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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: Northerngirl on Saturday 15 August 09 17:23 BST (UK)
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Hi to all on The Lighter Side.
Some while ago I had a dream which was rather strange. I dreamed that I had been granted the chance to ask two ancestors - obviously a long time dead - one important question each that would help me solve some family research questions. I can recall that for my second choice I had to make my mind up about which of two vexing ancestors I had to ask the question of. I presume the answer would have broken down that 'brick wall'. I woke up before I decided who it was that I was going to ask and of, course, what the question was. I think I had been hoping for a third wish.
If you were granted three chances of your own ancestors who would you ask and what would it be? ::)
Northerngirl.
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My three would be
1- Gt grandmother x5 LaJolla who was she i have no info other than the name LaJolla and she was born in Spain she married a english man and they emmigrated to India. I would love to know anything about her she is a compleat mystery.
2- My gt grandfather Robert McCrea i would ask him about an Archiebald McCrea know one knows anything about him other than he was either Roberts brother or his son/stepson he was suppossed to have been disowned but i can't find any trace of him either in Ireland or Scotland the story is he was a alchoholic and down and out but the salvation army helped and he emmigrated with a wife to America i would really like to know if he is a real person or someone the family made up and if he is real who was he.
3- my gt gt grandfather James Marris i can't find a birth for him don't know his parents i have his marriage and from that i know he could not read or write so any thing to do with his family i find the surname is spelt differently he had a daughter and then he dissappears i can't find a death and he is not on any census returns i can find his wife and daughter from when his daughter was one but he is nowhere on the census it gives his wife as married so i think he ran away but who knows it is very annoying.
Louise :D
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Hi Louise.
Lots of brick walls for you then.
Your Lajolla connection looks interesting.
I imagine with a name such as McRae that there are lots of transcription errors. Agghhhh!!!!
Your Mr Marris sounds very vexing.
NG.
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Hi Northerngirl
I would indeed love to know about the spanish blood in the family but my gut feeling about Archiebald McCrea is that he is made up for some bizaare reason i go back to him now and then but come up with nothing maybe he was made up to scare my dad and siblings into the right path away from the demon drink the family were quite strictly religious when it suited them but it did not work if that was the case fy dad and sisters enjoy a good wee tipple lol. As for Mr Marris i will find him eventually.
Are you going to let us know your three :D
Louise
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Hi, my three would be:-I would ask my grandfather why he took his step-father`s surname when his younger sister kept their real father`s surname.It means that my father did not have his proper surname and so of course my sister and I had the wrong surname too.
I would ask my great -grandmother whatever happened when the 1891 census was being taken that she ended up being listed as Ester Johnson instead of Eliza Addy. It`s a good job her sister-in-law was with her on that date as otherwisw the riddle would have been well nigh impossible to solve as it was I had to get an enormous amount of help from RootsChatters.
My third would be to ask a relative who was the father of her child. It was rumoured it was her father who eventually shot her dead.However the general opinion was the lodger!!! If I can be cheeky I`d also ask where she and her hours old baby girl who didn`t even have a name are buried. This was 1914 and nowadays she`d get paid for it never mind shot!! Viktoria.
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I would ask my mum's granddad why did he leave the family and have at least one affair during his marriage (of which a son was born) and why did he set up house with a woman who then took his surname when they didn't marry.
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I would like to ask my g.g. grandfather where he was born, what his parents names were, and whether his brother-in-law was also his brother, or merely someone with the same surname.
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Only 3 wishes :o :o ;D
Now that is a toughy, I think I would start with William Simpson (b.c. 1763, Yorkshire) and ask him who he did his blacksmith apprenticeship with - no records found there.
I think I would also want to know who his father was, even though we have a strong probability we do not have enough facts to say - yep - thats him for sure.
Ok, so I have just spent 2 wishes on just one ancestor, boy, hope he knows how special he is. 8)
3rd wish, hmmmm,
I think I will stick with the Simpsons, this time Joseph, (b. 1819 Kildwick, Yks), Williams grandson.
Did he set fire to the hay shed owned by John Taylor in Deniliquin, Australia in 1859?
He was acquitted, but you know, sometimes you just have to wonder, especially when you know about other things they got up to. ;D
Margaret
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If only...........
My first wish would be to my grandmother Draper to clear up just what went on between her and her first husband.
