Who's your favourite ancestor?

[aspin]

Mine has to be my Grt grandmother Isabella Birnie McKenzie ( nee Watson )who married at the age of 16 in 1875
Sailed off to New Zealand with her husband Adam and baby Eleanor in Nov 1877 from Glasgow ,loosing her baby on the way at the age of 23 months ( poor little mite buried at sea somewhere ) She became pregnant on the journey with my granda ,He must have been in good health ,..she lost the next baby William again at 23 months old buried in New Zealand

Lost a girl after that another Eleanor then came home to Scotland with 3 of her children a widow

Re-married in 1894 had a little girl Ormuz 1895 only to loose her at the age of 15

I think she must have been a very strong lady
Elizabeth

[elaine447]

my favourite ancestor is my mum's aunt
when mum was born her mother was to ill to look after her
so her sister took mum to live with them
a few years and a couple of children later her mum died aged 35
their father's family wanted to put the children into care but
Maw Nellie said over her dead body so between their father and
maw Nellie and her husband the three of them raised 7 children
she lived to 96 and buried 5 of those children and I never heard
her complain
Elaine

[mahees]

Thanks for all your answers,
   The weird and wonderful stories we uncover as researchers are always fascinating ! 

[alftabor]

My Great Grandfather
Born on a farm in Wiltshire 1837
Migrated to South Australia at 20 years of age
One year as a mounted trooper policeman
Discharge with busted ankle
Married one of the Nurses at Royal Adelaide Hospital
Moved to Port Caroline in the South East of SA to teach School
got into trouble by letting his school be used for a Ball
After two years set sail for Japan with wife and two children
Master at Osaka Imperial College for seven years during which time survived three Typhoons
Twos sons and three daughters born in Japan
Returned to SA in 1878
Relieving Clerk of Country Courts
had s stroke that left him paralyzed on one side
Thirteen years in the Home for Incurables
died 1906
a Full ,Sad and Eventful life
But I am grateful for his life that enabled my creation
Alf

[Bill749]

Mine would have to be my grandma - she was a really lovely person. 

Rosina Mary Sawyer was born at 14 Hartley Street, Hougham (Dover) on 6 March 1885, the daughter of William Sawyer, labourer at the Oil Mills, and Elizabeth Graves Sawyer (nee Holmans).  She was baptised at Christ Church, Hougham in Dover, on 29 April 1885. 

She married William Thomas Beer on Christmas Day 1906 at the Congregational Church, Dover.  They had six children: Lilian Rose, Ethel Maud, Alice Elizabeth (who died aged 8 months), Winifred May, William Alfred, and Doris Violet. 

In December 1917 William was killed by a shell near Ypres; she brought up her children on her own with only a war-widow’s pension.   

She let out rooms (one bedroom and the front sitting room) in their tiny, 3-bedroom house to a lodger to help make ends meet; the youngest girl shared grandma's bed, dad had a small bed in her room, and the other three girls shared a bed in the third bedroom.

For the majority of her life she shared her home with her sister-in-law Rebecca Minnie Beer (Auntie Min) who was profoundly deaf and an inveterate nosey parker!   

After WW2 her eldest daughter moved back with her son to live with them in a flat above a shop in Folkestone.  They later moved into a council house.

She had a hard life but I never knew her have a cross word for anyone.  She adored children and we were always made welcome at her home in Folkestone, where she died in September 1970, shortly before we were married.  I still miss her.   

Bill

[marie1983]

my search started when we found a photo of a ww1 soldier after my grandma died, she had hidden it from my grandad as he had never seen it , i think it's because the boy had a middle name the same as my grandads surname but my reasearch hasn't revealed this as a family name any way.
the only ancestor of mine who stands out in a distant one who was on a hospital ship back home when it was topedoed and he was never found.
my least favourite is my g grandad (the brother of the soldier in the pic) who ran off and left granny with their 2 daughters. no one knows what happened to him.

[Lady Di]

the only ancestor of mine who stands out in a distant one who was on a hospital ship back home when it was topedoed and he was never found.

Would that ship be the Centaur, Marie?

My father was one of the few survivors from the Centaur.

Di

[marie1983]

no, it was the Warlida

[Erato]

I find my husband's grandmother quite fascinating - probably for all the wrong reasons!

She slept with her twin sister's husband and had his baby, then (according to family legend) tried to poison another of her sisters

Hmm. a very similar situation allegedly occurred in my family [except the sisters were not twins and no poisoning was involved].  My g grandmother was the resulting illegitimate child.  How did you go about researching this?  I am getting absolutely nowhere in confirming that this really happened in my family and so my g grandmother's ancestry has had to remain just a hypothetical.