RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Primrose11 on Monday 16 July 18 22:05 BST (UK)
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Liked him and the First World War entertainment troupe bit. The Irish part was more garbled. Can anyone find Delia Farrell in Canada?
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I hope it makes me like him when I watch it as I never have.
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He seemed very affable, friendly, clever and quick. What's not to like! I'm sure you will.
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I'd never heard of him but enjoyed the prog & liked him!
My only disappointment was not finding out the roots of his McKillops.
Being Scottish, I was hoping to at least find out whether yes/no to a Scottish ancestry ;)
Annie
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I have always liked Lee Mack, and found him very affable, and he made the programme quite informative and fun.
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Have spent some time tonight following his McKillop line - the 'Billy Mac' in entertainment troupe in WW1 was William Alexander McKillop b.1889 Derby, son of an Alexander William Iffil McKillop (contractor) born in Tobago, West Indies in 1868, son of John McKillop (Shipsmith) born 1835 Liverpool, son of John McKillop (Shipsmith) born ca.1793 Scotland (an online tree states Oban, Argyll).
So ultimately back to Scotland, Rosinish!
Annette
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I enjoyed the programme but agree there were quite a few loose threads in the stories. I wanted to know what happened to Delia?
Regards
Panda
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"I wanted to know what happened to Delia"
So do I!
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Since they found Delia's name on a ship's passenger list bound for Canada and also found out that an employment agency there had paid for her passage, you would think that this line could have been followed up through censuses or possibly marriage records. I found the last part of the programme a bit scrappy, after the length of time spent on the Billy Mac grandfather, interesting though it was.
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I quite like him as well. I do find the show can be a bit "name and dateish" as opposed to birthplaces of the line they are following. When I saw McKillop I thought "Well either Scottish or Irish". The former is the correct one.
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son of John McKillop (Shipsmith) born ca.1793 Scotland (an online tree states Oban, Argyll).
So ultimately back to Scotland, Rosinish!
Thanks Annette,
I had a feeling there may have been Scottish roots ;)
Annie
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"I wanted to know what happened to Delia"
So do I!
Me too!
Did she marry, have more children, make a successful life over there? When did she die, did she ever return for a visit - so many questions..... ???
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When it was discovered that his ancestor had been charged several times for selling alcohol illegally in Ireland -- I was really surprised that he didn't say 'What a coincidence' -- as his parents ran a pub in my home town (not Southport and they weren't selling alcohol illegally!)
Just a coincidence I thought, that he had both comedy AND alcohol in his roots.
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I too wondered what happened to Delia ???
Looking at the Ireland 1901/1911 census it would appear that 'Delia' could actually be called Bridget.
On the 1901 the family name is recorded as O'Farrell but the 'O' was dropped on the 1911.
1901 -
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1901/Mayo/Ballina_Urban/Upper_Piper_Hill/1572162/
1911 -
http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/pages/1911/Mayo/Ballina_Urban/Upper_Pipers_Hill/700074/
An online tree has Bridget 'Delia' marrying Richard Passau, 1912, Montréal, Québec.
JJ
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I am afraid, I was not thrilled - 2 people researched...
xin
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That's a good possibility JJen.
Interestingly the Civil record of Bridget's birth shows the surname as O'Farrell - whilst the baptism shows Farrell.
Mother's maiden name was 'Devany'. 'Delia' is shown as married on 1911 census (for 2 years) -- which cropped up in the programme. However it's a bit of a random change of Christian name isn't it,
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It would appear that the name Delia is a 'pet name' for Bridget -
Bridget A common Irish girls name in modern times with many pet forms including Biddy, Bridie, Dina and Delia. It dates back only to medieval times.
Source - https://www.irish-genealogy-toolkit.com
JJ
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Oh wow JJen -- that's brilliant! You would never imagine Delia to be a nickname for Bridget.
You need to apply to be a researcher on WDYTYA.
But you would think when she travelled to Canada - her evidence documentation (birth cert or baptism cerificate) -- would be in the name of Bridget Farrell or O'Farrell.
She would surely need proof of her name and age you would think. Maybe the records in Canada will be under the name Bridget.
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Good sleuthing.
Thanks for the info about Delia/Bridget.
P
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On the 1901 the family name is recorded as O'Farrell but the 'O' was dropped on the 1911.
Apparently this was quite common?
A few years back, I was researching a friend's family - she was an O'Reilly.
The surname was constantly changing with the prefix either there or not :-\
So, I asked a few questions, and was told this was fairly normal?
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1921 Canada, Ancestry she is listed as Delia.. husband ‘Michael Preteau’ but to be fair the wring is not clear on the image. They have 4 children. Her husband is listed a being born in Ireland.
