Which Ancestors Could You Comfortable Lifeswap With?

[Viktoria]

Well,my maternal grandmother.
12babies in 27 years. 1883-1910.
Losing 5 of them, three very young and two lovely girls.

Losing twin grandsons and her own last baby in three weeks.
Then adopting four children of a neighbour whose husband had beggared off and she dying.
Grandma dying at 67.
You do understand they are coming to take me away next week!

Seriously she was such s good woman absolutely adored and revered by her husband and children.(Granddad did quite a bit of adoring!)
Again seriously, a happy family.
She It was ,when a spiteful neighbour mentioned that she was pregnant again said “All my babies are born out of love and every one is welcome”.
I wish I had known her.
Viktoria.

[Greensleeves]

I'm not sure I would like to lifeswap with him, but I am fascinated by my 11 x great grandfather's place in history.  Living in the little village of Tudhoe, County Durham, he took part in the Northern Rebellion of 1569 against Elizabeth I and was sentenced to death, along with many others in that area.  In 1571 he was pardoned, but his lands were confiscated so he escaped with his life.  Must have been an 'interesting' time.  When he died he left to his eldest son, amongst other things,  "All my farnitorye I give my son George that is to saye a bowe and a shaiffe of arrows a steel cap a sword."  Interestingly, all the males  that I know in my family have been interested in archery.

[River Tyne Lass]

Just to explain myself further .. what I really had in mind was not imagining a lifeswap completely but a life swap for a short period.  Sort of along the lines of the old 'Wifeswap' programme.  Perhaps I should have called this thread 'Which Ancestors Shoes Would You Feel Most Comfortable Walking In'.  I am interested in knowing if anyone (like oldohiohome) can identify with their ancestors and who perhaps might imagine themselves being able to do similar things in the way of work or interests.  I know I can't imagine myself wanting to do anything that could endanger life on a daily basis.  That is why, as much as I admire both, I feel I could not walk in the shoes of my coal mining or sea/river pilot ancestors.

I can't imagine any of us would seriously wish to swap what we have today, - better health care, working conditions, education and life expectancy for what others had many years ago.  I know it is sad whenever you learn about your ancestors having died of something which would likely be treatable today. 

I think my travelling ancestors James  and Elizabeth Conroy nee Fitzpatrick are the ones I most closely identify with perhaps because from what I  have learned about them they would have been creative people, making their besoms and baskets.  They also seemed to like to be on the move a lot, which is like me in the way that I always like to be out and about doing things.  I wouldn't envy the predicament which they once found themselves in however.  In 1855, their land lady Dorothy Bewick was murdered when they were away from home.  However, because they had had words previously, these ancestors were immediately under suspicion of murder.  They were kept in Morpeth jail for months until their trial the following year.  Fortunately, they were acquitted.  I do not believe they were guilty but no one was ever convicted of this crime which became known in the press as the 'Matfen Murder.'. I think if I had been in their shoes I would have been a nervous wreck, wondering if I might end up hanged for a murder I had not committed.  I think even after I had been acquitted I would likely experience nightmares and never completely get over this.  One of their children (my Great Grandfather Simon Peter Conroy) would have only been four years old when they were sent to prison.  Who knows what happened to him during that time or what may have become of him if they had not, fortunately, been able to reclaim their family.

I am not surprised Greensleeves that male descendants of your notable ancestor have all been interested in archery.  I do tend to believe that predisposition for various interests and abilities are inherited.

My son loves the sea and I have known him to be exhilarated at the thought of going off for the day in a fishing boat.  This interest was never encouraged as some parents encourage children along certain paths.  In his case I wonder if he may have inherited some of the make up of our Tyne Pilots genes.

[Melbell]

For this to work, the chosen ancestor would have to live your life for a while.  I think most of them would find that very frightening, at least at first.  We know a little of what their lives were like, or we can guess, but they would know absolutely nothing about ours.

Melbell

[Chilternbirder]

I suspect that the only ones that I could manage are the shopkeepers. I doubt if I could manage to replace the tub thumping preacher and friend of Wesley in the pulpit let alone the various soldiers, sailors, whalers, grooms and ag labs for even a few minutes.

