General Chat

Which one of your rellies would you have liked to have known?.

My grandfather on my dad's side as cannot get passed by dad's birth (no birth cert)

My great great grandmother! What a pain she has been. No birth or marriage and took me 12 years to find her death! Says she is married then keeps producing children even though she says she's a widow - and there's no death for him either! Where born - Scotland isn't much help either! AAAGGHHH! Janice

I would have liked to have known my great great grandmother too. She has been a pain in the neck as well. I found out that she had married and been widowed before she married my grt grt grand father and two years after marrying my grt grt grand dad he died. Then she married again. On the 1881 census she says she is a widow and born in ireland. Then on the 1891 census she should be down in her new married name but is back in our family name. She then says that she is 15yrs older than what she is and that she came from america. She is driving me nuts. Vanessa

my grandparents on my fathers side are driving me mad aswell. I spent ages trying to find their marriage. I spoke to my dad but because he has had a number of strokes his memory is dodgy. He says they marrid in Bombay. Tried looking overseas but to no avail. Will have to keep hunting.

Unfair question really because I suppose many of us would want to meet most if not all our ancestors but, if I had to choose, I would want to know what happened to my two great uncles who became Mariners with their trades of Block Makers. I traced them in 1851, they married one in 1858 and one in 1860. Since then, no sightings........no sign of any family, no discovery yet as to when or how they died. One further choice would be to meet my French ggrandfather.....find out whether he had siblings? Jen

I agree Jen that i should have worded the thread better. Too many rellies and hard to decide. My husband would have loved to have met my grandfather. Only because he was in the army and by the looks of things from most of the info i have got he recieved a mention in dispatches twice and given a full millatary funural. (excuse my spelling).

Nothing wrong with the wording of your thread Vanessa, You were asking a fair enough question................ Just me being greedy lol..........once you start looking and turning up interesting snippets of info, and they are interesting from the point of view that our ancestors lived so differently in many respects to us, and had life so very hard in a great many cases, that you just yearn to discover more about their lifestyles, their hardships etc, etc. So there's the tendency to feel greedy for all that..........it does endear you towards them, helping you to begin to recognise them as individuals and loving them..........even though there could never be a physical bond. Jen

I think this would change over time but at the moment I would like to be a fly on the wall around 1920 to see what happened to cause my Aunt Maud to vanish & where she went. Vivienne

That sounds interesting Vivienne, I once had a contact with whom I shared a very distant rellie through marriage and discovered there was a mystery surrounding what happened to her. Apparantly, she was something of an entrepeneur (excuse spelling), a rarity for those times...............and she had just secured for herself a lucrative business deal and just needed to celebrate with someone. So she went to visit her closest lady friend and they cracked open a bottle or three, then fell sound asleep. Unfortunately, they had not realised that the gas was on, and they both died. Jen

I would like talk to G/G/father and find out what the big diagreement was in that split the family up no one knows that are left xxx

That is so sad Jen! I've got a bee in my bonnet about Maud at the moment. Found what I think could be a lead but not getting a reply to my email, grrrr, so frustrating. Vivienne

Well, I wish you luck on that one Vivienne, If you do discover what happened to aunt Maud, please post and let us know, I love mysteries. (I had an aunt Maud too, mum's youngest sister) Jen

Find out where my Grandfather is. All I have is a name on three birth certs, and he was a merchant seaman just before the first world war, and supposedly never came back (or found someone else). It will most probably all be revealed when the 1911 cencus is released. Anyone who knew anything is now in a better place.

John, I can relate to that, I never knew my two uncles were Merchant seamen........and you just want to know what hapened to them. Jen

Vanessa, My French g grandfather is proving to be just as elusive, coming from various parts of the world according to the census' Jen

Both of my elusive Grandparents. They were travelling stage actors and had my Father fostered. His last memory was watching them when he was very young. I would like to step back in time and watch on-stage from behind ' the wings '. Mau x

Hi jen. You are so right. Maybe the census people spoke to them when they were in mischeivous moods. I am also having problems finding my great greatgrandfather. He and his whole family seem to have gone AWOL on the 1901 census.AHHHHHH!!!!. Vanessa Sorry. That should read great grandfather!

Vanessa, If they don't go AWOL, then they just don't appear, by that I mean...........presently I have a whold family my g g grandmother and her four children in 1851. I know what happened to the eldest, she was my g grandmother. Just found her middle brother's death. But out of all of them it's the youngest brother's birth I need to find to discover his father, who was dead by 1851. He was born in 1843........and can I find his birth........not on your life lol!!! Jen

I'd like to meet my Grandma's grandparents.... have pictures of them and have been to their old house (outside only) and I'd love to know more about their lives..... Rebecca lived til she was over 80 lost so many children.... she must have been an amazing woman!! xx