Beware Of Skeletons In Family Trees...

Of course finding out you are related to a famous person is the icing on the cake when you take on researching your family...any convicts tend to have been found guilty of petty enough crimes...one of Himself's people...the one who became the hangman...he stole a bolt of cloth which was hardly life endangering. Unlike his next profession.

But all too often immediate families lie in their teeth...my Mother as a good example of doing that. She always said she was an only child, when in fact she had a sister and two brothers...

Transpires the sister also told her son she was an only child...so fibbing ran in the family it would seem. And my Irish Grandfather had lying in his teeth down to a fine art.

The absolute worst case of a parent lying was in the tree of a contact of mine on another site. She gave me the information as she understood it...names and dates and places which were correct as far as she was aware. Her Father was an Indian and she herself had take an Indian name and went to the Pow-Wows...she had also collected a large number of Indian artefacts.

I thought I'd have little chance of finding out anything about his parents because many States didn't include Indian tribes in their census returns...or they changed their names to something more 'acceptable' so if you were known as White Hawk Feather you could well have had your name changed to the more easily recognisable, like John Smith for instance.

It was with some surprise that I found her Dad's records really easily. His birth and marriage and his death...not a problem in the slightest. Then his parents were also easily found...they didn't have Indian names nor did they live on a Reservation...his grandparents were the same...his Gt grandparents had emigrated from England.

I realised that either I was tracking the wrong man altogether, or his tales of having been sold by his parents into a White family might not actually be true.

Back I went over each and every record checking and rechecking again and again...he had told his daughters and presumably also his wife, that at the age of twelve he'd been sold to a White farmer...that he was of Indian blood through and through.

It wasn't unheard of for Indian couples to send their sons into a form of indentured living so they could learn a trade...but this had never happened . He simply wasn't of Indian birth...he had never been sold...in fact he was still at home with his White parents when he was twenty years old.

So I dithered for a very long time about how to broach the fact that her Father was not as he'd always claimed to be...in the end I copied every single record so that it was there in black and white and sent it to her with a covering note saying that she might wish to ask someone else's opinion...

That poor woman was horrified...whyever did he feel the need to lie, she asked...

I don't know...

Now, if anyone asks would I please see if I can find out more about their family, I make certain they understand that among the most ordinary of families there will be secrets lurking in the shadows...whether that is the Auntie committed to an asylum or the Grandparent who was a bigamist...they might well be thrilled to bits to find they share the same bloodline as Princess Diana...not quite as pleased to realise their Granny wasn't their Granny at all.

[johnwr]

Hi vashti,

I know exactly what you are talking about. I've been looking for about six months and found loads of farm and general labourers. Also a lot of tradespeople and some who travelled to interesting places. One branch in particular provided links into the aristocracy and royalty. Immensely interesting if it's your relatives, but totally boring to anyone outside the family. Sure, it's nice to know I got my cooking skills from Alfred the Great. Some of the ancestors were really horrible, others, not so. One is one of those who the Robin Hood Legend might be attached to. Good? Bad? Don't know, but he did seem to spend half of his life and most of his family fortune paying reparations to the church for his misdeeds.

I think most of what I've put together is true. I'm also sure there are mistakes.

Keep writing, vashti. Your tales are appreciated by me.

breathe easy,

johnwr

[Hidden in reply to johnwr]

I'm certain my tree has mistakes in it...but I think it's all par for the course...wouldn't mind being related to Robin Hood actually...but the closest I've got to him was visiting the Major Oak in Sherwood forest when I was small!

[johnwr in reply to Hidden]

For my Robin Hood, look up Robert Fitzodo de Loxley (1150-1196). Wikipedia has a page.

I also find that thepeerage.com is useful. It's easy to navigate. Solid references are difficult to chase though.

As much as anything else, this is refreshing my French and German, as well as teaching me some Norse and Saxon (old English).

[holly17]

My brother and I have tracked our family back to the 1600 and things we found were interesting but even more so as I got closer to great great grand father, he was given 7 years for theft which he told the court he did to feed the family, but that did not help inside he went, then grandfather was married before so my father would have had step brothers, also we found out my father was born in the local workhouse, which he never mentioned to us and was dead by the time we found out, not that it mattered as he did us well.

One thing that was interesting is that the family nearly all come from a small village called almost the same as our surname. Good fun and so easy to drift off on the wrong birth date, then its all the way back again. xx Fred

[Hidden in reply to holly17]

Young women often went to the local Workhouse to have their babies...especially if there was a Workhouse nurse available...much safer than having your baby at home...then they discharged themselves after a few days.

Interesting isn't it Fred?

[holly17 in reply to Hidden]

It really is as a friend of mine who I have known for years has just found out that his g/g/grandfather had the same surname as mine but more spooky was born in the same village as my relatives, so now its more tracking to see if by some chance we are related at some point in the passed, as you said very interesting vashti

[Suzy6]

You were right vashti, my nephew is struck in Ireland.Got as far as 1873. We have found my cousins granddaughter, who would you believe only lives 20/25 miles from me, and she got as far as Ireland in 2010 then gave up. Maybe between them all they will progress, me I'm the observer. xxx

[Hidden in reply to Suzy6]

Rather thought he might have some difficulty...there are specific sites for Irish family history on-line...if he were to know whether the family were Protestant or Catholic that would help also...church records were separate you see...

Another suggestion is for him to find a map of Townland's for the area he's looking at and work his way through each one...churches...burying places etc.

And not to forget the messages boards on Ancestry because he may be lucky enough to find others looking for the same family tree.

Loads of patience is essential...lol

[Suzy6 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks vashti will message him tonight with this as he has gone to bed now. xx

[plisi2253]

I agree with you! My father thinks that his oldest sister is only his 1/2 sister. He didn't tell us this, of course, till after my mother passed. He thinks that my grandfather only married my grandmother to save face for her (times back then). They then went on to have 6 more children. Now everytime I see my cousins from my aunt, I wonder if they know the story. There is apparently a family book that my aunt has and will NOT allow anyone to see what is inside. She is 91 years old now.

[Hidden in reply to plisi2253]

Hope there isn't a mad rush to find the Aunt's book when her time comes...lol