Genealogy Chat

My mum has always been very prim and proper, virgin bride etc. etc. She was even given elocution lessons as a child - quite something when you live in a council house in Liverpool!! I've been taking a closer look at her father's family and have just got to laugh. My grandfather John - first wife pregnant when married (mum didn't believe it until her 86 year old half brother confirmed it). Grandfather's sister - pregnant when married. Grandfather's brother - wife already pregnant on marriage. Grandfather's baby sister - you guessed it! They were all Welsh chapel goers for goodness sake. I can't wait to get certs. for the rest of his brothers and sisters!! Luckily they are all deceased and so there will be no embarassment. Do you know what, I think I would have liked them all a great deal.LOLOL. Chris

Chris I know what you mean. I know my Nan ( if she was still alive) would go mad at me cos i'm not married but have 2 children. Since doing my tree i have found out my Nan was 5 months pregnant when she got married, and her parents married 14 years after she was born lol Julie

Chris I was 34 still living at home, and she kicked me out lol I was 4 months pregnant, had my son 2 ½ months later Julie

Yes Julie - talk about hypocrites! We're just more honest about ourselves I think. At least I hope I don't pretend to be someone I'm not. Although saying that, I'm too scared of my mother to ever have dreamt of having children before I got married. You're a braver woman than me. Lol Chris

Julie When I told my mother I was pregnant (I WAS married), she became very quiet and sort of grunted! I think the vision of how it had come about was too much for her. Karen I think perhaps your gran may have felt uncomfortable being reminded of her own 'failings'. Very sad. Chris

Chris- When my Welsh Aunt-in-Law was talking about someone who'd married, she'd sometimes say they'd 'married tidy'. Took me ages to work out what she meant - eventually my MiL explained that any babies were born at least 9 months later - hence, the bride had been 'tidy' when she married! Reading about your chapel-going lot brought it back to me! Bx

This hypocrasy does have it's sad side. My late father in law (similar age asmy grandmother) had 2 sisters - they never married despite having a queue of suitors, as their mother insisted no-one was 'good' enough for them. They died spinsters. I found out their mother was pregnant when she married!! My FIL only 'got away' as he had an affair when he was 19 with a divorcee in her 30's who subsequently gave birth to a boy!! FIL fled the village and joined the navy. He didn't marry until he was in his 30's. My grandfather was a widower. Gran told me she was told by her mother she shouldn't marry him as he was 'soiled goods'. Gran waited until she was 21 and married him anyway. THEN I found out G grandmother had 10 children out of wedlock as G grandad had been married before and they waited until his first wife died before they married - the same year my gran married!! THEN I found out g grandmother had a child previous to meeting g grandad, which was left with her parents in Suffolk, while she scarpered off to Dorset!!! Maggie - 4 months pregnant when I married the father of my child - who I had been with for 6 years!!