RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: pharmaT on Tuesday 01 January 19 16:45 GMT (UK)
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Inspired by the did your Parents/Grandparents meet in the war thread I was wondering what historical events led to your ancestors meeting. I thought there may be some interesting stories.
I'll start with the Battle of Culloden. My 3x Great Grandmother lived in the Village of Arderseir in the NE of Scotland while my 3x Great Grandfather grew up in South Ayrshire, miles away. They met when he was posted to Fort George. Fort George was one of the Forts built to reinforce defences in the North after Culloden. The old Fort at Ruthven was further away so I'm guessing they may not have met had Fort George not been built.
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The Coronation of our Queen! :)
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I can't pin anything on an event before the 20th century. I have mentioned the positive meetings in the War thread but without WW2 my mother would probably have married the local boy who asked her in 1940 just as she was about to join the WAAF. By the time she was demobbed he had married somebody else. Similarly her brother wouldn't have married the Italian girl he met in his service as a "D Day Dodger".
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In my case recently WW1. Dad was a boy soldier who remained single into the 1930s. He was invited to a Cambridgeshire Regiment old comrades association reunion around 1936. He asked for accomodation addresses and was put up by the association secretary, who wife's sister happened to visit. Next time Dad went to Cambridge it was to see the sister ----.On Mum's side I think the Battle of Jutland and a rumoured family tradition of arranged marriages may have played a part too, but as it's uncertain to say the least I shan't go into that.
Much further back I believe the Civil War played a part too.
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My Father's RNZAF 24 Hr demob.leave at the end of WW2! With his long distance travel home from his base consisting of bus, then hitch hiking, then a train, then a 2 mile walk, finished up only being at home for 4 hours, before having to return to camp.
My Mum told me the story, just after he died, but later when I told my 2 brothers, they didn't believe me! AHA, but much later, after starting my research, I got his RNZAF War records! Dates of demob leave, clearly stating stating the dates that were totally related to my birth date, 9 months later.... I took great delight in showing my brothers the record:
AND HERE I AM -73 years later!! 💞💞
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I can't say the event was responsible but more an unfortunate coincidence. My birth was induced a bit early as My Mum had already lost a baby 5 years earlier. 1st of Sept seemed to be a nice date, ie the first day of Spring in Oz. Unfortunate, though, as it was the date that Hitler invaded Poland and Ww2 was called on the 3rd. My Mum always remembered the sirens wailing while she was holding me in hospital. Only recently, I learned that the informant on my birth cert, a nursing sister, was later interned in a POW camp and died there just before the war ended. She was also a relative of good friends of our family.
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A shipwreck!
August 1887 Canadian great-grandfather (sea captain) was shipwrecked and entire crew picked up by a steamer heading to New York City. He arrived in N.Y.C. with only the clothes on his back and sought refuge with another Nova Scotian family whose sons he knew until he got another command. One week later he married one of the daughters! She and the two eldest children were at sea with him, a 3rd child was born at sea and eventually they bought an island and lived there when he became a yacht captain, becoming a ferry captain in retirement.
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Not an "event" as such, but railways played a big part in bringing my ancestors together.
G-g-grandfather (in my profile picture), left his home town to work on the railways, first as a porter, then for most of his career as a signalman. If that job opportunity hadn't arisen, he wouldn't have met my g-g-grandmother.
Another set of g-g-grandparents, both moved to Eastbourne at a time when the town's population was booming, due to the arrival of the railway. He was a builder so presumably there was lots of work available for him. She possibly worked as a domestic servant and moved with the family she worked for, but I have no real evidence. Anyway, if the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway hadn't built that railway line, I doubt my ancestors would have met.
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The coming of the railways, I am fairly sure, influenced my g grandfather, a saddler at Thorne, Yorkshire, to firstly move to Chesterfield, then migrate to Brisbane, where horse drawn coaches were still integrated with rail travel.
My Irish ancestors left Ireland at the time of The Famine as many did.
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A long-lasting event - the Industrial Revolution. King Cotton brought most of my maternal ancestors together, many in Preston, Lancashire.
