General Chat

Hi Anne I would like to meet my mothers mother because i don't know her name, were she was born, or who fathered my mother, it was something my mother would never talk about, so i am going round the bend searching. David

I would like to meet my G Grandfather Richard Long and ask him if the story of him being in the Army in South Africa was true and also if he was in America when his second son John was born in 1893 in the Workhouse in Stockton. Mine is an Irish family and yet no child is named for him....thereby hangs a tale.

Like Donna I would love to meet my Nana she passed when I was 4, she was irish and had loads of brothers who went to America, her mum died giving birth and I'd get all the info I needed. I would love to meet my Grandad who also passed when I was 4 and ask him why he changed his name from Magorrian to Mcgorrian!! Must have been for the craic, Lynda

Would like to meet my great x3 grandad, George Tate. I have found out so much about him, his 2 wives (I think) about 12 children, their spouses and children, found his grave and got his death certificate, but can't find out where he was born or who his parents were! Think I'm going to have to abandon him and start on another branch. Maggy

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far- there are some interesting stories here- and some sad ones too. If only we had a time machine...............

I would like to meet both my grandad's, As 1 went missing for 50 yrs from the day he was born to 1881 census and why he didn't register his childrens births and I would ask my other grandad if he had another christian cos I cannot find his birth for his christian name (ALFRED) in the year he was born or 3yrs either side.Also I would like to talk to my dad and he could give me more details of my 2 half-sisters which I would like to meet or to find their children.I would be really pleased if I could find them. hope everyone has some success in finding their rellies. sue

I'd like to meet my G Grandmother, Jessie KEY (LLOYD). She married my GGrandfather Charles in Avenbury, Hereford where her parents lived and worked. G Grandfather had itchy feet, so they moved to Portskewett in Monmouthshire where my Grandmother and her two brothers were born. According to 1901 census Jessie, Charles and the two elder children were living in St Brides Minor in Glamorgan, but the youngest child ,aged 2, was living with Jessie's parents back in Avenbury. I'd like to ask her why? G Grandfather was not satisfied and decided to give up his good job as a railway signalman (for which he won lots of commendations) and emigrate to Canada because he had always wanted to be a farmer. He went over to Canada and homesteaded for a year until he sent for GGrandmother and his children. GGrandmother then went to Canada, steerage class, with 3 children aged about 10, 9 & 8. Within months of them arriving the eldest child, Sam, died of typhus. They lived in a wooden shack on the Praries in Saskatchewan - freezing in Winter and hot in Summer. Her youngest child, Edward, was killed just before the end of WW1, having got the MM and Bar. My father always though his Grandmother Jessie to be a crochety old woman, but think of the life she must have had. She left her homeland and her parents (she was an only child) to move across the world to a new life which was completely alien to her. She had been brought up in a town and her father was a bricklayer and her mother a dressmaker, not rich but comfortably off. I would love to have met Jessie - she must have had so many stories to tell - if she had had the time and someone to listen to her! Sue

My gran, not to ask her anything, just to spend the day with her again. To show her my family ( my son was born the day after she died) and how we are doing. Most of all I would like to tell her that I realise now what a difficult life she had and to thank her for being the person she was. Magsx

my grandfather as i never got to meet him as he died at the end of the war and cause he could throw some light on the masters side as its a brick wall

I would like to meet my grandmother Ellen Elizabeth Feaver nee Webb, she died in 1929 age 33 my mum was 5 , i would like to ask her one why her father was not named on her birth certificate and why all of a sudden he appeared on her marriage certificate,23 years later and also my great grandfather to ask him why he used Henry James Bishop on one certificate and James Henry Bishop on another one i know he was the same person. Margaret

My Great Granda David. He was a sailor who came up north from Dorset. When I asked someone who knew my granda what he looked like he said" if you've seen Captain Birdseye you've seen your granda",and he wore a gold ring in each ear! Very pirates of the Carribean!

I would like to meet my grandfather who left Finland. I would ask him why he left. Was it to avoid going in the army (Russian at that time). Did he intend going back. He didn't because he met my grandmother and married. He died at 36. Would like to see a photo of him. None in the family as far as I know. I'm still trying in Finland. Sylvia

my grandads pop died in 1965 so i never got to ask any questions about his family, and arthur who is so elusive with his surname, as his mum died when he was born so at the moment we don't know his real surname lol sandra

I would like to meet my Gt Gt grandfather Abraham Allen and ask him why he was said to have absconded when his family were in the workhouse, then after that why they were able to join him in France. Where in france his son, my gt grandfather Seth Allen was born and finally why and how the children returned from France and he and my gt gt grandmother seem to have not returned. Ann Glos

I would like to know tham all, but if I had to choose it would be my g-g-grandfather, David Davies. He is an interesting character, as despite having a wife, he fathered an illegitimate child at the age of 51 with a 23 year old woman, then had two more children at the age of 61 and 70 respectively, this time with my g-g-grandmother, who was also half his age. I would like to see what the made these young women go for such an ageing romeo!!! I always imagine him to be brooding and charasmatic, and I have quite a soft spot for him, despite his lifestyle being quite scandalous for the time. He is also someone whose family in Wales I have been unable to trace, on account of his name being so common , so I could ask him about his family and early life in Wales. Does anybody else have a 'favourite' from their rellies?????