Interesting Family History!

FionaM12 said:
Oh how upsetting. It probably wasn't worth anything to the thief, either. I doubt they would even know what it was. :mad:
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Thanks Fiona, you're right, I doubt they would know what it was, nor what the names engraved on it were all about. Even though it's several years ago, I often think about it and it still makes me sad....and very angry!!
 
The only truly horsey person in my family isn't someone I'm directly related to. My dad's wife's father used to run the state stud at Mezőhegyes in Hungary. Aside from that, all I know is my great grandmother's family went to Hungary from Austria. Have been trying to find more out about that side, but seem to be a bit stuck.
 
My Great x3 grandma went crazy and burnt down her house.

My great x5 grandma was the daughter of a lord who had his wicked way with his servants.

And I'm related to German royalty.
 
You've inspired me to take a look at my family history, never thought much about it before. I googled my Mums maiden name and found this:

The de Trafford family is one of the most ancient families in England, tracing its roots back to Randolphus, who died in about 1050. As Anglo-Saxons, the family initially resisted the Norman invasion, but was granted the "peace and protection" of the Crown on behalf of the king by Baron Massey after the conquest, taking the name of de Trafford from that of their family seat. The Trafford family has maintained an unbroken line of male descent for more than 1000 years.

de Trafford is pretty unusual and I did wonder where it came from... WIll do a little digging now and see what I can find out.
 
My paternal family were a load of sheep rustling thieves and raiders from the Borders.

Maternal G'Grandpa (Thurley Beale) was a composer back in the days of windup gramaphones, if You Tube would work for me I'd bore you all senseless and give a link.

If anyone has a relation with the christian name of Thurley then if it is a 'family' name chances are we are related, most Thurleys are.

No-one rich, famous, or of 'noble' blood in my lot as far as I am aware, but then, who we are born as and to is just luck of the draw isn't it?
 
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My youngest daughter, through her dad, is a direct desendant of Charles Beauclerk, Duke of St, Albans, the illegitimate son of Charles 11 and Nell Gwynn. The family name is de Vere Bentinck.

Me, I'm the direct desendant of a Very Naughty Lady of the Streets (my Mum), which my daughter's dad always used to rag me about until I pointed out that Nell Gwynn wasn't much better.
 
Annielusian said:
Apart from get a hug from Elijah Wood
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WTF jealous :( !!! Where was that? ( huge lotr fan )

My family on my mothers side have been doing alot of research lately into our past, nothing remotly interesting however.. well at least to me.
Just all workhouses,maids and chimney sweepers.. fun :(
 
Not telling about my family but OH's cousin was researching their family tree and found out one ancestor was a bare knuckle boxer who won the pub he owned in a fight and that 2 others were hanged! She gave up after that!
FDC
 
FionaM12 said:
I fear I wouldn't be able to go very far with mine either. On my Dad's side they were poor working class people, and records for such folk were not well kept. Much of the area they lived in has been demolished now, it would be hard to know where to start.

Wealthier "gentry" familes would be much easier.
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Have you tried Genes re-united? ~It is an excellent site. Look in the Forces records as well as the censuses. I found out masses about my family both sides.
FDC
 
My family history is all non-horsey (well until you get to Mum and me). But some interesting bits are:

- On mum's side there is a relative who worked for the CIA during WWII and orchestrated a very famous POW exchange on a bridge in Germany.
- Also Mum's side, great great (great?) grandad came over on a boat from Austro-Hungary in the 1860's as he was the middle son from a farm. He had a very russian name so at Ellis Island they told him that from then on his second name would be Weissman.
- His wife was also on a boat over, they were in the lowest class and apparently when entering NYC if a lower class passenger was sick they would be sent back as it was assumed they wouldn't be able to afford medical expenses. A baby on the boat was sick so all of the other passengers scrounged the money to buy the baby a 1st class ticket so it would be allowed in.
- Great Granny's family (also Mum's side) were rum-runners during the Prohibition in the States!
- Dad's side has an ancestor that was one of the founding fathers of Montreal, Canada.

I'm sure there are loads more stories, but those are the ones that I remember so far!
 
On my Mum's side of the family they have traced right back to 1750, despite the surname having "evolved" over the years, and most of the work was done before proper computerised records! Very impressive!

We traced relatives to the battle of vinegar hill (where according to "Who Do You Think You Are?" they fought alongside one of Graham Norton's relatives!) and also to the Seige of St Petersburg.

