RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: River Tyne Lass on Monday 14 May 18 01:17 BST (UK)
-
If it was possible to time travel to meet just one ancestor or a family of ancestors - would it be an easy choice for you about who you would choose to visit?
Imagine if you could ask any questions and they would tell you the truth.
I would be torn between choosing one of two ancestors. One would be my grt x 2 Grandparents who were accused of murder in the mid 1800s. They were acquitted on lack of sufficient evidence. I would love to go back and ask if they had had any part in this or not. However, I do really think they were innocent but would like to know for definite.
The other would be a great Grandmother - I would love to know who my unknown Great Grandfather was and more about what happened immediately in the years following the birth of her illegitimate daughter, - my Grandmother.
-
I would really love to meet my 4x Irish great grandfather, Henry Maxwell Mathews Esq. His wife was Saran Annie no-name! I need to talk to him about his Sarah Annie and her family, as her maiden name doesn't appear ANYWHERE on any of the many records I have found about this family. I also need to ask him who his own parents were!
She was mother to another Sarah Annie Mathews, Phoebe Mathews, Richard Mathews, and John Gibbons Mathews (my 3rd G Grandfather, but is also not named on any of her children's marriage records!
I would also like to talk to Mary Jane Fleming, my 3rd G Grandmother, who married John Gibbons Mathews in Dublin in 1845! Her father is named on Cert. as David Fleming, an Officer in Royal Irish Artillery, but again no mother is named. These women, Sarah Annie no-name, and Mary Jane Fleming's no-name mother, have over many years, proven to be my biggest brick walls EVER!! GRRR!
-
I see you seem to be like me in finding it difficult to choose just one ancestor to time travel to and question.
It would be great if someone sees this post of yours either now or in the future who may have the answers for you. I would love to see these brick walls of yours come tumbling down. :)
-
;D ;D. So would I RTL, it's been the bane of my life!! 😂😂😂
-
My 3x gt. grandfather Robert Porter who married in Sheffield in 1788, the only time I have found a record for him. I know he died before 1833, as on her death his wife was shown as a widow.
I think he was a builder /stonemason as his sons started out in this trade, so probably moved around for work.
-
I'd probably be torn between that James Smith who died in 1849 in Oxford (not born in county in 1841) or Sarah Bradford, once Coombs, nee Unknown. Again she snuffed it in Feb 1851 in Marylebone, just weeks before the 1851 census and said she was not born in county in 1841.
I may be getting closer to finding out about James Smith so I may choose Sarah. She was married to George Coombs by 1812. He died in 1831.
-
My great great grandmother Hannah, born around 1821 in Alton, Staffordshire, married Thomas Cope in 1845. Widowed in Nov 1860 while pregnant with her 6th child who died as a a baby. Lived with her eldest daughter and family until 1881, then vanishes. Not buried with her husband and their daughter and son in law (in same grave). No apparent re-marriage. Would love to meet her and ask her what happened. 🤔😀
-
It would be a difficult choice.
Unlike many other posters on this thread I wouldn't choose an ancestor who could provide missing information. I would like to spend time with an ancestor who led an interesting life. But which one?
A Member of Parliament who was detested by King James I?
An Irish carpetbagger who emigrated to the USA and met some interesting people in the 1860s and 1870s?
A Huguenot refugee silk weaver?
A labourer in Norwich who lost most of his relatives in a plague?
One of many Cornish tin miners?
One of the multitude of Ag Labs?
I would probably choose an ancestor who left no written records (except for BMD) just to see what his or her life was like.
Philip
-
My maternal great great grandmother who married her husband 1 month after 'their' first child ( my great grandfather) was born.
He was registered as their son, baptised as their son, lived with them until he was 11 months old, 'they' named him the given & surname of great great grandmothers brother in law plus added their own surname.
When child number two arrived he went to live with his maternal grandparents by the age of 10yr he was using his mothers maiden name and by the age of 20yrs he was using his 'middle' name ( which was the surname of his 'uncle')
Birth and baptism records & 1st census state who his parents are but I am not convinced his named father is his real father and I think he knew/found out he wasn't. He married twice and lied both both on 1st marriage he wrote his grandfather as his father on his 2nd marriage he wrote his mothers brother.
Great grandfather was parish clerk and ALL mention of his aunt in PRs are ink spotted/page torn/ water rubbed so you can't see her name at all I only found her via BTs ( which great grandfather didn't have access to)and when I found out she had left the area and the name of who she married it all made sense....
I never felt 'related' when researching his recorded fathers family they just didn't seem to be 'mine' however once I found his aunt and uncle and started researching him, he 'felt' like 'mine' not that I 'wanted' him as he was a rogue who ended up in prison.
Then I made contact with someone related to him and it shocked me how much he looked like my uncle, my grandfather and the photo of my great grandfather.
So it would be nice to ask great great grandmother who her first born father really was as I can then have one paternal line of ancestry from him and not the two I have.
