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Genealogy/memories

Who would you ask?

(14 Posts)
mollie Sun 14-May-17 08:41:57

if you could ask a question of one person in your family tree who would it be and what would you ask?

I'd ask my 2x g-grandfather who his parents were because that question has baffled me for 20 years. I know so much about his life, including his date of birth (thank you 1939 census) but can't find his birth certificate or baptism or parental details. So annoying!

gillybob Sun 14-May-17 09:00:54

I would go back and ask my great grandma (my grandads mother) why after losing her DH (my grandads father) in the Great War did she marry a tyrant who threw my grandad out on the streets when he was so young? (I already know the answer but would like to hear it from her) . My grandad talked about it , his whole life. sad Thankfully my grandad was taken in (unofficially) by a childless couple who loved him and looked after him. When he started work he still gave most of his earnings to his real mother.

gillybob Sun 14-May-17 09:03:31

Not in the slightest bit funny really but I remember my grandad saying that his step father was a bit like fierce lion who would have eaten the Cubs if they weren't his own. Instead he starved them (my grandad had a brother) and threw them out.

mollie Sun 14-May-17 09:46:16

You hear of that a lot don't you, gillybob. Step families (or blended families as they seem to be called now) were common and a minefield. My mum would probably want to ask a similar question of her mum. My dads side were far more generous - every generation had several stepchildren mingled in amongst natural children and all taking the SDs name and calling him dad on marriage carts. It's been a task and a half picking out natural from step but all part of the big family puzzle called genealogy.

ninathenana Sun 14-May-17 10:00:48

Firstly I'd like to ask my FiL who was a Banardo's boy about his sister that we never knew he had. I'd also like to ask my dad about his war time exploits. My brother knew some when dad was alive but he never ever mentioned the war in front of me, including the fact he was shot.
Since his death we have tried every sorce possible for information. It seems dad didn't exist ! So we assume from the little my brother knew that dad was a bit of a James Bond character smile

Anniebach Sun 14-May-17 10:04:18

My g g uncle Edward. 1981 living on Anglesey with young wife Ellinor/Ellin, 1891 a widower , both born ,grew up , married , had one child on Anglesey . Where did Ellin die, not Anglesey and what happened to your son?

PoshGran Sun 14-May-17 10:41:59

There was a great divide in my family, which had its origins in WW1 & culminated in the mid-1920s. I know what happened as a result (family split/cut off & half-truths being told to my generation), but not the root cause.

I only met him a few times when I was a child but would like to ask my much-loved grandfather exactly what happened. It would explain so much.

Jalima1108 Sun 14-May-17 10:44:58

Oh goodness! Where to begin?

Who was DH's great-great grandmother? I have a notion of who his gg-grandfather could be but can find no trace of a mother which is unusual.
Of my family - too many questions on both sides to pick one!

Jalima1108 Sun 14-May-17 10:46:38

Too often, in the past, questions were answered with ' we don't talk about that/them'

TriciaF Sun 14-May-17 11:43:26

One of my GG+ granfathers was born in Russia, St. Petersburg.
I would like to ask his mother what she was doing there when pregnant? I know they were seafarers, from Blyth.

Nannarose Sun 14-May-17 11:59:18

I come from a family who never ceased to talk about their relatives (as a child I had difficulty figuring out who has dead and who was alive, unless they actually came round for tea)
I'd ask any of them 'Are you pleased with how we've turned out?'
I like to think I know the answer!

durhamjen Sun 14-May-17 12:35:30

I would like to ask my mother's great great grandfather if his sister really married the Earl of Strathmore.

Auntieflo Sun 14-May-17 13:18:32

I wish I could ask my GDad about his family. I know he was of Polish descent, but would like to know when the family arrived here in England. His wife, my GMa, died when Mum and her sister were about 8 years old. I don't know if Mum knew much, but when she was alive, I never thought to ask.

M0nica Sun 14-May-17 14:31:29

Too many to list, but, a few are: why my mother said her three uncles died unmarried and childless when one married and had children.

How did maternal grandmother obtained her house. I was told she lived in the house next door and worked for its owner as housekeeper. Electoral records disprove this.

Anything about paternal grandfather's life before he entered the army. I know he was illegitimate and his mother died when he was 10 and he was brought up by an uncle, but I know nothing more than those bare facts about his childhood.