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| carol |
Family TreeI've started the seeds of one (unfortunately can't spend as much time as I would like on it). I have since discovered a brand new family in England
Does anyone else research their ancestry? |
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| Babygael |
I have, to a certain degree,being adopted encourages me to do so.I would like to take it further though and find out more about my grandparents and theirs,however some of the records that date way back have certain challenges, as I don't think names were recorded as well as they are now.
Meanwhile, my "other family" is heavily into it. I received an email out of the blue from someone I had never heard of before some weeks back.She lives in or around oxfordshire and is related to my grandfather's mother (on my dad side) She contacted me because as far as we can ascertain,I am the last holder of this particular family name.The originators came from Yorkshire and Cornwall. Lucy says she plans on writing a book on it all. Hummmnnnnnnn, hope I get a mention!!!  
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| Blackadder |
You two should have an easy time finding family and ancestors. It's not that long since the first of them jumped out of the trees and discovered perambulation on the ground!! 
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| carol |
stop monkeying around BA and go and do your womanly chores 
A family skeleton in the closet helped me to discover my new found family. Long story and not sufficient time to tell it. 
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| mairead |
Geez, and I found out that my G.G Grandmother stood trial for murder, but got a not proven verdict. She and her lover did my G.G.Grandfather in.
I dug out the papers and statements relating to the trial and she did it for sure. Duh. Glad my parents are not around to learn about that skeleton in the cupboard |
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| Blackadder |
That's nothing Mairead ... my ancestors are completely responsible for the Kirtleketton Disaster in Middlesex, in 1682 during a visit to England. Thirty-five people died violently in a multiple cart-crash pile-up. It's the first recorded serious RTA in history! 
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| kathyv |
My Uncle is doing his side of the family, he sent me an e-mail saying he'd just 'dug up' a new name. Karen Rugg who lived in the Caribbean, possible Barbados, after coming from Northern England. He's wondering why she went there but can't find any info.
Previously, he learned the Ruggs were from Sowerby, Yorkshire, but I don't think they were affected by the Blackadders and their adventures! |
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| Blackadder |
You're in luck, Kaffy. There are very many Ruggs in Scotland. England too ... and when you get right down to it, I'm sure you'll find Ruggs everywhere! 
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| kathyv |
Even in Persia I bet!
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| Blackadder |
No. That's carpets you're thinking of! | ||
| Cruachan |
Re: Family Tree
I do from time to time, mostly gathering names and dates. It gets more interesting when you start trying to find out what the ancestors were like, what they did with their lives, and find the inevitable "skeleton in the cupboard". I have gotback to the 1780s with one family line. I find it tricky deciding which branch of the tree to follow back in any depth. It certainly raises interesting questions about identity and who we each really are. I did think about doing one those DNA tests to find ot my own genetic heritage. I think they cost about £200 but not sure who does them. Ultimately we're all related! |
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| Blackadder |
We most certainly are not related in any way, Crookie! I am descended from kings. You are a peasant ... not a bad one, but a pleasant peasant ... don't be sad at that!
You can go on Register House's website for a quite reasonable amount to do your research, but the records only go back so far ... and then you have to consult Parish records. However, getting past the 1500s, unless you are an ennobled family, is quite difficult. The only commoner I know of who can trace his genealogy back to around the 12th century is Baldrick ... but that's only because his ancestors became servants to my family. Or do what Mairead, Lady Muck, did ... and invent it all!
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| carol |
I started my ancestry trail a few months ago, I've sown the seeds and not got much further! Although I did trace family in Bristol.
I'd always known my dad (now deceased) was illegitimate and was brought up by his mothers family, although we never knew who she was. We also knew that my dad's real father was an Italian whose family owned the chippie (since demolished) in Kilmacolm. My dad never discovered the truth about his birth until his birth certificate was required when he joined the army to do his National Service (then in total his 22yrs). He then distanced himself from family. The trail started when I joined Genes Reunited a few months ago and discovered a family contact whom i had met briefly years ago. My dad had been brought up by her mothers family. She told me who my real grandmother was, name d.o.b. I then discovered someone from America on the same site had my grandmother on her family tree. The story eventually came out that my grandmother had given birth to my father (left him with her brother and family), and 3 years later married a man down in England (the American contact was a descendant of that family). I was then passed on a Bristol tel no and then wham I've now got a brand new family I came as a big shock to some of them!! although some of them knew of the 'skeleton' others definitely don't. I'm now in regular contact with a cousin. Both of us intend to go exploring sometime in the future, our ancestors in the graveyard at Kilmacolm. I can imagine it being a nightmare, the family I think originally came across from Dumfries, settled in Kilmacolm and bred like rabbits, there's loads of Helens, Roberts, Edwards and James to plough through.