Founding of one of the earliest building societies in the world, in Longridge, Lancashire at end of 19thC. It was formed to build rows of houses for handloom weavers. 2 rows were built, one of which has Listed Building status. Some of my stonemason family moved there at the time. 30 years later the Preston-Longridge railway opened to transport stone to Preston for building the new houses, churches etc. and for paving the new streets. The middle son of my stonemason family, my ancestor, moved to Preston.
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The Potato Famine might get a few answers. Most of my disparate Irish ancestors all came together in Australia
Then the opening up of South Australia and the need for emigrants and ag-labs let the Wiltshire poor be 'sent' to Australia
The Moonta and Burra mines opened up emigration opportunities for the Cornish
The political, economic and religious issues in the former Germanic states pushed out a large group of people to America or Australia
All of these helped make me
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The Potato Famine might get a few answers. Most of my disparate Irish ancestors all came together in Australia
The potato famine of 1879 had an effect on movement on my paternal line. It's sometimes known as "the forgotten famine". Direct ancestors on my paternal side stayed put during the Great Hunger, 3 decades previously.
My maternal Irish ancestors (born in Ireland 1830s-1840s) were in England by 1860s. I don't know if it was the Great Famine which caused their move or simply the need to find paid work. Relatives of the husband seem to have been present in Lancashire during 1830s probably as casual/seasonal labourers and hawkers. There were many harvest failures, poverty, shortage of paid employment and lack of poor relief in Ireland pre 1840. Any of these factors could influence travel to Britain or emigration elsewhere.
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The end of WW2.
I am a "demob baby" and in my primary school class, there were seventy-two of us!!!!! :o
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The Napoleonic War - my 3 x gt grandfather William Trowsdale born 1785 was a farmer in Gilling Yorkshire till he joined up in the 2nd Life Guards in 1804. When injured in Portugal and discharged in 1814, he settled in Marylebone [seemingly to be near to the pension office], became an umbrella maker & married Sarah Sutcliffe in 1805. If he hadn't enlisted he presumably wouldn't have moved away from Yorkshire. The Trowsdales & subsequently the Hayters] remained umbrella makers till the 1920s.
The Luddite Movement - William Holland also born 1785 was a weaver from Midgley nr Halifax, Yorkshire but emigrated to Nova Scotia when the weaving industry was threatened by mechanisation. His granddaughter married an Irish soldier stationed at Halifax Citadel.
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It was either the death of the last Tasmanian tiger,September 1936 ;D or
events further back like the decline of the lead mine in Shropshire which had been ,after agriculture,the biggest employer in a rural area.
To help her family my paternal Grandmother found work in Manchester where she met Grandad,married him and had myDad.
Grandad came from Notts where his mother ,a young widow,had gone with her new husband.
Something went very wrong as they separated and she came to Manchester
where Grandad met the girl from Shropshire.
So,nothing very Earth shattering,but some coincidences.
Such slim chances of the things I have mentioned happening.
I am so glad,I am what I am because of those people and their marriages.
I am not perfect ,far from it but have a broad base so to speak and can adapt and settle due no doubt to being in Manchester ,Shropshire ‘Manchester etc.
I feel lucky,
Cheerio Viktoria.
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The death of my mum's long term boyfriend in a road accident which led her to meet my dad a few years later
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The end of WW2.
I am a "demob baby" and in my primary school class, there were seventy-two of us!!!!! :o
Was your Dad on his final demob, or was it was a 24 hour demob leave?? I've never actually thought about the kids in my class, or cousins of my own age, but I guess if their Dads had served in the war, and went home on a 24 hr leave as my dad did, well...... Actually I just thought......I have a cousin that is only a few weeks older than me, and he came home on the same leave as Dad! Maybe....??? 😜😜😜. LOL - can't wait to tell him! :D :D :D
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Actual demob. I have a copy of his army record!!
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Government Policy and Decisions at the time.
