General Chat

I'm new to all this-but here goes, gotta tell someone
I found my Gt Uncle Edward Callaghans WW1 record, he was killed in action in 1916.
His signature is identical to mine, even to the "looped A" i do, its spooked me out, i could have signed that document no one would know the difference, has anyone else got any weird stories?

hi jean only that I'm very similar to my great great grandmother personality wise so ive been told xxx

Did it make you feel "strange" as you never met her?

Welcome Jean.

Yes when I 1st started this I was given a document from the village that I grew up in with a lot of signatures on it dated to the late 1700's there in the middle of it was my Dad's signature. Dad nor grand-dad was born in the village. Wasn't my dad's obviously but my gt gt grandfathers, but it freaked me out especially as my dad had not long died.

I was loaned some family photo's after the death of a relly, which I made copies of. One was a photo sent to my Gran from someone who signed herself as 'May', and taken about early 1900's. It was taken in an obvious foreign location, easternish/ oriental, I would say myself.
A few days later, my youngest daughter aged 40, sent me a photo of herself in her kitchen. When I cut the backgound off, for some reason, I thought of the one belonging to my Gran. They were identical, even down to the deep set dark eyes, the slight build, and the shaping of the teeth. Even my daughter could not believe it when I showed it to her.
This lady, was one of my Gran's aunt's, her father's sister. Very little is know of her, within the family, and I am having trouble finding out anything official about her. One of the only things I know about her was that, after the fall of Singapore in 1942, she was given safe passage by the Japanese to Australia, but the Japanese Navy, sank the ship. She was about 80.
Whenever my daughter visits, it is like sitting across the table from 'May'.
Julia in Derbyshire

Julia photo's are strange aren't they. I have one of a young me and one of my neice at the same age and they are identical, even my neice thought the one of me was her !
Stranger still I have a second half cousin who I found through here, even though we grew up a few miles apart. and our fathers could be brothers even though it's their gt grandmother that they had in common. Mind several of my cuz's friends say that I look more like her Dad than she does... (I do take after my dad)

This is getting more weird, cos these relatives, apart from your neice arnt that close blood wise now, wonder what our grandkids will inherit from us, no i'm not even gonna go there!!!!!!

I never knew my paternal grandmother, she died before I was born, but recently I read some letters she had sent my mum, which was the first insight I had ever had to her as a person.

What spooked me was, the things she said, were exactly how I would say them. I could have written those letters myself. I could almost hear myself saying them!

Oh my-how do you get your head round that?
Poor May, what a tragic ending if she went down with the ship.

I do think we pick up mannerisms from our parents without realising it.

Jean they are close in the fact our Dads were half cousins but to look so alike is uncanny, and the pics we showed to each other had them in similar poses.
As far as I know my Dad didn't know about this half cousin and we all grew up in the same area. He knew about 3 Gt aunts and Uncles as they were brought up by his grandmother but 1 was adopted out at birth....and this is the one that looks like him !

Hi Jean ,
know what you mean ,
I was exchanging info on my family with a second cousin
any way she wrote me a letter with the info that she had sent me ,
and if i hadn't known any better, i would have said it was my eldest sister writting it ,
Hazelx

It certainly is stranger than fiction, hair curling stuff, its your dad reincarnated, no doubt about it, he lives on!!!!

I agree with you about mannerisms, one of my grandkids is just like me, so i'm told, must have picked it up from her dad (my son)
How good is that, about the adopted one, wow!!!!

Hi Hazel,
You know exactly where i'm coming from. still tryng to get my head round it, especially as Edward was killed (aged 18) 32 yrs before i was born.

I was adopted so didn't know if I looked like anyone ...until I met up with B Brothers.The first comment to come out of one of them was ...OMG it's me Mother lolol.That felt really strange,but then seeing a photo of my B Mother I knew what he meant.

hi jean sorry for late reply , yes really but i wonder if our personalities would then have clashed xx good thread btw xx

Ooooh Jane, bet it shook your brothers up as well as you