I'm still overwhelmed by it all. now to trace my Italian grandfather/family, although with a surname like Funai, it'll be like searching for a needle in a haystack
the site I utilised was Genes Reunited (where you can actually share family trees) http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/default.aspx?ixc=u and the site that BA refers to http://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk/ is where I sent for both my dad's and my grandmothers birth certificate and was surprised to see my dad's father's name on it. |
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| Blackadder |
Dear old pathetic Carol's plight is not an unusual one. Although for her, it looks like things could work out quite well ... as long as she's not into mudering anyone else other than husbands! I wish her well in following the breadcrumbs.
But be warned, as fascinating as it is researching your familial roots ... you'd better be prepared for shocks. Remember, each and every person that came before you was more than just a name and a set of dates. They had lives. Lives you might be better off knowing nothing about. When Richard Curtis and Ben Elton raided my family tree for their hit comedy series, they found things I didn't know anything about. Shocked? Well, not really ... they were known for being as mercenary and rapacious as any Border reivers!! I know several of them were hanged (deservedly), and one was a Cardinal, one of my great-grandmothers was a courtesan to the Polish king, Augustus II and another was a 'personal friend' of the Empress, Maria-Theresa of the Habsburg Austrians. There's a lot more, but I'm not going to hang my family's dirty washing out ... there's too damn much of it!! 
So there you go ... by all means learn about your antecedents, but be prepared. Amd illiegitimacy is more rife than many would like to know. I am reminded of ... Refrain: Woe is me. Shame and scandal in the family! Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family! Vers 1: In Trinidad there was a family with much confusion as you will see. There was a Mama and a Papa and a boy who was grown, he wanted to marry a wife by his own. He met a young girl, who suited him nice. He went to his Papa to ask his advice. His Papa said: Son, I have to say no, that girl is your sister, but your Mama don't know! Refrain: Hey - worries is me. Shame and scandal in the family, hey! Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family! Vers 2: A week went by, the summer came down, soon another girl on the island he found. He went to his Papa to name the day. His Papa shook his head and this time he did say: You can't marry this girl, have to say no, that girl is your aunty, but your granny don't know! Hey! Refrain: Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family, hey! Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family! Vers 3: Now he went to his Mama, covered his head, and told his Mama what his Papa had said. His Mama, she laughed, she said: Go, son, go! Your Daddy ain't your Daddy, but your Daddy don't know! Refrain: Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family, hey! Woe, it worries me. Shame and scandal in the family! You know it, woe, it worries me-e? Shame and scandal in the family! |
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| Babygael |
Well I had a sort of incident when checking on the web to find out where my Dad was buried in Lossie somewhere.Anyway,i found a church website in Lossie and I sent an email and before you know it, the Vicar responded and said that he knew a member of his congregation with the same surname as Dads and that he would ask her. it was only sometime later, I thought I had better explain to him that some folk might get a big shock to find out about my existence!! I know for sure that I have a half sister in Lossie because I have my Dads death certificate,well a copy and his son-in-law signed it!! I never heard back again!! So i wonder if i did cross paths sort of with a rellie via the vicar. Can you imagine if it was pop's wifie???
I use these guys to do the researching for me,haven't been there for some time now. www.scotsroots.com |
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| Blackadder |
So ... is this forum populated by a shower of bas tards or what??
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| carol |
BA your skeletons probably rattle in your cupboard there's that many
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| Blackadder |
You're no doubt, absolutely right, Carol ... the manor has something like 100 cupboards all over the place. I'll have to check that I suppose. Which means at least around 800 skeletons all rattling away.
My family tree has branches everywhere, so I'll go out on a limb and sday we've put down roots wherever we went. But not to worry ... our bark is usually worse than our bit! But at least we were never saps! Have you twigged yet? Or shall I leaf you alone??
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| kathyv |
ah HA! I KNEW it!
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| mairead |
A g.grandmother on the other side remarried, but she had not divorced from Hubby No 1.
Oh dear, I think I'll stop looking back over the rest of them. A murderer, a bigamist, illegitimacy, poverty, its all too much for my sensitive nature BWAAHAAHAHA |
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| Blackadder |
I think Carol will have a fascinating family tree ... not counting the ones her exes are buried under!
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| carol |
and some day BA you may just be one of those chips off the old block
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| Blackadder |
Doubt it ........ I have a warning up about you all over the grounds ... Beware - Wide Load!!!
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| carol |
thanks
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| Blackadder |
Glad you appreciate it!
