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Well ............my late in-laws told my OH and myself a pack of lies about his father.
They always said that OH's father was an only child and was orphaned at the age of 12. So we accepted this of course, who wouldn't!
When I started to trace F-i-L's family tree I soon discoverd that his father died in 1936, just a few years before F-i-L married!
However, trying to find when his mother died was proving to be a bit of a problem. If F-i-L was 'orphaned' at the age of 12 then we thought his mother must have died about 1924. Wrong! She died in 1961!
I then discovered that there could possible have been an elder sister of my F-in-L. (He was born 1912.)
Sure enough when the birth certificate (1901) came..she had the same parents!
I managed to trace her marriage certificate and discovered she had 3 sons. One had died but I managed to locate the home address on one who was in his early 80's after somebody did a look up on the Electoral Roll.
So my husband had a grandmother, an aunty and 3 cousins that he never knew! He was never interested in genealogy but was gutted to know this as was I.
I wrote to the cousin on the electoral rolll and he phoned me up when he got my letter. A few months later we went down to Dorset to meet him, his wife and his survinging brother & wife.
They were so thrilled to meet us and said that they had alway wondered what had happened to their uncle Jack (my F-in-L).
It turns out that they never knew their grandmother either although they remember an 'older relation' visiting them when they were small.
They knew their Grandfather very well and he never mentiond his wife so they too assumed that she had died not long after their mother was born.
We can only assume that they had split up and went their seperate ways, but why lie about it?
It's very sad that 3 cousins and my OH have missed out on knowing their respective immediate relatives.
I'm just so glad that we have found the 2 surving cousins now. Better late than never!
They also gave us some lovely photo's of F-in-L's father, uncle and sister
which we would never have seen if I had not written my letter as in-laws had nothing in their photos relating to F-i-L's family.
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I have enjoyed this thread and chuckled all the way through it.
Nearly as good as the "Ten commandments" of family history we had a year or so back.
I think 80% of families are related to Gentry in some way according to myth, as most people I have spoken to has rellies from the late 1800 early 1900 that was a servant girl for Lord so and so , and the son or the lord himself has had their wicked way with them and a child is the result.
I "have" two lords one on each side of the family LOL
I DO have gypsies on the other side of the family, proved as well.
I just dont know what country they came from in the 1700's
Every one has been told the tale of being related to Royalty, or a famous person with the same surname.
My mum was told we are related to General Wolfe, yet to be proven. I have just 50 years to go back.......
Another great grandmother was from the Dixon family from Wantage who ran most of the pubs in and around the market place.Also had smallholdings in and around Wantage.
My great great grandfather John Dixon ran the Falcon in which has a blue plaque on it. (Its is now the HSBC) Its a beautiful building above the plate glass window, its a shame that HSBC wasnt forced to keep the lead lighted windows and kept in keeping with the rest of the building.
Having spent most of the day in Wantage and local library, a very proud person, that I came from such an illustriuoous family, until I read a snippet from quotes from the local paper of the time and council minutes, that the falcon,was a Den of inequity with bawdy going ons and should be curbed asap
I howled,I had visions of Oliver Twist and the Scarlet pimpernel all rolled into one.
Because of the reputation is one of the main reasons I think the Local council bought the Pub to change the building into the local Town Hall
The existing Town Hall was in the centre of the market place and they pulled it down to make way for the Statue of Alfred the Great.
I also hasten to add any money that was to be inherited went to the Male heirs as any land, property or any Capital had to stay in the family and the female side just got a annual allowance.
So my family ended up poor.
Sigh, never mind we can all dream cant we.
Keep these myths coming its fascinating., and amzing we all have the same myths.
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My family do try hide the existence of some relatives for obvious reasons.
Prior to our earliest traceable line of distinguished agricultural labourers was Throgg the Dung Digger, a cousin some 153 times removed. Why he fell on hard times is not certain as he was a direct descendant of Pharoah Throgg. He was the mightiest of all the Pharoahs but as his hidden pyramid had never been found, very little is known in the modern world about him.
But that's another story...........
Michael
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I went to the WDYTYA exhibition , and asked the Jewish Genealogical society ( www.jgsgb.org.uk for anyone looking ) about the Star of David , that I had handed down to me , supposedly from the Grt grt gran ?
When they saw it , said it was in fact a pentangle, yes I know I should have had my glasses on.
Talk about Who Did You Think You Were !!!I went in as a Jewess, came out a Witch.
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