User:Futuremaineretiree

About me

Family and ancestry

I was born in Detroit, Michigan on March 4, 1987. I am the second of three sons. My older brother is a Navy officer stationed in Virginia, and my younger brother is a teacher and small business owner in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

My father was born in Swanton, Ohio, in 1952, and raised in Lambertville, Michigan. His father, John, was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign, the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, and the Battle of Okinawa. After the war, he became a general contractor and homebuilder in southeastern Michigan. My father dropped out of high school when he was 17 and earned a GED, joining the Merchant Marine in 1970. He later retired from the Merchant Marine and attended Southwestern Michigan College, a vocational school. He was a licensed electrician living in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the early 1980s.

My parents met in Ann Arbor, and married in 1984. My mother was born in Monroe, Michigan and was a teacher at the time, having become the first member of her family to earn a college degree after graduating from Marygrove College. Her father was in the Marine Corps during World War II, and worked at a steel mill. Her mother worked at a hosiery plant, initially as an assembly line worker and later as a supervisor. Both of her parents were members of the AFL-CIO trade union.

After they married, my parents moved to a northern suburb of Detroit in Macomb County, where me and my brothers were raised.

I am mostly of English, Hungarian, Irish, and French-Canadian descent, with more distant German and Scottish ancestry. My paternal lineage descends from English settlers of Quebec after its conquest by the British in the Seven Years' War. Specifically, my earliest patrilineal ancestor in North America was born to farmers in Attleborough, Norfolk and settled the Eastern Townships after his service in the British Army. He would go on to marry a Canadian woman of Ulster Scots descent.

I have been married for 11½ years to a great woman, and have two amazing children.

Education and career

I'm a proud Eastern Eagle and hold a B.A. degree in political science. I earned my J.D. from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. I currently work in M&A in the D.C. area, and I'm based out of northern Virginia.

I've long wanted to work in politics, with my dream job being White House counsel or United States attorney general. I also wouldn't mind working for the Senate Judiciary Committee in some capacity, or in the Department of Justice in the future, although I'm quite satisfied being a corporate lawyer.

Views

Politically, I have always aligned with conservatism. I voted for Fred Thompson in the 2008 Michigan Republican presidential primary, and in the general election I voted for Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, which I regret. In the 2012 Illinois Republican presidential primary, I voted for Ron Paul, and in the general election I begrudgingly voted for Mitt Romney.

I unapologetically voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Virginia Republican presidential primary and the following presidential election. I was unable to vote in the 2020 presidential election, having been quarantined for COVID-19 at the time. I enthusiastically voted for Trump in the 2024 Virginia Republican presidential primary and will vote for him a fourth time in November. He may not be perfect, but he's perfect for me.

In the future, I would strongly support Glenn Youngkin for president.

My rankings of U.S. presidents is as follows:

• S Tier – George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, William McKinley
• A Tier – Thomas Jefferson, James K. Polk, Calvin Coolidge, Donald Trump
• B Tier – James Madison, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Howard Taft, Ronald Reagan
• C Tier - John Adams, Martin Van Buren, John Tyler, Millard Filmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush
• D Tier – John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton
• F Tier - Lyndon B. Johnson, Barack Obama, Joe Biden

In constitutional law, I generally align with originalism. I admire the late, great justice Antonin Scalia, as well as justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, although, controversially so to my Federalist Society buddies, I've always preferred the former. I considered becoming a federal judge, but decided against it while attending law school. I don't think I would enjoy the spotlight in controversial cases.

Religiously, I was raised Roman Catholic but left the church in college. I now consider myself a nondenominational Christian with an interest in Calvinism and the doctrine of predestination. I admire Martin Luther.

Hobbies and interests

As you might be able to tell, I'm very interested in genealogy and individual biographies. I began this obsession after discovering the work of William Addams Reitwiesner, an expert genealogist with whom I briefly corresponded with shortly before his untimely death in 2010. I have been able to trace my ancestry as far back as 14th century England.