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| Cymro |
Ah well they're bound to bring you down here to Wales then! My dad is doing our family tree at the moment on his side of the family but by the sound of things by mums side is more interesting. Her great grandmother came from Weymouth in Southern England, according to my mum, my late grandmother used to say that they originally came from the East End of London but she was moved to Weymouth when her sister was killed in a suspicious fire in the family home in London. Apparently they had some links to Gangsters! I'm off to buy a boozer in the East End and give myself a hardknock name in honour of my ancestors. |
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| carol |
the family link to my recently discovered gran (deceased) led me down to Bristol, which isn't that far from Wales! It is alleged that the family she married onto were linked to a famous pirate. | ||
| Blackadder |
It seems our resident murderess might have some sort of genetic leaning towards criminality.
No surprises there then!!!
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| Rinty |
You would probably hate to know Blackadder that this low paid socialist who lives in a block of flats in Cumnock, has royalty in my family tree, not kid-on cartoon royalty, but the real thing, MacBeth no less.
Of course, it is probably me and about 100,000 others or more. |
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| Blackadder |
Rin-tin-tin ... there's an old saying that every Scot is descended from Royalty! Of course it's all muck!
If you're descended from MacBeth by the way ... it'd be a good trick since it's known he had no children ... not counting his stepson, Lulach!
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| Rinty |
It would be a good trick, but I didnt say that I was "descended" from Macbeth. He is in the family tree in a very interesting route through the Dunbars. | ||
| Blackadder |
Your first post was very confusing because you forgot to the grammar into the right places.
I'm not a mind reader you know ... but did have Dunbar's lemonade when I was very little!
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| Rinty |
"you forgot to the grammar"
Yes and you forgot a word in that sentence but we dont bother about miniscule points of grammar and spelling do we? |
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| Blackadder |
Bugger!
It's all that carry on with Coolio's got me frazzled ... and I'm tired anyway! So ... 
Very glad you're quite so understanding, Rin-tin-tin!
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| mairead |
Aye BA, any excuse is better than none. LOL | ||
| Blackadder |
And I'm rather proud of my ability to come up with them. Going to a private boarding school and sleeping late in the mornings, kind of made one very proficient in the art of Semantics.
And I can get up to them!
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| Runaway Weegie |
Why do you rise to the bait then Bladder? It must be like compulsively squeezing plooks, you know it's bad for you but you just can't stop. I had a cousin like that. He ended up with a face like a pizza. Complete with the anchovies. Sometimes I want to respond to some of Aventinian's more asinine postings in the politics section. But then I think "anchovies, anchovies", and the urge passes. Try it. It may work for you. I don't have a family tree. It's more of a thicket, or maybe a growth. Another of my cousins used to have this beautiful hand painted illustrated manuscript genealogy on his wall. It went all the way back to Mary Queen of Scots. He'd shoplifted it from an antiques dealer. |
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| Babygael |
Oh dear,the grammar thing again!!I was very tempted back there BA but Rinty got there ahead of me!! Lucky you!
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| Blackadder |
It's not like that at all, Squeegee ... I just don't take any s**t! I give it!!!
Welcome to the General Blackadder thread ... You too can make mental mincemeat of the pathetic sods you'll find here! It's fun!!!
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| mairead |
heh heh, love the new name Runaway Weegie gave you Blackie. | ||
| Blackadder |
Heard it all before. I don't really care who makes fun with my name. Put it this way ... if they're making fun of me ... then they're leaving some other poor bugger alone who probably doesn't deserve it!
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| mairead |
My thoughts exactly, and in Coolio's case, who can't take it. | ||
| Blackadder |
We have to stop agreeing to things, messheid ... people are talking!!! 
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| mairead |
Well they do say great minds think alike and fools seldom differ, so which are we. | ||
| Blackadder |
Well, as I've ALWAYS maintained .... I'm the former ... and you're the latter!
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| mairead |
Ah, you miss the point completely dearie, no surprise there though. | ||
| Blackadder |
The point is on your head. I didn't miss it. I just pretend not to notice!
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| mairead |
Smarmy git. | ||
| Blackadder |
No ... that's Coolio .... I'm more of a charming git!
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| mairead |
Do you look in the mirror once every hour to convince yourself of that? | ||
| Blackadder |
Not at all ....... it's a gift!!!
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| mairead |
Self praise is not a gift , It's arrogance. | ||
| Blackadder |
Of course it's arrogance! I'm an aristocrat ... what did you expect ... benevolence and philanthropy???
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| mairead |
I know a few well mannered Aristos and I thought you were maybe one. Wrong again I guess. | ||
| Blackadder |
Tick that box!!! 
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| mairead |
I have already done so. | ||
| Blackadder |
Oh good! I'd hate for you to think you've missed out on something and need me to remind you!
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| mairead |
YOU need remind me of nothing. | ||
| Blackadder |
And YOU remind me of nothing!!!
