OT: Your family claim to fame

...is Winston Churchill.

My family can stake 3 somewhat interesting claims. In no particular order:

Patrick Henry- He of "Give me Liberty or Give me Death" fame

Bernie Boland- Tiger Pitcher who once fanned Babe Ruth 3 times in a game with his wicked 12-6 curve.

My Granfather- Said to have survived nearly 14 years on only Gin/Tonic.

My great uncle was a starting halfback for the Idaho Vandals (which was a terribly exciting discovery for my Vandals-obsessed friends and I), my 3rd cousin is the dad from Seventh Heaven, and I'm distantly related to everyone in the MacBean clan from Scotland, including the actor Sean Bean, the actual King MacBeth, and this winner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sawney_Bean).

They're one of the founding families in Houston. When they originally settled the area they had well over 600,000 acres. My grandfather would visit his relatives, one a local Houston politician gave GHW Bush his start in politics. Part of the Crawford ranch is land we sold to them. The family moved to Houston from Arkansas by ox-caravan just after the Mexican American War because it was better land and a bit cooler. Before Arkansas they had made stops in Georgia  from their first landing back east. The first Goolsbys came from the English immigrant John Gouldsby who came to James City via Lincolnshire in the 1660s. In England the name Goolsby, or Goulsby, or Gouldsby, or Goldsby comes from the town of Goulceby in the wolds of Lincolnshire. The name Goulceby is derived from the Viking name Colchesbi which means "farm of Kolkr." The Golkesbi family predates the Norman invasion of 1066. My fathers family are aboriginal Scots and my Grandfather is the first generation American on that side of the family. 

My uncle is the original Batman, before passing the deed down to my cousin.

My mother, after a car accident, has the esophagus of a goat as well as the foot of a large gorilla named "M’bili", who passed away in the San Diego zoo.

My great-grandmother was the prostitute of a Russian frog farmer, who later had an affair with the current President at the time, John F. Kennedy.  She later went on to have another affair with his son, John F. Kennedy Jr.  Unfortunately, she perished on a flight to Martha's Vineyard.

I was born in-between the two Berlin walls (yes, there was actually two walls with a passage in between).

My 3rd cousin, twice removed, is Denzel Washington.

My father owns the record for the heaviest midget in the world at 113 lbs 2 ounces.

My sister was the original owner of the restaurant chain "Five Guys" and was the first director of 'Passion of the Christ: Redux" featuring Tim Tebow as Jesus Christ and Oprah Winfrey as Mary.

I am a distant relative of Conan the Barbarian.

Descendant of John Adams

Distant Relative of Princess Diana

Father's side: Great grandfather was an engineer for GM, grandfather was an engineer for IBM (and published a paper later used by Boeing to make the landing gear of the 747, among other things), father is a civil engineer for Hazen and Sawyer. My great-grandmother and both paternal grandparents each have at least one UM degree. My grandparents are self-made millionaires who help fund my education and still retain the frugality of their Great Depression upbringing, and still ask how the team/Detroit is doing every time I see them. My nana is a feminist and custom ordered a pink Mercury, which is now in my possession.

Mother's side: Back in the 1700s or so, my great-great-great (times a lot) grandfather and his sons won a title (it translates to "Duke" or "Baron"), a crest, and lands from the king of Hungary for "the quelling of a peasant rebellion." Much later, the Nazis saw fit to seize our manor, and it was never returned to us after the war. It is now essentially a state park. By the early 50s, my grandmother's family had to flee to the states due to pending communist revolution. Also, my great-grandfather was a jeweler and made signet rings featuring our crest for his daughters and granddaughters. We still have a huge copy of the family tree dating to the great-grandfather who was awarded our title. There are countless stories to be told about my grandmother and great-aunt's transition (or lack thereof) to American life. Long story short, they think they're the Gabor sisters. My grandmother's first husband (my grandfather) was also on the Gold Train during WWII. He later divorced my grandmother on the grounds of being gay, yet is still the most politically conservative person I know. 

Fredric Conklin was JFK's doctor following the PT-boat disaster and pinned the medal on JFK's chest.