Other than genealogy, I have an affinity for any type of history, especially maritime history and the history of the British Isles. My favorite YouTube channels at the moment are:

• Drachinifel, consisting of videos on maritime history.
• CambrianChronicles, a channel on Welsh and Brittonic history I've supported since its founding.
• The Jolly Reiver, a channel covering British folklore.
• hochelaga, a broader selection of videos on obscure myths and histories.

I enjoy sailing, fishing, and being near and on the sea in general, much to the dismay of my thalassophobic friends and family. I plan to retire to Maine in the future, hence my username. I've loved the state and the neighboring Canadian Maritimes since vacationing there as a teenager. Recently, I've been eyeing coastal land in Newfoundland, whose stormy and rocky coast is the best type of coast.

I'm a fan of the show Deadliest Catch, and anything made by Gordon Ramsay.

Family tree (draft)

Ancestry of Futuremaineretiree

16. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Thomas (April 4, 1865 in Sherbrooke, Quebec — March 16, 1952 in Perrysburg, Ohio) 8. My Great-Grandfather, William (January 14, 1898 in Cornwall, Ontario — February 11, 1970 in Lambertville, Michigan) 17. My Great-Great-Grandmother, Bridget (January 26, 1871 in Renfrew, Ontario — September 8, 1941 in Fayette, Ohio) 4. My Grandfather, John (March 10, 1924 in Fayette, Ohio — April 29, 2005 in Roseville, Michigan) 18. My Great-Great-Grandfather, James (June 15, 1876 in Cleveland, Ohio — November 17, 1944 in Dover Township, Ohio) 9. My Great-Grandmother, Mary (June 10, 1902 in Fayette, Ohio — November 6, 1994 in Toledo, Ohio) 19. My Great-Great-Grandmother, Ann (March 7, 1879 in Norwalk, Ohio — April 16, 1958 in Fayette, Ohio) 2. My Father (born February 23, 1952, in Swanton, Ohio) 20. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Robert (September 23, 1861 in Buffalo, New York — June 28, 1927 in Findlay, Ohio) 10. My Great-Grandfather, Edward (May 6, 1900 in Findlay, Ohio — September 18, 1979 in Swanton, Ohio) 21. My Great-Great-Grandmother, Maud (February 18, 1864 in Strasburg, Ohio — May 21, 1935 in Lima, Ohio) 5. My Grandmother, Lorraine (July 26, 1925 in Swanton, Ohio — May 19, 2016 in Roseville, Michigan) 22. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Stanley (August 26, 1859 in Hampton, London — November 10, 1940 in Swanton, Ohio) 11. My Great-Grandmother, Margaret (April 14, 1903 in Arlington, Ohio — July 12, 1984 in Swanton, Ohio) 23. My Great-Great-Grandmother, Alice (September 3, 1872 in Newmarket, Ontario — December 19, 1960 in Findlay, Ohio) 1. Futuremaineretiree (born March 4, 1987, in Detroit, Michigan) 24. My Great-Great-Grandfather 12. My Great-Grandfather, Peter (March 1, 1891 in Nagyecsed, Austria-Hungary — October 27, 1966 in Detroit, Michigan) 25. My Great-Great-Grandmother 6. My Grandfather, Michael (January 7, 1919 in Detroit, Michigan — March 22, 1996 in Wyandotte, Michigan) 26. My Great-Great-Grandfather 13. My Great-Grandmother, Zsuzsanna (December 7, 1893 in Nyíregyháza, Austria-Hungary — May 25, 1975 in Northville, Michigan) 27. My Great-Great-Grandmother 3. My Mother (born June 6, 1955, in Monroe, Michigan) 28. My Great-Great-Grandfather, Guy (April 30, 1857 in Rawdon, Quebec — April 13, 1934 in Jackson, Michigan 14. My Great-Grandfather, Joseph (July 11, 1896 in Jackson, Michigan — June 30, 1968 in Monroe, Michigan) 29. My Great-Great-Grandmother, Marie-Thérèse (June 6, 1862 in Blainville, Quebec — May 22, 1955 in Detroit, Michigan) 7. My Grandmother, Helen (October 1, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan — December 3, 2014 in St. Clair Shores, Michigan) 15. My Great-Grandmother, Doris (February 28, 1901 in Detroit, Michigan — August 1, 1985 in Monroe, Michigan)