-
My great great grandmother Hannah, born around 1821 in Alton, Staffordshire, married Thomas Cope in 1845. Widowed in Nov 1860 while pregnant with her 6th child who died as a a baby. Lived with her eldest daughter and family until 1881, then vanishes. Not buried with her husband and their daughter and son in law (in same grave). No apparent re-marriage. Would love to meet her and ask her what happened. 🤔😀
While it would be good to solve the mystery of Hannah (and i have no famous or newsworthy ancestors) i guess speaking to a great grandmother (different branch) about their appalling living conditions and how she coped losing 6 babies (none at birth) and 2 more grown children (young men), leaving 5 surviving out of 13. No doubt a harrowing conversation but quite hard to imagine today.
-
I have a number of ancestors, particularly on my paternal grandfather's side, of whom we don't know where they were born so are stuck. Most were born and died prior to the census or are missing from the 1851 census and died before 1861. I suppose one I would really like to know from where he arrived in London would be 3 x Great Grandfather Johan Michael Mayer who married Sarah Matthews at Newington St Mary in 1818. His marriage entry lists his name as John Michael Mayer but he signed it Johan and as for part of his working life in London he worked as a sugar baker (a typical profession for German migrants to London), I think its highly likely he was born somewhere in what is now Germany, Austria or Switzerland. But where? He died in 1837. No naturalisation record and no record of his arrival. He also worked as a Violin and Harp string maker suggesting that was what he had trained as from wherever he came from.
That said, we're none the wiser about his wife. All I know is she was listed as born Salisbury on the 1851 Census and while there is a baptism for a Sarah Matthews at the right time in the city, there are no other children to a couple of those names and no sign of a marriage anywhere. I suspect as there was a John and Sarah Matthews baptising children in the same parish either side of her baptism it could be a mistake with the father's name but can find no proof. :-\
That side of the family have not made it easy to research them, yet of those we have been able to take back, some go right back to the 1500s with certainty of documentation and several were of Huguenot and Walloon descent so can't complain too much as its been very interesting researching them. ;D
-
While I would like to meet any of my ancestors to find out about their day to day lives, I would really really like to find out what happened to two of them, different families and different generations, who 'disappear' from the records. I've had loads of help from RootsChatters, and quite a few bricks have gone, but the walls are still standing! I hate not knowing what happened to them!
-
It would have to be my great-great grandmother Amy. She was born in Bermondsey in 1864, into a family originally from Kent (and Durham even further back). She grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, came of age back in Bermondsey, married in Nottingham, raised a young family in Bury. She and her husband returned to Nottingham, where he soon inherited his parents' pub. They were together there for a few brief years before his early death, just before the outbreak of WWI. She then took her remaining children to live with her widowed mother (also in Nottingham), after whose death twelve years later she stayed in the same house in Nottingham for two more decades with her youngest daughter. The house stayed in the family and my dad recognised the address when I mentioned it, even though she had died (during WWII) a couple of years before he was born.
In general, I find my great-great-grandparents the most fascinating people in my family tree. They lived through times of great social change and half of them ended up in my home town of Nottingham as the result of work-related migration. They are the oldest generation to which I feel a direct connection in the way that I recall my grandparents talking about their own grandparents. Amy is the only one of whom multiple photographs have survived, in my branch at least, from her twenties into her old age, so I feel that I know her a little better than the other names. She looks 'familiar' but with no particular resemblance to currently living family members.
I've often wondered about her accent. I think it would have been a curious mixture of southern vowels (her parents' influence) and Geordie (from her peers while growing up), but tempered by the five-ish decades in Nottingham, not to mention time spent Lancashire. Being able to hear her speak would be fascinating, even before tackling in to the conversation about her life.
Since having begun researching family history, I've often wondered why my grandma seemed completely bemused by me wanting to live in London, never mentioning that her own grandmother was born (t)here. I wonder whether she even knew, or whether she thought that Amy was from Newcastle or Bury. Her own mother, Amy's oldest daughter, had a strong Lancashire accent, despite having been born in Nottingham.
No great mysteries to uncover, I'd just like some detail to flesh out the broader facts.
-
... I suppose one I would really like to know from where he arrived in London would be 3 x Great Grandfather Johan Michael Mayer who married Sarah Matthews at Newington St Mary in 1818. His marriage entry lists his name as John Michael Mayer but he signed it Johan and as for part of his working life in London he worked as a sugar baker ...
Your not the only one, smudwhisk, I've been looking for my 4xgt grandfather, a German sugarbaker, for 20 years with no luck ... hence the website.
I've not got the details of your Johann Michael Mayer on the database. I'd like to add them if I may, please, so maybe you can send by PM, or through the website, or post here, and I'll see if I can help.
-
I would love to talk to my greatx2 grandmother Eliza Miller.
She was married very young to someone we refer to in the family as 'the gypsy bigamist' - someone who I theorise was a bit of a good-looking rogue from a none-too-respectable 'traveling' family, the Corks, whose progress through the censuses has challenged me (and others on this board) more than once.
They had my great grandmother, born when her father was in the navy, and then within 5 years Eliza is with another man, and had many children with him - whilst her estranged husband lived in the other side of the county, and married bigamously.
She was a very respectable mother and grandmother and I'd love to talk to her about her early life.....
