What family info did you have before you started genealogy?

[louisa maud]

When I was looking after my mother way back in 1994 she often got the "certificates and insurances" out of a large purse to look at, she did mention that her mother was married at 16, so on my way to London on the coach I stopped off and went to St Catherine's House, there I purchased my grandmother's birth certificate, 2 women in front of me told me to go into the census office "round the corner", (turned out to be Chancery Lane), I had absolutely no idea what to do or where to look, having sought help I went home to my mother with the 1881 census for Saffron Hill Holborn, there were 6 or so children shown on the listings all my grandmother's siblings, she had no idea my grandmother had so many siblings , little did she realise after a few more weeks of delving, (by then I had become hooked), that my grandmother was one of 12, their surname was very unusual and I have since been in contact and met the last 2 remaining males from this  blood line and cousins of  my mother, it would appear my Gt grandmother had 12 children spanning 24 years and the older ones hardly knew about the youngsters, when my grandmother died in 1958 we all thought there was no one to contact about her death, what a shame as there were still some siblings alive.

My grandmother was one of the oldest in her family but I did find one  person who has since died that knew a lot more about the youngest siblings and so filled in a lot of details I would never have been able to find out myself.

My grandmother actually got married at 21, so that was one story to be dismissed like others I have found to contradict  what I had heard over the years

I just feel sorry now that as a child I didn't ask more, but in those days it was almost a case of being seen and not heard, I would never have dreamt of asking either  grandmothers about their family, my parents told me bits and pieces but since my mother died in 1996 it has almost been my sole hobby to complete my family tree on her side and my fathers, well it never is complete really, is it?, and so I plod on

It has been frustrating but  fun and interesting to say the least


Happy Hunting

Louisa Maud

[3sillydogs]

Agreed TY.

There are many, many questions that I would like to be able to ask my parents, but I only started my research after they were both gone.  There are so many unanswered questions and gaps that they would be able to fill in...

[louisa maud]

It ought to be a lesson learnt to try to encourage the youngsters, must admit my 2 grandchildren at 14 and 17 aren't interested as yet, I live in hope

LM

[genjen]

My mum used to look at me with "that look" on her face and say "You're like Aunt Kathy", in a way which I knew meant no good. I was never sure whether she meant in looks or in character.

Now, to be clear, Aunt Kathy was my dad's aunt, not my mum's and to the best of my knowledge, mum met her, at most, on one occasion, so not best qualified to judge whether I was like her in nature but the fact is that Kathy took her own life ( as did several other members of that branch of the family) and I honestly believe that in mum's eyes, that made her somehow flawed and there was nothing mum liked better than to compare me with someone who had "gone wrong".

Is there a depressive gene? If there is, it was certainly strong in my paternal line and continues to this day through me and both of my daughters. Poor Kathy, I very much doubt whether I am like her but I do wish I could know what led her, her uncle and her grandfather to such a desperate frame of mind that life was not worth living.

[coombs]

Mum said that her gran died when she was about 4 and her name was Violet May. Also I had my grandparents marriage cert and was told there is a stream of gravestones in Little Wakering which belong to our Cornwell and Clift families. I memorised dates and names a while before I started FH.

I initially only did mums London side but then when I was in Gt Yarmouth and walking through the cemetery I saw a gravestone which said "Thirza Finch" and it reminded me that my paternal gran said her nan was a Thirza, so it started me on investigating all lines.

[genjen]

I saw a gravestone which said "Thirza Finch" and it reminded me that my paternal gran said her nan was a Thirza, so it started me on investigating all lines.

Oooh...did a double take there....I have a Thirza French in my family.

[clairec666]

I was lucky to have A LOT of information when I started.

My mum's dad caught the genealogy bug after he retired. I've inherited all the certificates he bought and his photos. He died when I was a baby; I wish I'd had the chance to discuss everything with him, and to thank him for keeping all those precious photos.

My mum started researching her mum's family, learning from her dad. Her grandmother was still alive at the time, and she could remember all her own grandparents, so I had 5 generations of that family handed to me on a plate.

My other grandfather must have realised the importance of preserving information - he sketched out his own family tree to give to us grandchildren, and for my grandmother. It wasn't very detailed and some of the dates weren't accurate, but I'm glad he wrote it down instead of keeping it in his head.

So I had names for all my 2xgreat-grandparents when I started, and dates for most of them too, plus photos for all branches of the family except my dad's mum. I've managed to confirm the information I already had, and extend most of the lines a little further.

[genjen]

My parents also started to research their families in the 70s but obviously it was very different for them doing it all by hand-written letters and having to visit far flung records offices, so with limited time, they didn't get far. Also, they made some big mistakes and no matter how much I was able to show where she had gone wrong, mum would never accept what I subsequently found.

And in future years, will one of my daughters or grandchildren say exactly the same thing about me?

[coombs]

I saw a gravestone which said "Thirza Finch" and it reminded me that my paternal gran said her nan was a Thirza, so it started me on investigating all lines.

Oooh...did a double take there....I have a Thirza French in my family.

Thirza to me did seem as rare as hens teeth but it is more common than we think. It is a good first name to have to trace people but can be grossly mistranscribed (which itself is a hard word to type without a typo).

Nan said her mum died on the 17th July 1945 on her 50th birthday, so I knew she was born 17th July 1895 providing nan was not mistaken. It lead me straight to the Jul, Aug, Sep 1895 returns for people with the surname Edgington. When I looked in the ledger at the FRC in Clerkenwell I thought "Well where is the date of birth"? I asked a lady and she said "You have to buy the certificate for that" I got the birth cert which confirmed what nan said, born 17 July 1895 and her mother was Thirza Edgington. I then got Thirza's maiden name of Snell.