My ancestor, James Fox, a French polisher, with a wife and two very young children, found himself in financial trouble. He was found guilty of pawning illegally and was transported in 1837, to Moreton Bay (Brisbane). In 1842, his son, James Jnr, by now aged 11-13, joined him, travelling alone.
After The Famine in Ireland, many single Irish girls were given free passage to Australia to provide domestic work. Mary Wall, aged 21, was one who arrived with many other girls on the "Caroline" to Moreton Bay.
James Jnr and Mary married and had 10 children and I am one of their many descendants.
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One of my great great grandfathers, Jacob Pickering, moved south in the late 1850s from the Whitehaven area to help build Barrow in Furness. After all, if they are building a whole new town, there's bound to be work for a stonemason.
He married a local girl and they had 5 children before his death from tuberculosis in 1875.
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I forgot to mention the threatened French invasion of the 1790s which prompted my 2xgreat grandfather John Luffman to move from Bristol to Alford Lincs with the Somerset Militia, where he married and founded our line in Lincolnshire. So for me blame Napoleon and the Kaiser in fairly recent history.
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New year’s eve. My father arrived at the dancehall too late to get in and my mother let him and his mate in through the fire escape.
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We do need a like button.
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;D ;D. I've got several you can have 👍👍👍👍👍 😜😜! Here you go Redroger, from my iPad!
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On 15th December, 1865, my paternal great grandmother Jane Dunnell, upset her family when she ran away from home to marry my great grandfather, Henry Maxwell David Mathews in the Parish Church of St. Peter & St. Paul (Now the Sheffield Cathedral. Jane was the daughter of a Coaching and carting (including coal) business owner and Henry was the son of the Sheffield Railways Accountant, (one of his duties was setting up facilities for, and organising the transportation of coal)!
I found this information in a book that I bought from the Mansfield Library, by Allan Mallatrat, the book was about another relative, in Australia, a notable female artist, who who was related to Jane.
I'm guessing Jane's father was losing quite a bit of his coal delivery business profits!!
And that's why I have named her My Runaway Bride on my profile!
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My Naughty Grandad being gassed in the war... and conveniently forgetting he had a really real wife.. back home !!!
He was gassed in France and they brought them back here to my home town, where he met my Gran and they set up home ... :-[ :-[ :-[
the story did come out.. in bits and pieces My Pops went to Scotland to see what he could find out....
However he didnt find his Dads Wife and she was still his wife up till he died.. she died after him, and bless the poor lady - I could slap him.. for leaving her. I dont know why he left and never returned - I know I shouldnt judge...... but you do dont you.. you just darn well wonder.. I did wonder if there were any offspring.. But together with Roots help and a few wrong certs discovered that there were not....tg for that at least..
I am or have ... should I say Finally (almost but not by all) been accepted as part of the Clan..
they are lovely people ..
oh dear...
sad...
silly me..
I never met him or my Gran they were very close they died within months of each other before I was born.. and she my Gran from all accounts was a very 'biddable' patient kind lady...
so I dont take after her.. cos I still will slap him, *when I get the chance.. ha ha ha
*if
xin
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Perhaps I should start another thread, about observance of marriage laws, particularly marrying a dead partner's sibling and how closely was this law observed?
In the late 1890s my grandmother's oldest sister married, a few years later she died and he remarried. His second wife also died, and he had a third attempt. This time he married my grandmother's youngest sister which was then illegal, legalised around 1907. At least 2 of these marriages were in the same church, with some of the same witnesses including my grandmother, though it would not be readily obviously as in the meantime she had herself married.
So, answers) comments on here or anew thread?
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Perhaps I should start another thread, about observance of marriage laws, particularly marrying a dead partner's sibling and how closely was this law observed?
So, answers) comments on here or anew thread?
A new thread. I'll have one for it.
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Industrial Revolution - my father's paternal family Welsh/Shropshire and local, his maternal line part Shropshire and local met my mother's who were Irish, Shropshire and Northants and local.
Local = Black Country
They all drifted into the Dudley or Walsall area due to the heavy industry or leather trade. ;D
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Henry II marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. One of her French knights was apparently the first Pyne/Pine in England. Was granted the manor of Upton in Devon.
