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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: mofid42 on Sunday 05 February 12 15:22 GMT (UK)
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I've always enjoyed the novels of Jane Austen and would love to find a family connection no matter how distant.....sadly I never have!
Just wondering if any of you have found a unexpected family connection to a well known figure from the past that you have admired?
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Two in fact!
I found out quite early in my research of the link to John Constable (he of "Haywain" fame!).
His paternal grandmother was a Garrad.
And then, of course WDYTYA shows that Barbara Windsor was also linked!
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...And does painting and acting run in the family? :D
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I found out just the other day that my husband's great aunt's son & grandson started the Scottish blood transfusion service in 1930. It's not really fame & glamour, but a wonderful cause just the same. ;D
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That reminds me....I am distantly connected to the man who invented the distemper vaccine for animals. Not bad for a man who's grandmother came from a long line of poor basket makers in Kent. Don't know how the family managed to find the money for him to learn to be a vet unless it was 'on the job' training as he started as a vets assistant
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I have a connection with George Edalji who was the first black man to be sucessfully cleared of charges brought about due to racism in the UK. His case was taken up by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unfortunately, he never received any compensation from the state.
There is even an book written about the case.
Rishile
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My grandmother's cousin played football for England in 1903 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Must have been really exciting for the family at the time.
Milly
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My G-G-Grandparents Peter Richardson and Elizabeth Owen were married in 1841 at Daresbury Parish Church in Cheshire by the perpetual curate Charles Dodgson. Reverend Dodgson's son was also called Charles Dodgson, better known by his pen-name of Lewis Carroll ....... author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other stories and poems. Not much of a claim to fame I admit but the best I've found in my research so far! :)
Jim
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Reverend Dodgson's son was also called Charles Dodgson, better known by his pen-name of Lewis Carroll ....... author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and other stories and poems.
Jim
My 3x great grandfather was butler for Rev. James Dalton who was rector at Croft before the Rev Dodgson. Do I win a prize for a tenuous connection? ;D
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I have a distant connection to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's first wife
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One of my GGGG uncles married Ann Evans, who taught the Brontë sisters at Cowan Bridge School and is believed to have been the inspiration for the character of Miss Temple in Jane Eyre.
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The OP may hate me for this but I have a connection to Jane Austen ;D It is quite distant though, so bear with me...
Jane's brother James married Mary Lloyd; Mary's mother was Martha Craven and her brother John's* great grandson was Fulwar John Colquitt Craven, and he married my great great grandmother's sister.
According to A******y's "relationship to you" tracker, this makes Jane Austen to me "sister-in-law of 1st cousin 2x removed of husband of 2nd great grand aunt"
* No, not John Craven off Newsround, he's not that old
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Ooooh Wharfrat I hate you!!
Only joking.
Lucky you and great work for finding the connection.....I'm still living in hope one day I'll find a link!
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OP may want to have words with me too... ;D :-[
related via Jane Austen's mother Cassandra Leigh (via one of her uncles), but it makes my head hurt trying to work out what the relationship is...save that it isn't close!
also got Joyce Grenfell by a slightly less tenuous connection but still quite a way away..!
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Goodness Ruth that must mean you an Warfrat must be distantly related too.....although I don't think I'd ever be able to work out exactly how!
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I love this thread! Just looking at your surname interests, rutht22000, I wonder if you have any connection to Dennis Sievers, the chap who recreated that wonderful household in Folgate Street, Spitalfields? Do you know the one I mean?
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I can lay distant claim to two well known historical figures.
The Artist Thomas Alexander Ferguson Graham,(1859 -1901)
Also to Samuel Smith MP.(1836-1906) First elected to Parliament 19 November1882.
Both are in my Mothers family line.
PS I certainly dont take after either!
Dolly
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I have found that my 2 cousin was well known author in Canada, Partricia Ann Blondal nee Jenkins, she wrote, Candle To Light The Sun, and a couple more books, sadly she died at the age of 32 in 1959, before her true potential was realized, if there was one ancestor I could have spent a day with, it would have be her.
Margp
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I love this thread! Just looking at your surname interests, rutht22000, I wonder if you have any connection to Dennis Sievers, the chap who recreated that wonderful household in Folgate Street, Spitalfields? Do you know the one I mean?
