Did our ancestors know their ancestry?

[Greensleeves]

I am sure my Pearle ancestors would have known all about their ancestors, since they all lived in the same Suffolk village from at least 1541, until some of them migrated to the bright lights of Ipswich in the 1930s!

My Shadforth ancestors might also have known something of their forebears, since they were the sextons/parish clerks of St Hilda's Church, Hartlepool, for many years.

[clayton bradley]

The Preston Guardian of Friday 24 December 1847 carried an advertisement from John Broadley for "A Family register for the insertion of Births Deaths Marriages and other Domestic events; a sheet which no family should be without and which like an heir-loom should descend from one generation to another."
If he filled one in himself it hasn't survived. He was my 2xggfather born 1816 who founded a printing firm.
Another John Broadley, born 1803 wrote a letter to a friend in the 1850s which listed his paternal ancestors back to his great grandfather Jonas Broadley born 1698.

[BillyF]

Roopat, your comment about your 2nd cousin reminded me about the fact that I went to the same school as my first cousin and I didn`t even know him. His mother made sure that he was estranged from my uncle`s family. When she left my uncle he went to Southern Rhodesia where he died without us knowing. When we were in our 60s we had a reunion with all the cousins present!! maybe that`s not the right word as it was the first time we had met him.

[cristeen]

I have been very lucky that on both my lines I have g grandparents & grandparents who have not only been interested in their ancestry but have taken the time to record their knowledge, either as handwritten trees or memoirs & notes. Lots of family legends etc. most of which have turned out to be true, or at least have a basis in truth. My dad worked for his uncle during the school holidays delivering coal. He says that this uncle spent most of the day pointing out folk & explaining the family connection, most of which went right over his head! On my mother's side there is even a family 'archive' of photos, family bibles, newspaper clippings etc.
My OH's side also took an interest on both lines, one because they lived in such a tiny, isolated village they were pretty much all related somehow. The other line was relatively wealthy & paid a genealogist to produce a family tree (mid 1800s) I have a letter written in 1856 from the gentleman concerned to his sister proclaiming that finally he had proof that the family was descended from royalty (this part appers to be true as far as I can ascertain) The pedigree is impressive and accurate on the whole but claims descendency from a Derbyshire family & used their coat of arms. My own research has found no connection at all (based on wills from three generations of the Derbyshire family) so an early case of genealogical fraud!
Having said all that, my Gran (whose passing started me on this journey) was exceptionally proud of her roots but hid the fact that their first daughter was adopted at birth! We didn't find out about my aunt until after my Gran's death.
I suppose historically there were some folk who were interested and some who weren't; just as today

[iluleah]

Some would and some wouldn't. Those who were born and lived in the same village as their ancestors would have known their line went back, they may have heard a villager say " I knew your great great grandmother" but how interested they were about them and how important it was to them is another thing.

Many family stories are told to hide information out of past shame of an incident or like my family lack of any information with the "let sleeping dogs lie" comments works well  for most people...apart from the nosy ones like me who feel a need to know.

What I will say about my mother who said she "didn't know anything" so when I found out some details I told her and it was clearly new information to her but she pretended she already knew, so I stopped short of telling her more ( if she knew she didn't need telling and she wouldn't lower herself to ask me) ....... yet I found her later going through my FH folder  to find out more............ what she didn't know is she was looking through the wrong one all the info was in my other file. So she feels 'safe' thinking she knows more than I do.... she is wrong!

[coombs]

The mother's maiden name of my ancestor William Coombs born in 1860 was Auber. Clara Emma Auber. I am sure Billy Coombs  would have known about his French roots.

In a small village, I think some villagers would probably be aware they were second cousins or third cousins. Even in a town or city there may have been families that lived in the same area for generations and were 2nd/3rd cousins.

[Skoosh]

There are still folks in the Hebrides who can recite their patronymic back hundreds of years!

Skoosh.

[sparrett]

After a childless gap of 10 years after their 5 children, my ggg grandparents baptized a further 2 children in 1831 and 1833, she being 43ish at the last.

The little village of Burrington in Devon where the couple and their forebears had lived for generations, would surely have known if the babies were hers or in fact those of her elder daughters born 1810 and 1813.  The infants were baptized by the rector at High Bickington who had performed marriages and baptisms for years so knew the local families.

My question,..... would the rector go along with a face-saving deception of that sort in recording the parents, or did my ggg grandmother just have a last late  genuine flash of

Any thoughts?
Sue     

[StanleysChesterton]

Over the years my mum'd often say to me "we're related to him" when I mentioned names of people.... e.g. I had a temp job at the Hospital and said I'd gone to "XYZs shop" and she said "we're related to him"... whenever I asked "how?" she'd always say "dunno".

She also called everybody her "cousin".

There were also other snippets/stories without names. e.g. when somebody in her family died by just dropping dead as a kid while fishing alone at a riverbank, she said "funny that, my cousin did that years ago and died too"....

All these "dunno" "cousin" and nameless stories.... I've eventually managed to piece them all together and know who everybody was and how they were related. 

She never mentioned the beauty queen though .... knowing my mum she'd have probably said "I didn't like her...."   so wasn't worthy of a mention.