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WDYTYA this evening - very resonant

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  • WDYTYA this evening - very resonant

    DON'T READ THIS IF YOU ARE PLANNING TO WATCH THE REPEAT OR I-PLAYER

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Watching this evening's WDYTYA, I found myself thinking: "I've seen/heard that before". It was all rather like my errant grandfather (EG) - leaving a wife and two sons in 1916 (during WW1) to nip off to Canada and behave as a single man, then move on to the USA, and marry at least once more - possibly three times - I don't know if there were any more children.

    Today's show, the EG left just before WW2, after a failed stowaway emigration to the USA, then moved to the other side of Northern England, marrying again, and having a whole new family before emigrating to Australia. 'Irresponsible and selfish' - the words I've found myself using about my EG, over and over.

    An interesting show, but - as has been remarked - less and less about genealogy; more and more about celebrity personal family history (with little about the technical steps to find it).

    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)...

  • #2
    Christine

    I found this one very interesting because the story was so recent and seemed to be about "ordinary" people, or should I say person!

    I agree though, nothing about HOW to find these things out. Still, I watched this end to end without fidgeting or dozing off, so it must have been good!

    Thought his family knew a bit more than they were letting on..the remark that they thought he had stowed away turned out to be uncannily accurate.

    OC

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    • #3
      I thoroughly enjoyed this one - could have been ANYONE's story.

      Yes, it was obviously a bit engineered - Kim didn't just turn up on the doorstep in Durham. She WAS expected by grandad's s-i-l & daughter and they knew the reason for the visit and had had time to get the photos ready.

      Jay
      Janet in Yorkshire



      Genealogists never die - they just swap places in the family tree

      Comment


      • #4
        I half and half watched it I did record it though.

        I really liked what I saw but I shall watch it again when I have some peace. I saw the bit at the end where one of the sisters got really upset. How they wondered why they got left and he went and started another family! It wasn't unusual then and it isn't now. But its very upsetting if you think to deeply about it.

        I liked Kim Cattrall I thought she came across very well.

        Edit to say: I don't think Kim thought very highly of him by the end of the program she called a few choice names during it...
        Last edited by Guest; 12-08-09, 22:53.

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        • #5
          Yes - it would be a kind of TV abuse to turn up on anyone's doorstep with a tale like that to tell under the camera's stare.

          The stowaway thing... Well, in our case, my mother told me that there had been a rumour that my father's father had gone off to the USA (and not died in WW1, after all). That turned out to be true (tho' via Canada). Not sure how the rumour had reached my mother.

          What I found odd - and was never probed (it would have been hard to do so) - was why the EG's mother had never tried to be in touch with her bereft granddaughters. She'd told her son he should stay in his marriage - that it was his responsibility - but she didn't act on any responsibility she might have had as a grandmother when he shirked his own.

          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)...

          Comment


          • #6
            I found it interesting because my gran married in Tudhoe Grange and although I live in Co Durham, I still can't understand what my gran and grandad (who died before I was born) were doing in Tudhoe.
            Jean
            Jean....the mist is starting to clear

            Comment


            • #7
              Just put this on the general board


              I enjoyed it with much of the filming been done up here, & also because my Oliver's are from the same area.

              There's abit of a write up in our local paper here

              Sex And The City actress Kim Cattrall traces family to the region in Who Do You Think You Are? (From The Northern Echo)
              Jay

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              • #8
                Although I thought the programme was all rather too 'staged' (no surprises when Kim rolls up at the neighbour's door, no surprises that grandad had stowed away to USA etc and the family seemed to know far more than they let on) but nevertheless I stuck it and watched it through because of my own EG, as I wondered if i might pick up any clues along the way....I hadn't ever considered that mine may have done the stowaway thing. Something for me to look into.

                But I was very disappointed that they made no pretence that she looked for anything herself, she quite blatantly spent the day elsewhere whilst waiting for researchers to hand over a pile of goodies - which they did, and were express mailed to her at the hotel.

                What threw me though was that he married bigamously AFTER, and not before the marriage to Kim's mother....I'd convinced myself there was a bigamous marriage in it somewhere and that was the reason he was hiding behind the curtain in the first photo!!! It certainly seemed like he was 'on the run' for something.

                Whatever I thought of it, it was miles better than David Mitchell's last week - yawn yawn.....I switched over half way through. First time for everything!! LOL
                Karen x

                Comment


                • #9
                  i watched it with my mother, i found the story to be really sad. I'm glad they got to find out what happened, im sure it gave them some clourser on what they had to wonder all these years, even if it wasnt what they wanted to hear.

                  thats one thing i said to my mum "they do everything for her, all the research" she even had a guy type in an ancestry type website for her!

                  i agree it was much better than davids
                  Last edited by scorpioleah; 12-08-09, 23:15.

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                  • #10
                    I also felt quite sorry for his second lot of children. What a terrible shock for them to find out their wonderful dad was a bigamist, a liar and an abandoner of children.

                    I suppose the only thing to be said in his favour is that he tried to take one of his daughters with him..I missed the timings...was he already involved with the second wife when he left the first?

                    OC

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                    • #11
                      not as far as i heared. it said he met the second wife in manchester, and married her a year after abandoning his 1st family

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                      • #12
                        I found the story fascinating. I think we have to be realistic and accept that Kim Cattrall, didn't just roll up and knock on peoples doors. I can imagine if someone did that to me after a nightshift.... opening the door in my PJ's. lol. (Hey I'm using text speak- unbelievable) and anyway I'm always grouchy whenever someone I don't know knocks on the door. I'd probably send Frazer and Frazer away with a flea in the ear.
                        Back to the plot. Did anyone else notice the daughter of Bella's sister in law was checking that Kim was okay, with little supportive looks. It must have been hard for everyone involved with the family to find out that what they believed to be true was a lie. So many doubts must have surfaced.
                        So whilst Kim and her mother and aunts had some form of closure, other members of the family must now be wondering about their own relationships/friendshipds with this man.

