Wow... I knew it was in my blood!

Queenbee

Queenbee

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 August 2007
Messages
12,020
Location
Cumbria
Visit site
Just wanted to post a stupidly happy post! I've always known that our family tree on my maternal grandfathers side was filled with scandal and intrigue.. When my grandfather and his full siblings were born, the family name was changed by depol to they took on their mothers surname... We were always told we could search the history after my grandfather and his siblings were dead. Wee knew there was a wife previous to their mother who died early in life, but that my great grandfather then moved counties, with another partner and had a new family... Last night I stumbled across a family tree which listed my grandfather and his siblings, with father listed as a different first name to the name we had always known him by, by chance I managed to search on google for what would have been my great grandfathers nephew... Now deceased, but his son has set up a charity in memory of him... Apparently that line of the family always had a love of horses and the charity supports the rehabilitation of them :)... None of my family were ever horsey... Until now :) :). I had no idea whether or not I had the right family, until I had a response from the son today... My great great grandfather, his business folded with the onset of the industrial revolution with the cotton industry, having lost his wife to an early death, he moved counties and started a new life with a childhood sweetheart, and bore five children with her, the youngest was my grandfather, but he was so ashamed and possibly grief stricken that he changed his first name to that of his brother, and took on the surname of his new partner, the children took the name too. Years ago, one of my grandfathers sisters received a letter from a man claiming to be a cousin, she knew there was some huge secret and she destroyed it... It was the father of the man I contacted tonight... I am so pleased, for many years it has been a significant hole in my mothers life, although last night and tonight I have been able to fill that hole and join the dots, and I've also found out that some of my family, no matter how distant are horsey...

Just so happy, and when I got the email... From this person, filling in the gaps and read it to my mum... We both cried :o, stupidly pointless post but I'm very very happy :)
 
How lovely to fill it all in - and do you feel it is not at all co-incidental you are horsey?
People have often commented my daughter is quite a good rider and naturally sits quite well - it's not just me saying that she had a dressage lesson recently with a new quite well thought of instructor who was very complimentary. Now while I don't really ride, even I've been told my position isn't too bad (considering I don't ride much if at all, and only had a few lessons as a teenager), I've always liked horses and always enjoyed looking after them, even though it definitely wasn't encouraged as a child and my parents thought it was far too dangerous and wouldn't pay for lessons.

My father, on tracing his family tree, found that his father's father had been a carrier of reknown in Lincolnshire - we think that his father was a carrier too, and sadly was run over by his own cart. We have copies of the newspaper reports that say he got off to adjust some luggage without securing the brake and the horse moved and his carriage wheel rolled over him, killing him. We do wonder if my father's concern about horses being 'dangerous' was in fact brought about by the fact that his grandmother had to move home to the city slums, and his family was as a result very poor, and consequently he was brought up (he's almost 90, so not many cars about when he was little) to think of horses as dangerous! Also wonder if that our affinity with horses and my daughter's natural ability is inherited in some way.
 
My grandmas dad, uncles, great uncles where all jockeys and trainers.

One of them, a Richard Wheeler, had a house and training stables behind a row of houses in tumbridge wells. I think the lady who wrote national velvet lived in one of them. He had also worked at Epsom racecourse.

Would live up find out more about him.
 
My grandfather was the last blacksmith in the village we now live in and my father went to school in the village primary here where my children go. Pops' old house was up for sale recently including the outbuildings so I went for a look, the old forge is still there. Pops told a wonderful story of two shires being tied in there when they suddenly kicked off and went for each other. Looking at the available escape space I bet it was impressive!
Not such a distant connection for me, but my children love feeling they really belong here.
 
My father was scared of horses so although I grew up on a farm he would not hear the work horse or pony mentioned without commenting "horses are dangerous" therefore i made do with the donkey, Neddy.:)
Dad was employed on the Liverpool docks during the war and he was asked to be in charge of a horse and cart for the day - because he was irish they assumed that he must understand horses. He chose the quietest one which was a Clydesdale and alwas said they got along 'just grand'

So, I've no idea where my love comes from. I am the only one of his offspring who loves, and always did love, horses. What I have noticed though is that each generation throws up an animal mad female.
 
What a lovely thread. I found out that my maternal grandfather had been in the cavalry and that his father and brothers were all carters with hotrses working for the M/C railway. Family members had said that I got it from my granddad but sadly he died before I was born so I never got to talk to him .
 
