This message was self-deleted by its author

[GReedDiamond]

This message was self-deleted by its author (GReedDiamond) on Tue Feb 10, 2026, 05:01 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Intractable]

1. Thirty years ago, I dated Mariah Carey

's mother's best friend.

I heard some good dirt, third-hand! No concert tix.

[EYESORE 9001]

3. I was once acquainted with a 2nd cousin of a Manson family member

Same surname, which is how I broached the subject. This person was far-removed from any involvement and didn’t even know the Manson family member (being born around the time of the murders), parents - or even grandparents on that side, so I didn’t bring it up again. It still gave me the willies in a six-degrees-of-separation way.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. My grandfather was an accountant for "the Mob" in Hackensack

in the Thirties.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. My uncle-by-marriage confided in me before he died.

How else could a milkman send his two daughters to private colleges during The Depression?

[yaesu]

9. A very famous serial killer

Just kidding 😅 but there was always a rumor in the family that Wild Bill Hickok was related, somehow 🤔

[Nittersing]

10. My grandfather (1893-1950) helped the cops chase the Purple Gang in Detroit

Well, the story goes: Cops jumped on his running board and said "Follow that car!" and a few blocks later, jumped off, complaining that he drove too slow!

[VGNonly]

17. The Purple Gang

My ex-wife had family, two sisters, that were gun molls for the Licavoli gang. They left the Detroit/Toledo area to escape the heat, moving to the Cincinnati area.

[quaint]

11. My favorite uncle was married to one of Nixon's cousins.

Her name was Susie and she hated kids. The marriage did not last.

[mwmisses4289]

12. Supposedly we are related to Robert the Bruce,

Rob Roy, and Sitting Bull. Havent been able to find hard prove of any of that, but does make for some interesting family lore. Oh, and dhs' family claims to be descended from the younger son of an english noble family who came to america way before the revolutionary war.

[Grim Chieftain]

13. My older cousin was married to a well-known Chicago mobster

He knew Sam Giancana well.

[AllaN01Bear]

14. mom did and taught family history. onee of the things she said,

"dont be afraid of skeletons in the closet. they may help u break some log jams later on.

[debm55]

15. My Uncle Chuck sang for the Vogues. Turn Around Look at me, and Five O'Clock World.

[MissB]

16. No

But someday, when my relative retires, I may share! That relative currently travels with a well known Hollywood icon.

[malthaussen]

18. Allegedly.

On my mother's side, in the direct line, we are supposed to be descended from a Covenanting martyr shot in his own dooryard in front of his wife and children back around the turn of the 18th century. This link was asserted by Mom's great-uncle, who did a family genealogy back in the 1950s.

Certain problems arise with the assertion, because it is not documented. This is compounded by the fact that her family's name is Brown. The martyr in question was one John Brown -- and just to make it more absurd, around the same time two other "John Browns" were murdered in the same area as dissenters. It was a bad period to be a Covenanter. Why my g-g-uncle decided we were related to "John Brown of Priesthill" is a mystery to me. Out of idle curiosity, I checked the sources he did use and even emailed the descendants of the family who are still in Scotland around the turn of the present century. We agree that the connection is probably factitious. It does remain, however, that my mother's family did flee Scotland for Northern Ireland at the time, and did move from there to York County in the colony of Pennsylvania in the 1750s.

John Brown of Priesthill made the history books and there is a modest monument to his memory on the moors near Muirkirk.

-- Mal

[Orrex]

19. My uncle roomed with Martin Scorsese in college

He gets a nod in the acknowledgements of one of Scorsese’s books.

[LudwigPastorius]

20. I am a descendent of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty.

He came over as an indentured servant, and apparently, was a real piece of work.

Doty was one of the Mayflower passengers that left an extensive record of his personality. He had a quick temper and had many business dealings that in some cases bordered on the fraudulent. ...his argumentative nature and display of temper caused him to be in the Plymouth court many times over the years.

The first duel (with a sword and dagger) was fought in New England between...Edward Doty and Edward Leister. The duel ended with one being wounded in the hand and one in the thigh. Their punishment was to be tied head and feet together for twenty-four hours without meat or drink.

The post-1632 records of the Plymouth Court... has twenty-three cases over the 20 years between January 1632 and October 1651 that involve Edward Doty. The records include suits/countersuits, and charges such as fraud, slander, fighting, assault, debt, trespass, theft, etc. But although Doty appeared before the court numerous times, he was never punished for criminal activities beyond small fines.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Doty

[Jacson6]

21. davey Crocket was in a branch of my ancestors. n/t

[Talitha]

22. My cousin worked on the White House communication systems during the Carter administration.

In addition to keeping things working at the White House, Jeff also went ahead of the Presidential entourage to set things up. He's the guy who was responsible for the 'red phone' connections, as well as hot lines to local hospitals, etc.

[Wolf Frankula]

23. I have been told I'm a descendent of Ozmin Aznarez, who beat Charlemagne at Roncesvalles.

But that's nothing special, half of the people in that area are descended from him.

[berniesandersmittens]

24. Lizzie Borden is my cousin

[Aristus]

25. My great-great-great-great grandfather was a man named Bright W. Hargrove.

He was part of the Georgia state delegation that drafted and signed Georgia's Articles of Secession before the Civil War. Not especially proud of that.

