Hello,
Have enjoyed reading this thread. There's a few rumours in my family ... mostly which have been wrong. But they have been amusing. Some may have originated when the families came to Australia to 'dress up' their UK past.
1. My maternal Grandmother says she accidently met her future husband's grandfather in Sunderland prior to immigrating to Australia. This would be difficult as she was born in 1914, and he died in 1906.
2. My gt-grandmother had an illegitimate girl in Britain around 1912, prior to marrying and moving to Australia. According to family rumour the 'girl' was reportedly given to an aunt to raise. However it was a boy! He was born in 1908 (when gt-granny was 16) but he appears to have been raised by the family of a cousin (Lovatts of Belvedere, Kent).
3. Some politicans in the family. Some truth in this. Poynton family had one Australian Senator and two lord mayors in Australia. None so far in the UK.
4. Unusual rumour... there's lots of engineers in the Hedley family. One part of the family is supposedly related to William Hedley who invented a steam train, the Puffing Billy. So far unproven, must be a very loose connection. But found theres lots of mariners and marine-related professions from Sunderland.
5. According to rumour, my Gt Uncle came to Australia to learn how to run a cattle property in Queensland. It seems the family paid to send him to Australia for training after he got a household maid pregnant.
But there have been a few family details which were proven correct... a maternal Gt-Granny in Sunderland inheritated money from a wealthy aunt who she lived with for a while, a maternal Gt-grandfather managed Speedings tent making company, then estalished a similar tent production firm in Australia, and a paternal Gt-Grandmother (former shopkeeper) told my mother that her toddler son (my brother) was good with money. This last one still causes much amusement in the family. Her prediction was correct... He became an accountant.
Cheers CJ Thorpe
Canberra Australia
