Genealogy Chat

Further to this as well, my Boyfriend grew up in South Africa, and with a family called the Samsons, as each family lived in one anothers pockets, they would refer to the other family as cousins, Aunts and Uncles....just recently, I registered my Boyfriend's mother on GR, and she has become interested in the research, she has advised me that there has been a link (similar to Hotmatches) come through to advise that she could be related to a particular member in the Samsons family. I've yet to research this further though but who knows. Again though, with my own family it's driving me insane to try and identify what the link could be, everywhere I look, I find reoccurances of those names, I found a 'Lines' who was a witness at a family marriage and have other 'Lines' in my tree and can't find out how they are related. x

I can't help thinking there's more t it than just proximity! I have instances of people marrying into particular families and generations later same thing happenening. Going back through OH's tree and mine are instances of his family and mine being in the same place.I have distant cousins marrying probably never knowing they had shared third great grandparents. Sometimes we meet people and feel as if we have always known them..... maybe it is genetic recognition down the centuries.? M

Bev, I have three families of Parsons, all from the same area, the head of each Parsons family all have the name George, but can find no connection, they all seem to have married Mary or Marie. Their children married other connections to my family in the area, and causing me to run round in circles - which one is which. Another problem is the children all seem to have been given the same names, James, George, Mary. Luckily the BMD for the area is on-line, however, I have found two James,three Mary and two George Parsons all marrying within two year period. I am sure if I order the marriage certificates, it will say parents George and Mary. Elizabeth

It is quite bizarre, when I first researching my family tree, I didn't even know that my family were so local. In the initial message, I am referring to my Grandfathers side only but with my Grandmothers family, I found two of her sisters, who both married Watts Brothers, only the other day, someone asked me if I knew the Watts from Wardington, he himself, has never moved away from the local area and said that I must be related to the whole village if I had connections with the Watts. I do feel now as though I am researching for all folk in the locality and not only have I found those reoccurances of names, I found out that a member of my family, in the late 1700's, married into a family that is very notorious in the area and own the funeral parlour! I even went out on a date with one of the sons years ago! x Weird. x

Of Course people didnt get out as much - you knew the folk where you lived and that was about it. The odd girl or two went away into service perhaps and fell in love with the groom, but otherwise, you didnt often have the chance to meet anyone BUT from your village

Bev If you could see my tree for my Cheshire lot, you would wonder why I don't have two heads! Small village and they intermarried time and time again. I finished up doing a tree for practically the whole village. They rarely married a stranger and when they did, I can usually find a family connection in the previous two or three generations. In the case of my family, they were all farmers and it was definitely to keep it in the family and to consolidate their wealth and land. Plus - it was a fairly isolated place and not much chance of meeting a random stranger passing through. I would think this was common for any family living in a small community. OC

Keeping it in The Family! Yours thoughts. Hi all, I have been researching my tree for a long time and I keep seeing reoccurances of surnames, although I haven't made a direct connection. In my tree, I seem to have generations of Parsons, Taylors, Lines, Cooks and Middletons who have all married into each surname, whom all have resided in the same area. Even more freaky, I looked at someone else's tree who has the same surname as me and found that her Taylors have married Middletons from the same area, although I can't see a direct link. Am I just thinking too much about this, has anyone else found this and do you think it is probable of generations to have made an attempt to keep it in the family? I know people didn't travel so much then and just wondered if people would have been influenced as to who their chosen spouse would have been. Your thoughts are welcomed. Let me know what you think! x

Hi all, I have been researching my tree for a long time and I keep seeing reoccurances of surnames, although I haven't made a direct connection. In my tree, I seem to have generations of Parsons, Taylors, Lines, Cooks and Middletons who have all married into each surname, whom all have resided in the same area. Even more freaky, I looked at someone else's tree who has the same surname as me and found that her Taylors have married Middletons from the same area, although I can't see a direct link. Am I just thinking too much about this, has anyone else found this and do you think it is probable of generations to have made an attempt to keep it in the family? I know people didn't travel so much then and just wondered if people would have been influenced as to who their chosen spouse would have been. Your thoughts are welcomed. Let me know what you think! x