What family info did you have before you started genealogy?

[coombs]

Well mum told me that she thought her nan was born in London, maybe Stepney. I found out that she was born in Islington and met Durham born Geo Musgrave in London during WW1 and he then moved her up to co Durham in 1919.

[JACK GEE]

I started in the 1990's when my parents 50th wedding anniversary was nigh. Everyone knew that Aunty Mill Weeks - my fathers sister had the family tree. She did - but in her head!
It was fun but exasperating at the same time - trying to record while she went on and then keeping her on track. Many visits and calls to the 80+ year old the eldest of my GF children - i got the gist of the tree for the anniversary . I have been doing it ever since. It never stops and i am having so much fun going down each tangent.
Currently coordinating a book on the Bond family of East Dereham Norfolk and Ararat Victoria. Researching the McClures of Donegal and Victoria and assisting the writer of a Biography of David Shannon  the Dambuster pilot and progeny of the Shannon family of Derrybeg/Limavady northern Ireland and South Australi/Victoria.

Cheers
all
Jack Gee

[groom]

Thank you Coombs for starting this thread, it spurred me into action. 

My grandmother also used to say that she was related to a Bobby Howell who was a famous band leader. I still can't find anything about this apart from the fact that her brother was called Robert  (but it wasn't him)

I started a thread on here and I think that Jool has found the missing link and that my grandmother was telling the truth!  http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=764502.0

[Jool]

All I really knew was my grandparents' names including both grandmother's maiden names.  I knew some of my grandparents' siblings but there were more I didn't know about.  Sadly all of my grandparents had passed away by the time I got interested in family history.

My interest started when my father in law took out a 2 week trial on Ancestry to trace his family after he discovered some notes his late father made on their family.  He wasn't making much progress so I offered to help - I instantly became hooked and subscribed to a 12 month Ancestry sub after his trial ended.

Mom and Dad filled me in on their parents' siblings and some info on their grandparents, but they knew little else.  Dad (bless him) was so frustrating in the early days of my research, he said he didn't know anything else but when I made a new discovery he was often able to confirm my findings. When I discovered his dad's mother was born a Bond, he said "Oh yes, the Bonds, I remember them" 

[GUT]

I guess I was lucky.

I had a maternal great grandmother, born 1888 died 1973 who was a sharp as a tack. And she had known three of her grandparents. Gives you a pretty good head start really.


I had my two maternal grandparents well into the 1990s who I saw pretty much every day, most of that side was secret. Also a full complement of great Aunts and Uncles on that side, 10 all up, and saw them regularly at least a few times a year.

Paternal side was bit trickier, both grandparents dead before I was born, but knew grandads twin, born 1883, into my teens, and some of his other siblings as well.

Had a bit of material passed down, some of which now seems to have been wrong.

[GUT]

As a small child I was somewhat bewildered by the fact that my mother had a Granny Frost, who wasn't her real granny but was that of her two big sisters. I was too young to work out the implications of this. My mum's real granny was called Granny Smith, which we all know is, in fact, an apple.

Hooked from then onwards.....

I had a few of those, seems half my ancestors married more than once.

It has also lead to some confusion with other family members. One was insistand for years that my great grandfather had the nickname "Genge" whereas in fact Greatgrandmother had married a second time to mane named Matthew Genge but this relative thought when everyone mentioned "Pop Genge" it was just a nickname, took a bit orpf persuading.

[GUT]

As a small child I was somewhat bewildered by the fact that my mother had a Granny Frost, who wasn't her real granny but was that of her two big sisters. I was too young to work out the implications of this. My mum's real granny was called Granny Smith, which we all know is, in fact, an apple.

Hooked from then onwards.....

[Mvann]

Well for me, parts of mums family I knew about, but there were bits I didn't, mainly on grandads side of the family. Dads side I knew less about. I don't remember anything about mums grandma, as I was only 3 when she died. I did know that she had married 3 times, and mum has the info on the children from those marriages. Dads grandma I knew better as I was 15 when she died. She had married twice. Most of the research I have done has been to add on to what mum has got. 4 out of the five trees I have done actually start from my great grandparents and work back. The odd one out starts at my mums uncles name.

Some of what I had been told by my grandma I have confirmed, but some of it is not strictly true, one being that her grandmas family came from Manchester. Well her grandma was born in Manchester and the family moved to Leicester. But her grandmas dad was born in Staffordshire and his mum, I think was born in Leicestershire. So it seems that certain things I've been told are true in the context of the conversation, but may not be accurate to most people's understanding.

[Nanna52]

I started looking into my family history after my parents had died.  My mother and I were both only children and as my fathers family was split, not much information was available.  I never knew my grandparents so only information I had was grandmothers maiden names.  My mothers father died in 1918 when she was 18 months old and her mother when she was sixteen.  I have been on a great journey of discovery tracing her side back to Anglesey and Keynsham.  My fathers side is more complicated and I go back to it every now and again.  I have found some cousins on my maternal grandmothers side, but no one on the other branches.  I live in hope.