That's Dennis Severs. He was an American.
His house is a real treasure. I could spend forever there.
I am the 5th cousin twice removed (or is is second cousin 5 times removed :-\) of Thomas Spencer's (of Marks and Spencer) second wife. ;D I've always liked M&S, specially the bread and butter pudding. ;D
I have other grander possibilities but with a vital missing link. :(
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Because virtually everyone in the UK with a variant of a surname is descended from my ggg grandfather, searching for that name turns up all sorts of professionals.
Probably best known is a 4th cousin who retired from the army as a Brigadier, but there are also several senior medical professionals and even a Rugby League player.
On other lines, I too have a writer in Canada. My 3rd cousin is very much alive.
However, I also have links through both my mother and father to Peter Lee, who became a miners' leader and had a whole town named after him.
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This is quite distant, but a blood relation all the same - I am a fifth cousin, several times removed, of Charles Darwin, through Charles's grandfather Josiah Wedgwood (of pottery fame).
A more interesting connection is my relative John Howard, a surgeon, who was deceived by Mary Toft when she gave birth to rabbits in 1726. I don't think it did much for his career - but it did get him in the history books.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Toft
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James Connolly made a whole speech about my Great-grandfather.
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My great great grandfather's brother married a girl called Eliza Bassett. Her dad George founded a sweet-making firm, who are quite well known :)
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Coming over all bertie at that.
I supposed to be related to john major according to someone else who has done some family history. I suspect it is the wrong line which has been followed. I don't know whether i want to check!
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[quote James Connolly made a whole speech about my Great-grandfather.
Did he? Well, don't keep us in suspense now - what was it about? Was it a funeral oration? My son would be very jealous as James Connolly is one of his heroes.
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Emma SMITH was aunt of husband of Augusta CHRISTIE.
Augusta CHRISTIE was my 17th cousin 4 times removed.
Emma SMITH was James Austen's (Jane Austen's brother) wife.
The Christie's are the family who founded Glyndebourne Opera House.
Here's a good one, Old King Coel (Ceneu ap COEL) was my great (x46) grandfather.
Have a look at this (www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/ (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~rnewfie/Family_History/)), there are a few kings and queens in there.
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[quote James Connolly made a whole speech about my Great-grandfather.
Did he? Well, don't keep us in suspense now - what was it about? Was it a funeral oration? My son would be very jealous as James Connolly is one of his heroes.
Hi Winterbloom,
My Ggrandfather stood for election (for the Dublin City Council) representing the Irish Socialist Republican Party and Connolly made a speech about all the dirty tricks his opponents pulled to make sure that he didn't get elected.
- it was a very exciting find for me too.
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My great great grandfather's brother married a girl called Eliza Bassett. Her dad George founded a sweet-making firm, who are quite well known :)
It takes all sorts!
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That's great, DudleyWinchurch. My most interesting find about one of my great grandfathers recently was that he gave evidence to an Election Commission (when he was only 17) about a prospective member of parliament buying votes to get elected in 1880 in Evesham.
The MP actually got away with it and his agent carried the can, but the election was declared void.
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According to my grandmother (died 1992) we are related to Sir Christopher Wren...I have yet to find a connection...My grandmother gave one of her sons the middle name of Wren.....
Jules....
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I am a distant cousin of two infamous figures, the Kray Twins. Their 3xgreat gran was the sister of my 5xgreat grampy.
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I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
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I have a connection with George Edalji who was the first black man to be sucessfully cleared of charges brought about due to racism in the UK. His case was taken up by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unfortunately, he never received any compensation from the state.
There is even an book written about the case.
Rishile
I was delighted to read this as I have written a book about the famous Edalji family, which also includes details on the Stoneham, Swann and Thompson families. See www.outrage-rogeroldfield.co.uk. What is your connection?
Roger Oldfield
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I have as 3rd cousin thrice removed James Stockley who was in the CID at the time of the Ripper murders and was involved in the case.
Also a close relative of his Charles Stockley Collins reputedly the first to use fingerprints in a British criminal case.
