Genealogy Chat

The thing that got me started into family history was when my grandad gave me some old postcards back in 1974 when i was 12 so i have been doing this for sometime. I went to a huge postcard fair on the spur of the moment at york racecourse on my way back home from a weekend break. It was one of the biggest i had ever seen, there were loads of stalls i couldn't possibly look at them all so i just chose a few at random looking at the cards from surrey. Only looked at a few stalls as i was in a hurry, picked up a few and on the back of one it had been written and posted and guess what it was to a mrs storer in ealing london, well that was my name and not very common, i really got goosebumps, what were the chances of coming across that?? yvette

I love stories like this and they are quite common in genealogy/family history! Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Horatia

yvette, i always believe things happen for a reason, this could be a rellie. i read a story a few years ago of a man whose wife had died and he had a bad time getting over her, his children tried to help him and because he liked doing jigsaw puzzles of boats they bought him one of a pleasure cruiser in somewhere like Holland. after their dad completed the picture he realised everything looked familier and then noticed it had his wife and himself in the picture, they had it taken a few years before when on holiday, so they sent to the company and got a copy of the picture, some photographer had taken it on board the cruiser and sold it to the jigsaw company...This to me is his wife saying i am ok isn't it lovely?....MOE!

yes me to, i believe stuff like that happens for a reason to, and thats a great story, i sadly lost my mother in law this time last year, it was all very sudden- cancer, my hubby had a really hard time, we eventually managed to get away for a weekend, just camping, went to the clubhouse in the evening, the entertainer was a singer and played guitar, during the course of an hour he sang/played the 2 songs which were mum in laws faves and we had them played at the funeral, but really strange choices for an entertainer to play in a club, patsy cline, crazy and an acker bilk tune strangers on the shore, nothing like the rest of the modern stuff he was doing!!! yvette, got another to tell but need to use the phone back later

I have another one, i don't know if this is urban myth or not so judge for yourself, When my grandmother was 16yrs old and living in Scotland, She went to work in a cigarette factory and her best friend went to work or join a convent,The friend was in a small room cleaning on her hands and knees, when she heard shouts of Fire! She opened the door to be confronted by a wall of flame, she couldn't get out,in the room was a life sized statue of st Joseph so the girl got on her knees and prayed for help....... this is were it gets dodgy....After praying she looked up and noticed the statues eyes or hand(can't remember which now)move and direct her to a blank wall, suddenly a huge hole opened and the girl stepped through it to an outside courtyard and when she turned around it was a wall again, There was supposed to have been numerous deaths of nuns in the fire and the girl was one of the few survivors, has anyone ever heard this story before? as there would be some record of a fire in a convent wouldn't there?... MOE!

This may not be quite so spooky but my mother who always bought any jewellery secondhand as she insisted it was better value bought a signet ring for my husband, not knowing that the date engraved on the inside was his actual date of birth.

I have nothing to add to your convent story but how about this for a bit of spookiness. I went back to Needham Market, Suffolk where both my great grandmother and great grandfather were both born and lived until adulthood and then they both moved to London. I was driving around looking at the place when all of a sudden a lorry appeared bearing the surname of my great-grandfather! I looked the company up on the net, wrote to the chap and he was a descendant of my great grandfather's brother! Before that I had woken up with my grandmother's favourite song playing incessantly in my head. My husband said this was a sign that my grandmother was impatient that I make contact with her relatives and visit Needham Market! Cheers, Horatia

i have another as well but we might be getting into the realms of most haunted. About a year or so after my grandad died i was living in bristol, and because my dad was on his own (divorced), we would always phone each other every sunday morning. One saturday night i had the most vivid dream, my grandad was standing in my room, next to my bed, i was in bed looking up at him, he was telling me to ring my dad as he needed me, i was saying to him i cant its like 3 am in the morning, anyway while speaking to my dad on the phone the next day, i yawned, dad said i'm tired too someone rang me in the middle of the night and when i picked up the phone there was no one there!!! i had not been sleepwalking and i checked our phone bill and i had'nt rung, its funny though as i have had dreams about rellies before but this one was so powerful his voice etc has this happened to anyone else or am i just stark raving bonkers as my hubby says

No, lots of people have had After Death Communications or ADC's as they are commonly known. Try googling After Death Communication you will find lots of websites dedicated to the research of this subject. These experiences are quite common but lots of people don't like talking about them in case people think they are going barmy! They happen all over the world! Cheers, Horatia

thanks for that Horatio i didn't know that there was a web site will take a peak in mo. You are right ,i dont tell people stuff cos they do think you're a bit strange. Hubby is a complete non believer and really gets grumpy if you mention anything, its all in your head he says, comlpetely closed mind. i have had other dreams like i said but i know they were just dreams this was so real and powerful, it was definately different to the others back soon yvette

I had a bit of a strange experience when I went to Sonning to have a look around as I had just found out that a rellie was born there in the mid 1700's. I went into the local pub for lunch and as there was a queue at the bar to order the food I started to look at a book called The Book of Sonning which was on the bar saying that you could look at it there or buy a copy. I idly opened this big hardbacked book at a random page and the first two words that I saw were 'William Alleway' which the name of my rellie. Of course I then had to buy a copy of it!! There were several references to the family and a map showing where everyone lived in 1783. I was able to find the house where he had lived. I am sure that William had wanted to be found and led me to look at the right page in the book.

