[Misc] Anyone done a history of their family investigation?

[Dave the OAP]

I managed to trace my family on my dad's side, after finding out about his grandad( thanks @thunderbolt.)

Went back as far as 1835 where my great grandfather x 5 was a mill worker in Calderdale, Halifax.

Really interesting with two relations dying during and after the Great War...one young man who was my great grandad's brother who was killed being seconded to a Canadian battalion and being shot by a sniper at Ypres ..he was only 23 and left a widow and a son he must never have seen as I think he left for war when his wife was pregnant...they also lost a son in childbirth.

Really sad story but apart from being born in Huddersfield, our family on my father's side all came from Halifax.

 

[portlock seagull]

I managed to trace my family on my dad's side, after finding out about his grandad( thanks @thunderbolt.)

Went back as far as 1835 where my great grandfather x 5 was a mill worker in Calderdale, Halifax.

Really interesting with two relations dying during and after the Great War...one young man who was my great grandad's brother who was killed being seconded to a Canadian battalion and being shot by a sniper at Ypres ..he was only 23 and left a widow and a son he must never have seen as I think he left for war when his wife was pregnant...they also lost a son in childbirth.

Really sad story but apart from being born in Huddersfield, our family on my father's side all came from Halifax.

You can pay for this sort of detail to be removed from your family history you know? I did similarly on my dads side after discovering family members from Gillingham...

 

[tedebear]

I've thought about it loads, now I live here I'm curious as to where I originally came from , if you get my drift...

 

[Dave the OAP]

You can pay for this sort of detail to be removed from your family history you know? I did similarly on my dads side after discovering family members from Gillingham...

Did you manage to find out what they did? Throughout all the family and the years, they all had various jobs in the mills, but looks like their children also started in the mills at a very young age...possibly 12 or 13!

 

[lawros left foot]

My sister did my dads side of the family a few years back, we go back in Sussex to 1578, but due to the reformation it ended there.

You think Huddersfield roots are bad, I have one ancestor who was Mayor of Croydon at one stage!!

Oh, the shame

 

[Dave the OAP]

I've thought about it loads, now I live here I'm curious as to where I originally came from , if you get my drift...

I started with military records knowing my great grandfather served and his name is on the Armitage Bridge war memorial in Huddersfield. From him I'm found out a genealogist had produced a history of all the families in Calderdale.....it was fascinating.

 

[Dave the OAP]

My sister did my dads side of the family a few years back, we go back in Sussex to 1578, but due to the reformation it ended there.

You think Huddersfield roots are bad, I have one ancestor who was Mayor of Croydon at one stage!!

Oh, the shame

Ha ha ...my mum's mother had a relation who was mayor of Slough. Which as they all came from South Wales was a weird one.

 

[AmexRuislip]

I managed to trace my family on my dad's side, after finding out about his grandad( thanks @thunderbolt.)

Went back as far as 1835 where my great grandfather x 5 was a mill worker in Calderdale, Halifax.

Really interesting with two relations dying during and after the Great War...one young man who was my great grandad's brother who was killed being seconded to a Canadian battalion and being shot by a sniper at Ypres ..he was only 23 and left a widow and a son he must never have seen as I think he left for war when his wife was pregnant...they also lost a son in childbirth.

Really sad story but apart from being born in Huddersfield, our family on my father's side all came from Halifax.

Yes, my dad has traced our family line, right back to the 1600s on his mother's side and 1800s on his dads.
My mums side all originate from Croydon.
Interesting stuff

 

[The Clamp]

I wouldn’t dare, my maternal family are all Irish priests. Frankly, I don’t wish to know.

Having said that we have a family book that goes back to castle owners in about 1600. The family gave all the land and castles to the National Trust a few decades ago. I could have been Lording it up in a castle now if it weren’t for that!

 

[Fungus]

I've thought about it loads, now I live here I'm curious as to where I originally came from , if you get my drift...

You "come from" lots and lots of places, not just one - if you go back more than a few generations, you find plenty of ancestors moving around.

Most of my lot are Sussex and Essex "agricultural labourers", another part of the family were coal miners in Durham.

Of course, where the documents say you come from isn't always the same as what your DNA says!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

0Traced mine back a bit ten years ago, but thought it costly. Are there cheaper ways of doing it now?

Alas, one great grandfather was a wood cutter from Hove who begat a domestic servant (my granny) and on my dad's side, Londoners yet originally from somewhere near Worthing. My genes clearly wunt be druv out of Sussex. Plenty of freemasons though, if I'm on the level, nudge nudge wink wink.

(I am curious but it is a sort of pointless vanity project. Most people of African heritage via the west indies here will find a tale of tragedy and woe....the rest of us, if we could trace back to the time of the Romans/Vikings pick you era and region would doubtless find they are the descendents of someone ....disadvantaged.

 

[AmexRuislip]

I wouldn’t dare, my maternal family are all Irish priests. Frankly, I don’t wish to know.

Having said that we have a family book that goes back to castle owners in about 1600. The family gave all the land and castles to the National Trust a few decades ago. I could have been Lording it up in a castle now if it weren’t for that!

Would that be nights or knights

 

[Dave the OAP]

I wouldn’t dare, my maternal family are all Irish priests. Frankly, I don’t wish to know.

Having said that we have a family book that goes back to castle owners in about 1600. The family gave all the land and castles to the National Trust a few decades ago. I could have been Lording it up in a castle now if it weren’t for that!

