General Chat

So how far have you got back on your Family tree or trees
and have you found out anything interesting

Or even better any skeletons now out the closet :-D :-D

1790 that I can verify on my father's side via his mother. As for his father, only from 1904 onwards. That was when my grandfather married my grandmother.

He was 44 and she was 22, the randy old b*gger!

As for skeletons, yes on my mother's side, and not very far back at all ;-)

Well done Allan
Ive got mine back to 1402 and my Husbands to 1506
Ive been luck with mine All lived in Yorkshire

My Nana had a few skeletons
She had 3 children after her husband was killed in the war
;-) ;-) ;-)

1540 on my father's side, with documentation via Parish Registers and then certificates.

early 1800s on my mother's side.

early 1600s on OH's paternal side, with same documentation as above

mid-1850s on OH's maternal side ........... they're all Welsh so I find that difficult!!! A cousin of OH did get that side back to about 1000, but I can't replicate his research :-(

A few skeletons, early births etc :-D

Well done Sylvia I have all the certs for my Immediate family
as far back as possible then copies of the Parish records
We have a few strange births

One on my Husbands side had a baby when she was 64 ;-) ;-)

Strange she had her 14 year Granddaughter living with her at the time ;-) ;-)

I like to visit where my Ancestors lived and where possible
find their graves and photograph and do rubbings of their stones :-D

I couldn't even attempt to find OH's family.

I know her mother was Polish and her father was Ukrainian. They both met in the UK when they went there at the end of WW2 as displaced persons.

On the Cornish side (my dad - via his mum) 1210!
I was just lucky, Cornish Parish Records are free, online.

I didn't do dad's line for years, as mum was into genealogy, dad was dead (they'd divorced as well), so mum and I focussed on her side.
A couple of years after mum died, I found my gran (dad's mum) in prison on the 1939 census, so casually started dad's side. I got back to early 1600's.

Then my nephew had his DNA done and sent me information he'd found from that.
It went back a few more generations - to 1480.
I checked it, to verify it.
Then, by 'googling' a few names, I found MP's and aristocracy as 'recently' as the 1700's. Looking at 'British History Online' Parliament Online', and 'The visitation of the county of Cornwall, in the year 1620' plus a few more sites - I found out even more, and went even further back :-D :-D :-D

It's easy when aristocracy are involved.
As dad never knew who his dad was (though we have a suspect - and he was Cornish), I can't do that side.

As for mum's sides - The Suffolk side, about mid 17th Century, Hampshire - where I started genealogy with an obituary about the 'fattest man in England' (great x 4 grandad) about early 16th century, and the Buckinghamshire line (g grandad mum's side) not much. Just one big scandal - g grandad (who moved from Bucks to become a metropolitan policeman) had a brother who tried to derail a train!

My sister and I have now both had our DNA done - and strangely, we have Cornish/Welsh/Irish (that will be the Cornish - absolutely no Irish or Welsh), North European (Norway/Sweden) and Iberian - but no 'English'.

Plenty of skeletons though. :-D :-D

Our family (who obviously have thousands of descendants) once owned most of Cornwall. How did we lose it?
Well, having girls didn't help, and one gave lavish Christmas parties for the villagers - so I can't fault him on his generosity!

That sounds like a nightmare tree Allan
Thank god mine are all from Yorkshire
Except one In Italian in the 1700s
But he is on the cusp of my tree
I do find it strange he came here to live that early

Maggie thats wonderful
My husband and a family member have offered to pay for my DNA test
But I am a bit scared to do it

My Dad shall we say
had been round the block more times than the Postman
and I dread to think who I might be related to

Ive have did both sides of our trees
and have started the trees of my Grandchildren

My Family owned Mills thats made army blankets
and another started Foxs biscuits
Some owned Manor houses and quite a few owned Farms
We lost out mostly to the eldest sons inheriting the lot lol

Our Family also brought the first Turkey to England
and presented one to the Tudor court
I give them a special thought at Christmas
The same Family carried the flag for the King at the battle of Agincourt
And we also had a witch who was hung Then later Pardoned :-(

