Family history research surprises...

[wheresmymojo]

I'm researching the family history on both my side and DH's.

I've come across quite a few surprises/interesting things and wondered if anyone else had anything they've found in their family trees that took them by surprise?

The ones off the top of my head in my tree are:

• I have a 4th Great Uncle who was a civil war hero in the US (he even has a Wikipedia page); I had no idea we had any ties to the US at all

• DH's family can be traced back to the 1000's because one of them was mates with William the Conqueror

• DH's family is full of Barons, Sirs, Lords and Sherriffs of Nottingham. Some of them have marble tombs and oil paintings

• Mine were poor as fuck, many died in the Irish famine, some lived in Liverpool slums, some died in workhouses. The ones that had a 'good' life still worked down the pits and raised lots of children in just two or three rooms

• In one branch mine eventually trace back to Scottish crofters near Aberdeen (also poor) trying to make ends meet for 10 kids off 7 acres of land

• One very sad suicide with that I think now would've been PND

• Lots of deportations to Australia and time in prison for petty crimes like stealing a chicken (probably to eat) on my poor side

Anyone else?

We've done Ancestry DNA as well as genealogy research. I identified my birth father through a combination of DNA matches and building trees but mine wasn't as interesting as dfil's
He was a post war baby and told his father was an Italian American Airman. DNA showed no Italian, I researched his matches and discovered he was Native American! We've identified his father (sadly long deceased) and dfil has now seen the face of and heard the name of his bf for the first time in 69 years.
The Native American family (over in Oklahoma) have been wonderful and we're all enjoying getting to know one another. My dfil is enjoying learning about not only his father but his unexpected cultural identity.

@wheresmymojo the name Appolonia caught my eye. I'm originally from Belfast & this link talks about the Italian immigrants who settled there. I remember them & "Little Italy" well - I was at school with one of the Notarantonio girls.There where quite a few pockets of Italian immigration in Ireland. www.bbc.co.uk/legacies/immig_emig/northern_ireland/ni_4/article_2.shtml

@wheresmymojo should also mention that by that time the family had changed the name to Notar. You might find this replicated & make tracking ppl down even more difficult.

I am really fascinated by this thread and all the history, thanks OP for starting it.
I have a question which you might be able to answer - my mum died 3 years ago and I want to find out who her dad was. She knew her ‘dad’ was possibly not her real father. If I did a DNA ancestry thing would that help me to start to research this?
Thanks

Yes waterfall, especially if if you know one of your ‘Grandfathers’ actual relatives have done it, then it will be as6 to compare if she matches to them or not.

Another one here who is one of the billion or so descendants of William the Conqueror with royal relies all over Europe as well as so called nobility in UK and Ireland.

One thing, I found that My GG grandparents had their first child before they were married in the 1860s and eventually divorced due to my GG mother’s adultery. Described in some detail in National Archive records Her husband kept the kids which sounds heartbreaking. She died young of what sounds like uterine and liver cancer. Both are buried in the same grave oddly enough died nearly 50 years apart.

My DH’s grandma his really into all the ancestry, family history research etc. She’s done extensive research into their side of the family and started doing mine about 3 years ago.
We’ve found lots of info on my mother’s side of the family - nothing overly exciting until the World War II years where it all gets very horrific and sad. My father’s side of the family is way more difficult. It would turn out that my paternal great-grandmother was a bit of a “good time gal” back in the day, and now she’s dead, there’s not a single person on this planet who knows who my Grandmother’s father was - my grandma’s older brother always used to say that he’s sure my Great Grandmother didn’t even know for sure because it could have been a number of men She met and married the man who raised my Grandmother as his own when she was pregnant, so we know his history. But I’d still like to know the history pertaining to my biological Great Grandfather! He could have been anyone - maybe he had a very ordinary story, or maybe he had a spectacular life story that I’ll never know about

Thanks @DonutCone

Our family history hasn't been researched but my great gran had a child out of wedlock in 1918 and was forced to give the child up, also my great grandad (her husband) was a fireman in the 2nd world war