Family rumours have they turned out to be true?

[jericho]

As a young child my mother told me that some of her family came from Scotland, I have just recently found out that my  greatgrandmothers family were from Scotland, although it is thought that she herself may have been born in England.

My father's family are from Ireland, and I have been told that my 2x great grandmother family were very wealthy, and that my greatgrandmother married below her class to my greatgrandfather who was the gardener and considerably much older than his wife. Apparently it is thought that my 2x greatgrandparents have a French connection to the de villar Family, but as yet I've not found any connection what so ever.


jericho

[Tephra]

Saggar is a fireclay container usually oval or round, used to protect pottery from marking by flames and smoke during firing in a bottle oven.

The Saggarmaker is a skilled man producing the finished saggar

The Bottomknocker made the base of the saggar from a lump of fireclay which he knocked into a metal ring using a wooden mallet.

Any wiser??   Me neither       

Barbara           

Thanks Barbara!!  I'll put that in the mental trivial file - just in case I ever need to show off about my extensive knowledge of past English pursuits!!! 

MarieC

We'll be having a pop quiz at the mini meet Marie     

Barbara           

[Digger Barnes]

What an interesting lot on here!  well mines pretty boring.

Dad was told as a child that his grandfather was a came from Cornwall, so thats where we started looking it turned out that a story had gone round the family for years and in fact dads grandfather didnt come from Cornwall he came from Durham, was born and bred there.

I was told that cos I was dark my grandmother was spanish, that turned out not true as she was born and bred in Bishop Auckland Durham.

The only story that is true is that nan told all of the family that her eldest daughter was her own but she was the only child with ginger hair when all the family were dark haired, it wasnt until the daughter died that we find out that she was a half sister.  And the way gran use to go on about women having children out of wedlock, the cheek of it.  Dad always said she wasnt a Harrison.

[jeny]

There was a mention of illigitemacy.. turns out my grandmothers grandfather has no registered father but am still looking into that one cos on his marraige cert a father is listed with the same surname as his mother 

[MarkyP]

Not sure if this has been covered before, but I thought I'd ask anyway! 

What stories have been passed down through your family history, and have you been able to disprove/prove any of them?

There's a few in my family. The biggest one, which I have been able to disprove (unfortunately) was that there was a direct link to Napoleon Bonaparte. Others include , an ancestor helped deliver Charles Dickens, and that the house he was reputed to have been born in, actually wasn't. That's because where he was really born was in a very dodgy area of Portsmouth. I've yet to look into this, but I do know that my G. G. Grandfather sold a lot of Dickens first editions when he emigrated to Canada. Another one is that the same grandfather knew Conan Doyle very well. Apparently when Conan Doyle was a penniless Dr in Portsmouth my grandfather, who was a master joiner, built a load of cabinets for him in return for some medical treatments. They supposedly became friends and my grandfather used to be shown early versions of the Sherlock Holmes stories. I have investigated this, to the extent of reading Conan Doyle's autobiography. It does mention that he used to barter his trade for local goods, so there might be an element of truth to this story, but it doesn't mention my grandfather by name.

I've got a few others as well, but finding out if they're true is another matter. How have all of you gone about proving or disproving your stories?

[01debbie]

Uuummm  interesting one.  Family legend has it that Great Aunt Veronelli was jilted at the Altar by a certain Mr Colman, who embezzled all her money & ran off to start a mustard factory.....Now of course it would be nice to know WHICH Great Aunt Veronelli....I have pinned it down to one very likely suspect, but the timing is way out to be connected to THE Colmans.  I've read about the history of the founding of their business & it's just not feasible. Apart from anything else, The Veronelli's were very poor, so where did she get any money???   But how did this story come about?  It's been infuriating trying to sort it out...but then Genealogy wouldn't be so much fun if it was easy, would it?

[sallysmum]

Oh yes!  2xgt grandfather James was a tailor in business with a Mr Burton.  Unfortunately James gambled all his money away and the partnership split.  Mr Burton went onto open his famous chain of menswear shops........

To date, this has neither been proved nor disproved!

Sallysmum

[Lydart]

I think I mentioned this on another thread somewhere ... lost in the mists of RC time I think ... but as a child, Granny used to take me to the South Kensington  museums ... and we always went to see Stephensons Rocket, because 'Grandad's GR GR GR GR grandfather built it/ drove it/invented it ??' .. I'd love to be able to prove or disprove this ... but my Durham ancestors are proving to be a difficult lot !

[deeiluka]

My grandmother always said that the family was related to Lord Archibald Fenner Brockway - yet to prove that one!

......dee