Paul
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According to "The Times", a Christopher Tatham was aboard either the Olympic or the Titanic when she was taken out for sea testing (?), with Bruce Ismay also on board. My gt grandfather's name was Christopher Tatham - but then, it was also the name of a number of his cousins (family get-togethers must have been a hoot!). However, gt-grandad was already in Oz by that time ... I am yet to figure out which Christopher Tatham took that little sea trip
???
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I have a connection with George Edalji who was the first black man to be sucessfully cleared of charges brought about due to racism in the UK. His case was taken up by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Unfortunately, he never received any compensation from the state.
There is even an book written about the case.
Rishile
I was delighted to read this as I have written a book about the famous Edalji family, which also includes details on the Stoneham, Swann and Thompson families. See www.outrage-rogeroldfield.co.uk. What is your connection?
Roger Oldfield
Hi Roger
I am really interested in your book. Thompson and Catherine Stoneham were my Gtx5 grandparents. Can I get your book on-line?
Rishile
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Hi Rishile Well, that's great! I've written about Catherine and Thompson Stoneham. You can get the book online - there are links on the website (www. outrage-rogeroldfield.co.uk). You could contact me via the website too if you wanted to.
Roger
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Thank you Roger - I will be buying your book very soon.
Rishile
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My ancestors came from the same French village as Lyndon Baines Johnson, whatever number President of the US. His ancestor was born in 1726 and mine in 1724 in the same village in France. Might be a link further back.
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Hi
My dads mother was a Margaret Armstrong .Her GGGrandfather James Armstrong was born scottish borders and my dad told me we were related to Neil Armstrong .I was also told this by someone who contacted me on Genes Reunited. Her GGgrandfather and mine were brothers and sons of James Armstrong.Her father had told her the same story.
Also related to John whitelaw the Monkland Martyr.My dads GGGGran Was Betty Whitelaw Carnwarth and symington .Then Airdrie .Her brother John Whitelaw had a Shoemaker shop in Airdrie High street 1850s.
On my mums side .Her sister emmigrated to Canada from Scotland1926 but sadly died in 1931 age 26.She gave birth to a baby girl, My Aunt died 2 weeks later.Her husband was James B Powell.My mum told me when i was young that James B Powell was related to Baden Powell who founded the Scouts.Still trying to find my Aunts daughter and family .Think i have found them in Ohio .I found a death certificate on Ancestry with same name with exact date of birth and says she was born Canada , also her father was a james B Powell mother Mclaren.We had photos of my aunt with her husband that she sent to my gran from canada. If i find them i will find out if i had an uncle related to Baden Powell.
Marguerite
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A HUGE thank-you to this thread for helping me find Roger's book. I am now half-way through reading it and finding it an absolute joy to read and I'm learning more about my family than I ever imagined was possible.
Thank you RC and Roger.
Rishile
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2103393/Womens-mug-shots-1920s-Australia.html
I do hope none of these belong to me... have to check them out....
xin
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Really pleased for you Rishile.....I do love a happy ending!
I never thought when I started this thread, in an idle moment when I had nothing better to do, that it would result in putting two people together for their mutual benefit....makes it all worth while!
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My wife leads in with Jeremy Bentham, who was/is her 2nd cousin, 7x removed. In the same line, her 5x great grandfather's brother, Gregory Bentham, sailed with Cook, not on the Endeavour, but on the Pandora.
I think my greatest claim would be with William Youatt, the well known vet who textbooks such as "The Horse", "Sheep", etc. These books were used in training other vets for many years.
Darren
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Ernest Hemingway is my eighth cousin twice removed. We are related through the Yale family which produced Elihu Yale, the founder of Yale University.
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I think few individuals have transformed the economy and geography and landscape and iconography of a continent in the way that Daniel Halladay (born 24 Nov 1826 in Vermont) did when he obtained the patent for the self-regulating windmill. He was my 7th cousin 3 times removed
http://www.sprague-database.org/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I329879&tree=SpragueProject
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Going through Ancestry I found related to my gt grandfather. James [Wild Bill] Hickock 2nd cousin 12 times removed. Bette Davis 6th cous 5 times removed. Geo Bush snr 5th cous 8times rem. Geo Bush jnr 6th cous 7 times rem. Pretty Boy Floyd 6th cous 7 times rem, Bob Hope 11cous 4 times rem.Dont know what that makes them to me?
