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Watching Olivia Coleman on Who Do You Think You Are, has anyone done their family tree and found any skeletons in cupboards?
The best one I found was with Mrs CB's great grandfather, the family had been told by her grandmother that her dad had died in Cardiff when she was three in 1910.
Then I found out that he in fact hadn't but he had joined the Army, (we assume running away) as soon as she was born in 1907. He later turns up married to someone else, with a kid and calling himself a widower living in Preston.
Looking into him a bit deeper, I found out that he was discharged from the army after two years, and then when the first world war broke out in 1914, he shot himself in the foot to avoid being recalled to the Army. The foot became gangrenous and he lost his leg. He was known locally in Preston as the 'one legged tobacconist'.
Researched my Mother's side, got back to 16th century. All Farm Labourers. My GG Grandfather was a powder boy in the Crimean war apparently. Nothing exciting at all.
My Father's side is Scotland / Ireland, I haven't started on that yet. I do know a GG Auntie emigrated to the US / New York and died in a car crash. I'd like to find her record and whether there is a grave in New York.
There's an excellent search site over here for finding graves going back hundreds of years. It's.. findagrave.com ... I've found numerous ancestors burial plots on my fathers side across different states, and many have been logged and photographed by volunteers.
Researched my Mother's side, got back to 16th century. All Farm Labourers. My GG Grandfather was a powder boy in the Crimean war apparently. Nothing exciting at all.
My Father's side is Scotland / Ireland, I haven't started on that yet. I do know a GG Auntie emigrated to the US / New York and died in a car crash. I'd like to find her record and whether there is a grave in New York.
That would be interesting to find.
An aunt of mine (my mum's sister) was doing plenty of digging on their Maltese side of the family and it seems they were olive grove owners going back hundreds of years.
Pretty unexciting stuff but nonetheless we like to learn these things.
Until it was all wiped out by Nazi bombs in the 1940s anyway.
I am slightly intrigued by my 11 per cent Irishness as it must go a fair way back as I've no Irish ancestry that I'm aware of going back quite a few generations. Obviously there's scope for parentage being misattributed somewhere down the line, but again that would probably have been a while ago if that was the case.
You would imagine at 11-12.5% it would indicate a great grandparent in theory. No Irish surname anywhere in family?
This is going to fulfil a lot of stereotypes if we find out we're all related to one another! Already I may be related to Guthrum and, more obscurely, to Swailsey via Bros.
You would imagine at 11-12.5% it would indicate a great grandparent in theory. No Irish surname anywhere in family?
No, none. I would assume it would be on my dad's side as I know cousins on my mother's side who have no Irish ancestry indicated by their DNA result. I should probably assess who I'm linked to more distantly DNA-wise and whether there are branches of the family tree I've no links with.
No, none. I would assume it would be on my dad's side as I know cousins on my mother's side who have no Irish ancestry indicated by their DNA result. I should probably assess who I'm linked to more distantly DNA-wise and whether there are branches of the family tree I've no links with.
So it would possibly suggest that one of your father's grandparents were from the West of Ireland. If you can find a surname I could probably give you a good bit of information about that surname
Most peoples ancestors (mine included) were dirt-poor farm labourers.
Michael Parkinson was famously rejected for WDYTYA because his family for generations worked in t'pit, and nothing remotely interesting ever happened to any of them.
I wonder what the ratio of celebrities researched to celebrities actually broadcast it?
This is always worth a watch
There's a similar episode IRL with Ainsley Harriott - he ends up going to plantations, and talking about the disgusting slave owners etc one of his relations was sold to slavery as a toddler.....then turns out on other side his family were a long line of slave owners and he then talks a bout it being the way of the world....!
No, none. I would assume it would be on my dad's side as I know cousins on my mother's side who have no Irish ancestry indicated by their DNA result. I should probably assess who I'm linked to more distantly DNA-wise and whether there are branches of the family tree I've no links with.
I wonder if you might have a ward ancestor somewhere? Helluva lotta wards in Suffolk/Essex area. Doesn't sound Irish as like many Irish surnames it's been heavily anglocised (sp)
I wonder if you might have a ward ancestor somewhere? Helluva lotta wards in Suffolk/Essex area. Doesn't sound Irish as like many Irish surnames it's been heavily anglocised (sp)
My wife-cheating, child-abandoning grandfather, in addition to being a chimney sweep, was in his younger days a agricultural gangmaster and, ran a coconut shy in a travelling fare.
I'm at a loss to figure out what his heritage was.
I'm related to a 'Fanny Close' who is my great grand aunt on my Dads side. Managed to get back as far as 1107 on that side. A bit earlier I am related to Sir Walter Roberts, Barron of Glassenbury, Sheriff of Kent.
I might roll up one day and reclaim the manor.
You need to do some more maths. Most of us will be related to Sir Walter Roberts.
My wife-cheating, child-abandoning grandfather, in addition to being a chimney sweep, was in his younger days a agricultural gangmaster and, ran a coconut shy in a travelling fare.
I'm at a loss to figure out what his heritage was.
Claiming a royal connection may be pushing it, but we found something in common, european cousin marrying in the early 1800s. Not sure it was all that unusual in rural communities in the days before mass transportation tbf
The one big positive was uncovering a grandparent's secret employment by the SOE in Ww2 where his army records note that he spent 3 years on deployment training/preparing fighters to go into France and help the resistance. He never told anyone about that in the 30+ years he lived afterwards.
Re SOE, a lot of people didn't talk about their war exploits because of the Official Secrets Act, but, in the case of SOE, even more so: every mission would have remained under classification for years.
If you are interested there is an SOE museum at Harrington Airfield near Kettering.
I wonder if you might have a ward ancestor somewhere? Helluva lotta wards in Suffolk/Essex area. Doesn't sound Irish as like many Irish surnames it's been heavily anglocised (sp)
Funny you should say that but my great great great grandfather was a Ward. Will have a look into him further as he could well be the source of my Irishness. Was born in Essex.
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