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Original poster

What family mystery would you like to solve?

148 replies

livingonaprairie · 15/08/2024 22:27

Just watching Who Do You Think You Are and have always loved finding out family stories. If you were ever famous enough to be on the show, what would you like to find out? For me it would be investigating my granny's family
We found out shortly after she died thar the person we thought was her father (who was still alive when I was little) actually wasn't. He was the father of her 6 siblings but she was the oldest one and born illegitimately at the end of WW1 and he took her on as his own. I'd love to find out about my actual great grandad and his family but we'll never be able to because we don't have any information at all. Are there any interesting family stories/rumours you would love to learn more about if you were famous enough for WDYTYA?

OP posts:
sausawyee · 19/08/2024 21:38

Augustisnearlydonesogoodbyesun · 19/08/2024 19:56

My dm told me her df died of a heart attack.. At an anniversary party his dsis's dc told me he drowned... No way to know the truth now.

Buy death certificate?

StrictlyAFemaleFemale · 19/08/2024 21:39

Id like to know if I am related to the boy scout in the 50s whose name is VERY similar to my Grannys who punched Lord Baden Powell at scout camp. Blind fold boxing apparently.

Beaverbridge · 19/08/2024 21:42

I heard from a reliable source that I have a half sister and brother. I was shocked at the time and the person who told me is no longer with us. I wouldn't know how to find out if it's true and how to trace even if I wanted to.

Linnet · 19/08/2024 22:28

When my great grandad was dying he told my granny that he was adopted, unofficially, by the people who brought him up.

In doing the family tree I discovered that he didn’t go to live with those people until he was 5. He was born between censuses so the first time he appears is when he’s 5 living in the household, as a lodger, with that family but he has his original surname at that point and there is another man with the same surname living there as a lodger too. I don’t believe that man is his father but could be an uncle? I have his birth certificate and know that he was illegitimate and have the name of his mother. But the village she was from has two families with the same surname and I can’t link him definitely to either one.

I also can’t prove a link between him and the family who took him in and the families in the village. I’m sure they’re all connected in some way but I just can’t find it.

I’d really just like to know who his biological parents were, who he stayed with that first 5 years and why he was then given to the other family to bring up.

Tel12 · 19/08/2024 22:33

I've got a strong DNA match with someone in another country. But who are they? I haven't contacted them because well, who knows what applecart may be upturned?

Aproductofmyera80s · 19/08/2024 22:39

My Nan was Irish and beyond her fathers name, we know absolutely anything further. When you ask the rest of irish family they shy away talking about it, like it’s some dirty secret. Even some of our cousins over there have no idea, they’ve tried to help out but keep hitting blanks. My grandads I know heaps, I’d love to know beyond my great grandfather and even what my great grandmothers name was.

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 19/08/2024 22:40

AuntieMaud · 16/08/2024 10:53

I have a fair bit of info on my paternal grand and great grandparents side of the family but almost nothing on my maternal side. So frustrating and I have even considered hiring and paying for an expert to do the digging for me.

What does this cost? Has anyone here done this?

Why don't you have a go yourself? Join Ancestry.co.uk. Starting with yourself, put in all the details you know, names and dobs of your parents. Then you'll get "hints" from Ancestry's computer - census records, etc. You can order birth and marriage certificates from Gov.Uk which will give you more info - parents' names, etc. Get a DNA kit and upload the results and you'll get hints about cousins etc who have also tested . It's an addictive hobby and I've found out loads about my family and have been able to shed light on things my mum told me.

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 19/08/2024 22:43

Linnet · 19/08/2024 22:28

When my great grandad was dying he told my granny that he was adopted, unofficially, by the people who brought him up.

In doing the family tree I discovered that he didn’t go to live with those people until he was 5. He was born between censuses so the first time he appears is when he’s 5 living in the household, as a lodger, with that family but he has his original surname at that point and there is another man with the same surname living there as a lodger too. I don’t believe that man is his father but could be an uncle? I have his birth certificate and know that he was illegitimate and have the name of his mother. But the village she was from has two families with the same surname and I can’t link him definitely to either one.

I also can’t prove a link between him and the family who took him in and the families in the village. I’m sure they’re all connected in some way but I just can’t find it.

I’d really just like to know who his biological parents were, who he stayed with that first 5 years and why he was then given to the other family to bring up.

Have you done a DNA test? Got other (older) members of your family to do one? You could find a link to one of those families that way.

Pocketfullofdogtreats · 19/08/2024 22:46

ZeroFucksGivenToday · 19/08/2024 20:14

My dad (who I'm NC with) had at least two sons that were given up for adoption before he met my mum. social services removed them, and an aunt offered to have them, but my dad refused saying if he couldn't have them no one in the family could. I had a name of one of them and was massively curious in my teens, I was told at 13 that they'd died in a house fire. (I think mainly to stop me asking about them). Everyone who I could ask is now gone.

I believe my dad also fathered a child when he was 15. I've got a fair few half siblings and I have no idea who they are.

Have you uploaded a DNA test to one of the main companies? I would. Ancestry.co.uk for example.

QuietFlame · 19/08/2024 22:47

One if my great grandfathers fathered a child with his wife’s sister ..
I’d like to know the story around that !

