Most of you won't believe me, but my earliest traceable ancestor came to America in the 1600s, settled in Jamestown.
My heritage has been traced back to a Sarah Franklin, a relative of Benjamin Franklin, statesman, printer, diplomat, founding father. More recently it I found out I was related to Senator John Sherman, principal author of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. John Sherman was the younger brother of William Tecumseh Sherman, the General in the Civil War responsible for the burning of Atlanta, Georgia in the Civil War and anything between it and Savannah Georgia, in his March to Sea, causing nearly $100 million in damage.
I also have letters from one of my ancestors that was in a fort/town that was essentially besieged by Native Americans.
One of my aunts or great aunts traced and kept track of the family history, but she recently died. I'll have to ask my dad for those papers, but it's like a huge stack of history, letters, and legal documents.