And then I would like to talk to my great grandmother Mary Ann Williams, who appears on the birth certificate of my grandfather Joseph William Burton, but is otherwise invisible - I don't have a confirmed sighting of her on a census, she didn't marry my great grandfather, and since she has a really common name and came from the very crowded East End of London, I can't track her down anywhere. I don't think she can have had a very nice life, and at the very least I'd like to thank her.
-
Yes. Some of my ancestors were Irish. There are stilll many (unverified) holes in my research but it looks like one John Ferris (B abt 1831, Dublin), moved to Wales ( for the Iron industry) and married Catherine Simmonds in 1861 who (presumably) died in childbirth in 1868. At the time in Merthyr Tydfil, he had 4 daughters. A year later, he married Bridget McCarthy (Born in Waterford, Ireland) in Merthyr Tydfil, the centre of Welsh (and probably British) industrialisation at that time.
If my research is right, Bridget McCarthy would have been about 39 when she married John Ferris and took on his household of 4 daughters. I would have loved to interview about her past and about the challenges of trying to be a 'mother' in the house with 4 girls who have lost their biological mother.
Of all the people in my family tree 'Bridget McCarthy' has always fascinated me the most.
-
That's a tough question.
I don't know if I would choose a brickwall ancestor, or just one that has caught my interest (we all have a favourite ancestor or two).
Brickwall selection is probably my current one: Mary Ann Palmer, born c.1772 somewhere other than Dorset, married twice, and a mother named Mary who mentions her in a will. Father probably John, from tax records. Possibly born in the West Country, but not definite. I can't pin this family down.
Interest selection possibly would be William Youatt, the famous vet; a very interesting man who changed from nonconformist minister to vet, had 4 daughters with a surrogate, and committed suicide in 1847. Although Christopher Springer is a close second; Swedish merchant, politician, and diplomat who ended up in gaol but escaped to Russia, and died in England.
-
Your not the only one, smudwhisk, I've been looking for my 4xgt grandfather, a German sugarbaker, for 20 years with no luck ... hence the website.
I've not got the details of your Johann Michael Mayer on the database. I'd like to add them if I may, please, so maybe you can send by PM, or through the website, or post here, and I'll see if I can help.
Hi sugarbakers, you do have Johan Michael Mayer on your database, he's listed as Myre (Mayer) John Michael, which was one of the variations of the surname he appears in the records in London as.
-
Similarly to jaybelnz, I would meet one of my ancestors which I have little information on. Probably in Scotland, as the region my family came from is very remote and records aren't well-kept.
-
Wouldn't it be great to be able to do this? :)
In many families at certain points down the ages there have been individuals who have become the authority on the family history, guardians of the family lore if you like, maintaining that extensive information in their heads about the family going back many generations... until they die, whereupon large chunks of the unwritten information die with them.
I don't know who they were in my family, but I would like to choose either my father's or mother's side (I'd toss a coin), go back to the early-mid 1800s, and talk to whoever was that keeper of the family ancestry in that era. Yes, I know that family lore can be inaccurate, but it would still be a fascinating visit.
-
In a slightly different light, wouldn't it be interesting to observe the courting process between two ancestors - as a 'fly on the wall'? I think this would be extremely interesting. Although obviously many would have been pressured into marriage by parents etc, it'd be nice to see a true love story.
-
Added: Only saw last post after posting this one below. Yes, I think it would be wonderful to watch a true love story develop. I once asked my Mother how she came to meet my Father - however, for some reason she went off on a tangent and talked about previous boyfriends instead. I never resumed this topic and now as they are both dead I will never know. They may have met in a bike club as I know they used to cycle all over together apparently, in the early years, according to family stories. :)
I do think this would be great if only it was possible.
It certainly wouldn't be an easy choice for me. If forced to decide I think I would choose my Great Grandmother to ask about unknown Great Grandfather. I would also ask her where she went in the years before she married and had more children. I would also like to know if she ever told this new family the truth and if so did they collude in pretending my Grandmother was her sister and not her daughter.
I am convinced in my own mind that my 2 x Great Grandparents did not commit the murder they were charged with so perhaps it would be a waste to ask them when I believe I already know the answer.
Oh! if only time travel holidays were possible! Think of the fun we would all have! :D
-
"Oh! if only time travel holidays were possible! Think of the fun we would all have!"
and the misery that we would encounter. :-[ :-[ :-[
Malky
-
Most of my direct ancestors on both sides seem to have been fairly boring people, so I think I'd opt for my brickwalls, most of which are (of course) Irish, but I'd love to know the parentage of :Thomas Ross, 1814 (Dumfries area), for at least part of his life a publican ( and NOT a bookbinder, as some trees have him, confused with another lad of the same name) - somewhere between 1871 and 1881), and also
Andrew Keating, a "bread baker" born c 1826 Ireland, who came to England, and died in Fleetwood Lancs in 1933 - he may have even married again after his wife died in Southport, earlier in the century.
Also the Elusive Mr Thomas Cummins, b 1818 probably Wexford, a grocer and licensed victualler, who may have married a Mary Carney/Kierney in Ireland before coming to England, and died in Southport, although I don't know when.
I've chased this trio for years, with little proveable success, and if I could only corner them for an hour or two, over a drink for the first, a bun for the second, and possibly chew a carrot with the third, I might have quite a lot more to go on! And I'd have been fed physically , if not intellectually.
