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  • Family Myths

    What family myths have you been able to solve as true or false?

    The family always thought our grt grandad was from Cork in Ireland. As a kid I loved the idea of being alittle bit Irish. Anyway having found grt grandads war record I found he was born in Kensington,London even his father was born in Somerset. No Irish to be found!!

  • #2
    I spent a lot of time assuring people that the COCKS bit of our tree was firmaly based in the SW of England - because that's a much more common spelling there.

    I worked my way back...
    Father COCKS b Devonport,
    G-father COCKS b Devonport
    G-g-father COCKS b Liverpool *Hunh? - Oh, OK - Navy*
    GG-g-father COCK(S) b Spitalfields *Hunh???*
    GGG-g-father COCK b ? (not Middx), occupation - coal and potato dealer on Wapping High St!

    Wrong again, ooops!

    Christine
    Researching: BENNETT (Leics/Birmingham-ish) - incl. Leonard BENNETT in Detroit & Florida ; WARR/WOR, STRATFORD & GARDNER/GARNAR (Oxon); CHRISTMAS, RUSSELL, PAFOOT/PAFFORD (Hants); BIGWOOD, HAYLER/HAILOR (Sussex); LANCASTER (Beds, Berks, Wilts) - plus - COCKS (Spitalfields, Liverpool, Plymouth); RUSE/ROWSE, TREMEER, WADLIN(G)/WADLETON (Devonport, E Cornwall); GOULD (S Devon); CHAPMAN, HALL/HOLE, HORN (N Devon); BARRON, SCANTLEBURY (Mevagissey)...

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    • #3
      Dispelled the family myth that grandad Owens was from Wales. He always stated that all his family and g granparents were born there.

      No lol, His grandad was born in Wigan Lancs, so was his g grandad and his gg grandad was from Ireland so now Im well and truly stuck lol..




      ]

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      • #4
        We always felt sorry for my g gran born 1888 as she was an only child and her parents died when she was a baby..

        Noooo, She had five brothers and sisters and her dad died when she was 15. Her mum remarried and lived till at least 1901 and that reminds me to look for her death..All her family lived only 4 miles away so I really wonder what happened to her to make her deny her family.




        ]

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        • #5
          You end up with more questions than answer when you prove something not to be true.

          Northern Light...I wonder if your g gran was sent off due to the size of the family and never really knew her family. Questions? Questions?

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          • #6
            I was told that mum's family were from Ross on Wye and before that from Wales but then I found that g-grandad was born at Ross in Rowley Regis and apart from their name being Edwards, I haven't found the Welsh link yet.

            Oh, and grandad was supposed to be the youngest child.......but he had a younger sister!
            Heather

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            • #7
              Myth.......my gran's marriage cert stated she was a spinster, but the myth was that she had had a previous secret marriage. Result of research? It was true! (full story will be in the FTF mag, published tomorrow, I believe)

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              • #8
                My grandfather could never remember if his birthday was the 17th or 18th March and so we used to celebrate his birthday on whichever one he wanted it to be on each year. When I started the family tree I found out he was born on the 20th March.
                My greatgrandmother always told the family that she was born in Morebattle in Scotland but when I got her birth certificate she was born over the river to me in Gateshead.

                Sheila
                Searching For Pillar, Nichol, Soppitt, Cryle, Wilson, Dixon, Selby.

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                • #9
                  My mother always said that her father was born in Ireland, my research to the late 1700 s shows they all came from the Wirrall. An aunt had told me that they came from the Wirrall but my mother denied this.

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Nichola View Post
                    You end up with more questions than answer when you prove something not to be true.

                    Northern Light...I wonder if your g gran was sent off due to the size of the family and never really knew her family. Questions? Questions?
                    Nichola, Dont think so, when her dad Walter died in April 1893 of smallpox her mum re married in Oct 1893 to a man 16 years her junior. I wonder did my g gran not agree with the marriage so soon after her her dad dying and because of the age difference. Dont think I'll ever know for sure.




                    ]

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                    • #11
                      Northern Light
                      I was also led to believe that my grandad OWEN was from Wales, only to discover that his family back at least 3 generations were all from Manchester!!
                      Lynne

                      Searching for Ford, Duffy, (Manchester and Ireland) Cree (Manchester, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire), Owen (Manchester), Humphreys (Manchester and Ireland), Egerton (Manchester and Cheshire), Cresswell (Manchester).

