Author Topic: Why family history / genealogy?  (Read 2087 times)

Offline pharmaT

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #18 on: Saturday 12 September 20 15:18 BST (UK) »
I remember as a child playing in the village with my cousins, the farm was next door to the church and grave yard so we would often be in there generally looking for clay pipes of all things and found lots. We would read the gravestones and one had a distinctive 'family name' on it my cousins would say the person was 'their' family but not mine as I had a different surname and I would argue back it was both our ancestor ( as the surname was my mothers maiden name) you know silly child mentality..of who is most related than someone else ;D (the person turned out to be our great grandfather

 

Some don't grow out of it.  My Uncle didn't want me to research my paternal Gran's family because "that's my side of the family".  He was named after her father.  My MIL didn't want me to research at all, in fact ordered me not to.  I kept researching, the documents I have used are public records and I've not published my research so don't see how she can legally stop me.
Campbell, Dunn, Dickson, Fell, Forest, Norie, Pratt, Somerville, Thompson, Tyler among others

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #19 on: Saturday 12 September 20 15:30 BST (UK) »
Just looked through DNA matches for my Wife and found the Tree of an American relation.

he goes back and finds Sir Edward Stanley Earl of Derby and British Prime Minister then he stops researching.

We sent him a message four months ago saying that this person is a Gateway Ancestor and nothing has happened.

As they say up ere in tha Norf ..... nowt sa queer as folk

Offline oldfashionedgirl

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #20 on: Saturday 12 September 20 15:39 BST (UK) »
Yes they absolutely do repeat. It’s amazing the lengths people went to to cover up their ‘shame’.

Ironically things that people wouldn’t bat an eyelid at today.

My mother always said ‘what will the neighbours think’ I wish I’d been brave enough to answer back 

‘I don’t care and it’s none of their business’ but of course I didn’t dare !  :o ;D

Offline TheOnlyRogueAngel

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #21 on: Saturday 12 September 20 15:41 BST (UK) »
Quote
My great grandfather had left his wife and children for another women, moved 3 miles away to the next village, waited a decade for his wife to die then married his other women, he is not buried at the graveyard where his headstone states he is ( along with wife)  he is buried in an unmarked grave in the next village with wife number 2...so 'shameful' at that time..... of course there is lots of other bits and pieces, such as he left only his youngest son anything in his Will ( which would cause 'family issues' involving my granddad) although he signed over the farm to his three sons years before he died. I always wondered why my mother was so 'ignorant' to a family in the village...since I have researched and found out it was the 'other womens' family.

Wow.! That sounds so much like my family. My great grandfather is rumoured to have had another family and left them to be with my great grandmother. They had five children together but never married. My great grandmother still used his name though. The mystery is that no-one knows who he is or was, or whether he really did have another family.
Cawlbeck, Colbeck, Colbrook, Colebeck, Colebrook, Colebrooke, Coulbeck, Cowlbeck [UK, USA, NZ, Australia, Canada] Hamer [South Yorkshire, UK], Lucas [Cardiff & Gloucestershire, UK] Pennell [UK], Speed [UK], Udall, Udell [UK & USA], Webb [Staffordshire, Dorset, UK], Foot, Foote [Dorset, UK].


Offline iluleah

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #22 on: Saturday 12 September 20 16:02 BST (UK) »
Yes they absolutely do repeat. It’s amazing the lengths people went to to cover up their ‘shame’.

Ironically things that people wouldn’t bat an eyelid at today.

My mother always said ‘what will the neighbours think’ I wish I’d been brave enough to answer back 

‘I don’t care and it’s none of their business’ but of course I didn’t dare !  :o ;D

The more I research the more I realise that we are just very complex human beings and nothing really changes, apart from what we accept/tolerate as time goes by so our attitude towards it,...people have children without being married, live 'in sin', have affairs, cheat, lie, steal  etc etc and they always have, we just tend to talk about it now  ::)  but I can't for the life of me understand taking on the 'shame' of what an ancestors might have done


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 forthefamily

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #23 on: Saturday 12 September 20 16:10 BST (UK) »
We emigrated to Canada when I was four. I never met my paternal grandparents. I did meet my maternal grandmother as she came to visit us twice when I was little.

Neither of my parents talked about their families very much.

My dad did communicate with his youngest brother via letter but when my dad died in 1975...I was 26 then...that was the end of my contact with that side of my family.

My mum passed away in 2003 at the age of 90. Funnily enough it wasn't til then that I thought about where I came from and who my family were.

So that's when I started on my genealogical voyage.

Just by chance I found a maternal second cousin on a genealogical site about 12 years ago and we research together via the internet. It's been lots of fun and hard work. We finally met face to face for the first time two years ago :)

Some of our mutual discoveries have been very very interesting.