[clayton bradley]

I'd like to swap with Abraham Broadley my 6xggfather. He was carter to the Dunkenhalgh Estate in Clayton le Moors and I have read their accounts so I know he went shopping in Preston two or three times a week and would love to find out exactly what route he used. He was also sent round old ladies who had worked at the hall to take them money. He lived in a big house which had been a good one fifty years before so I imagine buckets to catch the drips. My main problem is that, although I like horses, I am severely asthmatic and would not have lasted long.

[Mike in Cumbria]

If it was only for a short time, I'd swap with William Williams, my great great grandfather who was a horse-breaker.

As he died at 54, I'm glad this was only a thought experiment.

[iluleah]

Thank you for clarifying RTL, as you say most people really wouln't want to swop the safety of life we have now let alone the health care, education and few of us would survive as women with our laws and attitude now on equality, working in the world and making our own choices ( good or bad) in life.

There are several who I empathise with and proud of, who were certainly ahead of their time and 'broke' boundaries in commerce and the law (of the time)

My dad who unfortuneatly had a short life  died when I was 17 yrs old, him being just 42yrs old. For years he was a retail grocer and then went into wholesale fruit, veg, flowers, at that time wholesale agents would bid at the docks on the landed cargo, have everything taken back to the wholesale market to sell to retail buyers, so they never knew what they would get or if they would get anything nor the prices and the same happened in the home market, growers auctioned off their produce locally, only the big canning factories purchased directly often having their own land/agr labs... so if you remember the "man from Delmonte" advert, that is what my dad was.
He agreed a price annually and directly from grower, world wide, so he was guaranteed a price, knew what he was getting and that also enabled him to sell directly to supermarkets Tesco was his first guaranteeing the same quality of goods, same price nationwide...of course they all have their own buying agents now but my dad was a trail blazer, identifying a gap and filling it, until the other wholesalers caught on and replicated it.

Another is Robert Kett a wealthy tanner, landowner and farmer of a 'noble' Norfolk family, along with his brother William who both go back directly to Toka the Francigine whose grandson was Harold Godwineson King Harold II of England. When the 'pheasants' revolted in 1549 and started to rip up the hedges because of the enclosure of land laws one of their targets was Robert Ketts land who, instead of resisting joined in ripping out his own fences/hedging and leading the revolt he was offered a pardon and rejected it and a week later he was captured, taken the the Tower of London, back to Norwich Castle and hanged from the walls along with his brother and several other members of the family so Ketts Rebellion was a very brave  and principled step away from his wealthy life to help others who were not in the same position as him in life, so extreme action about his charitable belief of others less fortuneate than him...sure beats popping a coin in a charity box

[dowdstree]

I would choose my maternal great grandmother who according to some old family letters was a very sociable and well thought of lady. She seems to have made friends wherever she went.

She married in 1896 aged 20 and by 1900 had 4 children - all born in Edinburgh. Her husband, my great grandfather had been a regular soldier from the age of 15 until just before their marriage. However after the birth of their 4th child he joined up again. He was posted to the Montrose area of Scotland and his wife and 4 children went with him. Another 3 children were born to them in the following five years. He now held the rank of Sergeant Major in the Royal Artillery. In 1907 he was posted to Bere Island, Cork, Ireland. Great granny and the 7 children went with him. By 1910 another 2 children had been born in Ireland. He was then posted to the Island Of Sanday, Orkney Islands where I found them in the 1911 census - mum, dad and 9 children. Whilst on Sanday she had another baby who sadly only lived a few short months. At the outbreak of WW1 they all moved to Kirkwall, Orkney. At the beginning of 1916 she came down to Edinburgh to give birth to her last child returning to Orkney until after the end of the war. That made 11 children in 20 years. She died in St Andrews, Scotland in 1936 aged 59. Her husband only lived another few months.

How she coped with moving around with all those children I don't know. It must have been like a military operation.

I have a great admiration for her and feel a bond although I never met her. She is buried in St Andrews and I have visited her grave to pay my respects.

Yes, I would like to experience what her life was like but not having all those babies.

Dorrie