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This is actually somewhat relevant to this board because this is the same Fredric Conklin who was captain of the 1911 UM Football Team and an assistant coach under Yost in 1912.

His nephew was my grandfather Fred Olds (my avatar) who played at Michigan 1937-1939 and blocked for Tom Harmon. 

I'm quite certain that I'm the only one here that can claim this: my wife is the princess of South Korea.  Or, to be more exact, King SeoJong The Great is my wife's great (x 350 years) grandfather.  He is the most famous king in Korea and the creator of modern Korea, including the Korean alphabet.  His palace is the main cultural attraction in Seoul and they have a "changing of the guards" ceremony daily while wearing the traditional uniforms of the times.  My son loves to go there and imagine that these guards are his to command.

Secondly, Chris Webber dunked on me in high school.

My great uncle has a navy Nimtz super carrier named after him: The USS Carl Vinson.  This is the ship that buried Osama Bin Laden at sea.  Dude, my uncle baried Bin Laden.  Bitches, I win!

My family are direct descendants of Henry Clay whose considered by most historians as the Greatest/Most Influental Cngressman Ever. He also was a major party candidate for President four times, but lost easily ever single time.

I went to Michigan.

descendant of alexander graham bell

my sister and brother-in-law are filmmakers... no big hits, but it's always fun to see their films or projects they worked on get press.

My dad is responsible for creating the hubcaps (the small ones) that police use for their cars.

the bastard son of Horace G. Prettyman

I am a distant relative of Sacagawea.  That's right, my family is on money. 

The Declaration of Independence - Charles Carroll of Carrollton

My Grandfather was stationed on the very first nuclear submarine

My dad met Wernor Von Braun

My Aunt was the first softball All American at Michigan. That's about it. There was one somewhat big time general in the civil war but nothing huge.

Edit: Also my family (way back in the day obviously) used to own part of what is now central park in NYC.

I went head to head with Mark Ingram a couple times in high school. Pretty cool watching all of his accomplishments from then, moving forward.

I'm a direct descendant of Benedict Arnold.

Haters gonna hate.

My family holds the record for most people to go to West Point. In my direct line, I would have been 7th generation West Point but I went to Michigan instead. Oops.

My grandpa's cousin was Richard Pryor. They grew up together. The stories he would tell us about their childhood are hilarious. I am also related to Terrelle. In fact, he looks like a younger version of my grandpa. I am also related to singer Otis Redding, and "Roots" author Alex Haley. My great grandfather's cousin used to watch over a young Elvis Presley while his parents worked in the cotton fields in Mississippi.

My dad, in college, designed the "Neighborhood Watch" logo (the one that looks like an eye). It was a marketing project, and he never saw a dime. Also, in his teens/twenties, he would take a boat with his friend and Kurt Vonnegut to go drinking at some bar in the Hamptons. Vonnegut, he said, knew how to have a few drinks.

My great-uncle is in the Warren Commission Report. This is the commission that investigated the JFK murders; turns out he was best friends with Jack Ruby (Oswald's killer) when they were in the Air Force/Corps in WWII. The report talks about how they used to carouse and go to bars/strip joints.

My uncle sued George Harrison and won. As a Beatles fan, this always bums me out.

My second cousin is in the band The Bravery.

Apparently, my mom's side had achieved some sort of noble status in Russia (barons, I believe) but they made a quick exit when the whole "bolshevism" thing reared its head.

General Robert E. Lee is my great, great, great, great, great, great-grandfather.

My dad is an Olympian. He competed in Judo...

Abraham Lincoln is a distant relative. I heard Ben Franklin is too but I can't trace that.

My family owns the only textiles business in Cleveland.  There were others, but we bought them out.

I am a relatively well known name in Louisville, KY.  I've been doing traffic and news reports for over 3 years here.  People know my name by looking at it.

And... I got nothing for the third one yet haha

My grandmother always says we are related to Mark Twain (Samuel Clemons). Also my wife's step grandfathers niece walked in graduation with Kevin Koger...

My dad can beat up your dad.

My great uncle once made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.