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one of my relatives alexander campbell married charles q11sts daughter magaret
reading kith and kin book on families it seems that my hamilton family were to be crowned king s of scotland but for the bad luck thay the fought on the wrong side and lost their castle land and titles because of it same with forbesfamily,and the sunderlands the old duke did not want his cousin to inherit the titles so he applied to the house of lords to allow his titles to pass down through his daughter to her family which is the family i am alledged to belong to but with no proof accept my grandadas middle name which refers to the name of the house named clermiston
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Hi,
My Great, Great Aunt is Minnie Lee, married to Alfred Lee, who is one of the founders of The Royal Australian Historical Society. I have only recently found heaps of information on them and their family at the Mitchell Library. They are on my Mother's side, and for many years I have been researching my Father's side, so I didn't even know it was there! But now I do, I need to spend some time at the Mitchell library!
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I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
I am.dustantly related too. His mother was my great grandmothers first cousin. Born cardiganshire , wales
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Smiler ..... your distant relative had a rather bad ending .....
Bank robber Pretty Boy Floyd drops in a hail of 93 bullets.
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Marcie
hello -- just as a by the way :)
there may be a link --------- here as I also have some of the Hamiltons
Marjory Hamilton married to David Dundas 11th gg's
xin
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Hi all
For the Australians, I have two fairly famous people on my dads side.
Reginald Coombe was a JP and did a lot of work on the juvenile court system in Australia was married to Adelaide Headland, who is something like cousin 4 times removed to me. Her mother is the daughter of the Brand family who built the pub at overland corner.
Archer Russell wrote books about his travels around Australia researching the wildlife and was literary critic for the Sydney Herald. He is something like cousin 3 times removed
Jon
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I haven't had a chance to work on this one yet, but I suspect some kind of connection with Edward John Smith, captain of the Titanic. His great grandmother was a Jane Blakemore who married in Bradley, Staffordshire in 1760.
I actually have two separate Blakemore ancestors from the same local area, one who married a William Rutter in Blymhill (about 6 miles away from Bradley) in 1716, and earlier than that another Mary Blakemore who married a Lovatt in Lapley (about 3 miles south of Bradley) in 1682.
I suspect that both Marys could have been distantly related to Jane - but given how many Blakemores ate in the area it's hard to judge just how distant!
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Sarah Evans (I'm descended from her brother) emigrated to Pennsylvania from Bala North Wales.
In October 1711 she married John Hank. At some point the family moved to Kentucky.
Sarah and John Hank had a grand-daughter Nancy Hank who married Thomas Lincoln in 1806.
Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were the parents of Abraham Lincoln b 1809.
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My great great grandmother was good friends with Stan Laurel. They spoke and wrote to each other regularly, and I was lucky enough to discover copies of the many letters he sent her at this website! www.lettersfromstan.com
I would love to have seen the letters she wrote to him, but no copies exist.
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My great aunt Alice lown from throckley married the footballer Joseph waters Spence also from throckley in 1922. He was a famous Manchester united player from 1919 until 1933. That must have been like the posh and becks at that time and although easy to get a photo of him I would love to find a photo of her.
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Very impressed with all these famous connections. The best i can do is my gt-gt-aunt Martha Fairey, who married one of Queen Victoria's footmen. ;)
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Iris Murdoch is my second Cousin although born 37 years before me!
Very few people would know her Grandparents married in New Zealand 1888.
(Wills John Hughes Murdoch/Louisa Shaw) I have the M/C.
Iris's Father Hugh was born 26 April 1890 • Thames, New Zealand
Louisa was my Grandmothers Sister.
Quote;
ONE day in 1888, on the North Island of New Zealand, a runaway horse with an alarmed and excited girl on its back galloped into Wills Hughes Murdoch's view. He was twenty-seven years old, and had been quietly tending his sheep. He managed to race after the horse, to jump out and grab the reins, calm and finally stop it. The girl, Louisa Shaw, who was on her way to school, was that November to be his bride. She was only seventeen when they married.