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Henry II marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine. One of her French knights was apparently the first Pyne/Pine in England. Was granted the manor of Upton in Devon.
A century before that happened Brian Boru, High King of Ireland defeated a Norse army at the Battle of Clontarf. Some Norse survivors and their families allegedly crossed the sea to the Fylde region of Lancashire where there were already Norse settlers. Many ancestors of my female line were born in Fylde.
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There was a programme some time ago ,where DNA from the Lancashire coastal area was tested,a skeleton had been found in a sort of cave,
The results of the DNA testing on local residents showed Norse genes.
Can’t remember the name of the programme,don’t think it was Meet the Ancestors.
Of course there were Norse settlers in the Isle of Man.
Viktoria.
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There was a programme some time ago ,where DNA from the Lancashire coastal area was tested,a skeleton had been found in a sort of cave,
The results of the DNA testing on local residents showed Norse genes.
Can’t remember the name of the programme,don’t think it was Meet the Ancestors.
Viktoria.
If it was a man alive in early 18th century it might have been one of my 6xGGFs, one whose burial I can't find. All I know is that his son, my 5xGGF was born in 1738 and his father is noted as deceased on baptism register. I've wondered if he went fishing one day and never came back.
I haven't had a dna test. I expect mine has Scandinavian genes.
Still in the Fylde region, I'm descended several times from Moon of Kirkham parish. Surname Moon may derive from the Norman-French de Mohun. They may have the Norman Conquest to thank for their surname if not their lineage.
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Sorry the skeleton was much older than that,I should have made it clear.
There are prehistoric footprints of a family of four walking across the mud.
Mother ,father and two children.
They are in clay and fill up,at high tide,archaeologists blot up the water at low tide and there they are,thousands of years old.
I would love to see them,but the Fylde coast can be treacherous.
Viktoria.
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I think there is a possible 3 way confusion here. The footprints are I think Paleolithic, well over 10,000 years old. One skeleton is the red lady of Paviland (it is in fact male) up to 30000 if memory serves, a third one and where local people were compared for DNA markers, Cheddar man, about 12000.Hope that helps
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Definitely too early for my man. I wasn't seriously imagining the skeleton to have been him. (Can imagining said to be serious?) Simply straw-clutching. My theory about him drowning on a fishing trip and washing up somewhere is genuine though.
It would be interesting to watch the programme.
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Oh I have mixed up things just few few thousands of years,what is that between friends?
Reminds me of a friend, a wine buff,in a reastaurant , asked for a 1967 Beaujolais,wine came ,he sniffed,tasted etc and said that is not a 67.
That year was a very good one ,what had been brought was a 69.
The waitress said”Oh come now, you are surely not going to make a fuss over a couple of years are you?”
Thanks Redroger.
Viktoria.
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Oh I have mixed up things just few few thousands of years,what is that between friends?
Reminds me of a friend, a wine buff,in a reastaurant , asked for a 1967 Beaujolais,wine came ,he sniffed,tasted etc and said that is not a 67.
That year was a very good one ,what had been brought was a 69.
The waitress said”Oh come now, you are surely not going to make a fuss over a couple of years are you?”
Thanks Redroger.
Viktoria.
Obviously NOT a wine waitress!
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Well the restaurant was a U.C.P restaurant,United Cattle Products.
On Market St Manchester.
They sold tripe etc but made good steak pies,served with chips and processed peas!
The family were back over in the UK on holiday on from Belgium .
But the father had wine with everything,even baked beans,honestly.
It is funny how simple food ,when you can’t get it assumes gourmet status.
Walls sausages and pork pies.
Fish and chips with mushy peas.
Suet steak puddings from the chippy,
Corned beef butties with brown sauce,we missed those when in Belgium.
Conversely on a recent trip to Belgium we had lovely chips with mayonnaise in the street ,
Little brown North Sea shrimps,
Eels in green herb sauce,
Gorgeous beers and coffee with spicy speculoos biscuits.