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 19/08/2024 22:50

I'd like to know who was the father of my eldest aunt - my grandmother apparently had an affair with a married man in her early 20's, had my aunt and then he buggered off. No idea who he was. And I'd also like to know why my grandmother married my grandfather, had three more children and then separated from him, forbidding her children (my mother, her sisters and their brother) to ever speak of him again.

She'd already been ostracised from her own family for an 'out of wedlock' baby (whom she kept and brought up alongside the other children, but she put her own children through a similar experience with their own father. This was all in the 1920s and 30's. My brother and I recently found out that our grandfather didn't die until 1977, was a Chelsea Pensioner, and that our younger aunt used to visit him sometimes.

DramaAlpaca · 19/08/2024 22:56

I've a few things I'd love to find out about, maybe one day I will.

I'm being deliberately vague, but the first one would be to trace one of my grandfathers, who disappeared when my parent was a teenager and hasn't been heard of since.

nancy75 · 19/08/2024 23:02

Not a specific person, more a case of where does my family come from.
my dad is one of 14 - all with exceptionally strong genes (in photos of them when younger it’s very hard to tell them apart as they are so similar) we all have black curly hair, dark brown/black eyes & tanned skin (but we are white) As well as the colouring we look ‘different’ in our facial features (I’m frequently asked if I’m Turkish/Indian/jewish & a variety of other things) it’s difficult to explain without you seeing me.
Dad had a terrible relationship with his parents & we know nothing about their family history - I would love to know where the looks come from.

RaspberryWhirls · 19/08/2024 23:08

I found documents saying my ggdad was married and widowed before he married my ggmum. There were children from his first marriage, who were raised by the first wife's family. The first wife's family went nc with my ggdad & he never saw his two sons again.

So there is a whole new branch of my dad's family that we don't know about. I don't know if ggdad tried to find his children again or who they were. Ddad never really spoke about it, this is well over a 100 years ago now.

eggandchip · 19/08/2024 23:10

My family dont have any secrets or mysterys we have big gobs cant keep anything quite.
Much easier that way.

Aconite20 · 19/08/2024 23:10

The identity of one of my sibling's parents.

What one of my uncles did in the 1950s that involved special forces type kit and odd absences.

Whether one of my aunts is still alive.

Why one of my great grandparents left Ireland in the 19th century. I've never quite been able to work out if it was the Famine or not and of course the records office burned down, conveniently for the English....!

Misthios · 19/08/2024 23:11

You do know that you can do a lot of this research yourself, or pay a professional to do it for you?

bubbletubble · 19/08/2024 23:12

My Nana was adopted and I'd love to find out more about her birth family - my Nana died 15 years ago and had no information on her birth family and I wouldn't even know whether I would be able to access her adoption records.

Misthios · 19/08/2024 23:15

AuntieMaud · 16/08/2024 10:53

I have a fair bit of info on my paternal grand and great grandparents side of the family but almost nothing on my maternal side. So frustrating and I have even considered hiring and paying for an expert to do the digging for me.

What does this cost? Has anyone here done this?

Starts from £25 per hour generally, any decent professional will help you scope the project and work out what you need. If they have to visit archives in person you’ll have to pay travel expenses too.

OnNaturesCourse · 19/08/2024 23:18

What a brilliant thread!

I'd love to know why my GG mat Uncle ended up in a mental hospital in London when he was retired army, single and living in the Orkney the census before. He stayed there until his death many years later, buried in London. The hospital records show no next of kin despite him coming from a large family with over 10 siblings and, at the time, living parents plus many aunts and uncles.

What happened to him in those years between census and why did he have no next of kin?

Latenightreader · 19/08/2024 23:23

AuntieMaud · 16/08/2024 10:53

I have a fair bit of info on my paternal grand and great grandparents side of the family but almost nothing on my maternal side. So frustrating and I have even considered hiring and paying for an expert to do the digging for me.

What does this cost? Has anyone here done this?

My local county archive offers 1:2:1 family history surgeries for £14 an hour where an expert helps you dig and gives advice on places to look. I haven’t used them for my own research but have worked with the people involved and they are excellent! Doesn’t have to be family based in the county either. Maybe look and see if your county archive offers something similar? You could also try the family history society for the county/region where your family were based. They often have really helpful Facebook groups you can access free, and people there love a mystery.

Toddlerteaplease · 19/08/2024 23:24

Who my maternal grandmothers mum was. She has not birth certificate. And why did she come back from Canada at the age of 5.

Misthios · 19/08/2024 23:25

Augustisnearlydonesogoodbyesun · 19/08/2024 19:56

My dm told me her df died of a heart attack.. At an anniversary party his dsis's dc told me he drowned... No way to know the truth now.

Request a copy of the death certificate…

drang246 · 19/08/2024 23:29

An ancestor who seems to have been born abroad 200yrs ago, something which ties in with an old family story I had heard. I would love to find out the truth of this person's parentage.

drang246 · 19/08/2024 23:32

nancy75 · 19/08/2024 23:02

Not a specific person, more a case of where does my family come from.
my dad is one of 14 - all with exceptionally strong genes (in photos of them when younger it’s very hard to tell them apart as they are so similar) we all have black curly hair, dark brown/black eyes & tanned skin (but we are white) As well as the colouring we look ‘different’ in our facial features (I’m frequently asked if I’m Turkish/Indian/jewish & a variety of other things) it’s difficult to explain without you seeing me.
Dad had a terrible relationship with his parents & we know nothing about their family history - I would love to know where the looks come from.

Why don't you just get a DNA test?