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?

I didn't even know my grandparents, bar my Mum's Mum who died when I was 11.
My great granndparents were all dead before I was born, though they span a long time period, the first one dying in 1896 and the longest survivor dying in 1960. I wish I could have known them as I have been studying my family history and have found some interesting stuff and have lots of questions which will never be answered now.
The most interesting person I have met with a connection to history is not a relative, but many years ago I had a very elderly patient who had worked for Beatrix Potter in his youth and I could have listened to his stories all day! I also looked after quite a lot of patients with memories of WW1 when I was a student and a junior doctor and was told many tragic but fascinating things. I loved my time working in Elderly Care for this reason, though I was always being shouted at for chatting to patients for too long. I think I should have been a historian or something really!

They sound amazing

I only knew one of my grandparents, and none of my great grandparents....there is a tradition in my family for having children late.

I had 4 when I was born in 1986.

My Dads Dads parents were both still alive. Great GDad died in 1996. Great GMa died in 2013.

My Dads Mums Mum was alive until 2011.

My Mums Mums Mum (?!?!) died in 1990.

I was born with four living great grandparents, I two died when I was a young child, one when I was 9 and the last when I was 19. I remember them all but we emigrated so I didn't get to spend time with my last DGGM into my teens and I wish I had. Same for a great aunt who was like another GGM to me.

o no, what a nightmare! the twin relay, I mean

I knew my great-grandma and her brother who would have been my great, great uncle. He was grumpy, always in a scarf and flat cap and rarely talked much. He'd never married and his routine was going to the club most evenings for dominoes and a pint. I later found out he'd saved his commanding officer in WW1 by running to carry him out of No Man's Land.
My great grandmother was tiny and wore her hair in a bun. She usually wore an apron - the floral style that was a bit like a pinafore. Her house (little council house) was very clean but plain and simple with crocheted blankets on the sofa. She grew vegetables and had raspberry canes and other soft fruit bushes that she'd make pans of jelly and jam from in the autumn. She also made cinder toffee which I still make for bonfire night and it reminds me of her.
On Sundays she'd be in Sunday best for chapel and would wear a coat, hat and gloves. She was born in the 1890s and died in 1971.

I met my paternal great GM a few times when I was a child. (Mid-late 70’s) She was utterly terrifying. She was the epitome of a Victorian old lady - very thin and wiry, with her few grey hairs scraped back on her head and parted in the middle. She wore a black dress with a high collar and a cameo brooch. She was deaf as a post a listened to parliament on the “wireless” with an ear horn, shouting down anyone who wasn’t conservative. (She was a member of a Christian cult.) She banged her walking stick on the floor when she agreed or disagreed with anything, or wanted attention. She had such dark brown eyes they were almost black. Unexpected in such a dour, colorless woman.

I never met any of mine but my granddaughter (6) has 4 grandparents, 5 great grandparents and 1 great great grandparent, all still very active in her life

My parents were young so I met:

maternal great grandfather (don’t remember, just a pic of us)
maternal great grandmother - remember her a lot, drinking guiness and being very east end 🤩

Paternal great grandmother - northern, stern and distant, had a dog

lived with my grandparents so remember them well.
My dad sadly I only had till I was 12.

I am loving reading these

Isnt it strange to think many of us will one day be names on someone else's family tree, someone we won't know, at the great grandmother, eventually great great great great grandmother slots!

I met my great grandmother (on mother's side) once, as a young teen. It was very emotional, as we took my grandmother who had been given up for adoption and (I believe) hadn't seen her since possibly childhood. My great grandmother spoke a different language to us, so we couldn't talk to her though my grandmother could.

There was only one I was old enough to know; all the others were dead by the time I was born, two killed in WW1, one in a minor accident and the others of old age.

The one I knew fought in WW1 but, like many, never spoke of it. I was only about 6 when he died and he didn't live near us so I rarely saw him. I was a bit afraid of him, for some reason, though the only photo I have shows him smiling and pushing me on a swing, looking not at all scary.

I've seen the 'papers' of one of the great granddads who died in WW1, and a local newspaper cutting about the minor accident which killed another.

I knew 3 great grandparents till my early teens ,the great grandmother's lived with my granny so saw them everyweek ,granny died last year at 102 and her oldest great-grandchild out of 18 was 33 youngest 10 2 great great grandkids

We only knew two maternal GPS as paternal ones were sadly not with us.

