What family mystery would you like to solve?

[livingonaprairie]

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?

Great grandad ( I think) apparently got swindled out of money by his business partner and had to declare bankruptcy. Due to the shame he moved a couple of hours away and changed his name.

Dad used to tell me there was some money to be found (doubtful after 80yrs + I think) but I'd really like to know who he actually was!

The girl he married in our town was Irish and they had a baby. However, some digging suggests that Irish girl might already have been pregnant when she came to England.

Would love to know all the ins and outs of this part of the family tree!

Around 17%

What caused the accident that killed my grandparents 40 years ago.

I desperately want you to write this as a novel, though I’m more interested in the Unitarians with brains and Shane McGowan teeth than the Spaniard…😀

My great grandparents did this. They lost two babies and thought they couldn’t have children and so because my great grandad had been adopted himself they decided to do the same. They adopted their son and then went on to have 6 healthy children naturally.

Why there are 2 recorded dates for my FIL's death

When my MIL's funeral was (we know the location, just not the day or time), and who was there

What's happened to FIL's child from his first marriage. We have a first name but that's all

Why are there 2 kids in a very old photo of my FIL and who is the second kid?

That's my Canadian second-ish cousin's theory too (he contacted me to ask if I knew, as Lillie was my direct ancestor), but should the birth record show something extra such as a time of birth for twins?

My mother’s childhood was very sad, her mother died when she was four and she never really knew her. She had siblings but she was put in a children’s home for 3 years, never had a visitor yet it was not only in the town her family lived in but her maternal grandparents were alive and didn’t die until some 30 years later! Her siblings went to live with relatives, one of whom wanted to adopt mum but this was refused.
My parents married but no one in her family attended; she wasn’t given away by her father.
Mum made up various stories about her younger life but until recently, after she died, we now know very little of what she told us was true. You definitely couldn’t question her about things, she’d just tell you what she liked.
Very odd but also very sad.

Lots of mental hospitals/asylums had a cemetery right next to them - start with the one closest to the hospital. Lots of historic cemeteries of course that are now parks or built on, so you may have to check a historic map. Think OS is easily accessible.

Not all cemetery records are digitised, especially not the ones that are still in private hands.

If he had a particular religion he may be buried in a specific cemetery - usually only applies to catholic and jewish* people, though most large cemeteries were split into CofE and 'non-conformist' (i.e. everyone else).

*Edit: also muslim, but a GG generation ago there were no islamic burial grounds to my knowledge

I have no idea who my maternal grandparents were have gone back to 1066 on my paternal side (fought with Harold) but don't even know the names of my maternal grandparents

Gosh that's a real differing experience from each side of the family! We can get back to around 17thC on both sides so far but I'd love to do more when I have spare time (my grandfather started the work, then my uncle took over when GF died)

@Notaflippinclue was your mum adopted or estranged from her parents that she didn't know their names? It sounds terribly sad and such a contrast to your paternal family tree.

Would a DNA search help in case you match with someone already in the system?

Providing you know some of your mum's details, you could search GRO or FreeBMD for your mum's marriage or birth certificate - normally gives you something to go on

Who my grandfather really was?
He always claimed to have been orphaned by a zeppelin bomb, grew up in a Banardos home, he thought he had two older sisters whom he remembered saying goodbye to when they left the home.

He asked for his birth certificate from the home when he was 30 and joined the army in WW2 except it turns out it’s not his birth certificate but he went by this name and date of birth his whole life including using it for his marriage but it seems likely it’s not him, the real XY Smith (and the surname is Smith!) had a different life, died earlier and is not related. The war pension he claimed was paid to him due to his parents death in WW1 was never paid to a person of his name or age so we really have no idea who he might be

We don’t know if his whole life was fake and it was deliberate deception, using the name of another child from the home to cover something or if his name was the same (common name) the story a misunderstanding and the whole thing an error. I would love to know where I come from on that side

I have a couple I would like to know the story behind-

I never got to meet my Grandad who was in the royal navy for around 15 years, serving on submarines and warships for the duration of WW2 and the Korean War. The thing is that, for all the time he was enlisted, I can find very little information on his years of service. It’s so limited compared to the stories that I heard growing up- saved a fellow sailor from a submarine training tower, survived multiple torpedo sinkings. His eldest daughter binned his medals in the bin chute when she was a young child so those are long gone and the only papers we can find are for the usual campaign medals. But, by far, the most intriguing story is that he was part of a collaborative mission that involved the Italian mafia. I’ve never been able to find anything about it and would love to know if there’s any truth behind it.

The second is that my fraternal side- specifically Great granny Annie- is part of London’s Richardson Gang.

An aunt came over from Ireland on the boat and then disappeared. Rumour has it there was a Scottish serial killer in Glasgow at the time and she was killed by him. Never confirmed tho.

Have you done a DNA test?

Very similar to my grandmother. Her Mum died in labour when she was about 7 and she was put in an orphanage with her siblings although their DF was still around (he was an alcoholic). She made up lots of stories about her family that turned out to be lies. I wonder if her childish, traumatised brain concocted these tales as a way to comfort herself, and she ended up actually believing them. It’s very sad.

I will look into this.

Its been a while since I did any digging through the family tree and this thread has got me inspired again!

I only use ancestry, and the free record site I can't remember the name of. What other sites do you all recommend?

No specific site. Contact the local archives (sometimes part of library services) to help you whittle down the most likely cemetery. If they don't have the records themselves they will be able to tell you who does, or at least point you to your next step. E.g. start with Tower Hamlets Local history library & archives, then move on to London Metropolitan Archives.

E.g. if you read here you'll understand that who holds the records for historic closed cemeteries (i.e. no longer open to burials) isn't always logical or digital, as they were often held by 'the local authority' but London's authorities and boundaries have changed lots of times:
https://www.stmarysilford.org.uk/churchyard

Did my great grandparents really get married on the journey from Ireland to England or did they just say they did?

@Theimpossiblegirl can you get married at sea? Does the church have rules about where you can get married? I am not a Christian so wouldn't know the t's & c's regarding religious weddings.

Bump, this was such an interesting thread. Looking forward to reading about more mysteries.