Trish :)
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I am distantly related to Jane Lane (1626 - 1689), who helped the future Charles II escape after the Battle of Worcester - a connection which I wasn't aware of until I began to volunteer at a National Trust property where Charles hid...
And I recently discover that Ronnie Reed, who was a member of MI5 and ran double agents during the Second World War (including Agent Zigzag),is also related - a fifth cousin.
Cati
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My Mother told me she once polished the shoes of Henry Ford's Grandson. She was working 'in service' for a Lady Rose Baring (as I recall in Kent) before she (my Mother) married in 1936. She said this man came down to the kitchen to ask if someone would polish his shoes for him. She said his feet were huge and that he gave her a very big tip.
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Another tenuous link to fame
.. Owen Brannigan - opera singer
My Dad and his family lived in Annitsford when he was growing up and knew the Brannigans.
Family story is that when my Grandfather was on his death bed (1932) my Dad tried to persuade the local priest to come out and give the last rites. The priest refused as he did not believe my Grandfather was dying. Dad was very upset about this but Owen Brannigan's Father told him not to worry he would 'make' the priest come out. Eventually, the priest was persuaded to come out but it was too late. Grandfather had passed away.
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My maternal great grandmother Matilda Belton nee Ball was employed in 1901 as a cook to Bramwell Booth, son of the founder of the Salvation Army and at the time Chief Staff Officer, later succeeding his father as General of the SA.
MaxD
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My great great grandmother was good friends with Stan Laurel. They spoke and wrote to each other regularly, and I was lucky enough to discover copies of the many letters he sent her at this website! www.lettersfromstan.com
I would love to have seen the letters she wrote to him, but no copies exist.
Brilliant stuff. As a huge fan of the Boys I have looked at that site many, many times since it opened about 5 years ago.
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My grandfather’s first cousin, Joseph Ford, was listed as a butler on the 1939 register for Windsor castle to Clive Wigram, Former Private Secretary to George V.
Baron Wigram also served in some capacity to Edward VIII but apparently quit due to the abdication crisis. On the 1939 he is “lieutenant-governor, Windsor Castle”.
On the maternal side, my grandmother’s half first cousin’s young husband was killed in a hit and run near Windsor (coincidentally) in 1927 and the driver that killed him was the heir to the American Reynolds Tobacco fortune. That young man spent a year in jail but no mention of that in his Wikipedia entry! The 19 year old widow got a nice settlement, equal to what her husband would have likely earned had he lived a normal lifespan. The amount was not disclosed in the papers. Mary Jeff Graham remarried soon afterward.
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94 years ago my grandfather couldn't accompany his wife to hospital for birth of his first child because he was on guard duty at the residence of Elizabeth Bowes-lyon while she was giving birth to a famous living person .
So glad my aunt told me that on her 94th birthday
She never boasted of it before .
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A butler at Windsor Castle is a really cool connection to have.
I have quite a few.
My 5x Great Grandfather was friends with Robert Burns and was involved in getting the poem The Jolly Beggars printed. My daughter's ancestor on her Dad's side is quoted in a book where he claims that he was the plough boy with Burns when the mouse's nest was turned over.
My Great Grandpa's first cousin, so my 1st cousin 4x removed was involved in making the Queen's wedding cake.
The obituary of my daughter's 6x Great Grandfather claimed that he was the second cousin of Thomas Carlyle. I have not successfully proven the grandparents of either of them so I cannot say that this true but neither have I disproven it.
In my Great Great Grandfather's will one of the people who was listed as owing him money at the time of his death was Sir William Edmonstone, the father of The Alice Keppel.
One of my directs worked on the country estate of the Tarmac Macadams.
That's just a few of them.
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My ancestor Peter Cartwright mentioned his good friend Henry Cromwell in his 1597 will. Probably a relative of Ollie. I think Peter originated in Warrington as he mentions it in his will, but lived in King's Lynn and St Ives in later life, as well as London.
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I had never pushed my Fradd (Cornwall) line very far ... until just this last few weeks.. and now I have a collection of Royalists and all kinds of interesting folk...
It seems the world is connected to them all.. :)
so will enjoy researching them.. but due to so many plastered all over Ancestry the hints are fast and furious.
