I was reading "The Saxon House of Eldred" by Trevor Eldrid and Nelson Beardsley Eldred over the weekend, the part about John "The Traveller" Eldred, my direct ancestor and the person credited with originally bringing Nutmeg to the western world from the Spice Islands (and also the original royalty of England from the 5th throug about 11th centuries).
As I was reading about John "The Traveler" Eldred's journey to the middle east in the 1500's, I saw that as luck would have it, he took over the equivalent to an ambassador (sort of), and was in charge of enforcing trade regulations etc. for a little while. Among the duties he assumed was being in charge of assuring the accuracy of weights and measures.
I thought that was so awesome.... it runs in the family. I have ancestors in PMEL before "PMEL" (the word) had been invented.
I am related to George Washington and princess Diana... They were both rich too bad that does not run in my family... :-(