Coincidence?

[markee]

I thought that all my Nana's maternal ancestors were born, married and died in the north-east. Then I discovered that her grandmother had been born in Kent. As I had moved from the north-east to Kent I was mildly interested. Then I found she had been born in Chatham - well I live near there - then I found out from the 1861 census that she lived in a certain street; now occupied by a school where I had worked in the past. There was building work at the school some years ago where the foundations of all the houses could be seen. It just seemed so strange that her parents had moved to find work, just like me and ended up in the same area as I did.
Have any others found little oddities like this in their research?

[stoney]

My strange coincidence goes back to when I was a little girl - my grandmother had a few pieces of jewellery she never wore but always kept in a box in her dressing table. I remember being allowed to string ropes of pearls around my neck and wearing rings and bracelets. There was a particular ring I liked with a large aquamarine stone. In later life when I got engaged I even chose an aquamarine for my engagement ring.

Just a few years ago, when I started investigating the family history, I came across a member of the family called Susan (and I thought I was the only one in the family!).  I'd certainly never heard talk of her (or a lot of the names I dredged up) but once identified, my aunt began to talk about all these hithertoo never mentioned people.

One day when I called round to see her she'd been turning out cupboards and had come across an old jewellery box she's forgotten about - she passed a small box to me and said "this was Gt Aunt Susan's" - when I opened it there was that same aquamarine ring I'd worn as a child!

Spooky or what!

[spiderboy]

My wife was born in Birmingham and knew that her grandparents had been born in Wales and Scotland although there was talk of an ancestor who had lived “down South in London”. As her father suffered from a chest complaint the family business in the Midlands was sold and as they were friendly with a couple that lived in Dorset they subsequently bought a shop and moved there where the air was thought to be cleaner. Many years later I became interested in family history and joined a local society, ultimately “volunteering” my wife’s services in typing up some pedigrees for the society.  Can you imagine the Eureka moment when whilst typing one of the lists my wife came across her great grandfather’s name, which luckily was very distinctive. Subsequently with comparative ease we were able to trace this branch of her family back in the county to the middle of the 18th century. By pure coincidence the family had returned to its roots.

Spiderboy.

[Old Bristolian]

I first became interested in researching my family history nearly thirty years ago when I had just moved to Witney in Oxfordshire for work reasons.
 My father gave me some Victorian marriage certificates from his mother's family - the Flexneys, both from the Bristol area where my family came from. The oldest was of a John Flexney, aged 21 and the marriage was in 1861. On my next visit to St Catherine's House I checked for a John Flexney, born 1840 - and found that he was born in Witney two streets away from where I lived. The name is a local Oxfordshire one and the family had hardly strayed further than the city of Oxford until the coming of the railways.
Strangely enough, although John was the first ancestor I tracked down, I have never found his death!

Steve

[behindthefrogs]

My wife and I met while at college in central London,  I had lived all my life in Northampton and she had lived most of hers in Guernsey.  Out of desperation driven by house prices we bought a house in Hayes Middlesex miles from the nearest tube and train stations.  Only after exchanging contracts did we discover that we were living within two miles of where she was born in Hillingdon.

[stoney]

[quote
Strangely enough, although John was the first ancestor I tracked down, I have never found his death!

Steve

Yes, I too have more "un-dead" ancestors knocking about than your average hammer horror film.....

[toni*]

i'm not sure if mine is as much as a conincidence, but..............

my nan came from Leicester was placed in Sussex during the war returned to Leicester at the end of the war but returned to sussex where she married my grandad.
my grandad came from Cornwall - not sure how he ended up in Sussex but as children my dad and subsequently his children would holiday in Cornwall every year, i have been back there and taken my children and hope to go back next summer.
the coincidence would be that my partner although born in Sussex moved to Leicester as a child with his parents his parents split up the mother stayed in Leicester where her family came from but the dad returned to Sussex, eventually after 15 years my partner moved back to Sussex to live with  his dad.


it would seem we both have strong connections in Leicester & Sussex
and myself just in Cornwall.

this has helped my research becuase i can now just turn to my partner when tracing my nans family back and say where was such and such a road or what was this place used to be called.

also my Dad and my partners Dad went to school together and we both used to go to the 'social club christmas parties' at the same time although we don't remember each other!

[Old Mother Reilly]

Just a couple ...

We knew nothing of my father's grandparents until a year ago when we found out his grandmother (Eliza) had been born (in 1847) in a house very close to where he has been living since 1962 - I used to walk past regularly when I was growing up.  He had never had any idea there was any family connection within the county - let alone the immediate area.

Before Eliza's birth her parents lived for a while in London in a now non-existent street.  When I finally found an old map showing the street it turns out I often dined "on the spot" - an outwardly drab but culinarily superb Nepalese restaurant was in the street that had been built over the site.  I can't even remember how I first came to know of it - but I went there regularly while I lived in London.

Rachel