Blue Blood

[ChrisPage]

Tariana

I would be interested in reading about your royal blood connection.

I found on my fathers family tree a connection to royalty, but proving it is difficult as the irish records are hard to find.

Christine 

[Tariana]

it is 4:30 am here in America, I need some sleep (insomniac). I will make a note to write out my royal line for  you later on today.
--I just put that so you'd know I didn't forget

[MarieC]

It's a human failling to want a famous ancestor to brag about!
 

My mother always used to say we were descended from Captain Cook.  For awhile now I have known that is not possible, as he didn't have direct descendants.  I have done some investigation on his siblings etc, and don't think we are descended from any of them (sigh!)  Another great idea goes by the board.

But a cousin has traced one line of the family back to English royalty and nobility.  I have told an irreverent friend he should now refer to me as Lady Marie of Wyalla!!!

Here in Australia, after many years of trying to obliterate convict origins if one had them, it is now very classy if you can find ancestors who came here on the First Fleet.  Doesn't matter if they were soldiers or convicts - if they were on the First Fleet, you are in a very special elite!!!  (Doesn't apply to me!)

Marie

[JAP]

Dear Lady Marie of Whyalla,

We were always told that Henry HACKING, Quartermaster on the 'Sirius' in the 1st Fleet was ours (OK, not the elite i.e. not a convict - but would have to do).

Well, I can say with utter confidence that we certainly aren't descended from him - though there might be a connexion (sadly yet to be proven).  Though I think if my rells and forebears had had any idea what a rogue that man was they would have had a fit before claiming him!  I, of course, would love to have him as a rell.

You are so right about the change in attitude to convict ancestors.  My lot used to bring out the passage certificates of the HACKING ancestors to prove they weren't convicts but had actually paid good money to come here in 1850.

Nowadays, I wish, I wish that I could find a convict!

Incidentally, I've just found that the ancestor I thought was named TINKLER was probably TINKER.  And there was a TINKER on the 'Mayflower' - well, let's forget that he and his wife and son not only came from the wrong county but also died in the first sickness ...

Now, MCLAWS - there's another of my names.  Could there be any connexion to General Lafayette MCLAWS of the American Civil War ...

Surely I can find, if not royalty, at least someone famous (or better still notorious) somewhere.

JAP
PS: My children have a sort-of convict Gg-Uncle - sentenced to 7 years transportation to Van Diemen's Land in 1848 for forgery and uttering.  But, would you believe, just before he was due to set sail in 1850 he was pardoned!!!

[nutkin]

I really don't think there are that many family historians in America that think they must be famous or descended from royalty.  I am sure as many people in other countries do the same thing.  Americans are not the abnormality.  I am rather insulted by that broad brush you paint us with.  Americans all know we came from somewhere. None of us other than Native Americans were born here.  I find my ancestors came from 8 different countries.  Think about trying to figure out how to research 8 different vital records registrations, parish records, census (if they had one) and ways of life.  A difficult task at best.  Some days I work on my German line, another Scottish, then British then back to Russia. 

An intersting point to remember  is many of the early Americans that  left Britian were fleeing religious persecution or were second sons of wealthy families that wanted to make their won wealth as the famil estate cold not be broken up any further.  It was not a cheap trip over tho the colonies  Many did come from nobility.  They were poorer relations but had some money none the less.  A pauper was not going to secure passage on the ships in the Great Migration in the 1600's.  It was an economic investment.

Sorry to ramble.  I could go on forever.

[Tariana]

I second that nutkin
I know things that I am, such as Italian, that I can't search due to brick walls. Americans, with the exception of Native Americans are basically mutts. We didn't all come from one place.
I read on the US census site, that there are more people of Irish heritage, living in America than there are people in Ireland.

--I'm still working on my royal line. I'm doing some backtracking--

[goggy]

Hi All!
Great stuff,keep it coming.Iam an avid dilletante,{is that an oxymoron,or just moronic?}
Howsomever,without the help of our Cousins my hunting for missing Family names would have come to a dead stop.An instance,a family grave list indicated that the persons named were not in said grave,or details were not necessarily true.
The Family name+forenames popped up on American,Canadian,Latin American,you name it sites.Dates were close enough for me,so were small indications of temperament,putting it politely!
Please forgive my lazy attitude,but, by God,Im having fun!!!

[MarieC]

JAP,

Sad about these reputed ancestors who turn out not to be ancestors at all, isn't it?

But a cousin researching a particular part of the family HAS found convicts!  In fact, a convict marrying the daughter of a convict who came here with her mother as a six year old child.  She is very proud of them - and so am I!  Not first fleeters, but still, convicts at least...  Balances out the royalty on the other side!

That part of the family subsquently became ultra respectable and certainly never owned up to convicts in the background.  They are probably revolving in their graves now, knowing we have found them!

MarieC

[Tariana]

I may have found a royal ancestor.
I need to wait for my aunt to email me the family info first though.
To be sure my starting point is correct.

I'd just like to mention that not all of us are LOOKING to have royal ancestry. It just pops up. I wish my family was interested in it's history. No one knows a blessed thing. I have to hunt for nearly EVERYTHING. If someone else slapped a king in, then there I am trying to fix it.    Bad relative, BAD!    It doesn't help when you dont have all day to work on a particular line, so you just upload the gedcom from ancestry.com or some such place, then you have that person's mistakes to fix... Bleh.