Family rumours have they turned out to be true?

[liverpool annie]

Most of my dear old Mum's stories have been proved one way or another...except the one about....
One of the rellies was a policeman involved in the Sydney Street Siege in London.
Haven't come to grips with that one yet...there again maybe he was one of the terrorists
Sylvia
PS anyone know if there are lists for those involved anywhere?

Talking of Russians ...... it sounds like the Russians are at it again !!

Can't find names of the policemen but heres a snippet I found !!

The Siege of Sidney Street, E1 on 3 January 1911 was one of the most famous incidents in East End history. The robbery of Harris's Jewellery Shop in Houndsditch by a Russian Anarchist group intending to raise funds went seriously wrong. The gang dispersed to lodgings in the surrounding streets, one of which was 100 Sidney Street. Two of the gang members, Fritz Svaars and `Josef' died in the house when it burned down in the much publicised shoot out with the police and military. A third member Peter Piatkov, nicknamed `Peter the Painter' miraculously escaped

Annie 

[Elliebob]

According to my mother, her mother always said that her family were related to the one which owned Morton Old Hall in Cheshire.  I have found that her g-g mother came from Church Lawton, so there may have been an element of truth.

Also, my grandfather always told my mother that there was a lost tribe living on Biddulph Moor.  Recently she heard a Radio 4 programme which told about a family there which had distinct ethnic differences and perhaps had some Saracen connection.  She had always thought it was a story which her father had told to amuse them as children.  She said she longed to be able to tell him that he was right after all, but as he died in 1953   .......

Ellen

[pipkim]

Hi, 

My Mum and Aunt recently told me that someone in the family was from a wealthy French family and she ran off with an Irish groom called Quinn and was disowned.

I set out to disprove the story and was doing quite well until I could not  find my GG Grandmother's birth. I have now! Well I'm claiming her as there are too many coincidences.

My GG Grandmother was called Amelia Quinn nee Morgan she was born in Liverpool 1843 but that is where I got stuck. Whilst trying soundex and wildcards I found Mesilia Morjeanstern born same year and place. In 1851 she was called Mosely (I think a family pet name) Morjeanstern, her mother was Mary Morjeanstern born Ireland 1811 and father was George Morjeanstern born Fra British Subject 1791 confectioner.
Are you still with me! 
The family changed their name to Morgan by 1861 and Mesilia to Amelia. She then had already had an illegitimate child called George and her parents had separated. Amelia then married a John Quinn Blacksmith. On Amelia's marriage cert 1863 her father was George Morgan confectioner deceased.

There were other dates that matched the families, but I cannot guarantee that Mesilia and Amelia are one and the same. So the rumors look like they are true. I have found mum's cousins who she has not spoken to for twenty years whilst searching and they also had the same story.

Sorry if that was too long! 

Pipkim 

[Tephra]

So far all the family rumours on my fathers side seem to be just that - rumours, a load of old codswallop actually.    Wish I could find just one thing that was true!!!

Barbara               

[meles]

I was told that we were descended from fishermen and farmers. Grandfather turned out to be a fishmonger, and G Grandfather an Ag Lab. Then further back - Ag Labs generation after generation.

meles

[PassionPlay]

Our biggest family rumour [to date] is that my great-grandfather left his wife and children to go and fight with the Germans in WWI 

Well, he definitely left his family c.1914 and wasn't seen again for 30-odd years but I'm not convinced he was fighting for anybody, I have found no trace of any service records or any clues at all.

I suspect he went to either Australia or the USA as he had family who had emigrated to both countries.  When he did turn up back in England none of his sons/daughters would give him the time of day so they were obviously convinced that he was a bad lot.

Steph.

[MrsLizzy]

Yes and No!  My grandmother said we were descended from "a French lady".  Knowing what family rumours can be, I never expected to find it was true but it is - we have a strong strain of French Huguenot - the Noquet family who were silk weavers and dyers.  There was another family tradition that my great great grandfather Charles Giesen was "of German extraction" and that his father was "Henry William Giesen".  He had put this on his marriage certificate in 1885 and that his father had been an accountant.  Well it turned out that he was the illegitimate son of a Norfolk maidservant named Fanny Layton Culling, and that he had been informally adopted by his natural aunt, Martha, and her second husband William Henry Giesen (not Henry William).  I wonder if Charles really believed he was their son or if he ever knew he was actually illegitimate.  I think no-one else in the family knew because I'm certain my grandmother would have kept very tight-lipped about anything to do with the family history, had she known.  I did once ask her, on having trouble finding a marriage "Are you sure they were married?" and she replied "Don't be disgusting!"

When I had trouble tracing Charles' birth I was told that on the outbreak of WWI he'd been so worried about "being German" that he'd "gone out and covered his tracks".  He didn't change his name though, and his name at birth had been Charles Winchester Green Culling.

[linmey]

Please let me know if you find a link Mrs Lizzy.
   Linda.

[MrsLizzy]

Do you mean if I'm able to prove Charles was the natural son of Josiah Green?  I've been wondering if there might be bastardy orders somewhere - the mother, Fanny Layton Culling, had four or five illegitimate children all apparently by the same father.  Personally I think she should have taken up some other hobby, like embroidery for example.