Genealogy Chat

I often wonder what my rellies would think if they looked up in 1707 and saw me staring through the window at them! Can you imagine how amazed they would be that we were all going to the bother of finding out about their boring humdrum (to them, anyway, I'm sure) lives. What I'd REALLY like to know is, did they ever have a laugh, or was it all gloom and doom and toil and trouble? Olde Crone

Aren't we a soft lot! All teary eyed over stuff that's over and done with many moons ago! Nice to know I'm not the only one who has to blink,blink ,blink the dust from her eye when a particular name finally appears on the page. (FOUND YOU!) I often feel drawn to a particular line or family, I wonder if just as we reach back to find them, they reach forward to us? And just like we want to reassure and comfort them with their struggles I'm sure they feel the same for us. Compassionate lot really ,not soft, strong. Louise

I get quite emotional when I think of my rellies who died in childbirth at such a young age, leaving families of little children, and of all their babies and children who died. What a hard life they all had.

Judith You are not alone. I have felt like you and by the look of the replies it's a common way to feel. I was very moved to find that one of my g g grandfathers was deaf from birth, according to the census, and wondered how he managed. Then I guessed he might not be able to speak and a silent husband didn't seem so bad after all - mine is always rabbiting on! My great great grandmother lost two husbands before she was 40 and then her third marriage failed. How hard must that have been. I am descended from the first marriage and wonder why no-one talked about the children of the other two marriages. Their daily lives were so hard, but they must have had the same emotions as us. Culture said you just got on with it if your children died etc, but I'm sure they felt the same as we do. Sheila

Marjorie I like to think they did have a sense of humour. From the photos I have of my great aunts they were all mad as hatters! They were born in the late 1800s but I like to think they inherited their sense of humour from their (and my) ancestors. Louise I find myself being drawn to certain children or mothers and praying that I can find them on the next census to make sure they made it! It's a strange feeling..... Debby

You're not mad at all. I know EXACTLY how you feel. I wish I could have known my ancestors, more importantly my great grandparents (and even my grandpop who I never knew) just to let them know who I am.... you hear about them through your parents or something, it's in living memory but you can't reach out and touch them!! Weird, huh?

Yes, its very sad when you get a death cert for a baby aged 5 weeks, who had something unheard of these days. But for all the sad stories, there are happy ones. The gt gt grandparents who died within a month of eachother, both well into old age, having raised 4 healthy children, etc. It is impossible for us to imagine how they viewed their lives, but I do think that it must have been frustrating for the clever women, who never got a decent education and were unable to do anything other than marry and have tons of kids.