Family legends that turn out to be nonsense

[noseyoap]

My grandfather joined the Army at 14, fought in India, had a batman,spoke many languages and was a gentleman that had his nails manicured!!! He joined the Army at 18 (DOB from IGI) and didn't walk around the block to become 18 - he was stationed at Cape Town in South Africa but never fought in a battle and did not receive any medals  - and on the 1911 he was a clerk on Liverpool Docks. The best one was that he had a military funeral which I have still to prove! I have his full military records which proves all these tales are untrue, he left SA before the start of the Boar War and had no medals but making my mother beleive this she will only beleive what she has been told. It could be because he was 30 years older than my grandmother and he wanted to knock a few years off.
This all comes from a family that holds lots of secrets and has lied on both marriage & census records, I have still to find the birth of my grandmother as I do not even know what name she was born under (I have posted several times on RC with no outcome) The story of her life is even more remarkable but we wont go there!

[Neohet]

My GrtGrandfather was reputed to be the illegitimate child of the son of the owner of a "Large House" in Derbyshire where my 2xGrtGrandmother was a servant. It was speculated that this may have been the Duke of Devenshire, which would mean we have Royal Blood in our family
I have found through my research that actually my GrtGrandfather's parents were married when he was born, but his Father (my 2xGrtGrandfather) was illegitimate - his Mother (My 3xGrtGrandmother) was a servant at a large house nr Dinnington before he was born. She was un-married when he was born and no Father's name is given on his birth cert. Not long after she was living with her uncle & appears to have later married this uncle and he is named as Father on my 2xGrtGrandfather's marriage cert
Not quite Royal Blood

Regards,
Matt T.

[Erato]

This is not a family legend but, rather, a newspaper legend.  While it is true that Beulah Logan did survive the wreck of the missionary ship “Robert W. Logan” in The Mortlocks in 1899, I have not been able to verify the following story [summarized] from the New Oxford Item, New Oxford, Pennsylvania, 21 February 1907:

In 1900 Beulah Logan sailed on the steam ship “Aragul” from the Caroline Islands to Australia.  Near New Ireland, she was swept overboard during a violent storm.  Fortunately, she was a good swimmer and she was picked up by a boat manned by Christian Malays.  This boat was then wrecked on a sandbar just two miles off  New Ireland.  A schooner was also wrecked and breaking up on the same bar.  Just as the tide was rising and their boat began to float free, Beulah and the Malays saw a large group of cannibals in full war dress attacking the crew of the schooner.  The cannibals clubbed and killed all 11 members of the schooner’s crew.  Then they cooked and ate them while beating tom-toms, dancing and uttering “weird gutteral cries.”  Beulah and the Malays were finally able to get their boat free but the cannibals caught sight of them and pursued them by canoe.  As the cannibals gained on them, a German war ship from a nearby station came to their rescue and blasted the cannibal canoe with a four inch shell.  Beulah was saved and thanked the Germans profusely.

I have found no confirmation for this story and suspect it was invented by the reporter to titillate the readers of the New Oxford Item.

[Patricia jackson]

  I read this thread with great interest. Yes it is amazing the 'oral histories' we hear from our families, that are unusually totally untrue or only have a grain of truth in them - that have somehow evolved over the years - like a game of chinese whispers. I too have got tales of Army families, 'love children' ancesters who fought in the battle of Trafalgar - but have yet to find them! not to mention the one born 'the wrong side of the blanket' to royalty - still looking! But I love hearing them all. 

[Neohet]

Not from my family stories, but coinsidently I just recieved this e-mail from a friend:

It just all depends on how you look at some things..

Judy Wallman, a professional genealogy researcher in southern California, was doing some personal work on her own family tree.. She discovered that Senator Harry Reid's great-great uncle, Remus Reid, was hanged for horse stealing and train robbery in Montana in 1889. Both Judy and Harry Reid share this common ancestor.

The only known photograph of Remus shows him standing on the gallows in Montana territory. On the back of the picture Judy obtained during her research is this inscription: 'Remus Reid, horse thief, sent to Montana Territorial Prison 1885, escaped 1887, robbed the Montana Flyer six times. Caught by Pinkerton detectives, convicted and hanged in 1889.'

So Judy recently e-mailed Senator Harry Reid for information about their great-great uncle.
Believe it or not, Harry Reid's staff sent back the following biographical sketch for her genealogy research:

"Remus Reid was a famous cowboy in the Montana Territory. His business empire grew to include acquisition of valuable equestrian assets and intimate dealings with the Montana railroad. Beginning in 1883, he devoted several years of his life to government service, finally taking leave to resume his dealings with the railroad.  In 1887, he was a key player in a vital investigation run by the renowned Pinkerton Detective Agency. In 1889, Remus passed away during an important civic function held in his honor when the platform upon which he was standing collapsed."

That's real POLITICAL SPIN 

Regards,
Matt T.

[Archivos]

That's brilliant, the best euphamism for hanging ever!

[LizzieW]

You don't actually mention it but I guess you are aware that Kneller Hall is where army musicians are trained etc. Just a thought.

Oops, sorry I meant Kneller Hall.  I wrote to them and paid a large fee for a search to be done of their records - zilch.  I have my grandfather's army records and there is nothing about him going to Kneller Hall.

[mrs.tenacious]

All my life I've grown up with the 'knowledge' that I was descended from the poet Robert Burns, albeit "wrong side of the blanket". Apparently it was all recorded in the family bible, long since lost.

I've spent a lifetime casually dropping this into relevant conversation, reading his work, considering Scotland has a special place in my heart (although carefully avoiding haggis - yuk!), and singing Auld Lang Syne with gusto every New Year's Eve.

4 years of FH research, including contacting another Burns family descendant who had actually paid a professional genealogist to prove it one way or the other, and guess what.................. absolute load of utter rubbish/wishful thinking 

Mrs. T.

[Charlesworth]

4 years of FH research, including contacting another Burns family descendant who had actually paid a professional genealogist to prove it one way or the other, and guess what.................. absolute load of utter rubbish/wishful thinking 

Hilarious but how frustrating!  Did you like the poetry? Maybe you should have tried the haggis too!  (I rather like it!)