20 years ago my MIL , while doing some intense family history study, discovered that she and FIL both had Blues through more than one ancestral line. The Blues were border area licensed beggars in Britain in the 1600s who were identified by wearing blue clothing hence the name Blue. MIL ceased doing genealogy and forbade anyone bringing up the subject again. Wife has done genealogy from time to time and found that MIL had a black forebear (17oos) and a probably Yammassee Indian three greats grandmother. Wife decided not to tell her mother. MIL had always believed her family was high class English and Scottish.
yup
the sooner we learn we are all mogrels the better
Good story! Our family has an ancestor who was the father of one of the most influential, powerful and upright American men of the late 19th–early 20th centuries. The name is a household word. But the father we are descended from was a drunk and a scoundrel who brought shame on his wife and children. We're not descended from the famous son, but from one of his brothers, who was a cowboy.