I just found out my girlfriend is the direct descendant of Robert E. Lee

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

Should I feel dirty now??

[GOPisEvil]

1. If she's a good person, why hold it against her?

It's not her fault.

Now, if she's advocating taking up arms to restore her ancestor's former glory, then you have problems.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

4. She's a VERY good person

And I love her to death! I don't hold it against her at all... but what if we like had kids and they led some sort of neo-con rebellion? Would the fine people of DU ever forgive me?!??!

[Radical Activist]

7. Or what if

your kids become major advocates of civil rights and social equality? Then they can go around saying "I'm descended from Robert E. Lee and I'm here to tell you that racism and states rights is a bunch of BS!" Wouldn't that be cool?

[demnan]

2. No

God knows who we are related to. I mean you wouldn't want to have sex with someone just because they're the direct descendant of Harriet Beecher Stowe, would you?

(But if you would and you're cute . . .) :P

[Unperson 309]

20. Descended From Harriet Beecher Stowe?

Then you probably knew Ward Beecher Stowe (her grandson) and his wife! two of the sweetest people I ever had the privilege to know.

Ward died in the 1970's, I think and I lost track of Mrs. Stowe, but they were such a deeply devoted, loving couple, they inspired me greatly. I still have a little gold ring that Mrs Stowe gave me.

We would sit and chat for hours! Ward in his recliner, offering the occasional quip or comment, Mrs. Stowe happily fixing tea or one of those ice cream cakes (Sara Lee, I think) that she was so fond of.

I cherish the memory of those two! He would write poems to her every day! She bought him a rhyming dictionary (which I still have) and kept every one of those loving tributes.

Thanks for the reminder. Love does still exist in the world!

309

[fudge stripe cookays]

3. Actually no.

I have several friends who descended from Lee. He was much more of a gentleman than the President of the Confederacy.

Check her branch. Many of the folks who are descended from Lee are also descended from John of Gaunt, who signed the Magna Carta. And there's MUCH more cache' in that.

[salinen]

5. Does she wear confederate

clothes?

[Radical Activist]

6. That's shocking!

Maybe you should feel dirty but in a good way. :evilgrin:
Is she conservative? If she's a progressive and has good views on race issues then don't worry about it.

I've got some ancestors who faught in Grant and Sherman's armies. I have others who owned a few slaves. We can't be prisoners of what our family did in the past.

[MidwestTransplant]

8. How does she feel about the "War of Northern Aggression?"

:)

[sniffa]

9. that was an awesome car

the duke boys were aLways abLe to outrun sherif roscoe p. coLtrain.

[liberalitch]

10. Strike the tent!

Those were Lee's last words.

Lee knew that slavery was a moral wrong.... he saw it like having a tiger by the ears.... you sure can't hang on and you sure can't let go.
In the end he only accepted a commission from jefferson davis because he could not stand to lift his sword against Va.

[SoFlaJet]

11. If you have children

they will have imbedded in them a greatness gene-that's all.Robert E Lee WAS a great man-regardless of what one may think now,of the position he took then,-and why.Loyalty is a fine trait to have.

[hlthe2b]

12. This whole thread is quite sad in my opinion because it

reflects the same kind of extremely narrow limited understanding of an issue that so often accompanies RW and Freeper's views on issues. Robert E. Lee was a very complex man who ended up on the "wrong" side of the Civil War as we all would likely agree, but was extremely conflicted. For those who won't take the time to read some biographies of the man, or some indepth history of the war and its leaders on both sides, perhaps you can at least take note of the views of those who should have been his greatest detractors and who had great admiration and respect for him, before, during, and after the war. From what I know of the man, your girlfriend has reason to be pround, despite the controversy that comes from our tendency to forget or narrowly view history. However, if someone were seriously questioning whether she was worthy of a relationship because of her heritage, I'd hope SHE would seriously question whether HE was worthy of HER?

There have been some wonderful DU historians who have written on this issue far better than I, when this has come up in past threads. I hope they will feel comfortable in posting, and in so doing, will not be savagely attacked as somehow being in support or apologists for the Confederate cause or slavery.


(on edit, my appraisal of the responses did not take into account the last two, who posted as I was writing my own).

[efhmc]

17. It is so easy to have no knowledge of history and make assumptions

based on present day thought. The absence of anything but bare surface feelings about the past will quickly lead our young people and this nation on the wrong path.

[hlthe2b]

18. yes.. The RW has been very succesful in exploiting that ignorance....

which is why their inaccurate, yet highly emotional talking points are so widely embraced and disseminated. No wonder they fight so hard to control what is taught in the school....

[markses]

13. That loser?

:evilgrin:

You LOST!

[Zolok]

15. I'd take her by the hand and solemnly

tell her that YOU are a direct descendent of Ulysses S. Grant and that the two of you together in love and in life are a living symbol that the tragedy of the civil war has been replaced by PATRIOTISM and NATIONAL RECONCILIATION.

Then look into her eyes with the utmost sincerity and demand she hand over her cavalry sword.

:)


Nobody will find this post funny...but I do.
Self amusement is the only sane reaction in an insane world.
:)
www.chimesatmidnight.blogspot.com

[SoFlaJet]

14. As my brother once said

"we(our family)were fucking goats up in the mountains(of Italy)when the Civil War was going on"

[Demobrat]

16. I'm a direct descendent of General Grant

and I bet she's a better person than I am. Get over it.

[AngryAmish]

19. Is she hot?

[LastKnight]

21. who cares?

unless shes like named Roberta E. Lee or something, that would creep me out and make it impossible to think of anything else... lol

-LK