TY
-
I'd like to go back to West Bergholt in Essex circa 1600 and just observe/take part in the daily lives of the Gibson family who were all millers and watch them grind corn and full cloth, generally go about their daily lives and see their interaction with the families they married into - the Potters and Richardsons. It would be a bit like taking part in 'Tudor Monastery Farm' which I'm currently watching again on BBC2. I actually think that they probably had quite good lives.
Carole
-
It would be tempting to go back in time and see if anyone would fess up to knowing who the father of my 2xgt grandfather was, or to ask "Margaret the Widow" what her surname was.
Can you imagine going back and having your ancestor proudly show you their newest baby, or show you their children and see their faces, and you privately thinking "that one dies... that one dies..." or knowing that a year later someone is going to be widowed and destitute?
-
Another great idea for any descendant of immigrants - like in Back To The Future 3 - would to be to see your first ancestor to be born in your home country, knowing that generations would follow from this one event.
-
I would find the choice impossible. All my mother's side were born, lived and died in British India. As some of you might know their records fall somewhere between scant and non-existent. From my grandfather back, each and every ancestor has a question mark hanging over them.
Regards
Chas
-
Regarding my Sarah, I found a George Coombs wedding in 1810 to Sarah Davy. I have the original PR which say they wed by licence. Not found the actual licence yet. She was a widow. This is the only possible marriage I have found. My Sarah was aged 60 (or thereabouts) when she died in Feb 1851. She would have been about 19 or 20 in 1810. She may have been a very young widow. Usually when I have seen marriage licences it says they were 21 or over.
-
In a slightly different light, wouldn't it be interesting to observe the courting process between two ancestors - as a 'fly on the wall'? I think this would be extremely interesting. Although obviously many would have been pressured into marriage by parents etc, it'd be nice to see a true love story.
No long after my Dad died, I asked my Mum how she had met my Dad, she said "well, he had a little boot repair shop and I really fancied him, so when I was coming home from Guides on a Thursday night, if the light was on in the shop, I would knock on the window and then run for my life back home. Then one night, I didn't run"! 💞💞
-
What a lovely story!
-
My Mum came to work for my Dad as a housekeeper when his first wife left him with two young daughters. They married after a few years, and I came along a few more years later.
The one that makes me curious is my 3x great grandparents. I am fairly certain they met in Honiton, Devon, but married in Chichester, Sussex where she had moved with her brother. Talk about a long distance romance.
-
If you want long distance, my 2xgt grandmother, living in Launceston, Cornwall, got pregnant twice, once when the man was in Folkestone, Kent, and the second one when he was in Leeds, Yorkshire ::) I believe he was the father of the first one, jury is out on the second... and no, she didn't marry him ::)
-
It would be a choice of 2 that I would really like to chat to. My gtgrandfather and ask him about his life in Russia and his journey to England with his father and only one brother.
Then my grandmother a chat I wish I could have had with her knowing what I have found out during the course of my family research. I am sure it's not a chat she would like to have, thinking she had taken all her secrets with her. ::) ;D
-
An easy one for me - my great grandparents Sarah and Thomas (whose wedding portrait was so wonderfully treated in this very forum). However, there'd be a condition ... ... that all of the other ancestors I have questions for were also invited. There - not too unreasonable, I think :D
-
Such a hard choice, I have several who lead interesting lives, riots, bankruptcies, murders etc.
In terms of brick walls it would have to be my 3xG grandmother Eleanor (Ellen) Wilkinson. She had an illegitimate daughter in Ulverston workhouse 11th December 1854 & I would love to know the identity of the father. The only clue I have is a possible surname of Arkwright from one of my grandmother's sayings ("From the As came the Bs and from the Bs came the Cs", referring to Arkwright Butterfield & Clark surnames) He is the only gap I have in six generations from me :)
-
Jaybelnz, I was going to write 'What a lovely story but MacGrigor has best me to it! ;D
I see by quite a few posts on here that I am not the only one who would find the making a choice difficult if presented with a one off opportunity to time travel.
I also wonder how many of us would be able to resist meddling to change bad outcomes if we could time travel. I once read a story along the lines of a time travel holiday agency and these tourists had to agree not to do it say anything to try to alter things. There were agency staff who were incognito who could zap tourists back to their present and they would never be allowed to time travel again. I think I saw this story in the 'Illustrated Man' novel if I remember correctly.
I think I would find it hard to let things run their course if I knew there was a bad outcome.
I once did some research in a civilian lady in my area who had been killed by a bomb in North Shields as an outcome of becoming a volunteer 'ambulance' driver during WW2. This was 'ambulance' was actually her own car. I came across a newspaper article from that time which I believe relates to her. This reads along the lines of that the lady who had called in to some office offering her services and car as an ambulance had forgotten to leave her name and details ... this would be most appreciated .. would she please get back in touch. When I read this, I almost wanted to shout 'Don't do it, Doris!'. Sadly, I know she must have got back in touch as she was to lose her life by a bomb in her line of duty.
It would be hard to resist warning ancestors too, of bad outcomes if I could time travel - even though I would not know how this might impact on the future.
