« Reply #16 on: Friday 31 July 15 17:05 BST (UK) »
I had a similar scenario. My aunt told me her father (my g father) had always said they were connected to a certain family (McFarlane & Lang Biscuits)........over the years "connected" became "related" as she couldn't remember from her childhood the exact term used when she was a child (lost both parents when she was 13/14).
However, my g father was a widower (with a Son) when he married my g mother.
Later in my research I decided to look for my g father's 1st marriage as her name was not mentioned on his marriage to my g mother nor his death cert.................
It turned out his 1st wife was a McFarland (a variant of MacFarlane) so no direct connection to my family & still to this day it may have been made up as their lorry used to pass my mother & aunt's house although my mother had never mentioned it as she was only 6/7 when both parents died & wouldn't have remembered anyway.
Annie
South Uist, Inverness-shire, Scotland:- Bowie, Campbell, Cumming, Currie
Ireland:- Cullen, Flannigan (Derry), Donahoe/Donaghue (variants) (Cork), McCrate (Tipperary), Mellon, Tol(l)and (Donegal & Tyrone)
Newcastle-on-Tyne/Durham (Northumberland):- Harrison, Jude, Kemp, Lunn, Mellon, Robson, Stirling
Kettering, Northampton:- MacKinnon
Canada:- Callaghan, Cumming, MacPhee
"OLD GENEALOGISTS NEVER DIE - THEY JUST LOSE THEIR CENSUS"