Plus grew up for a large part o/s

My great grandparents were lovely. They grew all their own veg right up until they died. They'd send us home with brown paper bags full of tomatoes or runner beans.
I never forget walking into their living room and seeing a mini Mars bar and a £1 coin all lined up on the sideboard for however many grandchildren were visiting.
Great-grandad had the same three stories that he'd tell on repeat and we'd all listen as if it was the first time we'd heard them. Sometimes one of us will start telling one now to make everyone laugh. They both reached a good old age, I think 96/99. They lasted until my late teens.

I vaguely remember my great granny on my dad's dad's side as being very glamourous and always immaculately dressed and make up perfect. And she smelled of posh perfume. My mum informed me it was chanel no. 5...But j have the most wonderful memories of my dad's mum's parents. Great granda died when I was 11 and great granny died when I was 25, i was absolutely gutted as we were supposed to be going to visit her with our 18 month old son for the first time (they lived in Scotland, we were as far south in england as you could get)

I'm now a granny and as my husbands gran is still alive (almost 100) she is a great great grandmother! And claims bragging rights in her retirement home 🤣

I knew 2 great grandmother's and 2 great grandfathers they died between me being 8 and 23. I have great memories of them all and had the honour of caring for one till the end.

The women on my mothers side tend to live to a grand old age so I’ve been lucky enough to know my great-aunts who died aged 102 (in 1984 when I was 11) and 101 (in 1986), and one great step-grandmother who died at 104 in 1988. My grandmother made it to 100, long enough to meet my eldest though he doesn’t remember her as he was not quite 4 when she died.
The most extraordinary one though, is my great great grandmother who was born in 1859 and only died in 1967 (108!!!!) which was only a few years before I was born. 🤯

My great grandmother was born in the late 1870s (I presume, my grandfather was born in 1899). I remember her in the early 1970s. She look like Queen Victoria, she wore all black clothes, a long skirt & her hair scraped back in a bun. I think her husband died when I was a baby.

My great grandmother died when I was 12. She was a Jewish refugee from Germany, terrifically ladylike and dignified. She was middle aged when she got to this country - penniless, and with a husband who was traumatised from being in a concentration camp. She became a social worker working with refugees and, later, 'delinquent' boys. I loved her.

I am now nearly 60 and still have my gran (my grandad died last year at 103). She had 11 kids, starting very young, so now is a matriarch presiding over five generations. She lives independently and has every marble.

I don't remember a lot but I've been told a lot about my GGM. She had a difficult childhood, ran away from home and started working at 11 years old. Her first child had health issues and only lived five years. She had 8 more children through the thirties and forties, that she could never afford to keep in shoes at the same time. She took in washing and ironing to try to make ends meet. All her children and grandchildren who I know speak about her fondly, though she had a fiery side, would fall out with neighbours in feuds that lasted years. I wish I could have spent more time with her.

Oh goodness no. My great grandfather, who is the one that died most recently, was born in 1898. I am in my thirties. Even if he had been alive when I was born he’d have been in his nineties. As it was he died when my mum was a child. I consider myself fortunate to have had a relationship with my grandparents especially given DS is already one down. I am always amazed people were alive at the same time as great grandparents let alone knew them.
DH grandparents died when he was a child and FIL died in his sixties before DS was born.
Such and interesting thread.

Isnt it strange to think many of us will one day be names on someone else's family tree, someone we won't know, at the great grandmother, eventually great great great great grandmother slots!
Yes, though I imagine that future generations will be able to access a lot more information about us, as our lives are generally documented in far more detail nowadays. I wonder if my great grandchildren will be looking at my archived social media posts in the future?! I would love to be able to hear my ancestors voices and see video of them.
I know that at least 2 of my great grandmothers were iliterate as their marriage records just have "X her mark" on them. I wonder what they would have said if someone could have seen into the future and told them that their great grandchildren would be University educated and include doctors, engineers, teachers etc? I doubt they would have believed that was possible, even for the boys, never mind the girls. The more I learn about my ancestors lives the more grateful I am to have been born where and when I was, as the biggest difference between me and them is surely opportunity.

@AgeingDoc i had for a brief period (my teenage daughter lost it) the marriage document of one of my great great great grandmothers. there was cattle involved she was 16 years old. i'm fortunate that the canadian catholic church has kept excellent records going back to 1600.
i find family trees interesting.