Keigwins.. Trevathens .. Jeffreys.. Carminows .. Tallerkerns ... right up to 1400's and lots of tales on Google.. so yes... busy on this lot but want facts... which is a little difficult... :) Google search is not now as it once was... ------ whereby you could type in a name and area and have REAL facts... now its often from some imaginary tree with the odd fact .. and no decent pics.. but am I just being picccccky :)
Xin related to the world.. it seems :)
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The husband of my Gx3 Aunt, Mary Ann Morris (1842-1912) was George Alfred Andrews (sometimes Morgan, he was born ahead of his mother's marriage) 8th June 1838-10th July 1924. Both were born in Kent (Willesborough/Minster respectively) and married there in 1861.
George was firstly in the police, serving as a Police Constable in Kensington, London, and then in the 1891 he is shown as a House Steward in Freshwater, IoW.
By 1901 he and Mary are in what appears to be the extensive estate, Limner's Lease, Compton, Guildford, of painter George F Watts "Painter and Sculptor, member of Royal Academy of Arts". George Andrews is shown as Estate Steward.
He and Mary are still there in 1911, with George a police pensioner and estate steward, although the painter G F Watts had died in 1904.
The lovely thing is that George was painted by his employer G F Watts, I think probably in the late 1890's (I don't know precisely when he became Estate Steward), and in researching the family I was kindly sent an image of the portrait.
I only wish that my own relative, Mary Ann Morris, had been included!
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One of my family lines contains a lot of influential people of the 19th and early 20th centuries - - politicians, journalists, sportsmen etc. Eg Alfred Cooper Rawson holds the record for the greatest parliamentary majority in the UK (he was MP for Brighton with a majority of 62000!) and is a distant cousin of mine.
But that's a bit boring. My favourite famous (actually infamous) connection is in a different line. One of the perpetrators of the Cato St conspiracy, Richard Tidd, was the brother of my 5gt grandfather John Tidd. Vive la revolution!
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I've always enjoyed the novels of Jane Austen and would love to find a family connection no matter how distant.....sadly I never have!
Just wondering if any of you have found a unexpected family connection to a well known figure from the past that you have admired?
Not a family connection to Jane Austen, but my g-g-g-grandfather Edward Daniel Clarke's older brother James Stanier Clarke did correspond with her for a while and is supposed to have painted a portrait of her.
Ian C
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Recent finds have given me links to Alfred Nobel, Max von Sydow, John Gay, and a more tenuous link to Joshua Reynolds. A real mixed bag there.
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Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg was awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1951 for discovering plutonium. He said, "Two people inspired me. One was Dwight Logan Reid, my chemistry and physics teacher at David Starr Jordan High School in Los Angeles."
This was my grandfather's cousin.
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I found out recently that I descend from John Hastings, 1st baron Hastings who married a 2nd cousin and both descend from Aoife (Eve) McMurrough of Leinster who wed Richard De Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke. Their ancestry was mainly French and Irish.
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That is odd. I was trying this morning to think of any connections my very boring family might have, and all I came up with was my great grandfather's spell as admiral's cox'n to a not very well known admiral. He was Sir Hastings Reginald Yelverton, whose wife was Barbara Rawdon-Hastings, 20th Baroness Grey de Ruthyn, Marchioness of Hastings. I think there may be an extremely tenuous connection with coombs' 1st Baron Hastings.
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Me: A Napoleonic hero (earned a medal from Nelson himself "for valour") but whose name remains unknown to the vast majority of people.
Himself: a distant twig on the tree of the Haigs (Field Marshall Douglas Haig of WWI).
No kings, presidents, pirates or adventurers...mainly farm labourers, cottage weavers and spinners, fishermen, carters and cattle dealers; the odd publican or two; a 'transportee' or two; but real people nonetheless!
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My ancestor David Midgley owned the farm 'Top Withens' that Emily Bronte used as inspiration for her novel 'Withering Heights'. The ruins of the farmhouse can still be seen on the moors. The Midgleys of Haworth are buried next to the Brontes in the local church.
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I've enjoyed reading everyone's connections :)
Here's mine -
Mary Howitt (nee Botham) an English Poet and translator was my 1st cousin x6 removed. My x6 great grandmother Rebecca was Mary's grandmother. If my x6 great grandfather hadn't of died, Rebecca probably wouldn't of gone on to marry John Botham and therefore Mary would never have existed!