Did he leave because she was unfaithful - she seems to have had at least 3 illegitimate children, or did she throw him out because he had someone else. 1911 census shows him with another 'wife' and little boy.
My second wish to my great grandad Draper. I would like to know about his occupations. One census shows him as a Doctor of medicine, his marriage cert as a musician. When he died, he was working for a company that made spirited waters. What did he really do?
My third to my great great grandmother Cook to find out what happened to their daughter Martha and her husband Joseph Gott and that might answer the question as to why they brought up their grandson Henry.
There are a few similar questions like the last one in the family, but that one intrigues me most.
As I said ...if only!!!!!!!!!!!!
Olly
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My paternal great great grandmother, Jane Raitt, b. 1849 Aberdeen, - "Who was the father of your children?"
My maternal great grandfather, John ( or Matthew) Smith, b.1856 - 1862, Sunderland - " Who were your parents and why do you keep changing your name and date of birth?"
My maternal 3 x great grandmother, Ellen Cunion, b. c.1796 somewhere in Yorkshire, probably "Why is yours the only Cunion baptism which is missing? Was it to make life difficult for me some two hundred years later? Go on then, who were your parents and where were you born? And did you die before 1841 for the same reason - just so that I would never be able to go any further back on this line?"
So my questions are all asked out of frustration really. If I could answer these crucial questions, I just might get round to asking some more interesting ones about their lives!!
Jen
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I am missing three 2xgt gr mothers. They were all Irish! :-\
I would like to ask Matilda Fisher nee Jones, father Thomas, who her mother was. Matilda was b. about 1843 in Enniskillen. She died in 1920 and was my maternal gt gr mother.
I would like to ask Henry Kane my paternal gt gr father who his mother was. His father was James and they were from Dundalk. Henry died in Glasgow in 1914.
I would like to ask John Edward Boshell my other paternal gr gr father who his mother was. His father was also John Edward and they both lived in Dublin. He was born about 1840.
Kooky
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The questions have all proved very interesting. I think though that Gengen is nearest the mark to my own questions. I think I would like to ask my 3 x greatgrandmother Elizabeth (nee Shaw) Murray why her husband didn't wait until after 1855 to die (in Scotland) so that I would know that he was definitely a Murray and know who his parents were. He very inconveniently died in 1843 and nothing else is known of him other than he was meant to be a blacksmith.
And for number two I'd ask my 2 x great grandmother Mary Straughan (and any combination of that spelling therafter) why she registered her illegitimate child - my great grandmother - as Jane and not Mary Jane which she was known by thereafter.
For the minute (I'll know doubt change it) my question for number three would be that I'd ask my Nanna (my Dad's foster mother) who of my Dad's biological mother's sisters (unknown) in the next village tried to adopt him when he was eight years old but failed.
NG
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The questions have all proved very interesting. I think though that Gengen is nearest the mark to my own questions. I think I would like to ask my 3 x greatgrandmother Elizabeth (nee Shaw) Murray why her husband didn't wait until after 1855 to die (in Sotland) so that I would know that he was definitely a Murray and know who his parents were. He very inconveniently died in 1843 and nothing else is known of him other than he was meant to be a blacksmith.
NG
Hmmm - can I have some more questions please? Paternal 3 x great grandfather, William Smith, married 1813 in Nairn. Why did you die before even the 1841 census so I can't tell if you were born out of the County?
And
3 x great grandfather, Joseph Milne, born 1815, Lonmay, married 1840, died before 1841 census - "Why did you die so young and where were you buried?"
I know - I am cheating. But three questions/wishes always seemed a bit on the stingy side to me. ;)
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Gengen as I'm the boss of this thread I can grant you as many wishes as you like - I'm going to cheat myself and ask some more questions.
NG
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Thank you. I shall apply myself to thinking up some more. ;D ;D
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Subsection i of Q1
What did your husband actually die from - he was 28 years of age - he did not die of a melancholic accident nor an infectious disease - he was a blacksmith - strong and healthy?
Subsection i a) (see how it works gengen) What does it mean in 1881 that you are an annuitant - was this a blacksmiths widow's pension or an insurance pay out and why so many years after his death?
Subsection ii of Q1
And by the way when you and he were accused by the kirk elders of unclean fornication to which you both repent does that equate to your marriage ceremony - and is it actually you who are responsible genetically for all those very premature births (after the couple are married of course) that occur in my family!!!!!!!?
