Myths debunked when doing family histroy.

[Kiltpin]

I was invited to a job interview at the "One Love Centre" in London, because I put my birthplace on the application as Bombay, India. 

When I got there, mine was the only white face for miles around. I did not get the job. 

Regards 

Chas

[DianaCanada]

There was always a story in my father's family that we had "French blood".

Closest I can find is my 2nd Great Grandfather, Ascott James Vanstone, who was born in Jersey!
The family were in Jersey for just about 5 years.
There are births and deaths of siblings in Jersey from 1841 until 1846.
Other births and deaths in 1840 in North Devon and from 1847 in Bath.

Vanstone sounds Dutch!
I was born in Quebec but I can see generations from now someone thinking we must have been French Canadian, especially since our surname had a French equivalent. The fact that we were all baptized Anglican might give them a clue.  The perils of family history!😁

 

The Canadian side of the Vanstone family have made the same mistake over the years!
The Vanstone surname originally comes from the village of Faunstone in Cornwall.
No Dutch blood at all
And I speak as someone who lived in The Netherlands for 16 years!
Nothing on Dutch genealogy websites at all.

That's interesting - always fascinating how names and places change over the years.
My kids have an ancestor named Francis Nathaniel Jersey (sometimes de Jersey) who came to Quebec sometime after the 1841 census when he is living in Crosby Garret, Westmoreland.  He and his wife moved around a lot, as he was a Methodist minister (he also got jailed in Lancaster for protesting something), and he turned to the Baptist church in Canada.  He was born in the heart of London, and most likely his family had left Jersey generations before.

[coombs]

One possible myth is my Nan said her mother was of Irish blood. Well she lived in a Catholic Hackney convent for a while so may have assumed she was of Irish blood. However one ancestor was James Smith of Oxford, a tin plate worker, who died in 1849 and said "not born in county" in 1841, and one of the witnesses to his 1819 wedding was an Andrew Carney, and Carney is an Irish name. Andrew was originally from London. Andrew may have just been a friend who worked in a similar trade as opposed to a relative.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  I can't think of any myths in my family, but I am developing a theory that the Pay family originated in France. Apart from a couple of outposts in the North of the country, they have always been along the South coast, and I discovered a while ago that the name exists in France, mainly in the North-west. Some of the family like to think there is a connection to a rogue called Harry Pay in the Middle Ages. He was based in Poole, so the South coast/France link is there as well.

[fiddlerslass]

I don't think I'll ever be able to prove or disprove my family myth, as this is how it goes :

A lass of unknown name was either secretly married to, or was the mistress of, a Lord, possibly of Raby Castle Vane family. He fell off his horse, died, and she was done out of her inheritance.There were no offspring of the alledged union.

Well, one of the Lords Barnard did die after a riding accident,

but also the Tempest family of Wynyard, lost their only son
John Wharton Tempest (1772–1793) (the subject of a painting by George Romney),  as a result of a riding accident. I am favouring this second one as perhaps the more likely, as the story seems to have originated with the Richardsons from the  Rainton /Lamesley area.
Although  a coal miner's daughter meeting a Lord is a bit unlikely 

There's also Crosier Surtees as an outside chance.  Lieutenant Crosier Surtees (1740-1803) inherited Redworth Hall near Heighington DUR. Crosier was a drunkard and womaniser, according to Wikipedia! In about 1800 his wife Jane left him. He moved into the house of his mistress in Pennington Rake and had several more children. Suddenly in 1803 he died when he was returning on his horse, in a drunken state from a banquet with Lord Barnard in Raby Castle. On the moors he tumbled from the saddle, fell into the water, and froze to death.

Anyway, there are  just too many aristocrats with Raby connections falling off their horses to choose from!

[Treetotal]

When I was co-writing a book to mark the Anniversary of the death of the famous Aviator, Amy Johnson who was born in Hull, my uncle had previously told me that we were related to her. When I asked him for details, it turned out that she wasn't a relative, but she lived next door to my Grandparents and my eldest Aunt went to the same school.
Carol

[andrewalston]

There were two family stories that my mum was told.

First was that her grandfather was a "seventh son of a seventh son". He was actually one of 5, with only a sister older than him. His father was son number 4. He still managed to charm the warts away.

Second was that the Marsh family were descended from George Marsh, who was burned at the stake under Bloody Mary and became St. George the Martyr. Supposedly there was a George in every generation in his honour. Tudor records are very thin on the ground so there is no paper trail, and so far I've found only three people called George - and one has the middle names of "Frederick Handel".

[KGarrad]

Second was that the Marsh family were descended from George Marsh, who was burned at the stake under Bloody Mary and became St. George the Martyr. Supposedly there was a George in every generation in his honour. Tudor records are very thin on the ground so there is no paper trail, and so far I've found only three people called George - and one has the middle names of "Frederick Handel".

St George the Martyr was a Roman soldier of Greek origin.
Martyred for refusing to recant his Christian faith.
Died 23rd April 303 - just a bit too early to have met Bloody Mary?!

[MollyC]

And George was not a frequent forename in England until we had kings of that name in the 18th cent.