Sometimes the most interesting ancestors are not close rellies

[George]

I am a child migrant researcher who tries to make people aware that they have a child migrant in their family tree. I have had a lot of responses from people saying for example 'that person is not a close relative so I am not really interested in them/researching them'

I just want to say that sometimes the most interesting stories/histories belong to distant ancestors.

A lot of the child migrants for many reasons do not have direct descendants or their families may not know they were home children so there may not be anyone out there to acknowledge them or research them other than someone who is a distant descendant

So if you do find you have a child migrant, an orphan ancestor or a relative that you have not considered looking at then please consider looking into their story as you might be their only descendant for all you know.

The way I see it is, every ancestor deserves to have their story told no matter how closely/distantly related you are to them.

Thank you for reading this

George

[Olde Crone Holden]

George

Are you saying that family historians are not interested in having contact with someone who is distantly related to them?

How very cruel of them, especially if they have information which would be new to the Home Child.

OC

[dicole]

I think you are right George, everyone has a story and sometimes the most interesting ones are not our direct rellies.

I care about everyone who belongs in my tree, related or not, but especially the ones who did not marry and have no descendents to be interested in them.

At the moment I am investigating my husband's great-great-great grandmother's second husband, whose death I cannot locate in the register indexes. As a couple they have no descendents, so we are the only ones interested in him.

So far I have tracked him as far as January 1852, but there's a vast gap until his step-daughter indicated that he was deceased in 1898. There is no death certificate in his name, and I am determined to find out why.

We have no Home Children (as far as I know) but this chap came out in 1848 as Religious Instructor to a large group of Irish children joining parents and other relatives who have travelled before them.


Di

[George]

What I do is use the online home child databases, free bmd, ancestry etc and then use Genes to find out if someone has a particular child in their tree, I then a send a special email to them to tell them. The responses have varied from: (these are just a few)

- Did not know at all
- No response
- is only a twig on my tree
- is distantly related and only in tree for the use of any distant rellies who may make contact
- have not yet looked at them as they are relatively distant to me

I have had a lot of positive responses which is good.

[margaretmarch]

I make sure I get birth and death certs for people in my tree who died as children or who never had descendants, because there is no-one else to be interested in them and for children often nothing to mark their short lives.
Margaret

[Trina]

George, my Grandfather's brother had two children - girls - who were sent away, maybe Canada. My mother remembers their picture on the wall and how everyone thought they were so lucky. Of course we know that wasn't always so now!
I have never been able to trace them - maybe records don't survive for them, or perhaps their surname was changed. I don't have their first names, but perhaps that information will turn up eventually.
I think that the people you contact are very lucky to have someone take the trouble for them.

Good Luck

[George]

Trina, if you give me their names I will see if I can dig anything up for you

George