How could you find out if you're the descendent of a famous historical figure?

Question:

How could you find out if you're the descendent of a famous historical figure?

Wouldn't it be cool to find out that you're descended from Alexander the Great, or Michaelangelo, or Buddha?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The simple answer is that you find out if you have a famous ancestor the same way you find out any of your ancestors (famous or not) by step by step research, working back in time one generation at a time. Unfortunately this desire to find some kind of famous connection has been used for decades by less than honest entrepreneurs to sell "family histories" based on Surnames, all of which, miraculously, lead back to some nobility in a European country. NEVER accept as truth a family history that purports to show for sure that you have famous ancestors since most of us don't but all of us want to.

So it is back to setting up family group sheets for your parents, then getting the same done for each set of your grandparents, then back to the 8 sheets needed for great grandparents. About this stage or even before there will start being gaps where you can't find the maiden name of a grandmother but if your ancestors kept any records , particularly out of Europe, you will likely be able to trace at least some lines back as far as the 1600s perhaps further.

That is exciting enough and along the way you may find some small 15 second moments of fame when you find out as I did that your great-great-great etc. grandfathers and brothers were in the choir at Armagh Cathedral and that is one of the reasons that you like to sing so much, you are carrying on a family tradition.

So don't go into family research to find famous people go into it to find real people, people who cared and loved and made you possible.