Genealogy Chat

If you discover any interesting stories from your research, or memories from the family. How about sharing them on the following site http://www.yourmemories.)co.)uk

Hi, I think this thread should really be on the General board but anyway I discovered that my wife's ggrandad worked underground in a mine... not so exciting but he was a pony driver and this was in the 1901 census!!! xx Dave

Hi, there, Discovered that a gt/gr aunt's sister worked in a coal-mine at the age of 9 and her mother also was a pit worker age 32. Best bit is I found my gt/grandfather in Durham Gaol on the 91 census .( wonder what he'd been up to ??) Joyce

I am sure others must have come across sad stories, I would like to share my saddest yet. My gggrandmother side of the family are listed in 1881 census Father 30 (Tailor) Mother 34 (no occupation) 5 girls aged between 11 down to 2years a son of 10months. On the 1891 census there is mother widow (charwoman) 1 16 year old girl (domestic Servant) the son now 10 years old and a baby 9mths 1901 the baby is now 10years old and is in the Poor House School, the Boy is 20 and a boarder in another house somewhere else. I was bothered by the fact that 4 girls were missing what has happened to the family. Well Father died 1890 only 39 years old. 3 daughters died in childhood. and mother died 1895 in Poor House I wrote away for her death certficate and cause of death EXHAUSTION! at 49 years old. What a tragic family I was upset for a few days and took a break from researching anyone else. Pat x

Hi, When my grandad was asked where his dad was by his children he'd always say matter-of-factly "A wall fell on him." He said it in the same way that an adult might respond to a child's question about where babies come from by saying 'from the cabbage patch'. So none of them really believed it. The other day I finally got the death certificate for the man my grandad knew as his father, and cause of death in 1878 was "Violent fall of a partition wall on him". So it goes to show that some of the familystories have more than a grain of truth to them. Jo (Canada) researching GOSDEN, APPLETON in Greenwich, Deptford St Paul, Fulham

My saddest story so far is this. Ggranparents had first child Elizabeth in 1883,no2 James in 1886, no3 Jessie in 1889, no4 Walter in 1891. At time of 1891 census Jessie is no longer there.Dec 1891 ggrandfather dies of pthisis exhaustion 18 months. Ggran then falls pregnant with twins. A couple of months later Walter dies. The twins Blanche and William are born in the October. They are both dead in the January. Have found nothing else until 1901 when ggran has remarried, had another child and been widowed again. James and his new stepsister are the only children left and can find no trace of Elizabeth.

I found that my great-great-grandmother Ann's elder brother William Mealing killed his pregnant fiancee in 1862. He was tried for wilful murder and acquitted on the grounds of insanity. He then spent the rest of his life - another 46 years - in Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum. The murder was committed in Rendcomb, which was (and is) a small village in Gloucestershire. In 1862 the population was about 257 people, so they would probably all have known William. They all clubbed together to raise the money for his defence, so I think they must have been aware that he was not responsible for his actions. Having cut the poor woman's throat, he went and gave himself up to the village constable, who was also his godfather, and the blacksmith, Timothy Tarrant. Mr Tarrant's descendent, another Tarrant, was the blacksmith who apprenticed my grandfather before the 1st WW. My grandfather was William's great-nephew, but as far as I know, neither of them knew of the other's existence. One of the saddest bits of the case is the evidence my gt gt gt grandmother Mary gave at the preliminary hearing about how she loved her son and had hoped he would be able to cope. This is the only opportunity I have had to 'hear' my dead ancestors. Shortly before the murder, William's sister Ann (my gt gt grandmother) had given birth to twins, who both died within a couple of months. A year later she had my great-grandfather, and went on to have several more children before she died of 'flooding after childbirth' at the age of 38. nell

My gt.gt.grandad married a widow, they had three children over 4 years. Mother died 9 months after youngest. father re- married 2 years later. Died three months after the wedding(just 25). The stepmother had the children put into care. This was the two girls into the orphanage, the oldest a boy (5) went into the workhouse as his birth certificate showed he was born only 7 months after the marriage. The girls were there until they were 17. The boy in the workhouse until 14. Also then found the mother had a daughter from her first husband (he died shortly after she was born). This child was left wth her grandparents. She died at just 23. A really tragic family. Diane

This lot is just off one branch. My Great grandmother, Mabel's, brother Hugh was working in the family butcher's shop and he had an accident with a knife and died. Poor little Hugh was only 12. Mabel's mum, Louisa, died horribly during a c section. The first wife of Louisa's husband, Jane, also died in childbirth and their only child died of fever. Mabel's niece, Olga, committed suicide by stuffing paper in her mouth and choking herself. she was only 20. Mabel's husband ran off with a flirty customer (who her hubbie had been slipping free food to!) and they (her husband and the fancy woman) had a secret daughter. That's just some of their stuff I could go on all night about them. Jacquie