Doubting family stories

[KGarrad]

When I started my family history, my paternal grandmother told me that we had "French Blood".

I finally, after some years found that my Great-Great Grandfather was born in Jersey, C.I.
The family were Bible Christians from North Devon.
Births, Marriages and Deaths up to 1840; West Putford.
My Great-Great-Grandfather born 1842, Jersey.
Family found on 1841 census in Jersey.
2 more births and a death in Jersey, to 1846.
Then 2 births and 1 death in Bath, Somerset.
Family in Somerset in 1851, 1861 and 1871.

So, a grain of truth! Jersaise (kind of Norman-French) was widely spoken in Jersey at the time.
Family in Jersey 1841-1846 - 5years only.

[Chook74]

There are usually grains of truth in family stories. My mother collected the rememberances of "the maiden aunts" in the late 1940s 50s and wrote up a document. It is largely a collection of (untruthful) social pretensions and inaccuracies but contains enough factual detail to be of some assistance in gettting to the truth. Such histories also omit the juicy and interesting bits like relatives who ended up in an asylum, runaway brides etc.

[ThrelfallYorky]

My aunt swore that her ancestry was Scottish - even related to Robert the Bruce! She convinced other relatives that was so. My mother - her sister - felt that may not have been correct, but had no evidence either way.
It didn't take too long once, decades after this family tale, that I found out when I started researching family history, before I discovered that both their parents were born in Lancashire, the paternal line from one part of Ireland, the maternal line from another! Absolutely no Scottish connection at all at least in that generation, though one person who was Scottish born married in, earlier.
Some family members still refuse to believe the facts presented. Ah well.
TY

[alan o]

My Grandfather had Irish ancestry according to my Grandmother.  In reality his father's family all lived on Portland all the back to the C16th whilst his mother's side were Devon/Cornish again back to the C16th.

I have no idea why she thought there was Irish blood!

[DianaCanada]

I remember when I was a teenager hearing my aunt tell my father that they were part French and part German.  I was intrigued - even then interested in family history. Turns out I have found nothing but English folk and one Irish couple who arrived in Manchester around 1795 and the DNA agrees. Auntie might have been thinking about her step-grandmother whose maiden name was Monchier, but of course was not related by blood. No mention of any Irish ancestors. Auntie made up for this by marrying a man of mostly French Canadian background.
On my mother’s Sussex side her grandfather told her that his grandfather had fought at Waterloo although he would have only been about 16 at the time.  His military records showed he joined the army a few years after Waterloo, and stayed in for twenty years.  So, a grain of truth.  His military records added a lot to my information on him.  He returned to England at the age of 39, married his first cousin, fathered 7 children, and died after a night at the pub - walked home, under the influence, and tripped over an exposed tree root, hit his head, and died.  The judge at the inquest chastised his friend for letting him walk home alone in that condition.

[Marmalady]

I have a document that my Great-Grandfather drew up around 1900 of his Family tree

He annotated it with snippets about some individuals, some of which have a grain of truth to them:

William -- unmarried, worked for Lord Fitzwilliam in Ireland. Not true for this particular individual as he was a married farmer, but it was true for another William a couple of generations earlier

John -- ran a pub and known as "Jones the Marsh" Not true for this individual as the pub wasn't built until after his death -- but his son did run the pub and is "Jones the Marsh" on his gravestone.

The only snippet I cannot corroborate in some way or other is James -- "last of the wain wrights and father of 13 children"
I cannot find a James
I cannot find anyone who built wains or any similar farm vehicles
I cannot find anyone who had 13 children

[ThrelfallYorky]

There is a tendency to "bump up" status, often. A friend was deflated when research guided her to re-assess the "Lady of the manor" to being actually a ladies maid up at the Manor! Not quite the same....
TY

[KGarrad]

I did some research for a Canadian lady, who insisted her family came from the Isle of Man.
True, her relatives did live on IOM.
But they came from Undercliffe, Bradford, Yorkshire!