My nana on my dad's side( his mother) came from Belfast and proddies.

The family story is her dad had arranged for them all to go to America and he left his job, had saved the money for the passage, was paid it all by his work and they day before they were due to sail, he went out to say goodbye to his mates and blew all the money on drink and gambling! They turned up at the port to find out that he had blown the lot, nad managed to get on a boat to Liverpool. They made their way eventually to Huddersfield.

If they had gone to NY, my nan wouldn't have met my grandad, and therefore no dad and no me. Funny how things turn out.

 

[portlock seagull]

Did you manage to find out what they did? Throughout all the family and the years, they all had various jobs in the mills, but looks like their children also started in the mills at a very young age...possibly 12 or 13!

All farmers and teachers it seems. I love history but not terribly into ancestry simply because there’s so little detail about the individuals concerned. I’d love to have known more than just a name, couple of dates, occupation and that’s it. Be different if you knew of their beliefs, personality, favourite book, hobbies and so forth but of course all that’s lost. I’ve been banging on about older generation in my family now writing all this shite down and have been collecting to some extent for future generations. I don’t have kids and have implored nieces and nephew, god children etc to do so but sadly they’re just not interested and it won’t be long now before it’s too late. Which is a shame because I was interested in my grandparents, great grandparents as people so asked lots of questions when I was a teenager and wrote things down. Sadly though, this disinterest from younger generations will probably mean anyone in say 2100 looking into our family history will just have the standard name number and rank data that’s all I’ve got to go on for my ancestors I.e. nothing about the actual people and the lives they led. That’s the bit I’ve always liked anyway.

 

[Dave the OAP]

All farmers and teachers it seems. I love history but not terribly into ancestry simply because there’s so little detail about the individuals concerned. I’d love to have known more than just a name, couple of dates, occupation and that’s it. Be different if you knew of their beliefs, personality, favourite book, hobbies and so forth but of course all that’s lost. I’ve been banging on about older generation in my family now writing all this shite down and have been collecting to some extent for future generations. I don’t have kids and have implored nieces and nephew, god children etc to do so but sadly they’re just not interested and it won’t be long now before it’s too late. Which is a shame because I was interested in my grandparents, great grandparents as people so asked lots of questions when I was a teenager and wrote things down. Sadly though, this disinterest from younger generations will probably mean anyone in say 2100 looking into our family history will just have the standard name number and rank data that’s all I’ve got to go on for my ancestors I.e. nothing about the actual people and the lives they led. That’s the bit I’ve always liked anyway.

I do see that.

One sadness is that my family name of Wilcock dies out with me and my brother. We have both had girls, 2 and 3 and unless they marry and keep their name, the line on my dad's side from him, dies out.

 

[zefarelly]

My fathers side can be traced back a long time, Co Wicklow in Ireland, but seems they mostly headed to England about 3-4 generations ago, intelligent and successful, apart from my line. Apparently my Grandfather was a right ****.

My mother was adopted, little information or knowledge that side from either Gran or anyone else( although natural Gran is alive and kicking at 92ish in Bondai) the adopted side are god botherers, Bishop of Guildford was one of them, and a spurs fan. Strange. The natural side are all south east London (Denmark Hill) and teachers mostly, good people.

 

[Fungus]

I do see that.

One sadness is that my family name of Wilcock dies out with me and my brother. We have both had girls, 2 and 3 and unless they marry and keep their name, the line on my dad's side from him, dies out.

I'm also the last of my line, but there are plenty of distant cousins with my surname

 

[tedebear]

You "come from" lots and lots of places, not just one - if you go back more than a few generations, you find plenty of ancestors moving around.

Most of my lot are Sussex and Essex "agricultural labourers", another part of the family were coal miners in Durham.

Of course, where the documents say you come from isn't always the same as what your DNA says!

I'm actually Australian, so what I meant was somewhere back in the whiles, there is a possibility I'm English, probably a Crystal Palace bread thiefs great great great granddaughter for my sins, god forbid...

 

[albionfan37]

I managed to trace my family on my dad's side, after finding out about his grandad( thanks @thunderbolt.)

Went back as far as 1835 where my great grandfather x 5 was a mill worker in Calderdale, Halifax.

Really interesting with two relations dying during and after the Great War...one young man who was my great grandad's brother who was killed being seconded to a Canadian battalion and being shot by a sniper at Ypres ..he was only 23 and left a widow and a son he must never have seen as I think he left for war when his wife was pregnant...they also lost a son in childbirth.

Really sad story but apart from being born in Huddersfield, our family on my father's side all came from Halifax.

Do a DNA test too you’d be amazed at how varied your bloodline could be

 

[m20gull]

I have done a lot of this on my family and my wife’s. I am continually finding new stories and have just established a link back to the Norman conquest and an earlier King of Norway. At the other end of the scale there are workhouse inmates, Asylum inmates, Australian “exports”, someone who drowned in a pond, someone who lived in a tent and died in a shed. Mostly they were farm workers but also a lot of farmers in mid Sussex. I also uncovered a couple of family secrets. Military research was enlightening including four Germans who fought on our side in WW1, a mention in despatches, a BEM for fire fighting and two sisters who died together in a V1 bombing with their seven children while being evacuated. I made contact with a great aunt who related the story of her brother who crashed his car into a bomb crater in Hove during the blackout. The more I research the more I find!