Am I being silly????

[Harrys mum]

I've just finshed writing out the wills I received from Lancs RO and got quite sad when I read...


.........I, Hugh Addison of Hannakin near Hawkshead in the County Palatine of Lancsater, yeoman, being somewhat infirm of body but of sound and perfect mind and memory praised to God..............


Would you believe I felt really sad when I read the "somewhat infirm of body" part..... He's been dead since 1743!!!!!


Have I become too involved in this tree?????????

[Trish@Somerset]

If you have then so have I. I was quite upset when I found one rellie being buried the same day as her newborn was being baptised.

[Lyn A]

Have I become too involved in this tree?????????

Yep!!! So just be careful that you don't fall!!! PMSL!!:D:D

[Harrys mum]

I wonder, if in nearly 300 years, someone will think of us????????????


AND will all these trees we've done be interesting to our families.

[Lyn A]

I wonder, if in nearly 300 years, someone will think of us????????????


AND will all these trees we've done be interesting to our families.

Probably not!! And if they do, they will probably think that we were totally nuts to be so bothered about the past!
I figure that my lot will probably dump my research when I kick the bucket. No-one seems the slighest bit interested.

[dicole]

Hi Libby

I get a bit teary too, when I read 5X great gran's will that left her clothes to her daughter and grand-daughter and a ring, the inscription described in the will, to her favourite son.

Must say I am puzzled by 5xgreat grandfathers will where he allocated set amounts to his children - one son only got fifty pounds while others got 100. The oldest got one property, a paper mill, while another got all the property in Sherfield, and the other son got the property in WInchester.


Hi Lyn

None of mine are either. I have resolved that I will have to leave all my papers to the local FHS or Gene Society. At least then others may come along one day and appreciate what I have done.

Di

[KiteRunner]

Di, sometimes they had already given some money to some of their children (for instance, when the children got married) and not to others, so they would try to even things up in their will.

[Mary from Italy]

I'm sure we're all as bad, Libby.

I'm still upset about the little boy that none of the family knew about who died at the age of 5, after being dumped in an orphanage 1000 miles from home the year he was born.

And I have to admit I shed a tear at this 3-year-old's tombstone:

http://cemindex.arkangles.com/images/135/1259.jpg

[Guinevere]

This is the MI of a sister of my 3 x gt grandmother.

Sacred to the Memory of
Elizabeth Barrett
The dutiful and affectionate
daughter of
Michael and Mary Barrett.
Who after passing through
severe trials and afflictions
in this tempestuous world
found in Christ
a refuge from the storm
She departed this life in peace
and in a firm hope
Of a blessed immortality
The 20th December 1811
in the 10th year of her age

So sad.

[Durham Lady]

Probably not!! And if they do, they will probably think that we were totally nuts to be so bothered about the past!
I figure that my lot will probably dump my research when I kick the bucket. No-one seems the slighest bit interested.

Oh that's a shame Lyn, is there not some place your research can be deposited so anyone who comes later and is interested will be able to retrieve it?
I'm hoping at least one of our daughters will be interested enough in taking my research over, the eldest is sort of interested now so maybe when her family have finally flown the nest she'll have time for genealogy.

[Vicky the Viking]

I LOVE Wills :D


Got a lump in my throat when I read this:

I, George Green of Raylees, parish of Elsdon and County of Northumberland, yeoman, being very sick and weak of body, but of perfect mind and memory, thanks be given unto God: therefore calling unto mind the mortality of my body, knowing that it is appointed unto all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testament; that is to say, principally and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hands of Almighty God that gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial at the discretion of my executor; nothing doubting but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again, by the almighty power of God.



Will is dated 16 Jan 1838 and he died on the 27th, aged 74.

[Grosert]

I am totally involved in my ancestors!!

The more I find out about mine, the more I take it to heart. My mother lost her mother at a young age and then they had no contact with the family. She missed out on having her mother, grandmother, cousins, aunts and uncles and I find it really sad. I have found a couple and am meeting up with a second or third cousin this week end.

I recently found one had died on the way to Australia and was buried at sea. He was 6 months old. I then decided as the water would be cold and he would have sunk to the bottom, maybe we could go find him. I know, I am toooooooo involved.

I just love doing this so much.

Helen

[Mary from Italy]

I've never been a believer in an after-life, and I always thought it was a bit silly that people wanted to be reunited with their nearest and dearest after death, but after a couple of years of this research... I'm quite hoping to meet my ancestors, to find out the answers to some of the mysteries

[maggies]

I take all my findings to heart. Had a greatg/uncle who threw himself under a train age 24 and a young cousin of my mums who died at 17 with diabetes.

But as you say Lyn when I am gone I think all my research will thrown away because none of children are interested one little bit

[Vicky the Viking]

The more I find out, the sadder I get that some of the detail wasn't passed down the generations, like the tales in the book Roots.

eg found my first suicide last week, a lady aged 56 who hanged herself. You can imagine something of what must have been going on when you realise that this was just 3 months after her husband died (of a stroke) and just four weeks after her only son got married. Son did work away, but he registered his dad's death, so it doesn't look as though he had deserted the family.

Suicide isn't something you'd necessarily be proud of or want to tell your kids and grandchildren, so I know absolutely nothing about my gt gt grandmother. But I wish I could talk to her & find out what really was so terrible with her life that she couldn't face the future.

[Grosert]

We have a suicide on my grandfathers side

I'm not sure who it was, but she just walked into the sea and drowned herself. Very sad. I think she was probably my great aunt, so that is not that far back. One thing I was saying to a friend of mine today, if you look at the photos going back, no one seemed to smile. They were all very sad looking. Times were very hard for them though. We are so lucky.

[Mary from Italy]

I have the file of a great-aunt who was in the lunatic asylum for 30 years, until she died. There are a couple of photos in the file, and she looks so unhappy.

But apart from that particular case, I've been told that it wasn't the done thing to smile on photos until fairly recently, so people aren't necessarily looking serious because they're miserable.

[JudithM]

If you are too involved then so am I. Have you ever paused to think that sometimes we know more about our ancestors' lives than they themselves did. I was tearful when I found my 2x gt grandmother on the 1841 census, still single and living as a domestic servant. The thing is that on census day in June 1841 its quite likely that she suspected she was pregnant and was worrying about the future. I wanted to reach out and hug her and tell her everything would be OK, because I knew that on 14th Feb the next year she would give birth to a little girl and be living as a married couple with the baby's father.

[Merry Monty Montgomery]

One thing I was saying to a friend of mine today, if you look at the photos going back, no one seemed to smile. They were all very sad looking. Times were very hard for them though. We are so lucky.

With early photography exposure times were too long to have people smiling. I think when exposure times got a lot shorter, it wasn't the done thing to be grinning......probably no one even thought of it, as it wasn't what they had been doing before!

[Jill on the A272]

I've been researching the lives of the old pupils from my school that died in the Great War - can't do it for very long though as its quite heartbreaking.