Family History

[Lirael]

Has anyone here ever delved into their family history?

If so, what did you discover? Were there any mysteries, or were the lives of your ancestors pretty normal? What sort of jobs did they have?

I'm just going through the process of finding that out now. A friend of a friend works on Family Histories frequently! There have been a couple of mysteries so far, but they may yet be solved through research. Still, learning about your roots is absolutely fascinating!

I'll post about my family in a little while; just thought I'd get the ball rolling!

 

[Sepalcure]

I've delved into both my paternal and maternal histories. I found out that my paternal great grandfather owned a large plot of land in Jamaica. He owned a farm there as well as a shop plus he was a well respected police constable. My dad used to work in the shop as a cashier. As for my maternal great grandparents -- they were both rather poor. My great grandfather's line of work dealt with horses somehow, from what my grandmother told me. My great grandmother worked at a train station selling cow foot jelly and herbal tonic to the workers. No one could really think farther back to my great great grandparents because they all died father early in their lives. My maternal great grandfather passed away when my grandmother was 15 so she told me she hardly remembered much, save for the fact that he must've been mixed with German; he was rather light skinned.

I'm going to assume that my great great grandparents were some variance of white and East-Indian/Black. Yeeeeah, what sucks is that Jamaica doesn't have some official record of familial lineages so like we couldn't access our familial history through any manner of archives. I'm not sure how the Vernon, Bernard, and Roberts families started (Roberts is on my dad's paternal side, Bernards is my maternal side and Vernon is my maternal grandfather's side). The Bernards were German, that much we all know; the Vernons were a combination of Irish and possibly Gaelic and Black. The Roberts were Irish, East-Indian, and Black ... how though I can only make the conclusions through inferences.

 

[Dionysos]

I'm ashamed to say that I don't know much, but I am very interested in doing research. I'd have to do a bit of travelling though.

Both sides of my family are located in Consett, up in the North, near Durham. They have deeper origins in Scotland and Ireland though.

I could tell a few things about my grandad's (on my dad's side) romanticised tale of his experience as an occupier of Berlin in the aftermath of WW2. His experiences include guarding Rudolph Hess, crashing a jeep, and the awkwardness of accidentally alighting a train in the Soviet part of Berlin. I think they are all true, but some the details are exaggerated, and I like this. He is still alive so I could ask him for more details if I needed, but I already know a lot of this. I've actually got some of the documents and artifacts from it too as he donated a lot of it to me to look after (because I'm a history student, etc, and he knew I'd not throw it out).

What is more mysterious so far is pretty much everything else in my family history.

I mentioned my grandad here (despite the fact that he is recent and is still able to talk about his life) because it is mainly through him that I know anything at all about my family history on that side of the family. Very few people seem to be very interested in it, it seems.

I heard that my grandad's dad was at the Somme (I think I was told this by my grandad), and he was shot in the stomach. I know at the very least that he was a WWI veteran, but am told that he was at the Somme. He survived the war but had terrible stomach problems for the rest of his life. I never met him.

I don't know where his parents had come from, or for how long his family lived around the North of England (whether he'd been brought up in Consett or not, etc)... But the family tale that is told is that we're descended from a Scottish warrior clan that once stalked the highlands and were fierce and brutal. The family name would stem from Scotland, but I don't think that they were quite like Braveheart. I don't yet know any details about when our family came from Scotland to the North of England.

I don't know much about my grandma's family. I think they may perhaps have been local to Northumbria, but I am not very clear at all.

As for my mom's side... My granda was I think the first child born in England of an Irish family. They'd moved to England due to a potato famine (and various other reasons which is unclear to me so far). I'm not sure at all where they came from. I really do want to know and look into it more. I'll have to ask my mom again soon, though I remember she said that her main regret is not asking her parents more about their family history before it was too late and they were no longer on this world (I don't know much about my grandma's side either). These things are in danger of being forgotten entirely, besides a few very brief oral tales. Since only a few people seem to be interested in it, a lot gets lost with every generation.

I'd like to do research, learn everything that I can, and keep records of it. I'd like, if I ever do have children, to be able to pass on interesting stories about the family. Even if I end up spinning oral tales that are only part-truths, or very limited records of what is true. I'd like one day to collect what I can and then pass it on to someone to look after. Maybe. The records don't go back very far though (speaking as an ancient historian here - 16th C is quite recent for me, and I think that is the furthest that most people can hope to ever find, if my family records even go back that far).

 

[Saints&Storms]

Actually my Ma did look into our family history, I learned that we were related deeply to Italian people and while there weren't mysteries and my Grandmother and Mother were both heavily Italian, my Great granny was from Bettola Italy. My great grandma even spoke Italian to my Ma when she was young and they lived in Rhode Island/New York for a long time. But like I said there weren't any mysteries but we are related to a lot of important historic figures (which is cool) and some Italians relatives that my Ma says we're told never to speak of.

Other than that its not really interesting.

 

[Lirael]

@Gingerbread Man
It's always nice hearing personal accounts! Sometimes, hearing the romanticised memories is better as you see a more lighthearted history. Hearing about the pain others felt or the terrible events ancestors had to experience can be rather painful, though it's certainly important!

The tales of your grandfather reminded me of a few my own grandfather (my mum's father) told me, though none are war-related. My grandfather was a mechanic before he retired, and he has fond memories of playing tricks on his co-workers, once attempting to drop a water bomb or something on a newer member of the team. I believe they chased him around, he hid somewhere, thought he was safe, but they caught him by dropping this on him from above. They all had a laugh, so it's a great memory to have. He also has some rather sickening stories about the things people leave on buses and inside bus steats.

My mum's parents are visiting this coming week, so I might just write down their personal stories and build a small book of memories my parents have too! It'll be something I can pass down the family! assuming I have children. =] But even if I don't, I can re-read it later on in life. I'll want to do that anyway.

As far as my dad's parents go, my dad tells me that his father used to work on the electric lines during the war as he was too young to fight. At some point in his career, he worked in a room called the 'Diconnection Section,' where they literally disconnected the houses who hadn't paid their bills.

My dad's mum was a very nurturing woman who took great care of her children. She was a devoted Christian, positive and tried to be very strong through moments of adversity; my dad can only remember seeing her cry once. During her funeral, my dad painted a very wholesome picture of their life as my grandmother used to cycle down to the shops and would come home with shopping bags hanging of the handle bars! I loved that. It was so simple.