How to discover who I am related to that are famous?

[GR2]

An easier approach would be to call together several of your contemporary, known relatives and give them a limited period, say six months, in which to become famous/infamous 

[Billyblue]

Dan, why do you want to be related to someone famous?
It doesn't make you any better a person      

I love GR2's solution         

Dawn M

[wrjones]

Well Dan,the only advice I can possibly give you is;In the first place make sure of as accurate as possible record of your own direct ancestors.if you are then able to link directly with any of these apparently famous families,all well and good.

However don't start your research with trying to make links to these families your specific intention but of course if any do become apparent later on,all well and good.

Regards
William Russell Jones.

[joboy]

Dan ... you raised this topic as a 'josh' (good natured banter) didn't you? ......... well you got a lot of interest.
Take a look at some of the ridiculous trees on ancestry which have hundreds of thousands of names listed ......... must have cost a fortune in verifying don't you think.
I'm happy with my number of 2191 *proven* tree people none of whom were famous or infamous.
Joe

[Ray T]

The simple answer is that the number of your ancestors expands exponentially the further you go back. Get back far enough and you will realise that you are related to everybody. The task at hand is to work out how.

[1716]

In my case someone had to find a birth for a david brunton, around the 1760s. They found a birth certificate, this happily had the "correct" fathers name, and this linked up merrily with all the preconceived ideas they had.

Unfortunately, they failed to take into account Davids death certificate the next year, Davids "father" actually died as a child himself, and the actual father was a different line of Bruntons from the same town.

Chinese whispers ensued, and the absurb became "fact" - not helped in any way by the blind assumption that the ancestry website is gospel.

Sure I'm distantly related to Shakespeare, William the Conquerer and Joe from the chip shop myself, as are most of us.

[Rishile]

We (on Rootschat) are all doing our research for our own reasons but, speaking personally, I could think of nothing more boring than spending hours/days/weeks/months/years trying to find a link with a 'famous' person when that link may not even exist or be so remote that is may as well be non-existant.

Give me my Ag. Lab. ancestors with their criminal records, military history and workhouse stories any day.

Rishile

[Mike in Cumbria]

Poor Dan must be wishing he hadn't asked now! I hope we haven't stunned him into silence.

[TheBanana]

@Billyblue - I think that is an unnecessary response. I couldn't care less if I was related to famous people, until I look into something that gives me a possible chance.

Thanks for the personal opinions and information people.