Genealogy Chat

I always find it moving when you discover a new grave. You stand there thinking "I never knew you, and yet I could well look like you, or have got different character traits from you." I also wonder what they would have thought if they knew how hard you worked to find them! Infant deaths are very difficult, my 3X gt grandparents lost twins by age of 2 months plus another couple of babies. Despite it being so common, and I suppose expected in a way, they must still have felt it as we would now. On the other side though, I have been lucky enough to find a good few long-lived ancestors - I'm talking 80+ during the 1800's - which makes me hope I've inherited some of their genes!!

I think the fact that I have been transcribing deaths for FreeBMD over the past few days has not helped. When you get more and more information on your rellies it's hard not to get attached to them. I worked out from my great great granddad's death certificate (it was very specific) that he must have got typhoid at Christmas time and suffered for 5 weeks before he finally died. My great grandparents and great aunt were killed during WW2 when the shelter they were in took a direct hit. My granddad never talked about it and it's sad that he's no longer around now to talk about all the stuff I have found out. Sometimes feel a bit silly getting emotional about people I never knew but it's nice to know there are others out there feeling and behaving the same :-)

A few of my relatives died in the 1st WW. I've read about the conditions of the soldiers then and how so many died young. I feel sad about that. One of my great-uncles drowned when the hospital ship he worked on ran aground in a storm near Whitby. He was only 25. Other relatives died at a similar age. What did their parents go through? Were they proud of their country - certainly proud of their sons/daughters! One of my great uncles died in France leaving a son and a pregnant wife (he couldn't have known about this). He was only 30. Another sad incident was when my paternal grandfather's 1st wife died after a c-section in 1926. My uncle survived (and still does in Wem), but what did my grandfather go through - he even put a thank you etc in the local paper. He married again 5 yrs later and my dad was born 7 yrs after that. Why can life seem so terrible and sad sometimes and yet you find some other info out and think wow, that's brilliant! Searching for your family history can be very thought-provoking! John

I find family history research has definitely got a depressing side! Apart from finding genetic illnesses, you also discover how hard life was for some of your ancestors. A very emotional thing, for me, anyway, are all the memories of your more recently departed family members, i.e. parents and grandparents, that the research evokes! Putting all my information and photographs together (and receiving them from long-lost cousins etc.) is a real tug on the old heartstrings! And my goodness...doesn't it make you so much more aware of your own mortality???!!! Blimey!! - Pass the tissues somebody! Sob! Sob! Dierdre X

Angela I know how you feel. I have felt really emotional discovering what happened to some of my ancestors. My great grandparents lost twins at 5 months old within a week of each other. Their first children. They went on to lose more and not one branch was untouched by the tragedy of infant death. Hard times but it was so common. Beryl Darlington

Angela. Most of my forebears according to the records are still alive, even from 1710 !! However, there have been many infant deaths, in one case, 2 of differing ages within a month. Having lost a young son, it made me feel very sad also. John Ranger

I sent for the marriage certificate of my great grandparents, and then found in a census that he was a widower. I felt really sad that, having only just found them, she had died. Of course they had both been dead since before I was born, so it shouldn't have made any difference. But it did. Jan.

Is it just me or are people finding that their ancestors just seemed to drop dead all the time? In one branch alone I have found 6 deaths within 4 years within 3 generations at the turn of the century. A great great grandma of mine had 3 husbands all of whom died on her! Is it just me or does this get you down after a time?