06 July 2012

The Tree of Family

When I'm not being a Mum and Wife and Domestic Goddess (!!) and I'm not making and doing with fabric or wool, I have another interest that has me at near-obsessive levels, and it is piecing together our family tree, and I know that no-one's family history is interesting to anyone else so I'm not going to start putting posts up about discoveries I make, and where I'm at, but I thought you may like to know this about me!  And I will tell you a little story about when I first met my husband.


When Chris saw that I knew a lot of the history of my family he asked if I would research his side of the family, which I was very happy to do.  I knew the names of his parents, so we sat down with a blank piece of paper and, as a starting point, I asked him the name of his mother's father.

He :  "Grandad."
Me :  "Yes, but his actual name?"
He :  "Grandad."
Me :  "You don't know your Grandfather's name?!!!"
He :  "No, we called him Grandad."
Me :  "Okay, what about your mum's mother?"
He :  "Grandma?"

And so it went on.  I was flabbergasted!!  I was brought up on stories of my family and just couldn't quite believe this man I had married knew so little of his family.  I have been able to tell him that he was named after his paternal Grandfather.


I have also found that my great, great grandmother, Emma, who came out to Australia in the 1860s, was born in the same town in England as my husband's great, great grandfather, Thomas!  I imagine Thomas sitting behind Emma in church and tugging on her pigtails!!  Maybe it was fate that we should be together, maybe it was to be that Emma and Thomas should be together, but for whatever reason that didn't happen, and so 160 years later it was their great, great grandchildren that said "I do."


Girl with Pigtails by Sir Samuel Henry William Llewelyn

Do you like looking at old family photographs, wondering what your ancestors were really like, whether they were happy, what dreams they had?

Enjoy your day.
Trudy

6 comments:

  1. I love this post Trudy, i love old photos and the mystery behind them all, and i think when you discover things that you didnt know about your heritage its very moving.
    Lovely post

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  2. I honestly think most men don't pay attention to family stories, my husband knows little about his family's quite amazing history (escape to England from war torn Europe, a death by lightening, a murder, lovers reunited after years and miles apart) ... I had to learn the whole story from his mother!

    I posted about my Grandma Eva a while back. And included a few photographs. I love old pics like you have here :D Great post!

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  3. What an amazing story. I spent some time researching my family tree and it was totally absorbing and fascinating. Very sad at times too, like finding out my grandfather's family had been in the workhouse when he was 11 but he'd never told anyone :(

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  4. Hello Trudy
    I've been biding my time or rather the right time to pop in here and comment on this fascinating post of yours. Coincidentally I am a Family history fanatic too and have been for the last 20 years or so although over the last seven years it has become dormant. I say dormant because I am dying to get back into it but there always seems to be something which stops me from doing so. At present the reason being I can't get my Family History software on my new Mac computer tut! Anyhow this isn't about me and my setbacks but fascination and family History.I can feel it there in this post of yours and it stirs me to try and get going again. I also am quite surprised that your husband knows so little about his family....I mean he obviously isn't an orphan he has immediate family...so can't you......ahhhhh now there you are that's what family history does to you because you are personally linked to it you want to know more !!!!! Happy FH research :-)

    Amanda :-)

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  5. My Mam and I are obsessed with our family history too but my husband doesn't know much more about his family than your husband. Is it a male thing? I have lots of photos of my ancestors around me and they make me feel secure and grounded. I feel very lucky to know my roots and to be able to see some really old images of my family. Lily. xxx

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  6. Thank you for all your lovely comments.

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