I'd like to trace my Dad's side, and hopefully that would be realtively easy as the surname is unusual. I think my Mum's father's side would be too difficult as it is a fairly common name for the area.

Annielusian, have you actually traced your family tree all that way back step by step or are you just researching the origins of the surname? Sharing a surname doesn't necessarily mean you are related as surnames sprung up in different areas and got changed, in particular foreign sounding names became anglisised, our family name changed fairly significantly in the 1800s when the family left Ireland.
 
My father and Aunt are both historians and they have done their family tree....dated back to Fornjotur King of Kvenland (Finland) circa 165.

Many many years work went into it, many travels and much money spent.

Some interesting family tree names

Henry 1 King of England who married Eleanor of Acquitaine had a son John (King John "Lackland" of England) leads directly down to Beatrice Plantagenet...(whose buried in Greyfriars London).

Sir Michael de la Pole (First Earl of Suffolk) married lady Katherine de Wingfield, in 1386 he was charged with treason, exiled and outlawed....being Lord Chancellor of England at the time- ahem!


Sir Ralph de Stafford who was one of the original Knights of the Garter.

The tree is about 6ft long and rolled up (to preserve as much as poss), however there is a book with some interesting facts that they have made to go with it.

Interesting learning I am from Royal blood, lol. Shame no money fell from my tree though....
 
Hmm a quick google of my maiden name indicates that it may not be a particularly interesting one to research given that it is a single family name and originates in the midlands so chances are my Dad's family didn't come from anywhere exciting.......

There is the suggestion of a Royal Connection but far to far back to ever be verified.
 
Way back when one of my maternal relatives was a founding member of the Temperance Society.

That philosophy didn't pass down through the family ;)
 
KristmasKatt said:
Same here, found a few great great great aunts were nuns......
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:eek: Since you have a jodh-wearing OH, you definitely couldn't follow in that family tradition :D

I don't plan on being martyred in Canterbury Cathedral, so I hope not to follow in my family tradition either :p
 
KristmasKatt said:
Annielusian, have you actually traced your family tree all that way back step by step or are you just researching the origins of the surname? Sharing a surname doesn't necessarily mean you are related as surnames sprung up in different areas and got changed, in particular foreign sounding names became anglisised, our family name changed fairly significantly in the 1800s when the family left Ireland.
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We're just researching 'The Clan', if you get me. The Leslie Clan is extremely widespread now (Apparently there's lots in the USA!) but we're all part of the same group :)
Since Bartolf was the first 'official' Leslie, we're all descended from him :D
 
Annielusian said:
We're just researching 'The Clan', if you get me. The Leslie Clan is extremely widespread now (Apparently there's lots in the USA!) but we're all part of the same group :)
Since Bartolf was the first 'official' Leslie, we're all descended from him :D
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What I am getting at is whether you know that all people with that surname are decended from the same family or not. Many surnames arose in different areas simultaneously and if the "clan" is very widespread now that is more likely.

Research, including DNA, apparently suggests that my maiden name is one that stems from one family, but people of that name remain to this day concentrated in the Midlands and those that are in Canada/Australia/USA can trace their roots back to the Midlands too.

I don't know about the name Leslie, but you aren't necessarily related to all other people with that surnames as names develop and change and names arise in different ways and are invented etc etc etc
 
I have really enjoyed reading these.

My mums cousin has traced their grandfathers tree back to about 1540 or something. She started doing it in the 60's, so pre computer. She travelled a lot, although the family stayed mainly in the same cambs area.

On my dad's side it has gon back to 1760 or thereabouts and again his family did not travel too far, the local graveyard is full of them!
 
Eeyore.1 said:
Yup, on my mothers side, we are related to Sir Philip Sidney who apparently was the Queens Courtier back in the middle ages.
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Philip Sidney as in the Philip Sidney of the Elizabethan era? That's early modern not middle ages, but that's pretty cool - he was g/son of the Duke of Northumberland iirc who was pretty important in trying to put Lady Jane Grey on the throne and was Lord President of the Privy Council under Edward VI... Although he wasn't popular at the time, he's regarded as being pretty damn good at running the country in hindsight (compared to his shortlived predecessor, Somerset). The Dudleys (inc. Northumberland) were pretty prolific figures in Elizabethan history generally... :D

Unless you mean a different Philip Sidney :o
 
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