View Full Version : Who Do You Think You Are?
coppernob
06-09-06, 09:43 PM
Anyone else see this tonight? Barbara Windsor's family tree was looked into and I was glued! It fascinates me all the people who came before.It was great to see Cork but I was in tears at the potatoe famine :cry: One of my 3xGreats came over from Ireland then plus my Gran's from Cork so lovely to see the place!! Can't wait for the next one.CN
Sparrow
07-09-06, 07:00 AM
Hi coppernob
i watched it too and thought it was fascinating! My grandad came from Ireland so I found it really interesting! Its made me think about my family tree again - I had found out about my Dads side back to about 1800s but not much about my mums (her dad - my grandad from Ireland) so Im going to start with that. Hopefully we are going to try and go to Ireland next summer and see where my grandad was born - Kildare area - i have always wanted to do that!! cant wait for next weeks program - its Robert Lindsey!
Sparrow
:D Glad you started this thread, CN :thumbs:
Barbara Windsors family tree was fascinating stuff. I love this programme so much.
I am the biggest family history bore you will ever meet :lol: :P and it is my biggest passion. It is so satisfying knowing why you were born where you were born, and why you are who you are etc.
I am a big fan of the genesreunited site and every time this programme is on I get inundated with contacts. I had 2 after the programme finished last night :lol:
I am sure mr.sp has Irish history too, but can't quite make the link. I am back to the pre famine years in Liverpool [where most of the Irish arrived to] and they are very strong Irish names, but all claim to have been born in Liverpool, so have hit a brick wall.
Like Barbara Windsor, my parents thought they were Londoners as far back as you could ever get, but I have found their roots are much further afield and their grandparents made the move to London for work. My parents would have loved knowing where their family originated, but I didn't start researching it until after they had died :(
If anyone is thinking of doing it, do it while you still have older family members to ask questions to, and once you start you are well and truly hooked!!!
I only set out to find out my paternal Grandmothers name originally as Dad never talked about his childhood at all and I never knew his parents. His father was unkind to him, and his lovely mother died when Dad was only 3. I thought I would be satisfied just knowing her name :rolleyes: :lol: . We found her name, and it was a very unusual surname - I have only ever met one other person with that name [he was a patient who I had to resuscitate - how weird is that?] Anyway, we knew she died young, so I decided to find out what she died of and how old she was, and again thought I would be satisfied once I found out ;) Turns out she died aged just 25 in the 1918 flu epidemic :cry: I then wanted to know where she was born :rolleyes: [Buckinghamshire] and am now back to the 1500's on that particular line :thumbs: :D Once you start, you just can't stop!!!
See, I'm off boring everyone again :rolleyes: :lol: :hihi: :hihi: I shall shut up now and go and do some fascinating ironing instead :P
sassieb
07-09-06, 09:02 AM
I watched Sue Johnson ( brookie) do hers last night but that looked an old one,, is it a new series then? whens it on and what side
:D
sassie, it was a new series started last night :thumbs:
Wednesdays at 9pm BBC1 :thumbs:
Fabulous :D :thumbs:
I happened to catch the programme last night. Never seen it before but will be tuning in next week for sure
sassieb
07-09-06, 12:16 PM
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sp54 @ 7th September 2006 - 10:26 AM) 197054</div>
sassie, it was a new series started last night :thumbs:
Wednesdays at 9pm BBC1 :thumbs:
Fabulous :D :thumbs:
[/b]
Fatastic..thanks SP will def watch out for it
:thumbs:
My mum has been working on our family tree for about 10yrs now, she's researched about 200yrs into the past so far, taken her a while cause she's only doing it in her spare time.
Apparently my Family name has been in the UK for about 1,000 yrs, maybe even longer.
It is really surprising what you find :D
I have found things that have made me laugh and made me cry. Don't even get me started on my great great Uncle Reuben :bigeyes: What a rogue he was :lol: :hihi: :hihi: but I am very proud to have him in my tree in a strange kind of way :lol: :blink: :rolleyes: :blush:
Who'd have thought Barbara Windsor was a distant relly to John Constable?
C1rcle, your name probably came over with the Normans then I would guess.
Enterian
07-09-06, 07:29 PM
It was strange, my family is also from the East End, and I too have some Irish Cabinetmakers for ancestors!
coppernob
07-09-06, 07:58 PM
I must be a bore too,SP!! I started my Access course today,hopefully I'll be a fully fledged Archivist in a few years time,I'd be in my elimate amongst all those old records :bigeyes: My OH thinks I'm totally mad,I've even traced his lot but he is not interested in the slightest as he said you'll never going to meet them are you? :banghead: :banghead: Your Grandma's story is very moving,I think you have to go into research with an open mind as you never know what you'll uncover :ph34r: Most of my lot were normal run of the mill dockers,steelworkers or in the Navy but I do have a VC hero who'se a several times Great Uncle! My OH family never moved out of Hampshire in every branch for hundreds of years whearas my lot are all over the place!! My Nan's Irish on my Father's side,my Mum's Nan was Irish on her Father's side,and my Mum's Mum's Grandfather was Irish,no wonder I'm a coppernob ;) :wacko: A lot of the Irish records were destroyed in the uprising so havn't even attempted to trace any of them!!