-
It's a lovely scenario, RTL - but, of course, impossible. Had you, because someone had died, successfully gone back and saved the life of that person, then the impetus to do so wouldn't exist in the moment, therefore you wouldn't go back to save the life of that person ... ... ... it goes on.
But I know exactly what you mean - and I wish the same.
-
The Grandfather Paradox! :)
-
It's all quite mind bongling. ;)
Also, in this imaginary scenario of warning the real Doris - if she followed my advice perhaps some other poor person may have stepped in her shoes and they would have met this tragic end instead. :-\
-
"IF" ... yes, it's the biggest word in the world, isn't it?
TY
-
True, - certainly a good word to cogitate by :) ;)
-
I thought about that in the context of my 2xgt grandparents. They lost three children- Thomas 1876, Elizabeth Jane 1883 and Charles Edward 1899. Thomas was a premature birth and it makes me sad thinking of his mother sitting there cradling a baby that only lived an hour. Could I save him? Probably not, unless I whisked him away into the future to a NICU and made up a story that might not convince anyone. Could I save Elizabeth Jane? She died aged 9 days of debility. If I figured out what caused that, could I think of a way to prevent it? And Charles Edward, the subject of a few threads lately, who might have died of heatstroke. His death would be preventable.
Here's the thing- my ancestor, Olive, was born in 1893. If I saved Thomas or Elizabeth Jane, the mother might not conceive the subsequent child "on time", knocking the entire order of children out and presumably causing Olive to never be born. The only child that could theoretically be saved is Charles Edward, especially as the final child, Norah, had already been conceived when he died. Then again, how would a living Charles Edward change the course of the future?
Staying impartial would be a nightmare, especially if your ancestors knew you were their future descendant.
-
This is quite a perplexing thought. Again, in the scenario of if ...
If we could go back to do something good, this could turn out detrimental elsewhere. In your scenario, Ayashi, as you say, saving some children may result in another not being born. A living Charles Edward would have changed the course of the future - for one thing he would have brought different people into the lives of the family and likely new possibilities from this.
In an imaginary scenario of mine if someone could go back and warn my Great Grandmother against whoever my Great Grandfather was this probably would have saved her a lot of heartache but would have wiped out a large number of descendants such as me.
Imagine (again if) someone had been able to warn her that this relationship would not work out; she would have a child at 17 and would have to give this child up to her parents to avoid public censure and because she had no money of her own. Mother and daughter would live their entire lives in the eyes of her later husband and children - as sisters.
In my scenario, if my poor ancestor was spared this heartbreak - in one sense I would have liked to save her from all this - however, even if I could I wouldn't, as I and many other descendants would become non-existent. :-\
I am in contact with a grandchild of this Great Grandmother's other family - as we both came together as a result of my searching to find out what happened after birth of my Grandmother. This other descendant is a most lovely person and has been so kind in filling in the gaps. She has given me several photos. However, I do think that despite the smiles, there is a shadow of sadness in my Great Grandmother's eyes. I do feel for her and my Grandmother both living with this secret.
I will never name any of this other family out of respect. It is strange that my Grandmother was born in the late 1800s and I too feel obliged, oddly, to keep some things secret. It is almost as if the legacy of shame lives on.
-
Like so many others I would find it hard to choose just one person. However my 3x great grandfather Thomas Mellish would certainly be a likely candidate as I would love to talk to him about his life and career as a Hairdresser/Perfumer and Master Wig Maker from the end of the 18th century up to the 1850s. I would love to see him demonstrate his skills and tell me how he learned his trades and I would really like to know what he looked like.
-
I was going to say this Grandmother or that one and then this Grandfather or that one..
I am so GREEDY - I would like to pop into my GRAND PARENTS on all sides !! lives for one day --- without them knowing.. Each and every one of them.
Just to watch from the sidelines..
xin
-
Now c'mon xin, how would you like your grandparents to be watching you getting up to your mischief??
ANCESTORS!
If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
Would you be proud of them?
Or don't you really know?
Strange discoveries are sometime made
In climbing the family tree
Occasionally one is found in line
Who shocks his progeny!
If you could see your ancestors
All standing in a row
Perhaps there might be one or two
You wouldn't care to know!
Now turn the question right about
And take another view
When you shall meet your Ancestors
Will they be proud of you???
;D ;D ;D ;D
-
What would they think of me?
"Why isn't she married yet??"
"How can she not know how to cook??"
"She can't make her own clothing??"
"Wait... she wears trousers??"
I wonder how they'd feel about me being atheist...
-
JB, Brilliant poem!
Ayashi, Brilliant response & I'm sure a few of my own ancestors would be horrified by my own life but I believe my faults were passed through my genes, well that's my excuse ;D
The ancestor I would love to visit is my Mother!
She passed away when I was only 23 yrs old, don't really know anything about her childhood/adult yrs (prior to marrying my father) as she was orphaned, brought up by relatives & told me very little but now I'm 'older' she might share her life with me as I know it wasn't good!!!
Annie
-
I knew my paternal grandfather fairly well. He had served in the Great War but he had died before I discovered he had served in the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in German East Afri
-
I knew my paternal grandfather fairly well. He had served in the Great War but he had died before I discovered he had served in the 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers in German East Africa. What I really would have liked to have known is whether he was with Frederick Courtney Selous the day when Selous was killed by a German Sniper.
