to find eventually her brother married a Stepney, she was married previously so took me a while to find her.

[Rabbit B]

My G.Grandfather, had loads of sons, all of whom played cricket for England. His eldest son, who also played for the MCC.  I am told that he was cricketer of the year in 1914. Uncle was a friend of Ranjitsinhji, he coached his sons at Wellington college after WW!.

Ernest was killed in WW1 I have not been able to find his brother’s records, but I have a signed picture of him in uniform dated 1918.

I am told that the sons only had daughters, except my Grandma, that son was spoiled as a child by his doting uncles.

My dad used to hang out with all sorts of people, I have a picture of him with Jack Dempsey who looks huge against him, I also found a snap of Jimmy Cagney, when dad died, they had met at some do.. 

He lived in the USA for about 6-7 years the rest of the time her was in both wars in the RNAS & RAF.before he started his own company which he ran with a partner until he retired after a stroke.

On the other side of the family my OH uncle served with Mountbatten on his ship which was torpedoed off the coast of Malta, we saw a picture of the whole crew in the war museum when we went there on holiday. There was Uncle H bang in the middle of the picture, my OH was thrilled to see him like that.


Rabbit B 

[Deb D]

Can't remember whether I've posted this before, but ... during WWII, entertainer Bob Hope was in the Antipodes doing his shows, and at one stage his plane developed engine trouble and had to make an emergency landing near Laurieton on the north coast of NSW.  Here's a report on it: -

http://www.ozatwar.com/ozcrashes/nsw113.htm

He's not mentioned, but one of the people Mr Hope befriended at the time was my OH's uncle Claude.  They were still corresponding - not just cards, I believe, but lovely handwritten letters (wish I knew what had happened to them!!!) when Claude died in March of 1967.

[Bethgem]

Hi,
I've just discovered this thread! Where have I been? No idea! But, my Aunty Maud met JDR - John Davidson Rockefeller. I have a photo of them together. I have had the photo verified by the Rockefeller Archive in USA.

My Aunt Maud, also known as Peg, used to work for a family who were close friends of the Rockefellers. That family were known as Treglown but I have not been able to trace them. It is not important so I have not looked far. The photo I have is dated 1925, a long time ago. Just wanted to share this info.

[VincyBabe]

That's exciting! The Treglowns were Pretty wealthy themselves. They shouldn't be hard to trace even for the sake of giving some context to the photo. What a great hunt that would be!

[Bethgem]

Well, I did ask those kind people at the Rockefeller Archive and they did not know of the Treglowns, but then they have no obligation to tell me anything.

It would be good to find anything about them, as you say, to give some context to the photo. I have given up my own searches into my family tree and am not paying into any genealogy website any more. To join up with one again just to find the Treglowns is not worth it, but as you say, it would be a great hunt though.

Maybe something could be found now on wiki as it is ages ago since I last looked. Only welsh names came up then.

P.S. In my original post I wrongly spelt the middle part of JDR's name. It should be, of course, Davison, and not Davidson.
 

[chinakay]

Hi, William the Conqueror is my 27 times greatuncle, honestly!.

And he's my 28th ggrandfather. So we would seem to be cousins of a sort. Also to the Queen.

And I've never even seen her

[Rabbit B]

Hi, William the Conqueror is my 27 times greatuncle, honestly!.

And he's my 28th ggrandfather. So we would seem to be cousins of a sort. Also to the Queen.

And I've never even seen her

  China!  My G.Grandfather can trace his lineage back to W-the-C too [what an unfortunate set of initials!]