Gentse waterzooi,
Viktoria.
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World War II or my father would never have come to England cb
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World War II or my father would never have come to England cb
Same here...my Father came to England from Canada with the Royal Navy and met and married my Mum and stayed.
Carol
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Well the restaurant was a U.C.P restaurant,United Cattle Products.
On Market St Manchester.
They sold tripe etc but made good steak pies,served with chips and processed peas!
The family were back over in the UK on holiday on from Belgium .
But the father had wine with everything,even baked beans,honestly.
It is funny how simple food ,when you can’t get it assumes gourmet status.
Walls sausages and pork pies.
Fish and chips with mushy peas.
Suet steak puddings from the chippy,
Corned beef butties with brown sauce,we missed those when in Belgium.
Conversely on a recent trip to Belgium we had lovely chips with mayonnaise in the street ,
Little brown North Sea shrimps,
Eels in green herb sauce,
Gorgeous beers and coffee with spicy speculoos biscuits.
Gentse waterzooi,
Viktoria.
My local chippie won the competition for best in England 2018, Brilliant stuff and reasonable prices.
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Where is it?,and what do you consider reasonable?
A full fillet of prime haddock is £3+ near me but they are cold by the time I get home.
Ages ago1960’s the chips were sold inlittle bags as big — or small as a quarter of sweets.The fish were about four inches square, and were enough.
What huge portions are consumed nowadays.
The portions of chips are gross ,four people could be satisfiedwith one box full, you know a polystyrene lidded tray about ten inches long and four high.
The fish are thick and long .
Nice one in Bury,I sometimes treat myself if shopping when near the Rock, Thompson’s.
No one gives out the little bags of batter scraps doused in salt and vinegar.
Do you have a chippy night?.
Enjoy next time you do.
Don’t faint but I love curry sauce on my fish :o
Viktoria
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Not sure about prices - BUT - fish and chips from Yorkshire ARE (possibly were, as I haven't had any since August) the BEST!!! Proviso - they have to be cooked in dripping! Had some good ones in Saltburn by the Sea on our last visit :)
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Actually, this rather peeves me. I was conceived June/July 1942. von Paulus's 6th Army was driving on Stalingrad and Rommel's Afrika Korps was threatening Egypt again. Pity I didn't ask my father what the hell he and my mother were playing at. ::).
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Where is it?,and what do you consider reasonable?
A full fillet of prime haddock is £3+ near me but they are cold by the time I get home.
Ages ago1960’s the chips were sold inlittle bags as big — or small as a quarter of sweets.The fish were about four inches square, and were enough.
What huge portions are consumed nowadays.
The portions of chips are gross ,four people could be satisfiedwith one box full, you know a polystyrene lidded tray about ten inches long and four high.
The fish are thick and long .
Nice one in Bury,I sometimes treat myself if shopping when near the Rock, Thompson’s.
No one gives out the little bags of batter scraps doused in salt and vinegar.
Do you have a chippy night?.
Enjoy next time you do.
Don’t faint but I love curry sauce on my fish :o
Viktoria
Robinsons,Bearwood Poole Dorset basic f&c £4.10 large plaice £5.10. I realise having lived in Yorkshire these prices may not seem low, but locally they are.
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Actually, this rather peeves me. I was conceived June/July 1942. von Paulus's 6th Army was driving on Stalingrad and Rommel's Afrika Korps was threatening Egypt again. Pity I didn't ask my father what the hell he and my mother were playing at. ::).
Don’t say no one has told you!
Perhaps there was a blackout!
Whatever , glad they did play at something or you would not be o n R.C.
Viktoria.
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Not sure about prices - BUT - fish and chips from Yorkshire ARE (possibly were, as I haven't had any since August) the BEST!!! Proviso - they have to be cooked in dripping! Had some good ones in Saltburn by the Sea on our last visit :)
I do think some dripping makes a huge difference.
Our once good chippy now has that unpleasant smell of oil used too long.
Pity it really was good.
Fish and chips by the sea have an added flavour I am sure.
