Family rumours have they turned out to be true?

[DavidJP]

Hi All,

There were two rumours in my family both on my mothers side of the family, the first rumour was that a family line originated in Switzerland, however the reality was that they came from Germany!

Secondly the same family as above were Master Bootmakers and the family rumour was that they had had a Royal Warrant to supply boots and or shoes to royalty! Again, not quite, no royal warrant but my Gt Gt Grandfather's occupation on his death certificate in 1921 was given as "retired court bootmaker" so maybe he made and/or supplied footwear to the royal court! So possibly a grain of truth this time around!

You never know!!

Regards

David

[Gadget]

Hi Gadget,
                 My aunt had some work done by a professional genealogist who told her we were descended from Gilbert Burns, Roberts brother. I havnt found any link at all. I think he was a con artist and just told my aunt what she wanted to hear.

I've got some stuff on him somewhere - remind me next week

Gadget

[MarieC]

My mother always stated strongly that she was descended from the family of Captain James Cook, navigator extraordinaire!

Unfortunately I have pretty well disproved it.  There was an Eleanor Cook way back in the lines (unrelated) and a seafaring strain, but nothing to do with the good Captain!    Would have been nice!

Other family stories mostly have been pretty right.

MarieC

[linmey]

Thanks Gadget.
       Linda.

[frederickay]

my father always told me he had two rich aunts that owned Maples furniture store . i found he had two rich aunts that married the owners of fox furniture factory in staples corner, not too far off for a  poor paddington boy bought up in an orphanage from the age of two. i have always found a grain of truth in the family stories so i wish i had listened more as a youngester. my Nana always said she was Spanish . we never believed  her as Spain seemed so unlikely to us kiwis . and all of rootschat will know my Spanish story was true. frederickay

[sharonf73]

I also thought we were descended from Robert Burns. No luck yet!!!

I've also been told this by my relatives.  Never got round to looking yet though!

[wotty]

My mother insists that we are descended from Grace Darling. However, as far as I can make out we have no-one called Darling in our tree, and I don't think that Grace Darling married or had children to be descended from.

Having said all that, most of the stories that my mother has come out with have had some truth in them. We aren't descended from a famous railway engineer called Luke Wanless (he wasn't that famous) - but from one of his sisters. Christopher Rowntree didn't own a shop in Bishop Auckland called Duff and Rowntree, but the Rowntree involved in that may have been his cousin.

I just wish she'd write it all down so that I can have a real good look at it, but as is often the case with older people, she comes out with those "of course, you know that..." kind of comments that are just not quite enough to be going on with!

Wotty

[ladybird]

Most of my dear old Mum's stories have been proved one way or another...except the one about....
One of the rellies was a policeman involved in the Sydney Street Siege in London.
Haven't come to grips with that one yet...there again maybe he was one of the terrorists
Sylvia
PS anyone know if there are lists for those involved anywhere?

[kizmiaz]

When I started looking, it was to find my Russian great-grandfather Karl Wiliski. He was apparently a carpenter who came over to England, changed his name to Charles Willis and settled here.

Or so the story as told by my nan went......

However, after a short bit of research, I found:

• No Russians in any line.
• Charles was born in Brighton, so was his dad, his grandfather, his great-grandfather, and his g-g-grandfather was a Londoner!
• He wasn't a carpenter, but his dad was.
• The Russian connection was simply down to my nan having red hair and being called Russian Red

So, the story was accurate in every detail apart from the facts!

Glen