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                      • #12
                        I was always told that many of my grandmother's family were born within the sound of Bow Bells. Hm, one was born Ireland, one in Sheffield, one in Portsea, 3 in Lincoln, two in Southwark, one in Plumstead which was Kent and one on the Isle of Dogs near Millwall. Ah well, perhaps to someone born in the Westcountry, maybe the 4 born in the London area were construed as being born within the sound of Bow Bells.

                        One of my OH's family is supposed to have gone down on the Lusitania. Oh yes a George Sullivan did die on the Lusitania but not OH's George Sullivan!

                        According to one book written about an ancestor who married a Swedish scientist, a Grt Aunt of mine was supposed to be born Dieppe of an Italian mother. Oh dear wrong again. She was born Lincoln, married Diepppe and her mother was from Cork County!

                        There are glimmers of truth in all these stories but the actual events are far from the truth!

                        How do these stories get mangled like this??

                        Janet

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                        • #13
                          Lynne, Wonder what it is with the Owen/Owens and Wales lol..:D

                          Wishful thinking perhaps..
                          When I found and proved my lot were from Lancashire I was so relieved as Wales would have been harder but then I got stuck with Ireland lol..




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                          • #14
                            My grandma told me that her dad always thought he was Welsh - he was born in Swansea, as was his father - but in fact his grandfather had moved there from Devon in 1830ish. It wasn't me who discovered that, though, but my great-uncle, the only other one of the immediate family to have done any FH research. I did, though, find that his maternal line was half Welsh - and eventually connected it to someone else's research which stretched the line back to some tribal chiefs in the 9th century! The other half was the Essex lot, who still remain something of a mystery.
                            Michael, aged 1/4 of a century

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                            • #15
                              Lynne

                              Owens of Manchester. Well there was a big chain of shops a bit like John Lewis called Owen Owens and they were big in Liverpool and London but started life in Bath Somerset with a chap called Evans mid eighteen hundreds!! An American cousin claimed them as his family and I went to Bath to try to prove this was a myth!! Well typical, I found all the history back to early 1700's on the family and they all came from guess where, Wales of course, so you never know!! I have never done a family history so fast, one afternoon and back to early 1700's. It was all in a book written about the family that showed everything to include photos of his grt grt grandparents which he did not have. I sent him the book and received it back when he died, but unfortunately these Owens are no relation to me but I was pleased for him!

                              Janet
                              Last edited by Janet; 05-02-08, 15:50.

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                              • #16
                                My paternal grandmother reinvented herself when she married my grandfather. She became Eithlina and declared her father was a Master Jeweller. She was, she said, descended from the de Traffords, of Trafford Park in Manchester.

                                She was actually Ethel, born in the slums of Manchester and her father was a pawnbroker's shopman. Her great great grandfather was a Farm Steward on a farm owned by the Trafford family - but not THAT Trafford family!

                                She ironed out her broad Lancashire accent into a strangled hi falutin' Royal Family sort of speech, spoiled only by "Ecky-thump!" uttered in this strange accent...came out as "ikkie thompa".

                                OC

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                                • #17
                                  My cousin told me that our gggrandfather was a policeman in Australia and that he was murdered by a bush ranger. I found that he was actually a convict on Norfolk Island who had served his time and became a free overseer but he was murdered by a bush ranger
                                  PAT

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                                  • #18
                                    I spent ages looking for my grandfather's birth, he always told my father he was as old as the century . So we thought he was born in Jan 1900, and he said he was born Chichester. In fact he was born in October 1899 in Eastbourne!

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                                    • #19
                                      My father told me in good faith that his uncle Thomas had been "in charge of Tilbury Docks". Found out that Uncle Tom actually worked for 2 years at the docks as a fireman. I think the myth must have started with Tom. His Dad was a milkman but he put "provisions merchant" on father's occupation on his marriage cert.
                                      ~ with love from Little Nell~
                                      Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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                                      • #20
                                        Oh and we were told that husband had a Jewish ancestor

                                        who was connected to the Rothschilds. His Jewish family were fishmongers in Whitechapel. I've met tons of folk with Jewish ancestry who've all been fed the line about the Rothschilds.
                                        ~ with love from Little Nell~
                                        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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