Do they make what we called scallops?
Just peeled potatoes sliced about a centimetre thick, dipped in batter and fried as the chips are.
I don’t like shop meat pies but Holland’s were the best known hereabouts and all over Lancashire.
I could murder a nice crispy tasty fish!
Viktoria.
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Actually, this rather peeves me. I was conceived June/July 1942. von Paulus's 6th Army was driving on Stalingrad and Rommel's Afrika Korps was threatening Egypt again. Pity I didn't ask my father what the hell he and my mother were playing at. ::).
Don’t say no one has told you!
Perhaps there was a blackout!
Whatever , glad they did play at something or you would not be o n R.C.
Viktoria.
Thank you Viktoria, no blackout, it was daytime, we lived in the country, south Bucks. Mind you, my mother told me, one day she heard an aircraft coming low and fast whilst I was in my pram in the garden. She said she was fumbling with my straps to get me and her to the Anderson shelter. She looked up and saw the black crosses on the undersides of his wings. I suppose this was 1943.
Otherwise there are three men and two women on here who'd rather I wasn't. Shall I name them, better not, get booted.
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The potato famine of 1879 had an effect on movement on my paternal line. It's sometimes known as "the forgotten famine". Direct ancestors on my paternal side stayed put during the Great Hunger, 3 decades previously.
Today someone began a thread about the 1879 famine.
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Not sure about prices - BUT - fish and chips from Yorkshire ARE (possibly were, as I haven't had any since August) the BEST!!! Proviso - they have to be cooked in dripping! Had some good ones in Saltburn by the Sea on our last visit :)
I do think some dripping makes a huge difference.
Our once good chippy now has that unpleasant smell of oil used too long.
Pity it really was good.
Fish and chips by the sea have an added flavour I am sure.
Do they make what we called scallops?
Just peeled potatoes sliced about a centimetre thick, dipped in batter and fried as the chips are.
I don’t like shop meat pies but Holland’s were the best known hereabouts and all over Lancashire.
I could murder a nice crispy tasty fish!
Viktoria.
Dripping spoils it for a piscatarian like me,(vegetarian apart from fish and shellfish) The champion I mentioned uses oil. It should NOT smell.There is one close to our home which stinks of greasy fat whether open or closed. Expensive too.
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Not sure about prices - BUT - fish and chips from Yorkshire ARE (possibly were, as I haven't had any since August) the BEST!!! Proviso - they have to be cooked in dripping! Had some good ones in Saltburn by the Sea on our last visit :)
I do think some dripping makes a huge difference.
Our once good chippy now has that unpleasant smell of oil used too long.
Pity it really was good.
Fish and chips by the sea have an added flavour I am sure.
Do they make what we called scallops?
Just peeled potatoes sliced about a centimetre thick, dipped in batter and fried as the chips are.
I don’t like shop meat pies but Holland’s were the best known hereabouts and all over Lancashire.
I could murder a nice crispy tasty fish!
Viktoria.
We call them potato fritters in Zealand! We have a shellfish (very mild and yummy) that is really popular, quite expensive though, and we call them Scallops in NZ, they have a pretty fan type shell, and they're lovely and crispy - fried in beer batter! Yum! Oysters are very popular here, very expensive, some people prefer their oysters raw, and dip them in vinegar and then sprinkle salt over them! Some people chew them before swallowing them, others just swallow them! Ugh! My Dad loved them, I only tried them once - UGH, spat it out!!
Love my fish, my son and grandsons go fishing a lot, so there's never a shortage of fish in our family!
I always use beer batter on freshly caught fish! We're very fortunate, our wee country is so small, no one's very far away from the sea, or lakes and rivers for trout. A lot of shallow oyster farms in the South Island, but they're not going so well this summer, a lot of them are dying from the heat!!
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May late Uncle Cockney WW1 artillery vet liked his beer. Before his first pint every day he would buy a fresh egg, crack it on the beer glass and empty it into the pint. Then down in one,said it lined his stomach, called it a Prairie Oyster.