how many of us knew our great grandparents?

[Nimbostratus100]

following on from @waggytailswetnoses thread, which piqued my interest, but turned out to be sadly disappointing, here is the thread I was hoping for! Did you know your great grandparents? Or further back? WHat were they like?

My family has typically had kids when young so my Great Grandmother, Dad's side, was alive when I had my son and daughter... unfortunately she was a horrible woman, blamed my Mum for my Dads affairs
But then my own Grandparents, also Dad's side, believed my ex wouldn't have been violent had we been married and not had children in sin. I think we can summarise the entire side as twats

Family on my Mum's side are delightful though. Great Grandparents Mums side were alive when I was born but I was sadly too young to remember them.

Wow! That's amazing. So you are mid 40s, parents 60s, grandparents 70s and great grandparents 90s?

That’s astonishing. I’ve never known anyone with a living GGG Grandparent. I barely knew my grandparents so it must be lovely to have lots of older relatives.

that is amazing

I had 4 great grandparents when I was born all maternal I don't remember 2 as died before I was 4, but I have her wedding ring as my wedding ring, it is from 1912though they married just before WWI; my other great granny we only saw occasionally I don't remember her well she died I think when i was 10, my great grandfather I remember quite well we saw him most weeks, he was a machinist engineer he died in his mid eighties I think he was OK until last few weeks I was almost 13 when he died , he was involved in WW1 but don't know much about it or where but it wasn't France western front and by WWII was in reserved occupation and a bit too old so was part of home guard as well

on the other hand my daughter only had one great grandparent when she was born who died when she was about 20 months,

One of my great grandmothers died when I was 17 or 18. She was difficult for want of a better word. She abandoned my paternal grandmother with her inlaws for 5 years from birth even though she despised them for being "gypsies". She took the eldest twin though. She apparently tried to make my great grandfather's life a misery when he let various relatives stop over on their farmland and then when she finally had a son, worshipped him to the detriment of her daughters. She made me get changed once when we were going out for dinner (think I was about 14) because she said I'd have people coming up and crossing my palm with silver. I had my favourite floor length skirt on. I didn't like her because she was cold and snobbish and with the benefit of adult eyes she did tremendous harm, to my abandoned grandmother, to my dad and his sister and to me because the inability to love/parent drifted down the generations.

Another of my great grandmothers died when I was 7ish. She was totally different. In her youth she helped deliver babies and lay out the dead. She had this massive jar of coins for the ferryman...just in case someone didn't have their fare. She always had fresh baking and a floury apron and a smile.

Never met the rest but wished I had.

One great gran who died age 88 when I was eight. She loved horse racing, dogs, singing, and knitting and used to save shiny copper pennies and halfpennies in a jam jar for our pocket money. A distant cousin recently sent me a photo of her as a young mother in 1917 - she was absolutely stunning!

I met a great granny when I was little. I've no memory but apparently I sat on her knee and she played pat-a-cake pat-a-cake baker's man with me.

Sadly I never met one of my granddads as he died some time before I was born.

I knew one GGfather, he died in his mid 90s when I was 14. He outlived both GFs! A really lovely old man.

I knew my maternal great grandma very well. She was quick witted, sharp, strong and very nice lady. Her first husband was cruel (domestic abuse) but she then married a wonderful man later on. I loved my great grandma. She told me stories about where she worked (mills) and she used to crack us up. She loved an audience and loved me bringing my newborn to see her.
My paternal great grandma died when I was 5.

I knew both of my great grandmothers. My paternal GGM died when I was 18ish and my maternal GGM when I was 27, 6 weeks after her hundredth birthday. My DM used to bring both GGM’s to our house every few months. The problem was, one was a bit deaf and the other had memory problems - we’d spend the whole time reminding one GGM that she had to shout then she’d forget 2 minutes later!

My maternal GGM would tell me stories about having twins during the WWII. When the air raid sirens went she’d grab one twin, milk etc run to the shelter and pray she had time to get back for the second!

Not me but my kids knew my nan, and their great great nan

I didn’t know my great grandmother in person (she died in 1934), but she was a very strong and impressive woman , the village midwife and ‘ wise woman’ when there was not much health resource in remote rural Northumberland , before the First World War.

My grandmother and mother told me so many tales about her and her ‘cases’ , that I feel as if I knew her personally. One of her ‘remedies’ has helped several people I know in times of illness and convalescence.

My great granny was a Victorian and a proud, wonderful woman who faced such extraordinary hardship, one of 16 and the only girl who lived beyond 20. She lost her DH to a mining accident and her daughter to a choking incident aged 3 and raised a DS with downs syndrome alone. The coal board tried to wriggle out of admitting responsibility for her husband's death but the labour party fought her corner for 2yrs and got her a pension. She was stern but kind and lived into the late 80s.

My other great grandma was a plump, kind, mischievous woman who had a huge box of buttons. I was 7 when she died and was so lucky to know her. She was a pub landlady in her younger years and had a glint in her eye.

o my goodness! what are they like? Do you have children young in your family? One of my closest friend was a granny by 34 and a great granny by 52, so every chance she will see her great great grandchildren

I think the waterloo story is amazing

but my paternal grandfather born 1897 was a genuine Victorian I remember him well he was in Egypt and what is now Israel and Jordan in WWI as part of the cavalry, it seems amazing that I know someone who went to war with horses!! he was a poor boy from the midlands coal mining community, it was amazing to those in his church that anyone could have been and possibly walked in Jerusalem or had been to Bethlehem, Jericho; for them him having been there where they read that Jesus walked was like having been to the moon

I can remember 4 of my great-grandparents, plus one great-great-uncle who had married my great-grandmother when my great-grandfather died (they were brothers and that was fairly common apparently).

The last of them died when I was 13 or 14.

I've had children much later, and none of my children remember their great-grandparents (the only one still alive when they were born died when my DC were 4 and 2).

My great grandma is still with us! I’m 28 and she just turned 98.

I remember one set of great grandparents - he died when i was primary aged and she lived until I was 20ish. He died when I was primary age - she lived until I was 20. My DC1 met my grandmother but she died when I was pregnant with DC2.

And my great great aunt died at age 113. Her DH was killed on the Somme when she was in her mid 20s. She was extraordinary.

She was the oldest living woman for a while and was fit as a fiddle.

I never knew my great grandparents. I didn’t even meet all my grandparents.

I knew two of my Great Grandma's... one from each side of the family.

My son, who turns 16 this week, was able to spend some time with one of his Great Great Grandmas before she passed when he was 4 and has been lucky to know 4 Great Grandparents in all.

I barely remember my Grandparents - Dad's parents both died when I was about 8. Mum's dad died when I was 2. Mum's mum lasted until I was 20, but we only saw her about 3 times a year because of the distance between her house and ours. She was a short, plump, chatty Londoner. Very prudish, but also rather kind.

I had three Great Grandma's alive into my teens.

One Great Grandma was a lovely, kindly, little old lady with white hair. She used to give us rich tea biscuits in her kitchen. And we'd fight to sit on her step stool 😆. Really interesting and sad early life, born out of wedlock and raised in an orphanage in the early 1900s.

Another great grandma was my maternal grandma's step mother (but also my grandad's aunty!) We used to play twister in her bedsit. She'd come to my grandparents house and play cards and Scrabble. Moved across the world with her children when widowed and lived with my grandparents who emigrated a few years before until settled.

Last Great Grandma I never met for complex reasons.

I only knew 2 of my grandparents never mind great grandparents. DMs mother died when she was 16 and DFs mother died when he was 8.