Did our ancestors know their ancestry?

[Rosinish]

There are still folks in the Hebrides who can recite their patronymic back hundreds of years!

Skoosh, I can confirm that, unbelievable although true!

I have mentioned on this site previously, Highlanders (in my case) don't relate to people by their surnames but by their forenames, where they lived, followed by their ancestry, forenames/places/occupations/hair colour although in what order I can't say 

I recall one time within 16 - 20 yrs ago (1998-2002), I was in the local Post Office & the assistant (obviously hearing my accent) had asked if I was on holiday & did I have connections with the island which would be the 'norm' as they all love the genealogical side of things & are so helpful with their knowledge (based on the above)

However, I told her I did have 'connections' & told her my g/mother's full name with surname (which was her 2nd marital surname as my g/father had left her a widow) & where she lived.
The woman looked a wee bit stumped although my g/mother had been deceased since 1979.

My g/mother had a double barrelled forename on her BC but was known by a different name i.e. a Gaelic version of the 2nd part of her forename & as soon as I mentioned her 'gaelic' forename (no surname needed nor was it known to her), the woman was able to identify my g/mother & her genealogy, knew the name of her father, his occ. & his father.

The 'Heilan' version of MI5 

Annie

[Skoosh]

@ Rosinish,  deoch slainte! tae that!

Skoosh.

[coombs]

Donald Trump's mother was from the Hebrides.

I have Scottish ancestors but they came from the lowlands. Selkirk. John Stewart moved to Bishop Auckland in about 1760. He had children late in life by his 2nd wife and thanks to those Dade registers (I think they were) it gave his place of origin. Not sure if the Lowland Scots were as aware of their heritage as the Highlanders.

[Skoosh]

Surnames were used in the Highlands relatively late, the folk used a patronymic which explained exactly who they were, even back to the dim & distant! Shetlanders used a form of patronymic which changed to fixed surnames in the 18th century, the rest of the country used surnames from early times.

Skoosh.

[Regorian]

Simple question, no easy answer. I would have thought that pre welfare state families were more aware of relations for mutual support.

My family was in Llandogo, Mon. at the end of the 17th Century. Unfortunately, parish registers only extant from 1695. A John born 1702 was ancestor from whom my grandfather and 8 siblings descended. The strange thing was he and his family lived in Mitcheltroy, Mon. but was buried in Llandogo 1749. He wasn't the only one, the last dying in Mitcheltroy but buried in Llandogo 1804! Even more strange was a Philip who died in Mitcheltroy within the family 1757, born 1660 and buried in Llantilio Crosseny.

Fast forward to now or the last 20 years or so. In the 1990's I had a working Tree and I hunted down then current addresses and phone numbers. I was able to contact some but most didn't want to know. One stem is where I live now and a couple of family get togethers were organised.
A couple of people brought along their biscuit tins of photographs. They didn't know who the people were and only I was able to pencil in some possible ID's on the backs in pencil with question marks. It was more of a social occasion than any talking about family connections.

My grandmothers family is quite another thing altogether. My mother once said to me that my father far preferred his mothers family to his fathers. Three of them are Rootschatters. The exchange of documents and photographs has been prodigious.

Added: So, if you have missing burial entries, perhaps it's because they were buried elsewhere in your family history.

 

     

[Keitht]

A few months ago out of thew blue I got a call from a 1st cousin twice removed, telling me that her grandfather had recommended she contact me as she had only just begun researching her family history while I had been doing so for many years and had a wealth of information on her maternal side. I directed her to my Ancestry tree and said she was welcome to take from it whatever she liked. She then asked if I would assist her in sorting out her paternal family. I agreed and before long we had a line back to 1622, where we got stuck over an illegitimate birth. About three months in we arranged to meet at her mother's house. Taking an interest in what we were doing, her mother suddenly produced a box of old family documents, in which we were really surprised to find a horizontal ribbon of A4 sheets detailing the paternal family right back to the point at which we had become stuck. It didn't contain a single entry after 1900 so we assumed it to have been produced somewhere around that time, entirely without the aid of the net or any of the modern genealogical societies. Unfotunately the box didn't contain any research notes or other material which might have helped us to work out how the tree had been compiled. If this doesn't prove that our ancestors were interested in their ancestors, nothing does.

Keith

[Rena]

Surnames were used in the Highlands relatively late, the folk used a patronymic which explained exactly who they were, even back to the dim & distant! Shetlanders used a form of patronymic which changed to fixed surnames in the 18th century, the rest of the country used surnames early times.

Skoosh.

I wish my Highlanders had handed down some snippets other than their given names 

[coombs]

Missing burials could be that they died in the workhouse and were buried in the workhouse grounds. This could be the case with missing burials in some of my ancestors when I clearly have found their spouse and siblings/children burials.

I think many people in the 1800s knew who their grandparents were unless illegitimate, orphaned or foundlings etc.

[Regorian]

Missing burials could be that they died in the workhouse and were buried in the workhouse grounds. This could be the case with missing burials in some of my ancestors when I clearly have found their spouse and siblings/children burials.

I think many people in the 1800s knew who their grandparents were unless illegitimate, orphaned or foundlings etc.

Last, first. Of course, now and then most people know/knew their grandparents. In fact many families count the three generations as family no one else. That occurrs within my wider family.

My example is important and may help others, nothing to do with the Workhouse, purely family integrity with their roots.