Family legends that turn out to be nonsense

[Jomot]

My mother firmly believed that her great uncle had been the mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, and had owned a large cement works. I have since discovered that he in fact owned a small petrol station 

[mgeneas]

One of my grandmothers claimed she was descended from Romanies. I cannot find any evidence of this. She was from generations of shoemakers, ag labs and weavers.

[Lisajb]

Not nearly so interesting as lots of the previous stories, but my mother assured me that her fathers family were wealthy Irish coal merchants. Sorry, mum, your dads family lived briefly in Wales, and all came from Bristol, England. I do have some Welsh ancestry, but it's through my father, not my mum.

Even after being shown my research, with birth records and census records to back it up, she still maintains that "we must be Irish somewhere along the line." My husband, who is of Irish descent, said, in a somewhat earthy way, "the only Irish your lot have is the bit I put into you!"

Sorry! I'll get me coat now!

[Treetotal]

My Uncle claimed the we were related to Amy Johnson the famous Aviatrix....when I challenged him for more info when I started to research the family and failed to find a connection, he told me that they lived next door to the Johnson family and he and his sister went to school with Any . .They used to call her parents Aunt and Uncle.
Carol

[Chilternbirder]

Calling neighbours aunt or uncle was common when I was a boy.

[bibliotaphist]

I have two longstanding family myths, both of which I think were invented by someone in my grandfather's family who just liked to tell tall tales with a maritime flavour:

...first that my Harland ancestors owned a shipyard and were related to Sir Edward Harland of Harland & Wolff / Titanic fame... nope, they were ironworkers in industrial County Durham and before that ag. labs of course;

...secondly that we were related to Grace Darling, rescuer of the Forfarshire in 1838. Not a clue where that one might have come from. Technically I haven't entirely ruled it out but equally I've not found a shred of a connection.

Tbh I am a bit disappointed that none of my ancestors ever went to sea. Maybe I'll make up a couple more seafaring legends for posterity.

[pharmaT]

Calling neighbours aunt or uncle was common when I was a boy.

I called my parents' friends aunt and uncle as a child.

[Daffodilica]

This thread is brilliant - only wish I had some interesting tales to tell! The only ones I can think of are that my nan claims to be related to Bert Weedon - no idea how as I can't find a link, and my gg grandad was supposed to have owned a brewery in Stoke on Trent. As far as I can tell, he worked in a brewery but never owned it! 

[Johnf04]

My wife's 2nd g grandfather, John ANTHONY, was said to have been a guard for Queen Victoria, and to have received a baby's bonnet from her. Some members of her family had seen this heirloom.
When we investigated John's life, we found he had indeed been a soldier, and fought in the Crimea. In the 1870s he emigrated to New Zealand, and he died in Melbourne, Australia in 1889.

His death certificate recorded his occupation as "Prison Warder".....so he had been a guard in Victoria...