Processes of the formation of Kurdish identity from the late 19th century onwards have long been the subject of scholarly interest. Sources on the history of the prominent Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani family have come to play a significant part in the study of such processes. Rightly so, as the material available on the family is indeed rich, including self-narratives and an abundance of documentation in the Ottoman state archives. However, a lack of attention for the impact of different mnemopolitical agendas in shaping and transmitting narratives of the Bedirhani family history gave rise to misleading assumptions and false circular arguments : The trajectories of family members are often treated as case studies for the emergence of Kurdish national identity. Meanwhile, family members themselves and later historiographers have constantly re-interpreted accounts of the family’s past, tailoring it to narratives of Kurdish nationalist history. Tracing the history of the Bedirhani family in the eventful transition period between imperial and post-imperial contexts, I work with ego-documents to follow the trajectories of individual family members. In addition, I apply a qualitative network perspective to map out opportunity structures as well as patterns of loyalty and support family members relied on over time. I am particularly interested in biographical trajectories that are at odds with the standard historiographical account of the emergence of Kurdish national identity: First, I zoom in on the Ottoman dimension of the family’s history. It tends to be overlooked that for more than half a century, after being exiled from their homeland in Eastern Anatolia in 1847, family members were active practitioners of empire, employed in the administration throughout the Ottoman lands. Second, I include the self-narrative of a female family member who settled down in Istanbul in the early years of the Turkish Republic. In a third step, I revisit comparatively well-researched trajectories of more prominent family members, asking how the transmission of their biographical accounts is shaped by a variety of later discourses and concerns. An inclusive perspective on the Bedirhani family history enriches our understanding of the complex Ottoman-Kurdish opportunity structures and life worlds prevalent over the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Comparing and situating different narratives on the history of the family also provides an opportunity to trace and critically examine shifting discourses in Kurdish historiography.