She led an interesting life and I would of loved to have met her....but I'm certainly no poet! ;D
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I'm ashamed to say I had to google Mary Howitt. :-[
At least now I know who wrote The Spider and the Fly.
Being an avid reader, I take great delight in finding connections to literary figures. A distant relation married Ianthe Shelley, daughter of Percy Shelley the poet.
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My grandfather’s first cousin, Joseph Ford, was listed as a butler on the 1939 register for Windsor castle to Clive Wigram, Former Private Secretary to George V.
Baron Wigram also served in some capacity to Edward VIII but apparently quit due to the abdication crisis. On the 1939 he is “lieutenant-governor, Windsor Castle”.
On the maternal side, my grandmother’s half first cousin’s young husband was killed in a hit and run near Windsor (coincidentally) in 1927 and the driver that killed him was the heir to the American Reynolds Tobacco fortune. That young man spent a year in jail but no mention of that in his Wikipedia entry! The 19 year old widow got a nice settlement, equal to what her husband would have likely earned had he lived a normal lifespan. The amount was not disclosed in the papers. Mary Jeff Graham remarried soon afterward.
The young widow mentioned above was the grand daughter of Thomas Jeff (my 2x great-grandmother’s husband; I have never found a marriage but they were together for about 40 years)
who was a groom in the household of Frederick Doulton in 1861 in Lambeth, he was still in the family pottery business then but became an MP the following year. Thomas was listed as a potter’s lad in 1841, age 13, Lambeth, so likely worked for the Doulton’s.
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Very, very distant tie-ins, generations back, leading to:
Screaming Lord Sutch!!
Samuel Toplis, painter of Sark.
A current Scottish politician - not Ms Sturgeon
and via marriage some generations back:
The last public hangman, Pierrpoint
Eric Morecambe ( no, that's not a joke)
And a well known medium / spiritualist around wartime.
but nothing at all close, unfortunately.
TY
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Doing a bit of research into one of my wife's lines, I thought I had found a connection to one of my own. Instead, I found a descent from Owen Glendower. At first glance, it looks to be accurate, but I will confirm it for myself.
Apologies for the Anglicized spelling.
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I like this thread, thanks.
My times 4 x great grandfather was John SHERWOOD. Of his daughters became Granny Smith, famous Apple grower. I am descended from her half-sister.
Melbell
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I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
I am.dustantly related too. His mother was my great grandmothers first cousin. Born cardiganshire , wales
Nick 29
We could be related to king edward 1st of england via frank lloyd wright .
I was just on chat room and someone mentioned that.
I googled and google was in agreement suggesting my heritage for further research.
We always were amused by my mother insisting we had a royal background. Sorry mum.
It would be interesting to to establish what the connection was.
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I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
I am.dustantly related too. His mother was my great grandmothers first cousin. Born cardiganshire , wales
Nick 29
We could be related to king edward 1st of england via frank lloyd wright .
I was just on chat room and someone mentioned that.
I googled and google was in agreement suggesting my heritage for further research.
We always were amused by my mother insisting we had a royal background. Sorry mum.
It would be interesting to to establish what the connection was.
I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
I am.dustantly related too. His mother was my great grandmothers first cousin. Born cardiganshire , wales
Nick 29
We could be related to king edward 1st of england via frank lloyd wright .
I was just on chat room and someone mentioned that.
I googled and google was in agreement suggesting my heritage for further research.
We always were amused by my mother insisting we had a royal background. Sorry mum.
It would be interesting to to establish what the connection was.
I am distantly related by marriage to Frank Lloyd Wright, Lilian Gish and George W Bush.
I am.dustantly related too. His mother was my great grandmothers first cousin. Born cardiganshire , wales
Nick 29
We could be related to king edward 1st of england via frank lloyd wright .
I was just on chat room and someone mentioned that.
I googled and google was in agreement suggesting my heritage for further research.
We always were amused by my mother insisting we had a royal background. Sorry mum.
It would be interesting to to establish what the connection was.
Can anyone show the connection