One of my big questions is, can you get Male Pattern Balding without having a family history of it?

No, male pattern balding is genetic but it can skip many generations. You might not identify who you got it from if the person you inherited it from is not known to you. We often do not know our great grandparents.  I recently saw my great, great grandfather’s pictures from the late 1800s and he had a full head of hair.