Thanks for walking right into that!!!
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| mairead |
Mmmmm. I was a bit tired then. | ||
| Blackadder |
You go right on believing that .... if you're comfortable with this constant fooling yourself!
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| mairead |
It is not my intent to fool anyone, least of all myself. eejit. | ||
| Blackadder |
Well ... you certainly don't fool anyone on this forum ... except maybe three or four posters who shall remain nameless ... which is how you'd leave them!!!
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| mairead |
So you think yuo know me THAT well, do you? | ||
| Blackadder |
Turning to Family Trees again ....
Doing some family research yesterday ... I discovered two more of my late father's cousins, who were priests in Ireland ... and a Canadian branch on my mother's side I knew nothing about. I wonder if I have any criminals on the not-Blackadder side. It would prove a couple of theories I have if there isn't! |
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| mairead |
I bet there are numerous criminals on the Blackadder side though. | ||
| Blackadder |
Oh yeah ... according to my late father's tales, we had more than our share. But the word "alleged" should be used for three reasons ...
1) They were never caught 2) There was no proof and 3) There were no witnesses ... well ... not any that lived anyway ... |
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| mairead |
There's just no reply to that then. | ||
| Blackadder |
Don't think so ... no!
Well ... unless you can think of anything ... that's another thread you've buggered up and left only fit for the bin!!!
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| mairead |
Au Contraire my snakey friend, T'was you who buggered it up. | ||
| Blackadder |
Whatever .... talk to the monitor cos the keyboard ain't listening!! | ||
| Rinty |
Actually I think this is a goo thread, or at least potentially is. If we post up our family trees or at least the main names and places we might find that some of the 750 members are related in some way, that would be interesting. Even if not just the actual family history of people is interesteing in it's own right. My mother is an enthusiast and the stuff she finds is brilliant.
The 8 great grandparents names in my tree in terms of families and places are: Monaghan (Ayrshire) Kelly (Sligo) Stewart (Ayrshire) Leckie (Glasgow) Kirk (Ayrshire) Richmond (Ayrshire) Jamieson (Newcastle, Co. Down) Seymour (Carrickfergus) |
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| Red Justice |
Never researched my family tree Rinty,
My name Morton goes back probably earlier than 13C and is found often in the Border regions or SW Scotland. Morton is also linked to Clan Douglas which is my Tartan. Note the link between the Douglas Clan and Earl of Morton in Scottish history. Also Douglas's in the Scottish Borders I know this is not a history section but do not know a great deal about my family roots. |
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| Blackadder |
It's not expensive to do searches online these days. Most records in Register House in Edinburgh go back to around the 1700s. Then you're talking about Parish Records which might go back 2 or if you're lucky, 3 centuries to the Middle-Stewart period. It is unlikely for any record ... except in the case of Royalty or Nobility to go back further than the 11th century, although some do.
My own family goes back to the 13th century with the adoption of the family name, away from the Franco-Norman name it bore then. Intermarriage brought more and more Celtic blood into the gene-pool, which turned us into the Scots and English branches of the family around the 1500s. But back then, attestations of the birth of sone was necessary for inheritance of family lands. This is why huge family bibles came into being, where families recorded the birthjs of descendants, generation after generation. |
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| mairead |
Somre of the names from my family are, from grandparents back.
Aitchison, Cromarty, Pettigrew, Gardiner, Cruth or Caruth, Stewart, Witherspoon, Brownlie, Hunter, Tait, Kerss, Skirling, Hutton, Nicol, Murdoch, and Clark. Some of these hailed from the highlands and islands, some from the lowlands and one (Gardiner) from London |
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| Blackadder |
Thankfully, on the paternal side names tend to stay the same ... which is a good thing in tracing ancestry.
On my maternal sides, names include (in no particular order); Ferguson, Douglas, Campbell, Anderson, Sinclair, O'Flynn, MacKenzie, Hamilton, MacInnes, O'Neill, Bruce, Lennox, Grant, Drummond, Stewart, Murray, Cameron ... and more, all anotated in the family Bible!!! |
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| Rinty |
Already, BA, Mairead and I ALL have stewarts in the family. According to my mother the stewarts in our family came to Ayrshsie from Ireland in the 19th century and dont know much about them and expect they came from Scotland before they were in Ireland.
Still going strong in USA and as other names here in Scotland. My great uncle Tommy Stewart died last year in Ohio. HE was a legend in American trades unions and when he died his local union hall of the UAW was re-named in his honour, Bill Clinton led the dedication. |
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| mairead |
My G Grndmother was Frances Stewart. Don't know her place or date of birth but she married in Larkhall, Lanarkshire in 1857. Her parents were Joseph Stewart and Janet Hunter of Carluke. | ||