-
What I really would have liked to have known is whether he was with Frederick Courtney Selous the day when Selous was killed by a German Sniper.
There may be a diary of 25th Battalion Royal Fusiliers to give you a possibility on your thoughts?
Annie
-
I'm very lucky, as both sets of my Scottish grandparents, and their extended families all lived in the same area as I did, probably no more than a few kms apart. We had regular family gatherings at the usual special events, 21st birthdays, weddings, Christmas, New Years Eve, Easter, funerals and more. My 4 grandparents were very good friends with each other. They met from the time when my Mum's parents, my Nanny and Grandpop, came to NZ, in 1926, Dad's parents, my Grandma and Grandpa, had come a few years earlier, but had settled in the same little town. Mum later meets Dad in his little boot repair shop, which was just down the road from where she lived. She gets a crush on him, and the rest as they say - is history!., 💞💞.
I guess I'm pretty lucky really, as I was able to attend the Golden Wedding's of both of these couples, when I was about 15! Unfortunately, my Grandma had a stroke ( I actually found her on the floor of their flat), and we had to get an ambulance to take her to hospital Sad story, but my Grandpa was already in the same hospital in the final stages of bowel cancer at the time! With permission from the nurse, Dad was able to take him down to see her. He kissed her and gave her a cuddle, and whispered something to her before he left. When he reached the door, he turned back, waved and said "Bye Ginny - I Love You, See you again soon"! And he was right!
Perhaps he knew something no-one else did, as she died just 3 hrs later. When Dad went to tell him the bad news, as he walked into his room, Grandpa said " Don't tell me, I already know, it's OK - and he died only two hours later himself. So very sad that neither of them got to my 21st or my wedding! 😢😢 But I'm sure they were there in spirit!! 😍😍
-
I love the responses on this topic -
and that poem is great
:)
xin
-
This opportunity would be perfect for me. 1740's Mitcheltroy Mon. one family and one man. Father, John born 1702 died 1749, mother Hannah. Don't know now when and where they were married and don't know mothers maiden name. We are descended from one of their male children.
He would have known about our family going back to 1690's in Llandogo Mon. Cousin employed a genealogist to take back my researches from 1740's to 1690's only limited by lack of earlier parish registers.
-
It would be difficult, perhaps go back to Scotland and have my portrait done by my ggg uncle William.
-
It would be difficult, perhaps go back to Scotland and have my portrait done by my ggg uncle William.
Lucky you :)
I love his paintings especially, Elizabeth Ann Edgar, that at one time I hoped to be a family member... but uncertain.
xin
-
If it was just one ancestor then I think I would choose Sarah Bradford, formerly Coombs, nee Unknown. I did find out that her first hubby George Coombs, my ancestor, came from Dorset originally and they were in London by 1812 when he was a coachman in Holborn, according to his first sons baptism. It has given me an idea as to where Sarah was from but if they met in London then she could have come from anywhere. I suppose the fact she said she was not born in county (Middlesex) in 1841 and died by 1851 gives me something to think about. Where in England did she originate? She may have been from London but from the what was then the Surrey area of London (Lambeth, Southwark).
-
http://milin.net/genealogy/genealog/Letsuse/witnwisdom.html
Thanks for posting this great poem Jaybelnz - I have seen this before I think on the link above. I also like some other poems on this link - including the 'Census Taker.'. I am sure when our ancestors gave census information all those years ago they would have had no idea just how much we descendants would value this in years to come.
Xinia, I am greedy too. It would be hard to limit myself to just one ancestor if I could time travel. I think I could narrow it down to between two. If this was a real possibility I would have to give very serious thought to this if I was limited to only one. I think I would also have to work out a list of questions. It would be awful to return and think .. oh no! I forgot to ask ...
Chirp, I think I would like to be shown my ancestors work/trades too. It would be interesting to be shown how to make a besom, or how to pilot a boat on the Tyne or how to do blacksmith work etc.
I am enjoying reading all the interesting and amusing posts on this thread. These are certainly giving me a lot of food for thought and these are certainly stimulating my imagination. :)
-
I have decided it would be my wonderful Nan .. I KNOW that lady loved me xx as much as I love her always
xin
-
I just followed you link RTLass, WOW - what a treasure house. Thank you for the link. 👍👍🌺
-
Hi RTL
No contest here, without a doubt I'd plump for a day with my maternal Granda, my childhood best friend, teller of stories, singer of songs and the bestower of the bestest whiskery hugs and kisses.
Am smiling at the link with the quotes and poems, I resisted genealogy for a long time, I knew it would be addictive and take up SO much time, then I thought I'd just peek and the rest, as they say, is history :-)
Obsession
by Tickettyboo, aged never grew up
I've gorn and dunnit, silly me
I'm now researching my family tree
I really wish I'd never looked
Cos now I am totally, utterly hooked
I got a subcription to Ancestry
(I'm even transcribing for free bmd)
Tracing dead rellies with anticipation
But my lot had got no imagination!
Generations of Georges and Williams and Johns
Grandas and Dads and then the sons
They had lots of children, (none of them barren)
Oh how I yearn to find a Darren!
