Ancestral blunders

[kerryb]

I agree, I sometimes forget A2A is there, I recently found Auctioneer records of the farm that was sold when my 4 x gr grandfather died in 1867.  I also found tenancy agreements for some others in rented cottages from Lord Ashburnham here in Sussex.

One of the most precious things we had is a bundle of letters that my gran wrote to my grandad when they were going out/engaged between 1935 and 1937, up to about a month before they married.  I plan to summarise them and add to my website.  They have all been scanned and put on disc to be kept safely and my mum has the originals.  They are a real window on their world in the 30s and also my grandparents at a stage when I didn't know them.

Kerry

[Shaztoni]

The house that my great grandfather lived in was owned by the mining company and with in three days of his death the company had all his belongings thrown out and a new family moved in  so much information lost.

Sharon

[Gadget]

you should have heard my Dad about mine owners - and he wrote a lot of it down in those diaries

Gadget

[kerryb]

The house that my great grandfather lived in was owned by the mining company and with in three days of his death the company had all his belongings thrown out and a new family moved in  so much information lost.

Sharon

No change there then - sounds like the sort of thing a lot of big companies would do today!  No respect!

Kerry

[Sylviaann]

After my mother-in-law died My brother-in-law was telling me about all the old certificates they had found in her papers.  They threw them away and then said they remembered I was collecting certificates.  Fortunately I had photocopied them earlier.

My sister in law did not want the old photos and would have thrown them away so I got them.  Thank goodness.

My cousin told the tale of rescuing jewellery from the dustbin of his Aunts house after she died.

Sylviaann

[kerryb]

I'm just thanking my luck stars, my dad thought to keep a lot of old papers, photos etc when my gran died 4 years ago!!!!

Kerry

[Lloydy]

My Great Uncle fought in WW1 and while he was away he used to send his family beautiful postcards.  Two of his sisters (my Nan and a Great Aunt) put all the postcards into a lovely album, and kept them in the family until they both died. 

Following my Nan's death in 1978, the album was passed to another sister, who decided that she wasn't in the slightest bit interested so threw it away...................

I was only 11 years old at the time, but just think how wonderful it would have been if she had given the album to me.  I would love to find it, but the chance of that is virtually impossible.

Jan

[moscan]

I have some photos going back a bit... My paternal grandparents died long before I arrived on the scene... on Mums side her mother died in 1928 (sadly there is not one photo of her ) and father not long after I was born so no one to chat to about family history.. .

I believe that my fathers half sister got everything when my grandfather died and even though I know she has passed on I have no idea as to where the family bits and pieces went as Dad had died before her...

I have been lucky in my research though and have been able to put some pieces of the jig saw puzzle together, I only wish I had asked a lot more questions before the ones with the knowledge died... I am determined to leave as much info for future generations as possible...

My mother kept a few diaries and also her autograph books, and these I value with my life...

Mo

[DavidJP]

Hi all,

I can sympathise with you all as a similar thing happened in my family!

My great uncle Jim (always signed himself Crazy Uncle Jim in Christmas cards!) had his parents house cleared out (as in a house clearance!) in the early 1960's after their deaths without telling the rest of the family as far as I can tell!

From what my father and aunt tell me a number of family pieces were lost along with a large framed picture of his parents, I think about three photo albums, various family documents and a family bible. Fortunately my nan (who sadly passed away in November last year!)  managed to get a photocopy of the entries in the bible.

It still makes us angry to think about it!!

However, when great uncle jim died two years ago, amongst his possessions were found 5 family photos which I now treasure! (This was despite the fact that when he was asked by my late Nan if he had anything that would help with the family tree, he swore that he had nothing!!)

Regards

David