Family legends that turn out to be nonsense

[Warkz]

My Grandma and her sisters always maintained- and still do- that their mother was raised by her Grandmother whose name was Hannah Brierley, hailing from County Waterford and who trained as a midwife in London.

She was indeed raised by her Grandmother, but her name was actually Caroline Fox, from Wolverhampton! Caroline had a daughter called Hannah who also helped to raise my Great-Grandmother, and Caroline's mother's name was Alice Brierley so it's partly correct. No idea where the Irish ancestry or the midwifery come in!

[Deb D]

I'm still trying not to laugh about my grandmother's assertion that her father's family had given Marlborough House to the Government "during the War" 

[RedMystic]

Have to say that after the past 24 hours I'm agog at what is showing up to be true. Good grief. I'm realted to this lot?   

[BridgetM]

My maternal grandfather was supposedly called Patrick Aloysius Flynn.  He was raised by Jesuits in an orphanage in Ireland.  At the age of 10 he ran away, made his way to England, changed his name to Alfred, and became an atheist (because of some bad experiences with the Jesuits) and a communist.  On his death bed he asked for a priest.

The truth: He was called Patrick Flynn, no middle name.  He was in an orphanage--in Preston!  He did run away, but at the age of 12.  He was a sort of communist; his children called him Red Alf--behind his back.  He did not ask for a priest on his death bed.

[RedMystic]

Put another family story to bed with a shake of the head yesterday - TX to Jacquie in Canada's help on the Canadian board.

Forever and a day I've been told that we have United Empire Loyalists in the family tree. Apparently not. The family in that branch came from Yorkshire, not east of Glasgow & got to Ontario, Canada in the mid-1800s not Connecticut, USA in 1743.

I'll be changing my profile shortly. 

[Neil Todd]

Umm my Dad said we came from Scotland, my eldest bro spent a good part of a European holiday and a lot of cash for accom searching the archives in Glasgow for William Todd, Thats like trying to find Bryan Jones in Wales... We didn't come from Scotland it was England, Durham in fact, close but no cigar.

We have a branch of the family that became close to the Royal family, too close apparently, and adopted secretly the offspring of this Royal along with a huge stash of cash for keeping the mouth shut. Probably lived in London and got one of the chamber maids in the family way more likely. By the way what happened to the cash.....

Coomb's your "weightlifter in the family" was probably a bricklayer?

The sash and paraphenalia I discovered in my dads cupboard with all the Gold tassles and crimson was not " A royal order" it was from the local pennywhistle band.

[smudwhisk]

According to my Grandmother, my GGGrandmother always claimed they were related to Captain Cook and that two statues she had in her parlour had been brought back by "Cousin Cook" on one of his travels.

Truth - well her father's family came from a long line of ag labs in Buckinghamshire and her Aunt had married a man called Cook who surprise surprise was an ag lab and came from that county.  Her brother had been in the merchant navy and more than likely the "statues" were brought back by him on his travels.

I have yet, to my Uncle's disappointment, never found any connection to Captain Cook or his wife's family.

[karenlee]

According to the step-rellies 4 x Gr Grandfather supposedly died at sea on a journey from NZ to Scotland in 1848 leaving behind a wife and 3 young children. That's why we can't find a death certificate for him.

He was travelling back to the family Estate in Lanarkshire to claim his share of the inheritance after his father had died.  His plan was to invest the money in a lucrative NZ shipping enterprise that would have made the family very wealthy. 

The man in question was actually born in Surrey. His father, a grocer, died in London in 1850, his mother died in London in 1854. 

We still don't have a death cert for him.  He was a shipwright so perhaps he did die at sea somewhere off Auckland.  Our last "sighting" of him was his involvement in a  NZ Court case in about 1847 but that's it........... his "widow" then took up with a local landowner and had another 8 children with him.  There is no marriage cert for them either.....

[Matt R]

I've been told I am related to Howard Hughes, Sir Anthony Eden, Jane Russell, and David Moyes.


So far I've found two thieves and a brothel keeper, with no sign of any such proof I'm related to any of the names above.

Sometimes I do wonder that most people fall under the myth of name association. i.e Howard Hughes must be a relation because we have the same surname. I think this is what has happened in my family.

Matt