What lovely thread, I find family history fascinating! There is a good deal of scandal in mind due to illegitimate children in India I think. I never thought anyone in my family was remotely horsey until my granny said a couple of years ago that she used to ride the local RS ponies down to the beach in the summer but she never kept up riding certainly surprised my dad who had never heard that story either. My mum also came up with a good story about being dragged through a hedge by her friends pony but she says that doesn't count :rolleyes:
 
It's all pretty interesting at the moment and we are only just starting to unravel it, my great great grandfather had two wives/partners, we are unsure of whether he was with the second when he was with the first, although the second lot of children were not born until after the death of the first wife, we have found a census that states he and the second wife were married in 1899, the same year as he married the first wife, and all the children from the second relationship, and my grandfather had their surnames officially changed to that of the second wife/partner. I'm finding, photos of my grandfathers shop in Birmingham, which was also my great grandfathers shop before that! And now my father has got the bug and we are tracing his history too. It looks like I've tracked the second wife in the census when she was a child too. There is just so much information out there, and I doubt I'd have ever got there if I hadn't been able to confirm that my great grandfather took on both a new first name and surname! The horsey link is very tenuous...nephew of my great grandfather! But it's really nice to know that I've found that part of the family, and that I'm not alone in loving horses. It's pretty warming, especially when I've received such a welcoming response from them and that there is a lot that they can tell me about my family and heritage.

Naw, I'm coming over all warm and fluffy!
 
I am alone in my family with my love of horses - except for a cousin in Canada I have never met. A cousin of my mother's came to her funeral and was a farrier in the army - he shod Montgomery's horse. I keep wondering whether I should research my family - perhaps I could uncover a more direct line to someone with a love of all things equine!
 
I think there is something in it. My great grandfather was in the horseguards and I inherited his spurs. My Grandad would often visit him on duty (which I'm sure would have been frowned on if anyone had found out) as he absolutely adored his horse- which apparently never stood still for a whole 'guard duty' and was notorious for trying to wander off when bored. When he fought in the first world war his horse, Jack, went with him. He was badly injured and was shipped home with a mangled leg, having been told that Jack couldn't have survived his bullet wounds and would have been shot. He was really depressed so, as part of his late rehabilitation he was encouraged to look after the few horses who had been brought back to England with the soldiers. On his first trip to the field he called to the horses and one, in the far distance, stopped, looked at him, and hobbled towards him whinnying it's head off.Of course, it was Jack, and my great grandad said that the scars healed as a line of white hair along his side where he had been hit by shrapnel (still blackwhere it had been shielded by his leg). When you think how many horses died in that war I want to cry to think that Jack was shipped back as an early casualty and was able to be cared for by someone who really loved him.
My other great grandad, however, was a milkman with a carthorse...
I suspect that my daughter, who loved horses from a baby, took after the horseguard, whilst I, ability wise at least, am more like the other side of the family...
 
What a lovely thread.

I found the same :)

I come from a completly non horsey family, and always wondered why my self and my sister and now mini like horses, and are quite ok at riding?

Family tree on my mothers side, although they are Scottish, great granda came from Ireland , we knew that bit, but tracing that side, also had jokeys in the line, and also breeders!!!!
 
My paternal grandfather worked a team of 6 horses (which my Dad seems to think they were Belgium drafts?) on the Lambeth docks. When he retired and they set someone else to drive them and the first day they bolted and they sent for my Grandad to fetch them back. Apparently the were hitched in the wrong order and after he had rearranged them and took them back they were fine! According to Dad that's where I have inherited my love of horses!
Dads family split when he was young and recently after research he found his one brother had been working during the war on the boats in the same area in Aden that Dad had been and sadly had died just 2 months before Dad had traced him. Similarly his elder sister disappeared with his mother and a couple of years ago I managed to trace her, having died the year before, but I have gained a cousin who never knew her mother even had any siblings let alone four of them!! This tracing lark is very addictive and can be expensive but fascinating all the same!
 
I am another one who didn't know where my love of horses came from (non-horsey parents and grandparents) until I started my family history and there it was - great great grandfather was a blackmith and so was his grandfather and great grandfather. Also my great grandfather was a gardener - my other love.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top