Yes, love your story about the book. I visited a church in Blackford, Somerset and there was a book in the church. I idly flicked and the page fell open at a page showing records of people who received parish relief - my relatives were there. It really makes you feel goose bumpy when this happens - as you say - our ancestors often want to be found. That's why I always recommend that people visit their ancestral villages and towns. These events often seem to happen when you are on the spot so to speak. Ancestors want to help but you have to help them by going to their villages in fhe first place. Cheers, Horatia

Some friends of mine moved to a small village and decided to take a walk with their little children one day after tea. They wandered through the churchyard and noticed that a lot of the headstones had their surname on (they have quite an unusual surname). My friends had not done any family research and had no idea that their ancestors came from the village. On coming out of the churchyard they started passing the time of day with an old man who was leaning against his garden wall. They mentioned about the names on the headstones and the old man remembered one of my friend's elderly relatives!!!

Hi Yvette, Well I am sure there is some mathematical genius out there that could give you the odds on that. Two years ago I went to New Zealand for a holiday, and as most people go to Auckland or Christchurch, i though i would be different. I went to the far south, to Duneden. It is a beautiful little town, set in the most fantastic place. My sister and I booked to go on a day trip to see the penguins, and there were just two others on the trip, honeymooners from the UK. We started to chat and it turned out that the guest of honour at their wedding was, a dear friend of ours, and they had heard her speak of us. SPOOKY or what. Kathlyn

Not that spooky but my aunt's (mother's sister) surname is Bloomer and my great grandmother's (father's grandma) first name is Bloomah. One spooky thing we do have is that my dad and his parents were all born on the same day, 20th November. Another thing that we do find weird in our family is the number 26. My grandmother, grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather all died on the 26th day of the month. My other grandmother was buried on the 26th. My grandparents married on the 26th and my mother was born on the 26th.

You lot on this thread will enjoy reading this! Enjoy! http://home.insightbb(.)com/~Grand_Uncle_Mark/serendipity.html Remove brackets. Cheers, Horatia

Here's another website that deals with this subject: http://www(.)genealogytoday(.)com/family/stories/serendipity.html Most of them are American unfortunately Cheers, Horatia

Just thought I'll add my recent spooky incident - I was sitting on my computer the other day typing up some family history notes, when all of a sudden I felt someone looking over my shoulder and their breath against my ear. I immediatly turned around expecting my husband to be there, but he wasn't he was upstairs. Perhaps one of my ancestors was keen to know what I was writing about them!

Love hearing this type of story. Really emphasises that we do have links to previous generations. My 'co-incidences' are that my Dad had three sisters. The youngest died on the 14th Jan. (can't remember the year) Dad was second youngest and he was next to die, also on the 14th Jan. (1969) The eldest died next, on 1st Jan. and the last one again on the 1st Jan. (different year). No wonder we're always glad when January is over!

hi everyone, just came back to this thread, have to share the computer with a teenager, its great to hear all the stories, they are amazing, the co incidence thing can be very strange, i have had lots of strange things happen to me that i have no explanation for, so here another to get the hairs on the back of your neck standing up. I was born in the same house as my dad, mum and dad lived with my grandparents when they first married, sadly my grandmother died feb 1961 and i was born march 1962, we lived there until i was 3. I can remember this so vividly, even though i was so young, i had felt unwell and was in my parents bed, lying on the edge with mum. Parents were both asleep, but i just kept watching the man who was standing by the window, i remember thinking that if i turned over he would go away, i must have done that and fell asleep. From then on my mum and aunt were always saying to me things like 'it was just the window cleaner' 'it was your reflection' and so on. But my answer was always the same, it was the middle of the night, window cleaners are not working then, and it was not my reflection as i was lying in bed.. When i was older my mum told me that i was always running in to her and saying that that man was in the bedroom again, although i dont remember that, she said i use to really scare her. It turned out that my dads grandad had died in that room (he use to live with them) in 1959!!!. When i was a teenager i was talking about this to dad and described the person i had seen, yep that was what his grandad looked like. I have no explanation, and believe it or not i am quite a normal rational person.... sometimes..... yvette