People Share The Biggest Twists In Their Family History

You're Banished!

My great uncle traced our family back 14 generations. We tried to take over in Wales, failed and were then banished.

dansden

The Community Stain. 

Interesting, if not incredibly sad. I had a great great grandma (or aunt, can't remember) who had 13 children out of wedlock, all by different men. She was nicknamed notoriously loose Julie by her town. The doctor told her not to have anymore children after the 12th, but she did so, and both her and that baby died.

The community felt she was such a stain on the town's reputation they refused to bury her in the town cemetery (back in the old days, small town). PeppermintCarnations

The Affair.

Grandfather had an affair with my grandmother's sister. He got her pregnant and when the little boy turned 7, he went to live with my grandparents... and they raised him as their own. The pain my grandmother must have felt is insane. I didn't learn this until this year at 36. London82

To Australia! 

My Swedish ancestors arrived to Australia by boat. When they arrived one of them got crushed by a crate that fell off a crane on the docks. He made it all the way and didn't even get to set foot in Australia. nimernith

The Loop.

My family tree has this one branch that loops back to itself... The_Blatalian

Oh yeah? My family tree is essentially a family diamond.

My dad is my cousin and my grandpa is my uncle.

No, I'm not kidding. lukan2

Just the 2 of Us.

My grandfather is an identical twin. During WW2 he joined the military and his twin took his place at his job. Grandfather got out of the army made up a new name he's been going by since. handsthefram

Generations. 

Women in my family have been going to college for seven generations (since the 1840s). Most of them have Master's degrees

Also one of these women (either my g-grandma or my g-g-grandma) was involved in the first car wreck in her city as a teenager when she stole her parent's car and drove it into a horse-drawn buggy. A legend. beesareoutthere

The Tilleys....

There were two Tilley's on the Mayflower that I could potentially be very distant relatives to. Apparently a prostitute and a horse thief. cockapooch

Elizabeth Tilley is my 14th great grandmother. No word on her profession or penchant for equine thievery. hedpe70

Wife 2.0

My great grandfather came over from Germany with his wife. They had one child, but her second was an ectopic pregnancy, which killed her. So he brought her older sister over from Germany and made her wife 2.0. littlest_ginger

Shatner/Eastwood.

I have pictures of my great great grandpa, great grandpa, regular old grandpa and dad. They look exactly alike. You couldn't tell them apart.

My dad just had girls, but my sister has a son and he looks exactly like my dad. They all look like a William Shatner and Clint Eastwood combo. The male genes are strong in our family.

ETA - all the girls in our family look like their mothers. My sister and I are a carbon copy of our mom, my aunts look nothing like my grandpa. If I was standing next to my dad you'd never know we were related. It's like the DNA said 'I have one job and one job only.'

REDDIT