Subsection iii of Q1
...And by the way did you know that your father William was accused by the kirk elders of begetting a child with Betty Kirk and thereafter abandoning it until accused and your mother Margaret coming forward to plead that she and William Shaw had married at Gretna Green two years earlier to this and she had not revealed it by change of surname from Paterson to Shaw - phew!!!
Subsection i of Q2
Who was the father of your child Jane - if in fact you know as you live at New Inn at the time and it is an inn on the A1 between Berwick and Belford and I wonder did he have any more children particularly girls who I can compare my DNA with?
Subsection ii of Q2
Did your father have a brother called Rinyan - always and on all attempts gloriously misspelled, misheard and guessed at - which would mean that they are the Straughan family of Doddington?
Subsection iii of Q2
Why did your sister, Elizabeth give birth to a child - two months earlier than Jane's birth at the same place, then move off to Buckton where the child dies then move back to Cheswick, New Inn for the birth of Samuel who you register as Starughen in 1866 and then give him his (supposed) father's surname for the 1881 census when you have married another man with an entirely different surname - and by the way is it worth me spending £7 on your sister 's marriage certificate to see if you Mary Straughan (who disappears entirely after 1861 and are driving me mad) are a witness?
Subsection i of Q3
Did the sisters make a formal application for the adoption or just sent a letter or word of mouth?
Subsection ii of Q3
Was it before or after their mother died in the same year?
NG
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Hmmm -
1. I'd ask my gggrandfather Edward Martin what happened to him after he went insolvent in London in the 1850s and disappeared completely. (Tissues at the ready because I fear that the answer may be very sad!)
2. I'd ask his parents, Thomas and Agnes (nee Jenkins) where they came from. They were inconsiderate enough to be Roman Catholic and to die before the 1851 census, and I seem to have no possibility of tracing them.
3. I'd ask another gggrandfather, Allan JRB Cameron, which of the two places called "Aughamore House" in Co. Leitrim, Ireland, he lived in! This is very confusing!
(You can see that I cheated with question 2!)
MarieC
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An interesting exercise is to note down your 3 wishes now, and then check in 12 months time, and see if they're still the same.
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An interesting exercise is to note down your 3 wishes now, and then check in 12 months time, and see if they're still the same.
Mine will be, Nick. They have been the same for the last five years and I see no way of getting any answers in the future. ::)
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Don't dispair gengen just keep chip chip chipping away with that toffee hammer at the brick wall and you'll eventually get a break through!!!!!
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Yes, I think I've just added another tiny piece of the jigsaw that is my grandad's life from 1901.
I've been going through my notes and I found a scribbled entry that said his sister Harriet married someone called hughes. Checked it out on LancsBmd and Yes.
This would perhaps make her one of the 2 ladies who notified his death. (on another thread) Don't know why I didn't spot it before.
I never really looked for his brothers and sisters marriages before.
Thanks for making me look through my notes.
See genjen, you have to keep searching!!!!!!!!!
Regards
Olly
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1) I would ask my 3x Great Grandfather, George Thomas Myatt, who exactly he was. I can find no trace of him at all before his wedding day.
2) I would ask my 3x Great Grandfather, Adam Grosert, what happened to him after he divorced his wife. He disappears after that date.
3) I would ask the son of the above, Thomas Grosert, what happened to his first wife, Christina Heggie. He took her and his son to America and by the time of the next US census he was living with someone else.
I'm sure i could think of a 101 more questions to ask, but those are the puzzles that frustrate me the most!
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I'd ask
1. My g.grandfather what his date of birth was, and who his parents were. Particularly his mother, was she really Spanish or Portuguese and who were her parents.
2. I'd ask my 2 x g.grandfather what his date of birth was and where he was born and if he really was the son of the people he knew as his parents.
3. I'd ask my grandfather why he let people think he was an only child and whether there are the photos of his siblings.
For my OH,
1. I'd ask his 3 x g.grandmother when and where she was born and who her parents were and if she died in 1842 in Glossop.
2. I'd ask his 3 x g.grandfather when and where he was born and who his parents were and as he died in 1836 I'd ask him the cause of his death.
Lizzie
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I'd ask
1. My g.grandfather what his date of birth was, and who his parents were. Particularly his mother, was she really Spanish or Portuguese and who were her parents.
