Myths debunked when doing family histroy.

[coombs]

I know some celebrities on WDYTYA were surprised when they found an East End ancestor had a parent or parents from, for example Suffolk or Norfolk and they say "I always thought we were true East Enders" such as Barbara Windsor was surprised to find an ancestor Golding Deeks was from Suffolk and had moved to London. I guess she had done very little genealogy before and was unaware that London always was a hotspot for people from all over the country in the 1700s and 1800s, as well as French, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Jewish immigrants. Of course since the late 1940s people from all over the world made London their home.

My dad and aunty were shocked to be told that a great gran was pregnant at the time she married and they said "I am sure that was not allowed" when bridal pregnancy has been rife, and known since the year dot.

[Kiltpin]

We have two myths - 

1–We are descended from Florence Nightingale. The fact that she was never married and never had children is just an inconvenient factoid for most of my family. 

2–Stonewall Jackson (of American fame) is either an ancestor, or a descendant of our Jackson primogenitor. Nobody seems to know which. 

No amount of debunking is changing anybody's mind. 

Regards 

Chas

[Ray T]

I, to some extent, have a myth in reverse. I discovered that a widowed great aunt emigrated from the UK to the US and became the third wife of an apparently well regarded doctor who himself had emigrated from the same town some years before. His obituary gives a glowing account of his life and education both before and after his emigration.

Having sparked my interest - I have had a photograph of them since my teens but had no idea of who they were - I set about following his life in the UK only to find out that the obituary is a tissue of lies and have conclusively proven that he was a complete charlatan. Although, in the years leading up to his emigration, he worked as a herbalist, most of his time was spent in the hatting industry and, despite being listed in the register of deceased American physicians, he had no formal medical training whatsoever.

Unfortunately, there are those researching this person who insist on believing the obituary rather than the proven facts.

[Erato]

According to Wikipedia, 'Stonewall' Jackson was a descendant of thieves deported to North America in 1749.  He was a highly regarded military tactician but a bit of an odd duck, personally.  No matter how you slice it, he was a traitor to his country.  I'm not sure why your family would want him in the tree.

[Kiltpin]

Yes, well, you can't choose your family ... 

Regards 

Chas

[Erato]

"Yes, well, you can't choose your family ... "

True.  The closest thing to a family myth that I have investigated (and debunked) is that we are related to Edward Cox, the husband of Richard Nixon's daughter Tricia.  I have a distinct recollection of my father telling me that we were related to Cox at the time of the wedding in the White House Rose Garden in 1971.  (It was a shocking and horrifying revelation inasmuch as everyone in my family is decidedly leftwing).  I spent ages working out the Cox ancestry, looking for a connection, but fortunately found none.  When I later asked my father for further information, he said he had no recollection of ever making the statement and knew of no link to the Coxes.  Thanks, Dad.

[aghadowey]

I was told Uncle Harry was related to U.S. President Richard Nixon... until the business about Watergate and his resignation when this 'fact' was never mentioned again. The truth is that both families were Quakers and lived in Whittier, California at the same time but not related either by blood or marriage.

Was also told an ancestor 'drowned at sea' so when I discovered he was the captain of a coastal vessel the story seemed reasonable. Found his headstone (no cause of death mentioned) and the newspaper account of his tragic death. The truth is that he did drown but after he stumble down the well behind his house whilst intoxicated.

Then there's my grandfather "English, an orphan and an only child." This one rang alarm bells right away because I remember meeting two of his sisters and my father used to mention two others (one fondly and the other not so much). The truth is that he was one of ten children and the only English thing about the family is that was the language they spoke at home! The orphan bit I can kind of understand as his mother died just after he was born and he was mainly raised by his eldest sister and with his eldest brothers' family.

[sonofthom]

Oddly many members of my wife's family claim that their ancestor was Mary Seton, one of the four Mary's of Mary Queen of Scots fame.However the reality is that she died as a nun in France never having married. Our research has traced my wife's Seton line back to Fife with no connections to the nobility. Also Queen Mary wasn't exactly the most popular of monarchs so why even claim such a connection?

[Viktoria]

This is on Ancestry , My cousin,son of my mother’s older brother.
Photograph is correct person in RAF uniform ,but he died before he was born
according to Ancestry—— they have mixed up father and son - same Christian names!
My paternal grandfather “ was a guard”——- Coldstream ? Grenadiers?
Welsh ?Irish ?Scots?
?
Eventually found he was a guard, on The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway!
He was a blacksmith ,bad accident shoeing a great big shire horse that pulled great carts with full beams of cotton on the beams ,through Manchester  from
Lancs and York’s railway depot on Oldham Road to Portland Street crossing Piccadilly to S&J Watts Venetian style warehouse .
The guard’s job was a sort of compensation .
Also he had worked in Boston ,well what was he doing in The U.S.?
Well he was’nt — he was in The Fens.
I wish I had talked to him but he died when I was nine,  1946 .
Viktoria.