His daughter, named Fanny, is reportedly one of Margaret Mitchell's inspirations for Scarlett O'Hara.

Not necessarily something I'm proud of, either...

[Irish_Dem]

26. Once of my older cousins was a (bit) actor in the Wizard of OZ.

And met Judy Garland, etc.

[FalloutShelter]

27. Not exactly family, But my best friend's Uncle was Vincent Price.

Spent time with him several times and boy was he fun.

Of course Uncle Vinnie has long since passed and so has my friend Cathy. RIP

[Goonch]

28. ;-{) Still waiting for my $29.95 Ancestry DNA results......

????

[crud]

29. My Bro in law

Barney McNulty, inventor of cue cards, worked with all the greats of old Hollywood. When he passed, Jay Leno payed tribute with a joke..."sad news, the inventor of cue cards, Barney McNulty has passed, Hollywood is speechless."

Barney was also the younger brother of Penny Singleton, Blondie from the blondie movies of the 1940's and 50's.

[RustyWheels]

30. Sybil ( 1970's book and TV movie about a woman with 16 personalities )

Sybil ( Shirley A. Mason ) was my father's 3rd cousin and I was born in the town ( Dodge Center, MN ) where she lived up until she went off to college.

Shirley was an artist and lived out the final 25 years of her life in Lexington, KY, working out to the art studio in her home.

I have a website setup ( www.hiddenpaintings.com ) which tells about the 103 paintings from her past locked in a cabinet in the basement that were found when cleaning out the house after the estate sale.

[NBachers]

31. My ex-wife's uncle was Cy Sperling, who was actually a real character and quite an entertaining guy.

“I’m not only the president of the Hair Club for Men, I’m a client.“

They used to have infomercials during the late show and I was one of the “trained operators who are waiting for your call.“ We take down names and numbers as leads for Cy, and the rest of the sales staff to call back later. They’d throw us a few bucks of beer money.

As far as my family goes – nope, the Irish side were potato famine, bilge class. On the German side, an ancestor came over because he wanted to avoid being drafted into the Kaiser’s endless wars. Then he sent his passport over to his brother, and his brother came over fraudulently. So fuck these deporting assholes.

[Zackzzzz]

32. I'd prefer not to tell you.

[Sneederbunk]

33. Am a direct descendant of Prester John.

[ProfessorGAC]

34. Tony Accardo

He was a shirt-tail relative on my dad's mother's side.
Ran the Chicago Outfit for at least 25 years.
My dad's biggest milk customer was a connected supermarket chain owner that was personal friends with Tony.

[bif]

35. I'm related to King Louis XVI of France

According to 23 & Me.

[Sedona]

36. American fascist Father Arthur Terminiello was my great uncle

https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/terminiello-v-chicago/

In Chicago during a meeting of the Christian Veterans of America, Father Arthur Terminiello addressed a crowd in an auditorium, along with a crowd outside the auditorium protesting the meeting. In his speech, Terminiello attacked Jews, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Communists, and others. The crowd outside reacted by breaking windows and hurling rocks at the auditorium doors. Police arrested Terminiello for violating a city ordinance establishing that “misbehavior may constitute a breach of the peace if it stirs the public to anger, invites dispute, brings about a condition of unrest, or creates a disturbance.”

Illinois courts upheld the conviction, but a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court reversed. In the majority opinion, Justice William O. Douglas focused not on the content of the priest’s speech, but on the legality of the Chicago ordinance. The Court ruled that by permitting conviction for speech that “stirred people to anger, invited public dispute, or brought about a condition of unrest,” the law “seriously invaded” the protection of speech afforded by the First Amendment. “A function of free speech,” Douglas wrote,“under our system of government is to invite dispute.” Speech “may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”

Dissenters thought justices should uphold fighting words doctrine
The justices in the minority, notably Robert H. Jackson, filed vigorous dissents. Jackson’s 24-page opinion lambasted the majority’s four-page opinion and chided the majority for failing to uphold the conviction based on the fighting words doctrine. He cited Terminiello’s attack on the protesters as “ ‘slimly scum,’ ‘snakes,’ ‘bedbugs,’ and ‘the like’ ”and noted that the priest had hurled his comments “at an already inflamed mob.” Jackson concluded his dissent with a veiled warning: “There is a danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.”

In contrast to the decision in Terminiello, two years later in Feiner v. New York (1951) the Court upheld the conviction of a college student charged with causing a breach of the peace after refusing police requests to stop addressing an unruly crowd.

[returnee]

37. A famous NBA coach...

…is my ex step nephew in-law.

[nuxvomica]

38. My great uncle was a spy for the kaiser in WWI

A brilliant chemist, he gave himself up after falling in love with my great aunt, whose brother, my grandfather, was serving under Pershing at the Mexican border. When I met him, he was in his 80s and recovering from a stroke. Another odd thing about him: he was immune to tooth decay and even at the age he was when I met him he still had all his teeth.

[nitpicked]

39. One of my grandmother's cousins

Was a physical education professor who got involved with JFK's Council on Physical Fitness,.

[Drum]

40. My mother's family is related to the Barrymores (actors)

[multigraincracker]

41. A famous retailer that everyone knows is a

3rd cousin, once removed. Uncle that was a famous artist. Dad was a well known phd in animal science. Brother an All American academic football player on a National Champion football team.

[bif]

42. Frances Scott Key

My great aunt was married to his nephew.