Can't wait for Robert Lindsay's tree!! :thumbs:
:bigeyes: Oh WOW!!! CN, an archivist???!!!
How do you get to be one? I have never even heard of the course :blush: Very well done to you :notworthy: that is fantastic :thumbs: and I am very jealous :rolleyes:
Mr.sp finds it boring too :unsure: but patiently drives me around all over the country :lol: [I don't drive]
Barbara Windsor was very moved last night, and I could totally empathise with her. They are not just names - they were living, breathing people, and without them we wouldn't be here.
My 4x gt.grandfather deserted from the army in 1798 :blush: and it just makes him so real :) I love it all :thumbs:
Amongst my parish record collection I own [on fiche], I have a direct ancestor who buried 2 of her children in the same week and her husband a week later :cry: I was moved to tears by that discovery, but many tales make me laugh too :D
Some of the things you find written in parish registers are just awful - some very naughty parish clerks around in some areas ;)
Most of mine were ag.labs, labourers and carpenters, but I am every bit as proud of them as if they were Royalty :)
I guess you are like me, CN, and won't stop until you know you have traced each and every one of them who have made us who we are :)
coppernob
07-09-06, 09:12 PM
I'm not very good at doing quotes,sp :blush: but ,yep, i'm addicted!!The brickwall's are frustrating but,when you eventually knock it down,I walk around grinning all day!! :D . I'm doing a 2 year Access Humanities course at college,from there,it's uni n to get a history degree.From there,it's a post grad archive studies course for another year! If i'm not too old to be employed after all that,I'll be doing my dream job!!CN
:o CN, I am totally full of admiration for you :notworthy: :notworthy: That is an amazing thing to do - good for you to chase your dream job.
I can't wait for next weeks programme now :D
release
07-09-06, 09:24 PM
aahhhh,i missed this,i will have to watch it next week.
my mother has traced part of our family tree,and she says that i am related to the spencer family,princess diana's family.i will have to borrow the tree and have a good look.
That's interesting, release :)
Funnily enough, one of the emails I had after last nights programme was about my own Spencer ancestors. I haven't got far with them - stuck in the early 1800's in London, but would love to be related to THE Spencers :lol:
Knowing my luck the only Spencer I will be related to is Frank :lol: :hihi: :hihi: :rolleyes:
release
07-09-06, 10:33 PM
LOL,
if i remember right,frank was a bit of a NFH too :jester:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(sp54 @ 7th September 2006 - 7:23 PM) 197171</div>
It is really surprising what you find :D
I have found things that have made me laugh and made me cry. Don't even get me started on my great great Uncle Reuben :bigeyes: What a rogue he was :lol: :hihi: :hihi: but I am very proud to have him in my tree in a strange kind of way :lol: :blink: :rolleyes: :blush:
Who'd have thought Barbara Windsor was a distant relly to John Constable?
C1rcle, your name probably came over with the Normans then I would guess.
[/b]
sp I think you're right, I'll have to check with my mum though. Just the other day my oldest son was walking through the local cemetary with his new girlfriend (ahhh young love, so sweet, kissy kissy, yes I am a windup merchant ;) ) & he spotted a headstone with our name on it, the son of a local MP or lord, he'll be going back at the weekend to get the details so I can pass them along in case they're really part of the family.
We could be related to rich people & not know about it, maybe I could tap them for a few quid ;) heh
It is amazing who you find out you are related to :)
Mr.sp is distantly related to a notable family ;) I say distant, his ancestors in the 1600's messed it all up :badmood: :lol: :P
Mr.sp is descended from the first wife of this particular chappy. She died in childbirth in 1620 ish. Her husband rapidly remarried, had another 6 kids and then that 2nd wife died in childbirth. He then remarried the second wife's sister and had more children.
All well and good, exept for some reason the 'title' of Viscount passed on via the children of the third wife. :angry: :badmood: I always thought titles passed on through the children of a first wife :unsure:
WE WOZ ROBBED :badmood: :lol:
Just think, I could have been Viscountess sp54 :rolleyes:
:lol: :hihi: :hihi:
I love this program too and know the feeling of getting all emotional when you discover new info. One of my ancesters was killed in Belgium in WW1 aged just 18 and i'd never heard of him and neither had my parents, not nice to think of these people just forgotten.
I've got back as far as the late 1700's now and its starting to take over my life, the more i discover the more time on spend on it. I'm also in touch with relatives around the world via the genesreunited site including a cousin i didn't know about that lives only 5 mins from me.
I'd love to do a course in archive studies, it would be my dream job as well, in fact I think I'll look into it and see whats available in my area.
Also found out my great grandmother was irish and Roman Catholic so that was a surprise as well.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Milano @ 8th September 2006 - 3:30 PM) 197302</div>
I've got back as far as the late 1700's now and its starting to take over my life, the more i discover the more time on spend on it.
[/b]
:yes: :rolleyes:
I'd love to trace back futher, but I can only get back to the 1800s on one side :( The family were from Hamburg so I haven't a clue how to find out much more.
Anyone got any ideas? ;)