One of my ancestors on my mom's side (of kelso or calchou) died fighting with william wallace, another was known as "little john" (nayler) in robin hood's band, others included the Clanton family murdered by the Earps at the Ok corral and vilified in film history. On my dad's side, Jesse Tapp, former chairman of Bank of America was my cousin. My dad ran away from home at age 16 and joined the circus, later the railroad, was a rough and tumble fighter, and self taught lawyer. I left a job as a lugger at the south boston meat market to teach math in washington state. Put on notice to get a phd or lose my job, i did both. When I returned to southie for a visit after 5 years, one of my lugging friends saw me and asked predictably: "you look kind of pale, where you been, prison? "
but my brother Charlie is an engineer, (and formerly Bill Monroe's fiddler). But in my dreams I grew up in a scientific family in Europe surrounded by scholars.