Lizzie
I see at least 4 questions there Lizzie, and that's only in question 1. ;D ;D - No cheating ;D ;D
Margaret
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But we are allowed sub-sections so just put a little i, ii, iii etc and you'll be fine. ;D
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Like genjen, my wishes have been the same for years and look like remaining well into the future! Unbreakable brick walls, unfortunately. My only hope (apart from time travel!) is that a currently unknown rellie comes out of the woodwork and tells me about these people!
MarieC
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I could probably solve one of mine if I could afford to send for umpteen birth certificates for John Smith in Co. Durham 1856 - 1861. I could probably work out which was mine then. But given the family rumour that he was adopted or brought up by a different branch of the family, I could just as easily be searching forever.
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(1) I would like to ask Mary Pearle (b. 1832 Brettenham, Suffolk) to tell me her story. She had two illegitimate children, and married the father of her third child shortly before he was born. She then left the children (including the baby) with her mother and went off to live with her new husband. They later parted (he appears to have gone back to his mother) and she bigamously married another husband, and ended up living with a third husband in what looks like reduced circumstances. Mary Pearle, was it all worth it, or did you spend most of your life in tears?
(2) Lucy Bristo, who married John Hewis(s)on, Royal Artillery, in Woodbridge in 1806 - what happened to John Hewis(s)on? Where did he come from and where did he go? AND why was your daughter, Lucy, baptised Lucy Bristo Hewison in 1807, always known as Lucy Bristo? Was this a bigamous marriage? Did he do you wrong, the [possibly] utter swine?
(3) Lovely Syslye Waddilove, who married John Pearle in Rattlesden, Suffolk in 1570 - please, please tell me where you came from! I know there are Waddiloves in Norfolk - are they yours? They are only a few miles away from Rattlesden so it is quite possible, but impossible to prove...
Greensleeves, who has many questions and few answers
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But we are allowed sub-sections so just put a little i, ii, iii etc and you'll be fine. ;D
Now that's more like it, that gives me a new question to play with.
I will go with John Simpson, baptised as Whitaker,(1815 Yorkshire) raised by parents, John Simpson and Elizabeth Whitaker (who married same day as he was baptised), John married first time as either Simpson or Whitaker, married second time as a Simpson, Children all in the name of Simpson, and possibly died as a Whitaker because he is named as Whitaker on his second wifes death certificate.
Phew!!!
Would love for him to sort all that out ;D
Margaret
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Oh my!
Q1 Where, George Morjeanstern 9b.1791), were you born in France and when and where did you marry Mary Quin, oh and was it Morjeanstern or Morgenstern with a French accent, that would help a great deal?
Q2 Where George Hooker b.1740ish were you really born Odiham or somewhere else?
Q3 Was it James Bailey (b.1841) or John Bailey or John James Bailey, depending how you felt. Were you born in London and were your parents from Birmingham? Did you legally go from Jeweler to living on your own means?
I could find more questions but these ones niggle me.
Pipkim
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I would ask my maternal great grandfather's brother where he went to and what he did between 1861 and 1891, [in 1861 he is a farm labourer, in 1891 he returns as a 'gentleman' with a wife, six children, four servants. My great great grandparents are also at the same address.
The six children were born in the USA [2],Canada [3] and Scotland. No trace of a marriage anywhere. I cant find them in any UK/US/Canadian census between the years mentioned.
I would ask my paternal great grandmother what happened to her parents and 8 siblings after 1881.
Finally I would ask my maternal grandmother not to dispose of my father's belongings the day after he died. [They didnt get on]
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Having already had 3 wishes in Ireland, I would now like to ask Samuel Hyatt alias Clulo where he got to after being in prison in 1869.
I would also like to know why Mr. and Mrs Clulo were travelling back from South Africa, on board Durham Castle in 1904.
Also there is a daughter of James Clulo and Esther Vickers, Ann b. 1803, who has just disappeared!
Kooky
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I would ask my ggg grandfather about his father & grandfather & his early life.
I would ask my ggggg grandfather who his real mother was
I would ask my gggggggg grandfather who his grandparents/parents were.
Lol quite boring really
Matt
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Genslueth sadly we may be genetically related as my father's 'adopted' sister tore up every single photograph of my family (- ie her 'adopted brother's' family to which we were always referred) on the day my Nanna died. I wouldn't care but she was a grown up at the time.