All the Johns married Mary Anns
(I suppose it saved rewriting the banns)
and every blooming Isabella
Found a George to be her fella.
From Shetland to Northumberland
They moved around to toil on the land
Life was hard, don’t think it was fab
In 1860 as an 'Ag. Lab.'
Another branch of these past folks of mine
Spent their lives on the banks of the Tyne
I've now got proof, it was no myth
GG Granda was an anchorsmith.
Grandma was a bit po-faced
She always seemed so straight laced
Athletically now, I just can't fault her
That was quite some dash she made to the altar!
Lets not forget the tears which were cried
For babies born who, too soon, died
I think of their parents so forlorn
With such a hard life, was there time to mourn?
But though it was hard they just kept going
Moving round for work, to-ing and fro-ing
Its fun learning about the past folk who
Were the ancestors of this little Boo
Boo
-
Boo! This is fantastic! What a wonderful poem you have penned! I am going to write this down when I get home. I am very privileged that you have put your own poem on here. :D I am sooo pleased I started this thread!
Genealogy is addictive. I think some people are more prone to becoming addicted. I think people like myself with vivid imaginations and love of story telling and who have had someone in their past who may have triggered a love of history. My Dad is the one I credit in my life for this. He was a great story teller and used to take me around places with family connections including grave yards! I remember him taking me to visit the miners' memorial at Earsdon as a child and my Grandfather's grave with no gravestone at Annitsford, St John RC. We also had his Uncle John's war memorial plaque on our wall in the kitchen. I would go on to research this in later years.
I started on family history tentatively in the Easter Holidays of 2013. I just wrote down a few names and information from the Census with regard to a Great Grandfather's family. Then I started again in 2014. I thought that I would get my family tree 'done' that year. I didn't realize at that point that I could not get this done and dusted in one year only! In reality, I now think this will be a lifetime interest. In my case, I had no idea at the start how addictive I was going to find this. In 2014 I had some mind-blowing successes and became totally hooked!
Regarding poems I am going to write a little ditty below which I wrote as a child - I think I may have been about twelve. I even had a tune which I used to sing this to. As a child I used to love to pretend I was married to the boy next door and had lots of children. However, I also used to like to pretend I was a gypsy travelling all over the countryside in a caravan. I could visualize country lanes, rivers etc and imagine myself in a caravan being pulled by a horse. Then when I started family history research I discovered that one branch of my family tree on my Dad's side had in fact been Irish travelers! I wonder if there is a hidden memory in the DNA. This is the ditty:
'Sitting by the river, gazing at the stars
Wondering how far I've travelled
I'm here without a care
Come rain or shine
All of my troubles have unraveled
It's a fine life to be free
And the free life is for me
I wouldn't give it up at any cost
And as I like to roam
And I have no proper home
There's never any chance of getting lost!
(In reality, I had no proper 'troubles' and of course, did have a 'proper home'. ;D)
My Grandson, is a baby and has not yet reached his first birthday. However, when he gets older I am going to share my love of family history with him and take him around places with family connections as my Dad did with me. Hopefully, he will also become an addicted family genealogist like me!
Thanks again, Boo for posting your poem. I love it! What a treat to come on here and read this with a smile. :)
-
If one of your ancestors was a volunteer in say, WW1, and he/she was killed during the war, or was killed elsewhere accidentally, at some other time, would you go back and tell/show him what will/did happen(ed) to him/her, knowing that your actions would, in all probability change the future?
Malky
-
Good question .. yes I would warn my ancestors in WW1 who were to be killed. I think this would have saved a lot of heartbreak for their families. These were mostly single men who were killed and all were miners. I believe they would have been able to continue as miners - take your pick. However, I know from experience - my own Dad was almost killed as a result of an accident down the pit and through my research of mining ancestors that this was far from a safe occupation in itself.
I know one of my WW1 ancestors was gassed; another survived a liquid fire attack before being killed in action in another battle. I think I would say to them - you will stand no chance if you go to war but I do not know what your outcome will be if you stay as a miner.
My Dad told me that he did attempt to find alternative work to mining when he left school. He went for an interview for another job but was asked by the haughty interviewer what his Father's trade was. When my Dad replied that he was a pitman he was told that that too was what he must do, and that he should know his place, etc,.
In the 1960s my Dad suffered a terrible mining accident and narrowly missed death albeit with with multiple broken bones and collapsed lung. He was sent to a convalescent home for six months after hospital.
So I suppose war or to continue mining would be like offering a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, as they say.
I also had an ancestor who was drowned. He was the son of my Great x 2 Grandparents. He was training to be as an apprentice pilot when a storm occurred as he and the man he was training under were trying to 're-enter the Tyne. There was a rescue attempt but there was only time in the very dramatic rescue attempt (1902) to save one man. The rescuers saved the older man and my ancestor who had been married only 8 weeks disappeared in the waves never to be seen again. I do know that the family were utterly heatbroken. You can see this in the memorials that appeared during several years afterwards. Yes, I would certainly warn him. Even though, this would be difficult as his widow went on to re-marry and had a daughter who would not have existed otherwise. However, no question I would warn this ancestor if I could. His parents and siblings were broken-hearted. I can't even begin to imagine the pain and disbelief which would have been theirs when this news reached them that he would never return home. His name was Philip Young. There was a big ceremony in South Shields following the rescue where the rescuers were all awarded medals.
