Author Topic: Tall tales or truth?  (Read 4245 times)

Offline Viktoria

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #18 on: Sunday 26 July 20 17:39 BST (UK) »
My mother had a sister, a quiet gentle girl in a very lively family.
She was the favourite of everyone.
She fell in love with a  Curate, the Church in Manchester was “High “Anglican,
and the clergy wore soutanes  all the time and none were married.
.
He moved away and she was taken in - conned- by a nasty piece of goods who claimed his ill treatment of her after marriage was due to his army service,WW1
.
She developed TB ,he put black thread round cutlery only to be used by her,
Crockery etc .
Was verbally cruel etc.
Her sisters maintained she died of a broken heart,in fact it was the TB, and the dreadful haemorrhaging .
All the family detested him.She died in 1929 aged 29.
Then my OH and I went to Beamish open air museum and In the Chemiist shop and the Dr’s there were instructions re trying to limit the spread of TB in a household  in the early part of the 1900’s
The very things which had condemned their sister’s husband in the eyes of her family were what were advised ,so he might have been an unpleasant man but he was not wrong in that respect .
I have her perfume bottle and a small ivory fan ,for when she got a high temperature.
All are dead now but even with the above facts he would not be any better thought of ,it is a fsmily legend, or leg end ,!
Viktoria.








Online pharmaT

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #19 on: Sunday 26 July 20 18:06 BST (UK) »
So far the tales I have managed to research have turned out to have a grain of truth in them.  Perhaps another generation removed than I had been told, or when money involved slight variation in the actual figure.

There are some stories that I have neither been able to confirm or disprove. For example the obituary of one ancestor claims that he was the second cousin of Thomas Carlyle.

I think you are correct with many family stories but just like the game of 'chinese whispers' they change as people forget or add something so the story changes to something unrecognisable to when it started...... or it is to hide something else ... a 'shame' that family at the time felt so a story was developed to remove/hide that shame.

One great aunt would tell me stories and when I repeated them asking my gran or mum they would both laugh and say " she has always had a vivid imagination"  and dismiss anything she said......... and I have to say she told me some stories that even as a child made me 'wonder' as they were very unbeleivable....  like a much older 1st cousin of my mothers who had a burn on his face " he got burned by one of his rockets that he made which misfired and exploded (and in a hushed voice) something secret for the Government/Navy" , my mother/gran told me "No, it was from a firework on bonfire night and he was never in the services"  when I eventually researched him finding his military file it was still sealed...30 yrs on researched again, some of the file were open but with lots  blacked out and still many papers sealed...reading the little I did read it does seem my great aunt was truthful....and lots of the other stories she told me on research I found to be true yet the rest of the family claimed something completly different and told me she was lying

I was told by both my Dad and My uncle that we had connections in Calcutta but we were from the wrong side of the bed sheets.  We never believed them.  Turned out that my Grt Grt Grandfather's half brother was high up in the Bengal Government before independence.

Was also told there were cousins who had titles and that turned out to be true too.

One I would love to solve is the story that one of my grt grt uncles tried to resarch the tree but was disgusted when he found some sheep rustlers in the family.
Campbell, Dunn, Dickson, Fell, Forest, Norie, Pratt, Somerville, Thompson, Tyler among others

Offline iluleah

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #20 on: Sunday 26 July 20 18:25 BST (UK) »
Quote
but was disgusted when he found some sheep rustlers in the family.

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Oh I love those 'finds'!

Lincolnshire Echo Lincolnshire, England
16 Aug 1907  KESTEVEN PETTY SESSIONS

WAS IT BLANK POWDER? Wiliam Merry, of Eagle Hall, swas summonded on the information of William Woodend, for unlawfully killing a partridge at Eagle Hall on the 7th August.  It seemed  that Woodend was a gamekeepor to Mr. Curtis, of Collingham. On the evening of the 7th August at seven o’clock a shot was fired and a partridge was seen by Wood ‘'to tower’ and fall. The keeper went towards Merry and ran off as hard as he could. The keeper overtook him and charged him with shooting a partridge. The defendant said he was scaring birds. In reply to the defendant Woodend said he could mark a towered'' bird down half a mile away.F.W. Otter, farmer, of Eagle, said he heard shot fired. Defendant: Can you swear there were any partridges? Witness: They looked like partridges. Defendant said he was simply scaring birds, ami had no shot in his gun, and called his wife, who said she loaded the gun and put only powder in it to scare the birds, which were doing damage.The magistrate considered there was not sufficient evidence to convict, and dismissed the case.


KESTEVEN PETTY SESSIONS
Published: Friday 16 November 1894
Newspaper: Lincolnshire Echo
County: Lincolnshire, England

... Night Poaching.George Smith and Wm. both of Eagle, were charged by Wm. Woodend with night poaching at Eagle Bamsdale, on the inst.The complainant, head gamekeeper to Mr. Curtis, stated that about midnight with two constables he concealed himself near ...

My ancestor was Gamekeeper Wm Woodend
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline Viktoria

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #21 on: Sunday 26 July 20 18:50 BST (UK) »
There is another story,true too.
I have told it before but perhaps it is new to some .
Always told my Paternal grandfather was a Guard.
A tall well built man, it seemed well yes.
However I did not ask any more but when just starting infamily history and before getting into  Census returns etc I tried to find more,              Coldstream "?,Grenadier ?
No one left to ask.
But then I started searching properly etc etc!

