Three wishes time travel

[Northerngirl]

Hi to all on The Lighter Side.

Some while ago I had a dream which was rather strange.  I dreamed that I had been granted the chance to ask two ancestors - obviously a long time dead - one important question each that would help me solve some family research questions.  I can recall that for my second choice I had to make my mind up about which of two vexing ancestors I had to ask the question of.  I presume the answer would have broken down that 'brick wall'. I woke up before I decided who it was that I was going to ask and of, course, what the question was.  I think I had been hoping for a third wish.

If you were granted three chances of your own ancestors who would you ask and what would it be?


Northerngirl.

[louisemccrea]

My three would be

1- Gt grandmother x5 LaJolla who was she i have no info other than the name LaJolla and she was born in Spain she married a english man and they emmigrated to India.  I would love to know anything about her she is a compleat mystery.

2- My gt grandfather Robert McCrea i would ask him about an Archiebald McCrea know one knows anything about him other than he was either Roberts brother or his son/stepson he was suppossed to have been disowned but i can't find any trace of him either in Ireland or Scotland the story is he was a alchoholic and down and out but the salvation army helped and he emmigrated with a wife to America i would really like to know if he is a real person or someone the family made up and if he is real who was he.

3-  my gt gt grandfather James Marris i can't find a birth for him don't know his parents i have his marriage and from that i know he could not read or write so any thing to do with his family i find the surname is spelt differently he had a daughter and then he dissappears i can't find a death and he is not on any census returns  i can find his wife and daughter from when his daughter was one but he is nowhere on the census it gives his wife as married so i think he ran away but who knows it is very annoying.

Louise

[Northerngirl]

Hi Louise.

Lots of brick walls for you then.

Your Lajolla connection looks interesting.

I imagine with a name such as McRae that there are lots of transcription errors. Agghhhh!!!!

Your Mr Marris sounds very vexing.

NG.

[louisemccrea]

Hi Northerngirl

I would indeed love to know about the spanish blood in the family but my gut feeling about Archiebald McCrea is that he is made up for some bizaare reason i go back to him now and then but come up with nothing maybe he was made up to scare my dad and siblings into the right path away from the demon drink the family were quite strictly religious when it suited them but it did not work if that was the case fy dad and sisters enjoy a good wee tipple lol.  As for Mr Marris i will find him eventually.

Are you going to let us know your three

Louise

[Viktoria]

Hi, my three would be:-I would ask my grandfather why he took his step-father`s surname when his younger sister kept their real father`s surname.It means that my father  did not have his proper surname and  so of course my sister and I  had the wrong  surname too.
                                      I would ask my great -grandmother whatever happened when the 1891 census was being taken that she ended up being listed as Ester Johnson instead of Eliza Addy. It`s a good job her sister-in-law was with her on that date as otherwisw the riddle would have been well nigh impossible to solve as it was I had to get an enormous amount of help from RootsChatters.
                                      My third would be to ask a relative who was the father of her child. It was rumoured it was her father who eventually shot her dead.However the general opinion was the lodger!!! If I can be cheeky I`d also ask where she and her hours old baby girl who didn`t even have a name are buried. This was 1914 and nowadays she`d get paid for it never mind shot!! Viktoria.

[Alan b]

I would ask my mum's granddad why did he leave the family and have at least one affair during his marriage (of which a son was born) and why did he set up house with a woman who then took his surname when they didn't marry.

[Nick29]

I would like to ask my g.g. grandfather where he was born, what his parents names were, and whether his brother-in-law was also his brother, or merely someone with the same surname.

[little meg]

Only  3 wishes 

Now that is a toughy, I think I would start with William Simpson (b.c. 1763, Yorkshire) and ask him who he did his blacksmith apprenticeship with - no records found there.
I think I would also want to know who his father was, even though we have a strong probability we do not have enough facts to say - yep - thats him for sure.
Ok, so I have just spent 2 wishes on just one ancestor, boy, hope he knows how special he is. 

3rd wish, hmmmm,
I think I will stick with the Simpsons, this time Joseph, (b. 1819 Kildwick, Yks), Williams grandson.
Did he set fire to the hay shed owned by John Taylor in Deniliquin, Australia in 1859?
He was acquitted, but you know, sometimes you just have to wonder, especially when you know about other things they got up to.   

Margaret

[Olly]

If only...........
My first wish would be to my grandmother Draper to clear up just what went on between her and her first husband.
Did he leave because she was unfaithful - she seems to have had at least 3 illegitimate children, or did she throw him out because he had someone else. 1911 census shows him with another 'wife' and little boy.

My second wish to my great grandad Draper. I would like to know about his occupations. One census shows him as a Doctor of medicine, his marriage cert as a musician. When he died, he was working for a company that made spirited waters. What did he really do?

My third to my great great grandmother Cook to find out what happened to their daughter Martha and her husband Joseph Gott and that might answer the question as to why they brought up their grandson Henry.

There are a few similar questions like the last one in the family, but that one intrigues me most.

As I said ...if only!!!!!!!!!!!!

Olly