Grandparents - What makes you smile??

[PaulaToo]

Or you might have had all the help in the world....

Long years back, when i first started to try this Family History thing, I asked the mother in law the names of her parents.
She said brightly,
'Oh, my mother was Minne, or Mary or Winifred. You didn't ask your parents things like that when I was young.'

Never forgot that. We had always talked about parents and grandparents and I knew all their names. (I had also been fed a pack of porkies in some cases too. Fell off a roof when he died in the nut house. Pshaw!)

[Gadget]

Well, I've got the ultimate in family history knowledge with Mr Gadget 

When I started looking at his history last year, I asked him what his grandparents names were.

He answered, in all innocence 'Granny and Granddad'.

Really 

Gadget - I have to put up with a lot 

[kerryb]

    LOL

You two together must have a riot!!!!!!

Kerry

[Elliebob]

I think I've said before that I only knew one grandparent (paternal grandmother) but my mother has a wonderful memory and throughout my whole life has told me stories about her childhood and even some which she was told about her parents'.  She also spoke to her mother in law when they lived together after the war and sometimes knows more about his mother than my father does!

I have often wished I had been able to ask my grandmother the relevant questions but I have a distinct feeling that she would not have told me the answers to any questions she thought "inappropriate" - even if she knew the answers!

Ellen

[7igerby7he7ail]

My mum didnt get on with her sister, my auntie Flo.
I think this because Flo was a no nonsense-straight down the middle, tell it like it is, kind of gal.
Flo was also a confirmed 'bachelor girl'.

Someone would say 'What do you think of my new dress?'
Flo would say something like 'It makes you look fat!'

I get on with her like a house on fire. She ran a farm during and after the war, and I helped out in the summer holidays in the 1950's.

In the evenings, out would come the cider [I was 14!] and we would chat all night.
She would tell me all the family secrets and where all the skeletons in closets were.

Trouble is, when she told me all this, I was 'tired and emotional' from all the cider and didnt have a notebook and pen.

I can barely remember what she told me, it was nearly 50 years ago.

I once thought of writing a book, calling it 'Cider with Auntie Flo'

Apart from the fact that I was p****d most of the time and I would have to wait until all the people that would be mentioned had moved on to greener pastures to avoid potential punch ups, it might get written.

Good old Auntie Flo, here's to you , whereever you are

[kerryb]

Tom

She sounds like the sort of aunt I am creating myself to be!!!!   Fun and the sort of aunt that all nieces and nephews like!!!!

I think my sister would say I already am!!

Kerry

[Tephra]

I think I've finally managed to persuade Mum to write all her little gems down.   She has a brilliant memory for trivia like Mrs Suchandsuch had four steps up to her house while the one next door only had three . .. . .  and there was a shop on the corner of Whatsit Street and it had hand made rag rugs for sale.   Silly little things, but it brings the place more alive for me.

I said to her a month or so ago after finding a name I'd been searching for for ages . . . "Mum, does the name Blackledge mean anything to you??"   She said "Yes, there was a family of them lived not far from us, Granny's mother was a Blackledge"

Thanks Mum             

Barbara                 

[Gadget]

Your Mum's a real treasure, Barbara, and - dare I say it - there's a lot of her in you 

Have you thought of having her round for a cuppa or whatever and recording her little gems. Just chat and ask her about things. You're good at that, I know 

I interviewed a few older people up here and collected some wonderful stories. Wish I could have done the same with my parents. I have to rely on my (elephantine) memory for their stories.

Gadget

[Tephra]

Ooooooh Gadget, perish the thought....... Me like Mum   EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK     

She only lives next door in the Granny flat, so she's round constantly.   As for taping her, forget it . . . she goes all shy and clams up when she sees a recorder, that's why I've been at her to write things down.   You should see her letters, regular epistles they are .. .  . start off with 'Just a few lines' . . . . and end 25 pages later!!

Barbara