It *really * is a small world

kitty you reminded me that a couple of weeks ago we were invited to an after show party at our local theatre and chatted to the singer from the show. We discovered that she could trace her family back to a man from Gloucestershire who moved to Bermuda and bought a large plot of land. He 'mixed' with the local community but eventually returned penniless to Gloucestershire. Recently a friend researched DH's family back to Gloucestershire. So she is possibly related to DH as they share a surname and she is black and DH white. We are keeping in touch. Fil did have very, very curly hair and a flatish nose?

My husband was born in Bolton and I in Manchester, we met in East Anglia. About five or six years ago I researched both our family trees and discovered that my ancestors and his both lived in the same tiny Lancashire village, five doors apart. His ancestor managed the local inn and mine managed the nearby hotel. When I saw both the names on the same census form I was truly dumbfounded.

We have met black people with the same surname. Turns out a distant part of DH's family owned their ancestors, way back in the mists of time, and gave them the family name. DH was mortified and embarrassed. One played cricket for the West Indies.

To redress the balance a bit, DH is related to a highwayman who wad so unsuccessful he couldn't even afford a horse!!

In Guyana there is a village named after my ancestors. They were slave owners and most unusually one of the slaves was named as a son in my ancestors' will and received a substantial inheritance and a guardian was appointed to oversee his care.

Sorry - gone totally off track here. I'm a complete anorak when it comes to genealogy I'm afraid.

kittylester

I know some black people with the surname Hunter which is Scottish and my ancestors for about the last 5 generations have generally been born in South Wales or Bristol.
Somebody has tried to go back further but has generally hit a blank except for about 6 relatives.
We are a little bit suspicious however as one was supposed to have born in Edinburgh, spent some of his life around that area and then moved to South Wales and he was supposed to have died in Colindale Hospital, North London.
That sounds strange for the time.

Frank

I recently made contact with my cousin after over 30 years. I hadn't met her second husband before. So over lunch, he asked me where I worked and when I told him, it turned out that he had, in the past, had a lot of contact with the company and my ex boss! He even gave me a book about the company which mentioned people I had worked with.