I think I may be related to LizzeW too for the same reason. It is only since I did the family tree that I found my Dad's one cousin was in fact the eldest of ten. And my Dad never knew. It is through these unknown 'other cousins' that I have managed to get so many clues. By the way my Dad's one cousin lived in the same village as him but there was 17 years difference.
NG.
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NG
I expect if we got far enough back we'd all be related.
Lizzie
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I would ask my gtgt grandmther whether the woman named in her marriage certificate or the woman named in her death certificate was her birth mother
my gtgtgt grandmother who the father of my gtgt grandfather was....
and HER father who his parents were (because they have been seriously hiding from me a LONG time now lol)
Lot' of parental issues in my tree it seems LOL
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NG
I expect if we got far enough back we'd all be related.
Lizzie
That's more or less certain. Every time you go back a generation, you double the number of people responsible for you being here. You don't have to double a number many times (starting with 2), before you get a very large one. You reach a stage where there just wasn't enough people in the country, so we must all share ancestors as you go back.
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I would like to pop back to a house in Liverpool in 1851 and quiz two sisters about their their lives and who were their children's father(s).
Then fast forward 10 years and quiz 3xg grandparents about their last born child. Was he really their son or was he their daughter's son?
Final wish would be to find answers to all my brickwalls present and future ones.
Jean
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Jean that last wish is a cheat!!!!
Besides - what else would you spend your time, efforts and greying hair on?!!!!!!!
NG
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ohhhh number 1 is easy! :
I would go back to about 1976, and sit down with my nana & grandad & actualy listen to what they told me about the box of photos I now posses and listen to the stories of the people in the photos!
I would ask nana what REALLY happened to her brother Charlie and HOW he 'Died young' (cos I am realy struggling to find the death date & place unknown of Charles/Charlie Smith in Manchester now!) and I would listen to grandad telling me about HIS parents, and grandparents and their families!
(My excuse is I WAS only 10 at the time & it was all boring to me then!)
Number 2:
lol I would get my mums grandparents and ask them what the **** they were playing at!
they have been a nightmare to trace cos neither of them used all the real details on their marriage cert and she didnt even use her real name!
I would ask gt-grandad what he knows about his father, and was he aware that he wasnt born in 1875 he was born in 1867, he wasnt born in Walsingham he was born in Kings Lynn, and when did he drop the all important 'Hanwell' middle name that told me who his father really was, cos he wasnt Henry Childs as he said on his marriage cert, he was illigitimate, his mother was born a 'Childs' and only ever married twice!
(lol and while I am at it, did he know his father, cos on his marriage cert he gave the wrong fathers surname, but his real fathers occupation! ?)
Number 3:
LOL can I make this a 'blanket' question?
I would get every one the aforementioned gt-grandmas family together & ask why not one single one of them ever put down WHERE in Ireland they came from and demand to know where it was cos I cant go back any further without it! (McRea from Ireland place unknown is not do-able!)
Gaille
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Gaillie
You have my sympathy. The Irish Lot are driving me mad too. I have spent five years saying "yes they were', 'no they weren't, yes they were..." from Northern Ireland and had moved west to 'Hell or Connaught' with their boss when they pee'd Charles II off. To top it all they had the most un Irish surname of - Mills. Mills - I ask you.
As for the mistakes on the marriage certificate: I sent for my cousin's grandparents marriage certificate which happened in 1924 ish. As he was in Oz he asked me to read it and send the document on. It had his grandfather James down as William which was the name of the bride's father. If he had not known about his grandfather and all the other facts it could have sent him entirely on the wrong trial. When I telephoned the GRO to ask to check the details they told me that the name William was on the original certificate and it must have been a mistake made at registration - Grrhhh! It would have been interesting to know if my cousin's grandparents noticed and tried to do something about it.
And lastly as for grandparents being the source of information - well I think my lot must have been signed up with the secret service. My mother did not know anything at all about her grandparents until I have started doing the family tree.
NG
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Like Gaille, I would like to go back to the 1976 and I would listen properly to my gran when she was explaining who, what, where and why and TAKE ACCURATE NOTES.
I would like to ask my gt gran why when she decided to have a sort out she decided to start burning old photographs and documents because they were taking up too much space in the cupboard ::) ::).
I would like to ask my 3 x gt grandad Patrick Grant why the records about him are in the name of Grant, Granten, Gralton and Grantham, why he has apparently registered 3 of his children but not the eldest two, and why did he never say exactly where in Ireland he came from. He has built one massive brickwall ???.