General Chat

Found out on my tree that my grandmother had an affair while she was married and that my father was the result - i know this because she divorced her husband in 1947 and my father was born in 1945 - his father is listed as a local taxi driver and not the man she was married too

also, my fathers half sister (same mother, different father) married my fathers half brother (same father different mother), lol

stephanie

It took me over 15 years to find my paternal grandfather and a trip down to Southampton Record Office from Birkenhead. When he married my grandmother in 1899 she was 6 months pregnant and he had added 2 first names and chopped 10 years off his age. She was 29 and he was 51. She never found out because she quoted his younger age and full name on his death certificate.

More stories please.

these are fascinating stories to read,

the last one makes me chuckle,
about all the lies he told

My 3X Great Grandfather, Thomas married my 3x Great Grandmother, Jane in Wiltshire and they had 4 children. Their 2 boys were named William and John. In the 1861 census Jane and children were living in Wiltshire but Thomas was in Wales. In the 1871 census Jane was classed as a widow, and still living in Wilts. In 1875 Thomas married a Welsh woman and they had 3 children. The first 2 boys were named William and Thomas. The same names as their half brothers in Wiltshire. Also in 1875 Jane remarried. Whilst in Wales Thomas had added an H to the front of his surname.

The possibilty of a divorce for agr Labs/railway workers in those days was remote. Also communications between Wales and Wiltshire would have been scarce. So I am left wondering if Jane knew her husband was still alive when she stated she was a widow on census night and at her marriage in 1875. Thomas died in Wales in 1887 with his 2nd "wife" in attendance. He died of rapid cancer of the mouth and Jaw and exhaustion. I am not at all surprised after all those lies he must have told!

I am left with lots of unanswered questions and intrigued by this side of my family.

Lainey

Linda.

Have you looked in the local newspaper. Im sure something like that would have been reported

My oh had a framed certificate on the wall when I met him twenty years ago. It was very old and you could hardly make out what was written on it. He told me that his g grand father had won it along with a bronze medal for saving someone from drowning, from the royal humane society. I have kept it on the wall since he died, but would like to find out more about him. Have been on their site but has far has I can see the records only go back has far has 1891 and this happened in 1889

lynn

Just giving it a bump...

Wow supposed shipwrecks, second families, strongmen, pianola players, crack shooters...my life will seem very dull if some one researches mine years from now!

Glad everyone is enjoying this thread, I hope more people come across it and add to it!

Cheers

Rachelle

I also heard of a man who came home to Australia after WW2 and never contacted his wife and two daughters. The family assumed he was missing although they were never informed. His daughter hoped to find his records but was informed that he was never declared missing so she looked for him via the Salvation Army. There he was living in Queensland with his "wife" and children and grandchildren. He met with her but begged her not to tell his wife and family that his marriage was bigamous. As her mother had passed away and her sister wasn't interested she decided not to say anything and has had no contact since.

This is a great thread - very interesting.

Sue xx

I know of a man who went to war WW1 and didnt return. He didnt die he just didnt come back.
He left a wife and child in England and went to Australia and married there and they had 2 children.
A divorce didnt happen till the 1950s

This IS a great thread.

Please can we have some more???!!!

Anyone?


K

Great thread! Makes good reading in the wee hours :-)

I wondered why my 3x gt grandfather left my 3x gt grandmother leaving her with my 2x gt grandmother (who was just a little girl at the time) and then remarried and started a new life on the other side of the country. They both remarried bigamously I have to say....each declaring that their previous spouse was deceased on the certs.

It was only last year that I found a newspaper report on him and that he physically abused my 3x gt grandmother and was sent down for it. The report gave graphic details...so I have kind of disowned him.

Great thread!

Linda

Gwyn, makes you wonder how many people simply just started a new family and left their old one!

Suzanne what a coincidence on the death/bith dates. I have noticed that a lot of the birth dates in the current and generation prior duplicate a number of times, the death dates ...makes me wonder anyway!

Sharron, gosh that must have been difficult for everyone....

Granny's mother was always known to have been a young widow when she married the second time to some cantankerous old git who treated her badly.So much so the neighbours staged a chariberie outside his house.

Truth was,she didn't marry either of them.

Also my mother's oldest brother did not belong to my grandmother at all but to my grandfather who was thirty-three at the time and my grandmother's little sister who was fifteen.Eugh!

hi,found out some yrs ago through geneology ,that my dads great uncle joseph had been hung for murder in march 24th(my daughters birth date)1905 by the famous hangman albert pirpoint.

Having delved into Scottish records we failed to find OH's grandfather who had disappeared from the family scene in 1930s.
2 of his daughters are still living, but didn't know what became of their father although they knew he had at one time been working on mail ships off the east coast of Africa. As a family they had visited, but their mother couldn't settle, so they returned to Scotland.
We wrote for help to a researcher in South Africa, but she couldn't find a death of William, b. 1890 either.

When the online passenger lists were shown on Ancestry, ...there he was, arriving with another wife and child ( had he conveniently forgotten the family in Aberdeen ?).
OH has since visited his grave in Bristol, ...... not at all where we had first expected to find him.

Gwyn

See who needs movies, real life is so much more eventful!

Romany - how interesting about the houses!

It's so sad how many little babies and children died, life must have been so hard. I am always a bit amazed that we are here at all given the world wars, epidemics, disasters etc!

Mrs Grumpy - yep must be in the blood!

I wonder if anyone on GR has them on their tree?

Billy the Kid ------real name there seems to be 2 versions Henry Mc Carty born 23 Nov 1859 in New York. or William Bonney Died July 14th 1881 Fort Sumner New Mexico

Occupation,Ranch hand,gambler,cattle rustler,outlaw. I wonder if they got that from the census lol

Father unknown possibly Patrick Henry Mc Carty,Michael Mc Carty .

mother Catherine Mc Carty ,/Katherine McCarty Bonney
Step father William Antrim

I wish I was Quinsgran!

Or Annie Oakley! That'd be good.

Jill

Mrs Grumpy.

I hope non went to America. You might find you are related to Billy The Kid