For example, it was a bit of a shock then when we discovered a few years ago that my mum's oldest brother married and had five children. What  ???  :o That's one thing that my mum never mentioned.

Also that our great uncle had married twice and had five children. My 2nd cousin had met him several times at her grandmother's house but never knew this fact about him.

You have to shake your head and wonder why this information wasn't communicated. Ah well   ::)   

Since then I have had my DNA done and that really helped a lot in getting to my roots. Best thing I ever did. I even discovered that a couple of members of Rootschat are distantly related to me :D

I have also done my husband's tree way back to the 1600's to Cumberland and the Debatable Lands between Scotland and England. Then back to the 1500's on the Isle of Man. Then on his maternal to Kilkenny and Dublin. His family tree has been a never ending source of challenge and entertainment. Lots of juicy scandals and surprises :)

My family understand after all these years that I'm addicted to genealogical research and are very polite when I start discussing someone who died in 1821. They just nod and smile. That's okay as I'm enjoying myself and I don't intend to stop researching. Never ever :)

mab
Census information is Crown copyright from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Inishowen: Meenamullaghan (Big Hill), Foffenagh (Rock), Illies and area...mainly McCallion, Doherty, Bradley, Grant, Devlin
Kilmacrenan: Gortnacorrib....Bonner
Scotland: Bonar, Boner Bonner etc
Conwal: Kirkstown.....Toner, Parke
Derry City: Bonner, McGowan, McGilloway, McElwee, Bradley
Omagh: Bradley
Fanad Penninsular, Donegal.....McBride, Friel, Fielty
Sligo: McGowan

Offline Mimble

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #24 on: Tuesday 15 September 20 15:11 BST (UK) »
My mother's family come from immigrant families to South Africa in 1820. They came from all over the UK and Ireland, mainly established farming and manufacturing backgrounds who had perhaps fallen on hard times and were looking for a fresh start in a new country. So the families have been relatively easy to trace back quite far and it's been fascinating to go to the different places they came from and trace where they lived and are buried (their manor houses and farmhouses are still there and in some cases are now B&Bs and there are lots of gravestones and monuments in churches) and find out more about their lives and backgrounds. I've also had the help of my grandfather's research and memoirs about his family, and some of the other families wrote memoirs and letters which have given information, (although they have also revealed the settlers' attempts to 'improve' their origins!) Two of the lines, one Scots Irish and the other from an Orkney Laird, have gone back to nobility and royalty, which I am now researching with interest, and looking for effigies in churches and the remains of castles. Having grown up in South Africa, I have never studied English history, so am now having to catch up, and am avidly devouring 15th and 16th century historical fiction to put flesh on some of the names and the times they lived through.

I tend to splurge interest on each branch that I take up and do a write up of my findings with pictures. Then I move on to another branch. I've stopped adding names to my tree long go as it would all be far too much, and am concentrating on finding out interesting stories and anecdotes about the families to add to my write ups. I have enough to keep me busy for years to come!
Morgan, Wilcox, Hulbert, Olive - Gloucestershire; Diggines, Gill, Rivers, Bull, Powell, Howell - Bristol; Hulley, Cawood - Yorkshire and South Africa; Stedman,  Hamar, Luther - Shropshire; Staddon, Rawle, Richards, Kemp -  West Somerset; Jones - Bettws, Montgomeryshire and Mainstone, Shropshire; Williams - Beguildy, Radnorshire; Coleman - Kent; Gradwell, Strickland - Lancashire;  Moodie -  Orkneys; Montgomery - Armagh, Down and Kildare; Parke - Kildare and Wicklow; Brangan - Bandon, Cork.

Offline pinefamily

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #25 on: Sunday 20 September 20 13:18 BST (UK) »
Watching the TV series "Roots" got me thinking about my own background. Starting with my mother, grandmother and aunt I asked lots of questions. And so it began.... 40 years later, and I'm still at it.  ::)
On the matter of shame, I have always told people I want to record the family history, not judge it.
I am Australian, from all the lands I come (my ancestors, at least!)

Pine/Pyne, Dowdeswell, Kempster, Sando/Sandoe/Sandow, Nancarrow, Hounslow, Youatt, Richardson, Jarmyn, Oxlade, Coad, Kelsey, Crampton, Lindner, Pittaway, and too many others to name.
Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Cornwall, Warwickshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Wilts, Germany, Sweden, and of course London, to name a few.

Offline Braindead

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Re: Why family history / genealogy?
« Reply #26 on: Sunday 20 September 20 13:42 BST (UK) »
Thank you to all who have replied to my initial question, I have read them all with great interest and love the different tales, ideas and people you have talked about. I'd love to hear more.
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