Http://www.rootschat.com/links/01mde/
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Great find - as you say the writing is virtually illegible.
She also seems to be on someone's Family Tree. There are several filmed public documents. According to these documents she remarried as a widow - and was recorded as Delia Bridget O'Farrell.
Again according to this person's documents - she died in 1936. There is a translation of her death - showing her parents as 'Thomas O'Farrell and of Devaney - wife of William Virtue'.
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I would have thought by now they would have introduced DNA testing into the program, especially as they were looking at an illegitimate person, would be a good advertisement for Ancestry :)
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The day they introduce DNA testing is the day I stop watching the program! :(
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McKillop is not a name you hear alot in Scotland. It brought back such a strong memory of a peripatetic music teacher who came to my rural primary school. Mr. McKillop had a 'tin leg' and when we were in the infants class seated on the floor round the piano the dare was to touch it without being caught. I was never brave enough and used to get so anxious about the naughty ones.
Goodness knows where that memory was stored in my brain, haven't thought about it for 40 plus years, I expect that's why I have no brain space left ;D
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I would have thought by now they would have introduced DNA testing into the program, especially as they were looking at an illegitimate person, would be a good advertisement for Ancestry :)
WDYTYA is made by the BBC, they don’t do advertising.
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The day they introduce DNA testing is the day I stop watching the program! :(
Me too...there are enough ways already to legally pick our pockets in this game...Genealogy is not an exact science and in my opinion, it never will be!
Carol
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I caught the repeat last night and thoroughly enjoyed the journey. What surprised me though was he referred to his "Mechanical Engineer" ancestor as being middle class, whereas all the engineers I've ever known, who had served an apprenticeship and worked on the shop floor, classed themselves as (upper) working class. During the twentieth century, there were at least two pay grades for those shop floor time served fitters; those who trained for 5 years on the shop floor and also attended day release college plus evening classes and a higher grade being those who finished their standard training and then attended an extra two years at evening classes held in the local college
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I'd never heard of him, either - it was the Southport connection that drew me in. I did get a bit fed up of his constant quips throughout, and like others felt the findings seemed a bit muddled, and that dear Delia/Bridget shouldn't have been that hard to find! ( I immediately throught of the Canadian censuses, so helpful at one point with some of my mob). I'd also puzzled a bit at the insistence on "middle class" - but, hey, who cares?
As some one else said, the day they make the WDYTYA? programme around DNA - I quit watching! "Real" records are interesting - waiting for the response to a swab sample makes paint drying seem worth watching.
TY
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An online tree has Bridget 'Delia' marrying Richard Passau, 1912, Montréal, Québec.
JJ
1921 Canada, Ancestry she is listed as Delia.. husband ‘Michael Preteau’ but to be fair the wring is not clear on the image. They have 4 children. Her husband is listed a being born in Ireland.
I think the 1921 entry actually says Richard Presau, not Michael Preteau; and the 1912 marriage is on Ancestry. The 1912 entry says that Richard Pussau married Bridget O'Farrell (although she signed as Farrell), daughter of Thomas O'Farrell and Mary Devaney, which fits exactly.
The 1921 census and online tree have three children in common, so I think there were five. It looks as if at least four have now died, although the one born in 1921 may still be alive.
The online tree also suggests that Richard Pa/ussau/w moved to New Jersey where he died in 1931; Delia remarried in 1932; and then died in 1936.
Richard
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I enjoyed this ! Lee Mack makes his living as a stand-up comedian/ writer/ part of a long standing comedy programme. There`s a lot more investigating he could do if he was so inclined.
Richard, I clicked on your 64 regency ancestors. Goodness me, you`ve put a lot of work in, I`ve bookmarked the page for further reading !!
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I like Lee Mack on WILTY he's very quick and witty. I enjoyed the episode but wondered about a couple of things, whether a soldier would really be fighting then entertaining the troops and whether there really was a significant family connection to the Irish Civil War based on the date of the shooting incident.
Blue
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Richard, I clicked on your 64 regency ancestors. Goodness me, you`ve put a lot of work in, I`ve bookmarked the page for further reading !!
Thanks. A never-to-be-finished-work if ever there was one.
R
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I like Lee Mack on WILTY he's very quick and witty. I enjoyed the episode but wondered about a couple of things, whether a soldier would really be fighting then entertaining the troops and whether there really was a significant family connection to the Irish Civil War based on the date of the shooting incident.
Blue
One of my school teachers was a seaman during WWII and from the stories he regaled us with I can assure you that when the chips are down everyone does what they can to defend their unit. War isn't a 9 o'clock to 5 o'clock job, the men sleep on a rota, or don't sleep at all, and if the men with the guns fall somebody has to replace them.