Family Ties

Every now and then, I like to log on to FamilySearch and just click back as far as I can on a line. Any line, doesn't matter which. And, apparently I had time to kill today* because that's what I did.

Of course, the farther back you go the more dubious the information gets. You start hitting these things where the mother is also the niece or the husband died before the wife was born. You know how it is. But it is still always entertaining to see who you are purported to be related to. Once I followed a line back to a Gandalf in about 200 AD. That was fun.

Today's playing of the "Who Am I (not really) Related To?" had some great hits. My favorites include:

• Odin Woden Woutan, King of Asgard**, who according to FamilySearch died in 300 AD. Clearly, they didn't watch Thor: Ragnarok
• the Myth King of Kvenland--I'm not sure what the Myth is referring to (the King is a myth? He is the king of Myths?)
• a frost giant (whose genetics clearly skipped me, as I'm a whopping 5' 5" if I round up)
• and the Overlord of Anglo-Saxons. 

Also in my supposed ancestry are lots of kings and queens of the Scandinavian countries, Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia, France, Germany, and various British tribes, etc; Boudicea (multiple spellings), another Odin Woden Woutan, who died in 306 AD and was not listed as the King of Asgard; Hoard of Denmark; King Gorr of Alfheim; one Kwxyd; and Franklin P. Lucifer, parent of some Roman somebody or other who was born in the late BCEs. Of course.

I also love how many entries in the hundreds AD are just, "Mrs. ________________". You have "Big Ole Important Dude with a Fancy Title", and "Mrs. Big Ole Important Dude with a Fancy Title." "Mrs. Tertulius" was somehow one of my favorites. "Hello, let me introduce you to Tertulius, head of the Roman Empire. And his wife, Mrs. Tertulius."

It is kind of interesting to see how I start out in Europe and end up in Egypt and Tunisia and Jerusalem. Supposedly. While the lineage is probably very bogus, there is probably some semblance of truth to the geography. At least to a degree. And probably more likely if you really do tap into the royal lines,*** because they really got around.

Anyway, even though it is almost 100% not likely to be true, I think I'm still claiming Franklin P. Lucifer. And maybe Odin Woden and the Myth King. Because, why not?


*I didn't really. Well, I mean, I did. But I definitely could have found something significantly better to do with my time than this fun little exercise. 
**I think I should now get free admittance to every Marvel movie ever. 
***I had a patron come into work one day claiming she had traced her ancestry all the way back to Adam. Speaking as an archivist who knows a thing or two about the absence of good documentation, I'm saying the likelihood of doing that is next to whatever is 5 steps away from impossible. If you do tap into royalty, you can get decently far back, because royalty was important and so their life got written down, but that has to be the legitimate line, not some poor out of wedlock line. And maybe, maybe if you happened to tie into the line that is given for Joseph or Mary in the New Testament, you might be able to trace back, but even then, I'd be super skeptical. So, congrats, but no. I'm going to kill that dream right now.