Family rumours have they turned out to be true?

[mahees]

My G-Grandfather was supposed to have lied about his age to get in the army for ww1, apparently he was sixteen but claimed to be eighteen. Unfortunately this theory was blown out of the water when we found he was 28 when the war started.
Erin

[jillruss]

I really do think that a lot of these family rumours and tales have some truth in them and so shouldn't be taken lightly.

They can be very frustrating though - when it comes to trying to substantiate them.

3 examples:-

1. Auntie says her father/grandfather were in a circus.

No definitive proof, but birth certificates with 'born in a caravan' and ' born at Bradford Fairground' would seem to go some way to substantiating it! 

2. Auntie says her grandfather Edward Gibson was Scottish. She remembers the strong accent.

He wasn't! He was born in West Yorkshire. However, his stepfather was Scottish, from Glasgow - and stepfather married mother when Edward was only 3. 

3. Auntie says her grandfather Edward Gibson married an Irish woman from Blackrock in Dublin.

He didn't! She was from Huddersfield. This is the only one I'm at a complete loss to substantiate. I've gone back a few more generations and there's no sign of any Irish connections.   

However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if one of these days I stumble on some proof that Blackrock features in my family somewhere along the line!! 

Jill

[Jean McGurn]

Not a family rumour but when I was at school I used to go round telling people I was born in Glasgow. Course I had got it wrong because I came from GARSTON. 

Well I was only 7 or 8 at the time I was told about my birth 

Jean

[sallysmum]

My sister in law has started to do her tree.  Apparently her father had done it sometime ago, but has got lost over the eons of time.  However she did recollect that there were said to be royalty or nobility in the tree.  She has made rather good progress but alas, she says no nobility within the family.  They were all agriculturists she told me.  I'm sorry, I said, not sure what you mean.  Agriculturists - agricultural labourers she explained.  I nearly choked on my coffee!

Sallysmum

[KathMc]

Didn't they come out with some real porkers . . . .   you wouldn't make it up yourself would you!!!


Barbara                    

I don't know Barbara. I like to tell the story of how my grandmother saved Babe Ruth's life. She was a nurse when he was admitted to hospital.

My kids know I am joking. She was a nurse on duty one day when he was admitted for eating too many hot dogs and drinking too much beer (really bad indigestion), but maybe one day these rumors will grow in the family lore. Maybe I'd better stop?!

Kath

[Ragna]

Hi there

What a great subject.

Well, we had a family rumour that my Great Grandfather had killed himself by commiting suicide on a bridge in either Sydney or New York when my Grandfather was around three or four. (My grandfather had never seen him) So when I began to get interested in my Family Tree and started searching for him, the first place that I looked were the Shipping Lists for USA and Australia without any success at all. Just could not understand it.

After sitting in my local library for a few hours searching through Deaths for the Years 1904 onwards (Year my grandfather was born) I suddenly found his Death in Salisbury which was wierd because the family lived in Battersea London on the 1901 Census. So I had visions that perhaps he had had an affair and ran away (like you do) but was shocked when I received the Death Certificate and found he had infact died in a Lunatic Asylum of General Paralysis at the age of 40. This is obviously why the story was told as it was such a dreadful stigma then.

I then managed to obtain the medical records and found he had been sent there by his wife who had four small children and could not afford to keep him. He was at the Asylum from July 1904 until his Death in 1907 and it dosnt look like he received any visitors. I have recently transcribed the records and they are tragic reading.

So our family rumour didnt turn out to be true and the truth was even more tragic than we first thought

[KathMc]

Ragna,

That is such a sad story. How, though, did you get the medical records? That would be an incredible find for research.

Kath

P.S. I love the picture. She was beautiful.

[janescroft]

 
I thought my story was quite sad but yours...it must have been quite a shock. Well done for working hard at the research though. let's hope your next finds turn out to be much happier ones. Jane

[Lydart]

Ragna ... has anyone welcomed you to RootsChat ?  You'll find we are an odd lot, but very friendly and helpful to each other !

What a beautiful picture ... and an unusual name too.  Can I ask what its origins are ?

And that story ... what a find, and so sad too ...