Genealogy Chat

my great grandad be living with an aunt and uncle from the age of 7 when his father was still alive? I have found my great grandad in the 1871 census yet his father was alive until 1902???

Thanks,
Julie

Was the mum still alive .maybe they didnt have enough money to support him ,or the aunt & uncle unofficially adopted him .You can only speculate on the reasons.

Was his father a widower Julie? How many census does he appear with them?

If maybe he was a widower he just couldn't cope.

Ann

I think his mother may have died - but haven't found a record of her yet.
somebody on another site may have just found her for me though :)

I have found him at age 7 and 17 with the aunt (uncle had died by 17)
I think the Uncle may now have been his mothers brother.

His father probably had to go out to work and would need someone to look after him. This was usually a family member. Times were very different then.

Kath. x

It will be the same in the future when someone looks for me in 1941 census, thats of course if there was one.
I was living with my Grandparents a hundred miles from where i was born and lived, both my Mum & Dad were alive, so someone will have to make an assumption why, i know why but will they know the reason .

Im not going to make it easy for them, and say why, they might read this post in the future LOL

I did wonder at first if he had re-married as my mum has mentioned another uncle who I can't find any mention of. He could have been my grandads cousin though - mum has me stumped with that one!!!

LOL George thats soooo mean LOL

Blimey George, we'll never know now, I dont think the census was taken in 1941!

Ann

I'm not sure George but I don't think there was a census taken in 1941 and the 1931 was destroyed I think.

Were you evacuated????

Kath. x

SNAP, Ann. :-)

Kath. x

I think - could be wrong here - sometimes perhaps a father in those days saw his role in the family as provider and generator of income and thought that child-rearing and domestic tasks were "women's work".

I have got a man in my family tree who had three children with his wife before she died in 1870. In 1871, the eldest child (aged 3) was with him but the 1 year old twins were living with their mother's sister and they stayed with her in Shropshire when their dad was in Liverpool. I am guessing that he didn't feel like he could look after two very tiny children and a three year old as well as holding down a job.

The same thing happened with my late uncles - my grandma went off with another man, so she would have probably been deemed "unsuitable" to have custody of the children and her husband was working (this was in the late 1930s/early 1940s) so my uncles were raised by my grandma's sister and her husband from that point on.

I didnt think there was 1941 census, im so dissapointed they wont have a problem,

I wasnt in the Uk in 1951 so no one will ever find me, im lost forever, YAHOO

George

My grandmother died in 1931 leaving my grandfather with 7 children - the youngest (my aunt) just 6 weeks old. This aunt was brought up by a neighbour a couple of streets away and lived with this person until she got married. It happened quite a lot back then.

Kath. x

Oh to be a fly on the wall Julie! We can only guess at peoples circumstances all those years ago, but I have just finished a book about a british soldier who was taken prisoner in 1942 and eventually ended up in Auschwitz, apart from all the horrors of 2 years there, he eventually had to march some 700 miles to American lines before he was liberated, suffering great hardship along the way. He arrived back in the Uk weighing around 6 stone, walked up his fathers garden path knocked the door and had it shut in his face by the "new" wife!! ,saying he was not wanted, the father in the sons words was a "weak minded man"

Ann

OMG Ann, what a terrible tale :( I bet its really interesting though :)
My dad is Polish and had to leave very hurridly as a boy and fled to africa.
The problem is wecan't get him to tell us anything now, he has totally clammed up and thinks its to horrible to share :( How do you convince a 76 year old man that you want to know?

Kathleen
yes you could say i was evacuated, but not done officially as others were, it was a decision made by my parents to send me to live with my Grandparents,and as my name suggests, to Westbury in Willtshire

George

Julie
How i wish my Dad was still with us , so i could ask him, but like you say about you Dad mine never spoke about his wartime days, he was a regular in the Royal Navy 1937 to 1948,
I now know he was torpedeod twice,fortunately survived, 800 on one ship he was one of only 180 survivors, but he spent 3 months in hospital
I wish i could ask him about it but never did because i didnt know, only found out these things after he died, when i found his service records he had.

George

Hi Julie,

I think you probably will be unable to, some things are too difficult to share, especially with the people you love & care for.

The book is called "Spectator In Hell" by Colin Rushton and is based on the story of Arthur Dodds who was in the Cheshire Regiment WW2.

I for one did not realise that British Soldiers were held in Auscwitz.

Ann