Genealogy Chat

Barbara I felt a bit like that about Eliza...seeing the photo and hearing the stories, she isn't a woman I'd have wanted to get on the wrong side of! Debby All mine (apart from Eliza it appears!) seem to have died in the workhouse so I obviously come from a very distinguised line! Lou

Barbara Well you know what they say with this hobby...one question answered creates 5 more! It's lovely to be able to put the faces to the names though, quite bizarre really when I first opened it and all these people are looking up at me! I suspect it was my Aunt Rhoda who has done it all (Judy's mum), she was a hoarder and a very meticulous woman with a memory like an elephant! I can well imagine her sitting there naming and dating these photos (admittedly some of them just say 1910 or whatever, it isn't exact). I feel like I've been given a real treasure chest! Lou

Well, I got my hands on Aunty Judy's box! One Canadian death obituary (how much have I searched for this woman!), 4 ORIGINAL certs from the mid to late 1800's (thankfully nothing I've re-bought!) and a lot of old photos that one of my wonderful ancestors (see, I like them now!) has actually written who they are and dated them on the back. It appears that ggrannie Eliza was about 6ft 2' and built like a navvy! Seeing the photo, I can now well believe the family story of her breaking up a fight outside a pub one night and tipping the instigator upside down to dip his head in a mop bucket cos he needed to 'cool off'! It's like Christmas all over again! Lou

LOL! Yeah its funny the way things job memories. My dad wanted to know about his grandfather cos he had never ever seen him, we did manager to find him and his grandfathers father. Now my dads father had a funny hand he couldnt open it with working in the coal mines. I said to him it seemed your great grandfather had 7 children and also your grandfather had 7 children "Dirty Ticket" said dad, I said you can talk, what about your father he had 11 sons and 3 daughters and he was 4ft 11 "yeah my dad said thats why his hand was stuck" LOL! Yvonne

Hi Sheila She lives 3 villages away and is dropping it all off on her way to bingo on Thursday! Can barely stand the anticipation till then! Lou x

Hi Lou, Definatly think Aunt Judy could become your favourite Aunt :O) Does she live in Canada as well, reckon it would be cheaper to book a flight there than send of for a load of false certificates. Could she not photcopy a lot of the info and send it to you, reckon it could be worth its weight in gold. At least thin info is factual and not word of moth ;O) Sheila

Have been researching my family tree for about 6 months now. Then husband started showing an interest in his family. He didn't know anything except his Mum and Dads name and that his Mum was born in Trowbridge. Today I was looking throuhg a box of old bits and found his Mums birth certificate and it turns out her maiden name was Trowbridge not born in Trowbridge. He still swears he doesn't know how the certificate got there. MEN. lol Linda

My gran always insisted her nans maiden name was Lee and she came from Liverpool, I now now her name was Lake and she came from Hartlepool, when I told her the name Lake the response was 'Oh yes that was it' though she still thinks the family were from Liverpool despite my having evidence suggesting otherwise.

Well my darling husband was orphaned as a young boy (an only child) and was brought up by his granny (his grand dad died the day he was born) until he was 15 and put into the Navy. Granny then died when he was 21 and Mrs ?????? had all granny's papers. Eventually Mrs ????????? said if you don't collect them she'll throw them away - so did he collect them - oh no he didn't so we presume Mrs ???????? whoever she was did throw them away. Exasperating and typically a male thing!!!!!!

Hi Sheila I intend getting my hands on Aunty Judy's family box! Aunty Judy's mother was one of my Grandad's sisters and I've never known such a hoarder in my life. Her house was wall to wall old newspapers, boxes of photos etc etc and as the last surviving sibling of 10, I think she collected a lot of information on the others. When she died in the mid 90's, Judy couldn't bear to throw it out apparantly and it's been sitting in her attic ever since. Could be a potential goldmine! Lou

Hi Lou, Reckon you get your hands on Aunt Judys Family Box reckon you could save yourself months of searching :O))) Sheila

Hi, My Mum is a classic, whenever I mention a new name I have come across she'll say something like " Oh yes I remember Auntie Agnes, she's the one who married 3 times and had 9 children, she lived round the corner from us!!" Cate :))

My grandmother kept mentioning that there was some connection to Falkirk in relationship to my grandfathers family. He was put in care when he was 2 so never knew them. We all thought she was getting confused, as all of my grandfathers family where clearly born in England, until that is we discovered my grandfather had various siblings he never knew about. His sister in particular was proving difficult when trying to trace her birth, as she did not come up in english records at all. I then tried looking in Scottish births and low and behold, I found her, born 1920 in Falkirk. Just goes to show, always listen to your elders, no matter how looney the information they are giving you seems.

I think sometimes it's because our elderly parents don't realise quite what info is useful to us. Everyone kept saying that my paternal great grandmother had lived to a good age, but having dug around for months to no avail, my mother suddenly says, " well of course she was still alive during the war (WW2) because she was evacuated up to Sunderland from East Ham, with her daughter!!" So then of course in about 10 mins on 1837 I found her death in Sunderland in 1946 and had confirmation of her DOB. Just keep them talking I say, Sue in Berks

Ah yes, the Tomlin girls...forever etched on my brain! Are you out of the naughty corner now!!!

Lou, you spent ages the other day looking for Grannys sisters that my Mum forget to mention.. Jess

lol I have fond a few things out like that. You mention something in passing and it suddenly switches a light on, and they tell you things they knew that you spent ages trying to find out - which they could have told you ages ago.

Lou I know this is exasperating, but when you think about how much info we all store in our heads about our families, we often need a prompt to remind us. My mother has given me a lot more info when I've found a letter or photo to stir her memory. nell

I have spent a long time trying to locate my ggrandmother who, rumoured had it, emigrated to Canada after the death of her husband in 1918. I found what I thought could be her heading for New Brunswick in 1927 and Gordon has very kindly trawled BMD's over there looking for her, as I have tried online ones. Mentioned to my mother yesterday that Gordon had located an Eliza Maynard death in Ontario which looked promising and she casually mentions 'Oh, phone your Aunty Judy. When Eliza died, Nellie cut the obit from the paper and mailed it over. Judy still has it in her family box'! Well she could have mentioned this SIX MONTHS AGO!

As a bit of light relief, I think we need a new thread and this seems an appropriate one!