Genealogy Chat

Just a few random musings of mine to pass the time (see below)

Do you find that it helps every so often to just step back from your family tree to really appreciate what it is you’re looking at ? I often find that, when you get immersed in researching a particular branch or rellie, you spend so long poring through lists or tapping away on a calculator working out ages & dates etc that it all becomes a bit dull and just, in effect, a load of statistics. It’s only when you then later quietly drink it all in that you start to appreciate that these are real people (what’s more people who share your DNA), real lives and real history. Although prior to taking this up I wasn’t particularly what I’d call a history-buff, but I think its great when you realise, for example, that when your rellies got married, the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister, or that when your great grandfather was born Oliver Twist was the ‘must-read’ new book of the day. I guess what I’m saying is that we shouldn’t simply become obsessed with methodically filling in those boxes on the pedigree chart or computer, as if it was a bingo game, but to really visualise these people’s lives etc and what they have contributed to us as individuals. Lastly, I sometimes find it hard to really appreciate the timescales that I’m actually looking at. Something that occurred to me the other day that really puts it into perspective – as an example, a key event in my gr-gr-gr-grandfather’s life (ie he was deported) happened in 1844, ie 160 years ago. If you move forward 160 years from today you arrive at the year 2164. Somehow the date in the future seems much longer away than the year in the past, yet they are of course the same distance. I find this really helps me to appreciate the depth of history that I’m looking at. Simon

I know exactly what you mean. I find it difficult to believe that my grandfathers were born in 1870 and 1881 (134 and 123 years ago). I never knew either of them and yet when you say 'grandfather' to most people today it is someone they know well and doesn't seem to be someone consigned to history. I would absolutely love a time machine so I could find out more about these relations who take up so much of my spare time.

Yes agreed totally. I have been lucky enough to find a Will dated 1780 from one of my rellies in the Royal Navy during the English /American war and Ive spent weeks just reading up on the history of that time and the ship he was on what his job entailed etc (he was a masters mate)...totally facinating and like you say not just another name in a little box To me the Family tree is like a good book with a chapter for each family.

I have been buying books and discs relating to the different periods - the complete parish officers handbook of 1776, mrs pedleys household management of 1867 - it gives a taste of what they were really like - pus some flesh on the bones doesnt it :-)

I agree, that is something I have been saying for ages. It is not just name gathering but trying to imagine what life was like for them and of course the important events of the time. PS not really related to my family but I was talking to an elderly lady the other week, she was 91 and her father fought in the Boer war, amazing time talking to her and it sort of put me back in time.

I have been sooooo lucky, I have just managed to get hold of a book all about my family from 1523-1913. I have only just started reading it but it talks about HenryVIII, the Black Plague and The Fire of London as well as much more, even immigration problems and forgery 500 years ago!! It really has brought everyone to life and gives a good insight into what life was like.

Susanne, How wonderful, lucky girl. Simon I have started writing a potted biography of my relatives and on the adjacent page I have a time line - a list of dates of things that happened during their lifetime. My Great Grandmother for example lived through three reigns and well into the fourth. She also lived through the two world wars. I actually made her time line relevant to the area she came from and lived (Hampshire and motly Portsmouth) I am lucky in that I have a very good book that belonged to my Father on the history of Portsmouth. it really makes her life interesting to know that she lived through these events, and I hope will make interesting reading for the grandchildren. She was 88 when she died. Ann Glos

Yes , when you think how poor people were and how if they got ill and they had no relatives it was the workhouse. How there was no Nhs and no cures for common diseases. There were families with 9 or ten children all sleeping in a tiny house. It was common for many children to die in infancy and almost expected . People scraping a living doing what they could. one website told me of a poor bootmaker who only made a profit in harvest season was the only time people had money to buy new shoes.He tried to avoid paying taxes on leather by using horse leather and was fined by the parish for using horse leather for shoes. He had loads of shoes he could not sell so he threw them in the river.... only to be fined and hauled up again for littering the river! Seems like he couldn't win that one!

I agree with all of you! When my mum told me that my g-g-g-grandad was in either the Royal or Merchant Navy (or poss both), I wanted to find out more. I then found he was in the Royal Navy and the name of the ship he served on in 1881. I was thrilled! I wanted to know more about this ship and left a message on a website, to which I got a detailed reply from a kind person to whom I was very grateful. But, it doesn't stop there! I now want to know what other ships he served on, what rank he acheived and so on! The more you find out the more you want to know!!!

Hello I thought you might like this website for Useful dates in British History. http://www(.)johnowensmith(.)co(.)uk/histdate/ Shirley

shirley,just been to that site,very interesting,i've added it to my favourites. simon, totally agree with you,i often think what life must of been like way back then,i've got back to 1811, 1811 to 2004!!!does'nt sound long when you say it,but when you sit and think about it,you think WOW! they were related to me!! and they came from another part of the country. i never knew my g.granddad but i knew my g.grandmother,she died when i was 11,my nan was her daughter,she died when i was18,if she were here now and she could see what family history i have found i know she would be very proud and interested. chris.

It does make you wonder how they lived then. Ann Lazenby took a photo of the house my rellies lived in, in Darlington, I presume it was a 2 up 2 down looking at it, but at one time there were 13 living in there! How did they do it, was bed time, who ever got there first got a bed? And we struggle with 4 bedrooms and only 3 of us! Kim

Hi Baz What a brilliant idea for bringing your family tree into context for the kiddies. My 9 year old is history mad and loves the kings and queens and WW1 and WW2. I'm going to do this for him. Cheers Baz Sam

Hi, geez searching the Smith side is sure hard. However on my other side I have just had a great break through and received a photo of my grandmother and her stepfather. I never knew he was her stepfather. The person who sent me the photos is my aunty as she and my mother share the same mother. My Mum knows nothing about her as my mum grew up believing her mother had died in 1931.NOT TRUE. She remarried and had 6 more children. Her 6 more children already knew about the first 3 but the first 3 knew nothing of the other 6. (hope that makes since) I am so excited at finding all this out but am aprehensive about telling all the details to those involved. And as somebodysaid earlier when we speak of our grandparents we think of somebody old but nowadays its all different. I am only 44 and have a grandson who will be 3 in October and he lives with us from time to time, when his mother is haveing housing problems and I also have a grand daughter who is 1 on 1st May. So I class myself as a young Nan and not granny. Gloria

Simon I love looking at all those old occupations - coachbuilders, carmen, horsebreakers, monthly nurses etc. How many children died before their first birthday? The old street maps etc etc. Death certificates can be quite revealing - life before vaccinations and prescription medicines. My great grandmother's death certificate even has the name of the man who murdered her on it. Found one of my husband's ancestors living in "King John's Hunting Tower", Kingswood, Bristol in the 1881 census and found out all about it on the Bristol history site. Relatives who died in the Wars, worked in India, emigrated etc. Why was history never this exciting when I was at school?

Hi Simon, What a great thread. That's exactly what I found most interesting when trying to trace my ancestors - trying to visualize what it was like for them. So many died so young and left heaps of children to fend for themselves - I've reached a bit of a stalemate at the moment and need a big boost to get any further. Maybe sorting through my loads of paper that don't quite seem to fit anywhere might be the answer. Christine