Bizarrely, my Dad used to tell a story about his time in WW2 when he was warned by an unknown soldier about being imminently killed if he did not follow his advice. I won't go into the full circumstances, but my Dad said that if he had not done what the man had instructed he would have been killed. My Dad said he had never seen this man before his appearance at that time and that he never came across him again. This was quit an eerie story to hear it in full like I did many years ago!
-
The only person I know who died in WW1 was my grandmas older brother, he was single, 19yrs old and died on her 13th birthday in 1915.
I have to say if I could warn him I would.
It haunted my grandma her whole life and although she had 3 other brothers who also joined, fought and returned all of who I knew, I can only imagine how difficult it was for her parents and other siblings, as it was for many families who lost someone
-
Yes agree there -
My Nan and Gramps were so extremely sad about the Men we lost in the family during both Wars.
They were also spoken of as good strong caring folk.. It is so sad that they didn't live.
Two of them married in haste as the war heated up, and one left a newborn son.. It is awful, when we think back
I wonder what would happen if I could go and warn them xxxx bless them all.
BUT -- thinking it through -- long and hard -- IF
we went back and warned them and Nobody fought OUR Fight --
We may not be here now..... So bless them and what they gave
Their life for our Future - I just wish the younger generations could in some small way COMPREHEND this.. instead of so many dismissing the brave men (and Women of course)
xin
back in my corner snoozing
-
I would like to visit my g.grandfather to ask him who his parents were. This has defeated the best brains on Rootschat, and various ancestors of his partner, my g.grandmother. He must have had parents but who were they. I know his mother was Spanish and I know what her Spanish maiden name was supposed to be. Interestingly, having had my DNA done, I've found that I have 2 3rd cousins who have that surname. I've been in touch with one who says she believes there were a lot of illegitimate children in the family, which takes me to a theory I've had for many years now. Still not got through the brick wall though.
If I could visit 2 people, the other one would be my paternal grandfather to ask him why he told everyone he was an orphan when I know, from research, that he had 2 brothers and 3 sisters. His youngest brother died in WWI, his youngest sister died of heart disease when he was a teenager but the others lived to be adults and had families.
-
All these unanswered questions and brick walls in our searches can be maddening yet intriquing.
It is true if we all stepped in to warn ancestors who backed out the war would undoubtedly have been lost or better - not have happened at all if large numbers on the other side were warned too and backed out.
WW1 was mass slaughter - the stuff of nightmares for many and it would be hard to resist not warning an ancestor.
When contemplating changing the past it does seem to be a double-edged sword. Great for some but perhaps annihalation for others who may not have come into existence.
-
It is a good job we don't have the option to go back and warn people...the chain reaction could cause disaster.
-
There you go... best left as is -- sadly
xin
-
Yes, it is probably good that we can't do this as I still think I would find it difficult not to fix things in the past if I could.
That is lovely that you would like to visit your Nan, Xinia by the way. I was talking to my sister-in-law about this tonight and she would visit an elderly Aunty who she used to know if she could go back in time.
I would feel very honoured if a descendant in the future wanted to visit me over all other possible ancestors. That is is they just wanted to know me or learn about my work or interests. However, if I was told they were coming because they wanted answers, I might feel a little like I was going to be interrogated. I wonder what my ancestors would make of me therefore and all the questions I would be asking. :) ;)
-
My wonderful Nan ... actually set me on this Genealogy Road.
1956 I had an RTA and she nursed me .. One day she gave me some notes, letters and photographs...
which sparked an interest.
This lay dormant for some many years..
and now... well there you go
xin
-
I'd love to spend some time with my Nana again. I think she had rather a hard life. But if everyone could visit one ancestor I'd let one of her children visit her (with a list of questions).
Then I'd bags Nana's matrilineal gt-grandmother who was born into an English Catholic family in Middlesex in the 1820s. Her first husband died of consumption and her second husband deserted her. I have many questions about her life, her siblings (I've found four) and her parents.
-
"we went back and warned them and Nobody fought OUR Fight"
Interesting comment Xin
Malky
-
Uhm
Malky
thats the way it is with me... ha ha :)
says it and hopes its comprehensible, in the way it was meant.
::) ::) ;) ;) ;) ;)
xin
-
Just reading through this interesting thread, it shows human nature and care for those we have researched and proved, they are no longer unnamed ancestors but family with lives often as colourful as lives are now, sadness and happiness, law breaking and achievements.... we can't change what happened yesterday, we can't stop or change anything let alone 100 or 200 yrs ago and anyone who has had children know they do not listen to advice from their elders, we all were once teenagers who didn't listen ( some more than others) we still live our lives based on information we have at that time.
So maybe an ancestor reunion where we can only view, not ask, not advise, but listen and watch ???
I have an image of lots of 'viewers', recording, filming and photographing......... and 'willing' them to talk about their life ;D
-
Yes, my paternal 2 great grandfather. I might get nowhere as I would be asking him who his fathere was to demolish a 21 year old brick wall which originated in 1776!