                        Olde Crone from what I understand, he tried to emigrate in 1935, returned had another daughter, but it would appear that he had two families on the go at one time. This was hinted at but not outrightly stated. I suppose we could do our own detective work to prove/disprove this if we felt the need.
                        Bubblebelle x

                        FAMILY INTERESTS: Pitts of Sherborne Gloucs. Deaney (Bucks). Pye of Kent. Randolph of Lydd, Kent. Youell of Norfolk and Suffolk. Howe of Lampton. Carden of Bucks.

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                        • #13
                          It said at the end .... that after the film was finished, Kim's mother and her sisters got in touch with their step sister's families in Australia ... that must have been a shock.
                          Jean

                          Would they be step sisters or half sisters?
                          Jean....the mist is starting to clear

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I think that Kim's mother & aunts just got the timing wrong, as to when he was a stow away. They thought it was when he left for good but it was a couple of years before that and then he came back to his first wife and they had another baby, then he left for good. They probably heard the tale of him being a stow away and going missing for a couple of months when they were young,
                            Janet ;)

                            Researching - Curr, Woolven, Beeden, Haslett, Shurey, Barton, Slade & Harding.

                            Better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid, than to open it and remove all doubt - Mark Twain.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Jean and Tonic View Post
                              It said at the end .... that after the film was finished, Kim's mother and her sisters got in touch with their step sister's families in Australia ... that must have been a shock.
                              Jean

                              Would they be step sisters or half sisters?
                              Half sisters.

                              Comment


                              • #16
                                Originally posted by Jean and Tonic View Post
                                It said at the end .... that after the film was finished, Kim's mother and her sisters got in touch with their step sister's families in Australia ... that must have been a shock.
                                Jean

                                Would they be step sisters or half sisters?

                                they would be kim's mother's half sister and half brothers

                                Comment


                                • #17
                                  Originally posted by Tree genie View Post
                                  I think that Kim's mother & aunts just got the timing wrong, as to when he was a stow away. They thought it was when he left for good but it was a couple of years before that and then he came back to his first wife and they had another baby, then he left for good. They probably heard the tale of him being a stow away and going missing for a couple of months when they were young,

                                  the stow away story came from kims grandfather sisters
                                  i find it sad that the next door neighbor they found knew kim aunt therefore kim aunt could have met her auntie a long time ago

                                  i think there is more to that bit of story
                                  wye surrey/london/birmingham
                                  lawrence/laurence berkshire/london/norfolk
                                  hall harrison cook/e pratt surrey
                                  ebbage maltby pratt norfolk
                                  herbert pratt yorkshire/hampshire
                                  armstrong/rickinson/harrison/beddington yorkshire

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                                  • #18
                                    my wifes grandfather done exactly the same...he left 4 children and married another woman bigamously...he served 18 months jail for this....when he was abt 85 he showed up at my MIL`S out of the blue...she rung her 3 bros...2 came to her house,and my mil and the 2 bros fell all over him ...as though he was a god....I just acknowledged his arrival and I went into the parlour.....he told them he had cancer and was dying and that was why he came back to Liverpool...to say his goodbyes...he then told his kids born 1930 / 1932 / 1940 / 1942 that he was convinced the youngest wasn`t his son
                                    (.he was in the war and sometimes went to different army barracks for rifle practice etc.)..
                                    .the whole family have said that they look the same but more importantly they both have a very very distinctive walk....so realistically he was trying to shift the blame off himself...and the second I met him I didn`t like him...so he left 4 kids aged 12 /10/ 3 and 1 and next seen them FIFTY ONE YEARS LATER...and he wanted THEIR sympathy....what a total sh*thouse.....allan...:(
                                    BTW the mother of those children openly admitted she "went with a couple of men" who gave her money to feed and clothe her children because it was the war and there was no money to look after the kids....the middle son told me about being in the bed with his mum and a "man" when he was abt 5....sad times....
                                    Last edited by garstonite; 13-08-09, 08:35.
                                    Allan ......... researching oakes/anyon/standish/collins/hartley/barker/collins-cheshire
                                    oakes/tipping/ellis/jones/schacht/...garston, liverpool
                                    adams-shropshire/roberts-welshpool
                                    merrick/lewis/stringham/nicolls-herefordshire
                                    coxon/williamson/kay/weaver-glossop/stockport/walker-gorton

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      No, when his sisters were asked what they thought had happened to him, they said they thought he must have gone to USA, probably as a stowaway.

                                      They didn't offer the information that he had already tried that, so it was an odd thing to say IF they didn't already know that.

                                      OC

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                                      • #20
                                        I think this story must find interest for many people. yes, not much in the way of actual genealogy, but much here to make people ponder why their own errant grandfathers might disappear in various census! Divorce was not an option. I was fascinated by the story and it certainly made me think! It also made me think about the wanderlust aspect of some people. There was some social history surrounding the deprivation of the poorer Liverpool areas like Toxteth, where there would have been many Irish migrant families living, but I would have liked to have seen more of this social history aspect.

                                        Parts of programme were contrived but I have resigned myself to the fact that all TV these days has to be contrived to make it interesting! Don't ask me why, but that does seem to be the way of the Television world. reality TV they call it!!

                                        Janet
                                        Last edited by Janet; 22-11-11, 10:00.

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