Genealogy Chat

I was wondering if throughout everyones research into their family that if anyone has come across an old 'family story' that has proved right or even partially right and have they hindered or helped your research

I have proved most of my family stories on my fathers side of the family untrue, although they all did come from my great grandad and when I asked questions about him to people they did say that he was a bit of a story teller!!! He put me back months trying to find his side of the family as he said he was born in Scotland, turns out he was born just outside Stoke!!!

Hi Kerin-I have a written note from a niece of my grandmother who told me my great grandmother's maiden name was Brailsford and that she was related to the owners of a printing firm in Sheffield.For several years I kept looking and couldn't find anything . Eventually I found out her maiden name was Nixon and she had come from Bradfield area of Sheffield. Apart from getting my brain round the 'new ' name I couldn't believe where such a story came from. So in my case it hindered me for several years. I can empathise with you!- JLe

My husbands Gran always insisted that the family were Scottish and all the family maintained that this was correct and they were entitled to wear a clan tartan
. I proved this to be wrong when I found out she had been born in Lancashire then lived in Westmorland and married in Yorkshire
She had been placed in a servant school when she was 8, her mother had died in childbirth and her Grandmother with whom she lived had just died
Her grandmothers maiden name was Scott so maybe the idea that she was Scottish came from there or was it just a liitle girls daydreaming to cope with what had happened to her

one of the best stories that my great grandad told my gran is that the way his mum died. he told my gran that she fainted and hit her head on the fire grate and died. double tragedy is that she was holding his little sister at the time and fell on top of her and she was smothered.

tragic story but it turns out that his mother had died of TB and pulmonary exhaustion and he did have a little sister but she died 3 months before age 5 months because she was a 'sickly infant'

I was never sure if this was made up by my great grandad or if this was the story told him by his relatives as he was only 7 when his mum died and maybe his relatives thought this was an easier story than the reality that his mum died age 31 after giving birth to 4 children and seeing 3 of them die before she did.

Treat em as you would any research - find out for yourself.

Maggie

My mum told me her mother was a Darby from Derby. She ended up being born in Middlesbrough where the family lived.
Her parents were from Sedgley in Staffordshire. Nobody was born in Derby

I looked for 6 months on the census for her and her father called John. Another member thinking out the box found them.

Mum did get it right about her cousin marrying " Jimmy James" the comedian though. Proved that to be true

My great aunt (no longer alive) filled my mum in with great detail about the family and nearly all of it has proved accurate. It has enabled me to find info between the census' and verify it with birth and death certificates despite one birth and two deaths being registered under a mispelt surname. Glad my mum has a good memory and my great aunt was so informative!

I've managed to prove all of my mum's stories - even the one that had slipped a generation. What's lovely about the last one was that I know that my gr gr gr grandmother, having been abandoned by the man who "got her into trouble" then married "the chap who'd been sweet on her for years - and he brought the child up as if it were his own". This couple were born way back in the 1820s so it's lovely to have a story about them!

Jill

My gran told me my grandad must have scottish roots - because he was always singing 'I belong to Glasgow' LOL
Nooo - he was Hampshire born - as were his ancestors back to 1700 and something!!
Possibly he may have liked his alcohol - hence the bursting into 'I belong to Glasgow' LOL

oh yes ..My husband told me his family was french canadian,and they had 2 children. they were german,&guess what l found 13 children.my mother in law told me that my father in law died of TB in 1941 wrong again.he died in a mental hospital. now l dont trust anything untill l can prove it.oh what fun it is.

we had great fun with great grandmother (bless her cotton sox) who died at 93 refusing to accept that HER grand father had been born in australia. even though we knew he was not a convict ( more's the pitty) she was not impressed and swore to her grave that he was born in london.
never mind. it was fun finding him.

had more luck with the SMITH family reputed by family ledgend to have had 14 children my ancester being number 8.
i found them by chance (using unusual christian names) living in nottingham.
yes my man was number 8, but i only found 11 children in total and are now looking for the other 3.

who said SMITH hunting was hard?

Hi Fiona
Given so traumatic an event it seems unlikely your mum would have got it wrong. Have you tried contacting newspapers close to the area? An ambulance on standby would probably have caused a local stir..........
Julie

My dad told me the story of how my grandad was born in America but had no birth certifcate. It proved to be correct. My great grandad emigrated to Sherrardsville, Illinois in 1906 and his fiance joined him in 1907. My grandad was born in 1908 in sherrardsville, however, the doctor that delivered my grandad committed suicide before he registered the birth and so my Grandad did not have a birth certificate. Apparent;y they came back to Scotland in 1909 because my gr gran hated it there. My grandad when he was older, had to apply for a birth certificate to the American government using a cradle roll from the church where he was christened.

It wasn't unitl recently when a family member died and my husband was looking up their attic, when he came across a picture of my gr gran and gr grandad in the local paper in october 1950 explaining their story and it all matched up !

My great grandparents emigrated to the US in 1904 with my grandmother aged 7 months. The story we were always told was that while my great grandmother was giving birth to her second child my great grandfather was in another room dying of an appendicitus. It wasn't until last year when someone from the US was in touch and went to the archives where they had lived and found the newspaper article with the head line " Husband Dead Wife Demented" She had recently given birth and he died in hospital of pneumonia, so there was a grain of truth in it, but very sad that my great grandmother had to be hospitalised as she became mentally unstablewhen great grandfather took ill. Two months later she and her two daughters arrive back in Liverpool.

Fiona,

have you tried contacting the cemetery nearest to where the caravan park was? You might be able to find a record there of the babys burial. If he was stillborn it is likely that the funeral would have been dealt with by the hospital and your mother may never have been told the details. This happened in my family and after over forty years I had all but given up hope of finding out what happened to my sister until one day reading through a thread someone suggested if all other searches had failed trying the cemetery local to where the event took place. I emailed them and was sent the details of the funeral and a map of the cemetery indicating the plot where my sister is buried.

Good luck with your research,
Caz