At least your ancestors did something constructive!
Mine appear to have married into wealth, then had girls, some of whom married into wealth - like Godolphins and Arundells, but my direct ancestors married bl**dy pirates and MP's (or a combination of both)! :-|
Quite a few of the males went to Cambridge - what did that do for them?
I suppose it meant they could read and write (though some of their descendants couldn't), and complain because 'he's copying my coat of arms', and 'he called me a blaggart', and take people to court - though that's quite funny. At the proceedings, in 1638, we have - Gilbert Dethick - registrar, Arthur Duck, lawyer and Hannibal Gammon, clerk :-|

We have quite a few Coats of arms
My favorite translated means
We will not be moved-- haha
I also have a number of sea captains
And found one of my Husbands Gt grandfather
worked on the river with mine
Towards the end of their lives

My husbands Gt grandmother was born at Raby Castle

But the ones I like the best are the ones who worked the land
or Lived in my Town and shed blood sweat and tears
to make this town what it was

My lot always seemed to use the same names....which is bad enough but then everyone else in the village did too....who knew there'd be so many Thomas Thomas and John Evans!!

On Hubby side can trace to the beginning of settlement in Canada and beyond very well documented.

I am so glad I dont have any Welsh Assertor's
It would be a nightmare

Good luck Caroline :-D :-D

Thanks...doesn't help they moved around a lot too....and of course mostly miners...nothing to make them stand out in the crowd :-)

Don't be too sure, Caroline.
I found recent ancestors as tin miners, in tin mines previously owned by their ancestors :-S

I have got back to 1800s Tipperary from Mums Granddad. but they finished up in Liverpool as a lot of Irish did .other side were from Derby 3rd great grandad he had 13 children with two wives mill owner apparently he was a right bully Dads family from highlands of Scotland but they finished up.in Darwin lancs were Grt Gran met Grt Grandad.who was a Stonemason in Lancashire Dad had Scottish Gran English Grandad.
I believe one of my ancestors rode with Dick Turpin he was hung ugh I am an All sort English Irish Scottish ;-) really interesting :-D

1740 on my dad's maternal side as the line goes back through a long line of Nathaniel Dartnell's who were all barge builders on the Thames

The 1740 was the grandfather of the first Nathaniel who was born c 1790

On dad's paternal side very little ,he was German . In 1889 there was a brother of his dad born in Bradford Yorkshire I have the cert and the parents names that's tie with the 1891 and 1901 census etc
Lots of lies told by grandad and one of his brothers who both joined the British army in 1898 and lied saying they were born in Bradford Yorkshire and anglised their names from German to English

Grandad died in 1911 his brother in 1907 . The mum in 1907 nothing on the family from 1911 ,other than my dad's side, and no clue where in Germany they came from

I have the same problem as Caroline (and others) with my Welsh side. Great-grandfather owned a woollen mill in Merthyr, making blankets, according to my mother. It is still there and I have been inside it, although it's not a mill any more. On that side I can't get much further back because they all have the same surnames and once Welsh patronymics come into play it's impossible!! :-(

Another great-grandfather came from a village in Derbyshire and was the local founder of Methodism. The family were lead-miners and reasonably well off. They paid for a large part of the new Methodist chapel and, because church attendance was compulsory and the nearest C of E church was a 3-mile walk across the moors, almost the whole village became Methodist overnight!! :-) :-)

I have a few skeletons and several brick walls, but no aristocracy yet, unless you count my mother's cousin, Anthony Barber, who had a Life Peerage.

There is a small industrial town on the coast of La Manche (English Channel) called "Eu". What else lol?
Back then Eu was a village. One of my ancestors was married there about 980. His great gson was a soldier of fortune who ended up in Yorkshire.

Shirley My Daughter in Laws family
on her grandads side come from Germany too
I haven't did those yet Not even tried
I have also found a few porkiess in our Family history





AndysMum I am so glad I dont have any Welsh

and one of my Family built a church in Gillamoor Yorks
We have some Methodists too

Well done Roll
o My Dad was in the Army For 30 odd years
The Duke of Wellingtons :-D :-D