Matrilineal line

[GordonD]

Been really really interested in the replies to my original post. Knew that concentrating on the paternal side and not knowing the concept of matrilineal descent (although maybe not knowing the technical term as I didn't before reading that article!) that was mentioned in that article wouldn't apply on here. We are all far too interested in all our ancestors Seems that the majority of us can go back 5-6 generations- presumably when parish register coverage can get a bit hit and miss. Obviously we have lines that we have more success with than others due to the information available on that line.

One of my great grandmother's lines is wholly maternal too Kathleen. Her mother married three years after her birth so presume he wasn't the father. My grandfather never knew that she was illegitimate. Am interested in who her death certificate gives as the parents as would have been registered by one of my grandpa's siblings (need to wait till I can get to Edinburgh as was around 1964). From 1901 census think she was brought up by her grandparents and the naming pattern (closely followed in my family)for my grandpa's siblings suggests that she definitely thought of her grandparents as her parents as their names take the mum's mum and mum's dad place in the naming.

Gordon

[PaulaToo]

Nice one. Soon had me scrabbling for the reading specs and the chart 
Mother's line, which should be longest, oh ha ha, Harriet, mother Eliza Ann, mother Mary Ann Byles.
Tother side, starting with Grandmother Sara, my Father's Mother.
Sarah Baker 1867
Emily Price 1840
Mary Ann Ward 1808
Sarah Franklin 1773(base born oh ho)
Mary Franklin1755 (also base born. Like mother like daughter)
Ann Franklin 1738
Jane Rickard 1705
Elizabeth Woolman 1681
Unknown Ann wife of William Woolman
So I suppose that makes me eight if you count Gran Sarah, or even eight and a half, if you count the unknown Ann.
I do wish they had put the womens names down earlier!

[Berlin-Bob]

As most of my lines disappear into Eastern Europe or Ireland after a few generations, I'll generally research anybody willing to be found, just so I have a few successes now and then (keeps up the motivation  )

But I am deliberately searching for one matrilineal line, that of my daughter !

There is a tradition in her family, that the first daughter was always called Hessie. This goes back to a soldier from Hesse who fought in the British Army in the american War of Independance and then settled in Scotland on the way back home. (*) They then moved to Ireland

I've mentioned this on RootsChat now and again (  ), just try searching for "Hessie"

So far I'm back 6 generations, that's Hessie Stevenson, b. 1861 (*) in Ireland, 5th. generation and the name of her mother, Hessie Baxter. And there I'm stuck !

This particular line has the advantage of having a definite ending point, "The First Hessie",

           ....... if ever I can find her 

Bob


(*) added

[Burrow Digger]

By matrilineal you mean mothers mothers mother mother and so on back through the female line, right??

So far I have found my matrilineal line back about 6 generations. According to the poll, that the same as most others RCers.

Now if I was to follow my maternal grandmothers paternal line - that one goes back 10 generations. And my paternal grandmothers paternal line can also be traced back 10 generations.

BD

[kerryb]

Burrow Digger

My Matrilineal line is one of my shortest also!

Kerry

[Pennie]

Just found this thread - don't generally come on this board!

It was the maternal line that started me on genealogy - my mother has a small ornament which was purchased by her maternal grand-mother and passed down through the family (daughter to daughter).  Mum and I thought it would be fun (?) to try and trace its ownership.

Little did we know what we were letting ourselves in for - we now trace all lines (some back to late 1500s) and have a website!

Unfortunately, the maternal line has now ended with a great big (possibly insurmountable) brickwall at the end of the 1700s!

Pennie

[KathMc]

Pennie,

It all starts that way, doesn't it? We all have simple reasons to start on genealogy and next thing we know, we are sucked in. Did you ever find the ownership of the ornament? I have plates that I have recently started trying to trace. We aren't sure if they come from my great-grandmother, or her mother, who is the fatherless child. I hope they were hers, as she died at 24 after an extremely sad life and it would be nice to have a legacy from her.

Kathleen

[MarieC]

Kathleen

Do tell us the story of your ancestor who died at 24!  (I'll have tissues at the ready!)

MarieC

[KathMc]

MarieC,

It is a sad story and my cousin doesn't want to claim her as ours because she wants someone with a bit of a happier life. Apparently, she was born out of wedlock in Staffordshire, no father in sight. We find her on the 1871 census living with a family that has ties to her, but we aren't sure. One possible tie is that one man who might actually be her father married a daughter in the family. They also might have come from the same part of Ireland as her mother. Very marginal exististence, her mother living in various homes as a servant. They lived in a very poor area and rumors here and there of one or another living with them going before the magistrate. Then she is in the 1881 census, working as a servant. She and my gg grandfather, who was a little older than her, come to America and get married in New Jersey. They have two children within five years of coming to America. When she is 24 she is pregnant again. Here it gets a little confusing, but according to her death cert, she didn't die from childbirth as we thought, but an infection after childbirth. And we don't know what happened to the children. I say children, as my mother and a great aunt insist they heard it was twins, but don't remember how they know that. Not only do they say it was twins, but they say fraternal, and the only way they really would have known that back then was if they were boy and girl. My cousin and I think that maybe those babies were put in an orphanage or given to another family. Another family rumor was that the "nice ladies" of the church told my gg grandfather he couldn't raise his kids on his own and should put them in an orphanage. He got to the steps of the orphanage and couldn't do it.  This is a time period of 1864 to 1888.

I think it so sad that never did this poor woman catch a break. I like to think that maybe for the few years she was with my gg grandfather, she was happy and life got a little easier. My gg grandfather died in 1943, and he never remarried.

I guess there are sadder stories out there, but ... sometimes you just want someone to catch a break, and she never does. Had she lived, she would have had a good life, but I guess sometimes it's not meant to be.

So that's my story. I have spent years searching for this poor woman. And I am happy to claim her.

Kathleen