He was was indeed a guard .
On the Lancashire and Yorkshire  Railway!

Viktoria.


Offline Erato

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #22 on: Sunday 26 July 20 18:59 BST (UK) »
When Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia married a corporate lawyer named Edward F. Cox in 1971, my father casually said, "Regrettably, he is a distant relative of ours."  Years later, when I started delving into the family history, I recalled that remark and, although I searched and searched, I could find no relationship.  When I questioned my Dad about it, he said he didn't remember saying it and off hand knew of no family connection.  I guess I should be glad that it was a false rumor.
Wiltshire:  Banks, Taylor
Somerset:  Duddridge, Richards, Barnard, Pillinger
Gloucestershire:  Barnard, Marsh, Crossman
Bristol:  Banks, Duddridge, Barnard
Down:  Ennis, McGee
Wicklow:  Chapman, Pepper
Wigtownshire:  Logan, Conning
Wisconsin:  Ennis, Chapman, Logan, Ware
Maine:  Ware, Mitchell, Tarr, Davis

Offline Viktoria

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #23 on: Sunday 26 July 20 19:46 BST (UK) »
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
I like it, the best jokes are those where the teller has no need to see the outcome,they go on for years ,like that  one.
I remember an old person who was rushed into hospital ,it was common knowledge there was a bit of and the old person did not believe in banks,
A good neighbour explained people had seen the ambulance etc abd how sad it would be if someone burgled his house whilst he was in hospital.
“ Won’t you tell me where your money is and we can get it into a safe place that you choose ,but first you must tell me where it is“
The old person beckoned, the friend leant down to hear the whispered response.
It came——————“ In a very safe place”.
It had to be left .
Do you know where it was? In a black plastic bag in amongst the coal.
Viktoria.

Offline iluleah

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #24 on: Sunday 26 July 20 20:30 BST (UK) »
Oh Viktoria..that reminded me of something I had forgotten about which  happened when I was a child. I was staying with my grandparents I must have been over 8 yrs old as I got my bike for my 8th birthday. I would ride all over the place and one day cycled to the next village about 4 miles away to see a great aunt...banged on the door, no answer, normally the door was open/unlocked  but not on that day so looked around to find something to climb up to look through the window and I could see her sitting in her chair cats on her knee and banged again, no response, so I cycled back to tell, on the way back I saw my grandfather driving the landrover taking feed to the sheep, so told him, he told me to go home and tell my uncle... turned out my great aunt had fallen asleep in the chair she was freezing cold, an ambulance called...she recovered. We went to the hospital all sitting there and my uncle told her what had happened, the cats had kept her warm enough to keep her alive, when he arrived to warm her up he got a blanket and he lite a fire waiting for help, she sat up in bed and told him he was stupid....... she had hid some money on the ledge in the chimney, so he had burned her money  ::)
Leicestershire:Chamberlain, Dakin, Wilkinson, Moss, Cook, Welland, Dobson, Roper,Palfreman, Squires, Hames, Goddard, Topliss, Twells,Bacon.
Northamps:Sykes, Harris, Rice,Knowles.
Rutland:Clements, Dalby, Osbourne, Durance, Smith,Christian, Royce, Richardson,Oakham, Dewey,Newbold,Cox,Chamberlaine,Brow, Cooper, Bloodworth,Clarke
Durham/Yorks:Woodend, Watson,Parker, Dowser
Suffolk/Norfolk:Groom, Coleman, Kemp, Barnard, Alden,Blomfield,Smith,Howes,Knight,Kett,Fryston
Lincolnshire:Clements, Woodend

Offline Viktoria

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #25 on: Sunday 26 July 20 20:35 BST (UK) »
 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
Viktoria.
Oh, my sides ache!

Offline Annie65115

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Re: Tall tales or truth?
« Reply #26 on: Wednesday 29 July 20 00:07 BST (UK) »
My mother used to scoff at her mother's pride in the ancestors. According to my grandmother, we were apparently descended from a triple barrelled bunch,the Marshall-Rawson-Uptons, and they were "Something", you know. My mother was very scornful of this; she felt that my grandmother had airs and graces way too great for our humble roots.

It turns out that no hyphens were involved, but a Rawson ancestor did indeed marry a Marshall, and their daughter married an Upton. The families certainly had had money and social status, about 200 years ago, but alcohol, mental illness, bankruptcy, a little matter of a murder trial with my ancestor as defendant etc etc had put paid to that. My grandmother's belief that we had "come from money" was true; but my mother's belief that we were "poor as church mice" was also true.
Bradbury (Sedgeley, Bilston, Warrington)
Cooper (Sedgeley, Bilston)
Kilner/Kilmer (Leic, Notts)
Greenfield (Liverpool)
Holyland (Anywhere and everywhere, also Holiland Holliland Hollyland)
Pryce/Price (Welshpool, Liverpool)
Rawson (Leicester)
Upton (Desford, Leics)
Partrick (Vera and George, Leicester)
Marshall (Westmorland, Cheshire/Leicester)