Ancestors who were genealogists ?

[amazon510]

I have an interesting bit of genealogy handed down from an ancestor in my mother's family.  It's a little poem, composed by someone who must have been the family historian of the day.  I suspect it was originally oral, luckily someone wrote it down.

Polly, Emily, Billy, Rich
Silent Tim, Beat and Sis
Jane, Joe, Suse and Sal
Abe and Low
Bess and Cal

My mother can identify some of them, but not all.  I take it out and ponder it from time to time, to see if it offers any new clues or matches up with any of my research. 

I imagine our ancestors probably did more of this kind of "genealogy", especially if they weren't very literate.

J.

[IgorStrav]

It's just occurred to me that my great grandfather, whose notebook I have (as other Rootschatters will have heard me mention before) was also a bit of a genealogist, since alongside all the other things he wrote down were details of the family in terms of names, birthdates, dates of death and, in some cases, where they're buried.

He also included little clippings from newspapers of funeral announcements and other mentions of the family, and some stories about his own father, and included a really helpful page in which he noted down his father's sisters' spouses' names.

Strange as it may seem, although this has been immensely helpful to me, it's only as reading this thread that it's occurred to me he was really a genealogist too.....he didn't write down the family tree as such, but so much helpful information has come from him.

 

Gosh, perhaps I'm like him???

[Emine]

My great grandfather did his family history, and I think that of his wife. I know that a member of my family still has it, but I'm not in contact with them so I can't use it! However, some time ago I was told that the earliest person in the family tree he could find has an interesting history.

As I remember it, a young woman was living on a lord's estate some time in the 1700s when she became pregnant. She gave birth to twin sons, and despite being illegitimate they were all allowed to remain on the estate and be brought up at the lord's expense. The insinuation was that by being allowed to stay the lord was acknowledging that either he or one of his sons was actually the father. One of the two sons was killed as a teen when he fell into a river and was crushed by a boat. The other was called Medleycote Bowen and is my ancestor.

It's a nice story, but I can't find any evidence for it. Maybe something will turn up in future or I will finally get access to all the details my great grandfather wrote down. Until then, it will sit in the back of my mind as a "could be, but probably not".