Geneology

[dellzeqq]

Is this simply a means of parting people from their money?

I've got to go round and see my mum because a geneologist has taken our family tree back four hundred years, and, lo and behold, we are related to famous people! Whodavthortit!!!

Daniel Mendoza I can believe. Jewish, like my grandfather, boxer, like my grandfather, Whitechapel absolutely, and same name. So there you go. Then again, there are probably (does quick sum) 10,000 people who could say the same. But Patriarch Mendoza, top Catholic bod for the West Indies back in the seventeenth century? Did some of the Mendozas convert when they moved to England?

Have any of you any experiences of geneologists, and how did you rate the results? And, more interestingly, did you think of yourself differently afterwards?

 

[velocidad]

i used one to help me decide between levi and wrangler ;-)

 

[Arch]

Have any of you any experiences of geneologists, and how did you rate the results? And, more interestingly, did you think of yourself differently afterwards?

Mum and I went to an evening class, and did our own for a bit - she did her side, I did my Dad's - didn't get all that far back (early 19th C, the point at which statutory records peter out), but could if we decided to get back into it.

My favourite fact is that one of my great-grandfathers, or was it great-great-grandfathers, once ran a Bakers and Confectioners shop, in Salisbury. In Penny Farthing Street! So the liking for cake and bicycles seems hereditary.

Also, a distant relative had the middle name Garibaldi.

 

[meenaghman]

I thought it was genealogy.. anyway yes done some tracing and acquired some other. Everything leads back to Ireland. My mothers side was researched by her uncle in 30s and 40s who asked the locals and documented the various relations. Its interesting if only to give a perspective on some of the hardships.. looking at the census records and how many children and how many died early. My paternal grandfather lied about his age to work down the mines at 13. A great grandfather who joined the army at 14. Its often the characters that cross the paths of the family that are interesting, along with some outrageous co-incidences which seem to continually crop up. But yes it is a money pit and one can spend a fortune on it if not careful.

 

[summerdays]

I've been doing my for years... as its all in Ireland it doesn't go back that far (about 1775), but its not just adding names I want to know facts about them.

For example this morning I found out some more information about a great uncle who died in WW1 - that he was gassed. I know its a tiny fact but it just adds to the picture, previously knew his rank, when and where but not how. Then there is the bit I can't decide if I want to explore - hereditary illnesses. And every now and again someone contacts me to say they are a long lost relative. The most recently was a cousin of my mum who she had grown up with who emigrated to Australia and lost touch. Mum really appreciated the old photos she sent.

I don't pay other people to go off and do it all for me - every now and again I take myself off to the records office (PRONI) to see what new facts/maps etc I can dig up.

Certain people stand out as ones you want to know more about... my great grandmother being one of the main ones - just because I still know relatively little about her.

 

[Wigsie]

My mother once paid for one for my dad, they traced it back to the Buchanan Clan 14th century aberdeenshire (not sure how).

I used one in SA to find my wife's biological father which was VERY difficult as with every take over of governement and collapse of Apartheit majority of records were destroyed discarde and its a bit of a shambles.

I am thinking about trying it as my boss has just bought a 1935 Freddie Grubb Tandem and Grubb was my mothers Maiden name so i want to see if i am related to an actual 'serious' cyclist! if so its in the blood and no one can take that away from me! ha ha

 

[Globalti]

My favourite fact is that one of my great-grandfathers, or was it great-great-grandfathers, once ran a Bakers and Confectioners shop, in Salisbury. In Penny Farthing Street! So the liking for cake and bicycles seems hereditary.

That's funny, my grandparents had a wholesale tobacconist, Macey and Jeffrey on Castle Street, Salisbury (where Mum & sister still live) and two shops, one of which is now a dry cleaner's in the market square. Earlier generations incuded an alcoholic who went out one dark night to the loo, missed the karzie, fell in the river and drowned.

 

[Wigsie]

My Granfathers father (dads side) started and used to run what was to become Cannon Cinema's and Saxone Shoes (now bought out by Hush Puppies)... but after he died my granfathers brother and two aunties bodged it all up, stiched up my grandfather and sold the companies off for a fraction of the value and he never saw or spoke to the three of them again!

I could have been an aire to millions! ha ha

 

[Arch]

That's funny, my grandparents had a wholesale tobacconist, Macey and Jeffrey on Castle Street, Salisbury (where Mum & sister still live) and two shops, one of which is now a dry cleaner's in the market square. Earlier generations incuded an alcoholic who went out one dark night to the loo, missed the karzie, fell in the river and drowned.

So, folk bought their cakes from my lot, and their baccy from yours....

The same baker and confectioner, I found out, died in the Workhouse which was sad. Whether it was a result of losing it all somehow, or just that he ended up ill and alone as the rest of the family went off to other places, I haven't found out.

I do intend to do a bit more one day, when I have the time and money to travel about - although you can do a lot on the web, there are still fees for census records and so on.

 

[meenaghman]

Arch.. the workhouse tended to be a hospital also. Many of my relatives died or were born in the workhouse, but certainly in Ireland, if there's an address on the cert.. even if it says resident of the workhouse, its usually an indication that they were using it as a hospital.
Some of the reasons for death are certainly not ones you would see today.. eg "old age" "disease of the hip", "decay of nature"..
My Great grandfather was a prize fighter.. died of "necrosis of the jaw" from getting his jaw broken in a fight..aged 44.

 

[Arch]

Arch.. the workhouse tended to be a hospital also. Many of my relatives died or were born in the workhouse, but certainly in Ireland, if there's an address on the cert.. even if it says resident of the workhouse, its usually an indication that they were using it as a hospital.

Yeah, I wondered if it was something like that. As far as I know, the business didn't pass on, and the family moved (or some already had moved?) to Southampton.

I found I did get attached to these people, in a funny way - not so much as relatives, maybe more like characters in a book...

 

[Fnaar]

I know (from an uncle, who's looked into these things) that my dad's side of the family were (historically) from Glendalough in Co. Wicklow, which is a cool place, before they became Dublin city folk, which is where the old man was born and raised. The mother's side were (as far as i know) always based in rural Co Cork, and then got a small 'injection' of English genes from a Mr Porter from Somerset...
Huge families.. my sister and I once counted 50+ cousins....

 

[Mortiroloboy]

My brother researched our family tree, and got back to 1604 before records started to become too difficult to trace, there comes a point where you have literally got to walk around graveyards reading headstones, as paper records have long gone. No famous people, but some interesting stories, and it gives you a real sense of self.

 

[rich p]

A couple of relations are now suffering from the same mental illness (paranoid schizo) but this particular type only strikes when in one's twenties, apparently (so I'm alright!).

!

What, both of you?

 

[summerdays]

In fact I don't even have a birth certificate (being born there).

Do you have something different that you can use each time the govenment/employers/etc ask for a birth certificate as some form of ID? Its just one of those things that you assume everyone has.