What do you know about your ancestors?

[TruiColours]

i dont know that much , all i know is my family came from Ireland in the 1700s

They were Irish farmers, from Co. Fermanagh & Co. Tyrone. Generations of them, as far back as anyone has bothered to look. My family would make for a very short, very boring episode of ‘Who do you think you are’.

They invented the wheel and fire and it was all downhill from there.

Depressingly little, as lots of records were destroyed in Ireland in the early 20thc, and mine were poor — small tenant farmers and labourers, who left no trace and were illiterate before you get back all that far.

It’s made me think far more about it since I recently moved into a Victorian house and with a few clicks on Google was able to access more about the history of the upper-middle-class family who bought it in the early 1900s than I know about my entire family history. More privileged people leave more trace. Men leave more trace. An interesting-sounding unmarried female artist lived in the house too, but there are no records for her at all.

Mine were way too poor to be documented. Most seem to have come from Ireland to work in the textile Mills (women) while the men were itinerant labourers so don’t appear on census in any consistent way.

@justilou1

A lot... right back to 1540’s. It’s amazing how many records were kept! First female ancestor was burnt at the stake for heresy. Nice work, Spanish Inquisition!

I have a female relative who was burnt at the stake as well. Mine was a friend of one of Henry 8ths wives and was tortured in the tower bef being killed.

Another ancestor was a semi famous poet though I'd never heard of him... But he does have a museum in his home county I keep meaning to go to.

On my DM’s side we are descended from a famous gang of smugglers who were hung!

My great aunt did the family tree, and caused outrage as it showed my great grandfather was born before his parents were married.

Can you say who the poet is @JacobReesMogadishu?

Hang on, will have to Google because I keep forgetting, peasants poet or something

John clare. 🤷‍♀️

Oooo you've inspired me to go back on ancestry.co.uk and do a bit more digging

My ancestors all seem to come from Kent and Yorkshire, nothing exotic.

My husband's is much more interesting with lots and lots of German and Danish heritage.

Lots of miners and labourers in my family. My paternal GPS were from Scotland and Norfolk and maternal GMs family are from the vale of Evesham and the Cotswolds. I think of them bringing up their huge families in those little cottages that now cost a fortune. Like PP said, many kids born out of wedlock. The mothers either eventually married the father or someone else in most cases. They weren't cast out.

I've heard of John Clare! Though I couldn't quote him.

A quick Google has amusingly come up with a piece of music called, "If John Clare was my father".

Just for you, Jacob!

player.captivate.fm/episode/5191e49d-ed9b-4818-a8be-e961b4a20f06

@JacobReesMogadishu

John clare. 🤷‍♀️

Oh, that’s brilliant, @JacobReesMogadishu! I would die of pride to have John Clare among my ancestors — and his life, as well as his work, is so interesting, and he’s such a rare voice to have from that period, a labouring-class poet, and the way that he’s so obviously damaged by being torn between two lives, and it must have contributed to his insanity.

Have you read Jonathan Bate’s biography? Or Adam Foulds novel? I always meant to go to the Helpston museum because I lived for a while about 20 miles away, but never did.

I haven’t even read any of his poems. 🙈. Never mind any biography or novel about him.

Well.... I went to a spiritualist night with some friends for a laugh. She told me I was an old soul who had actually been here before. In fact in my past life I was the last princess of Wales who escaped to France.

So obviously I have a royal ancestry!

I’ve just been googling and found a website which says he was one of the major 19th century poets. I had no idea he was that well thought of. Guess I’d have been more impressed if I’d been related to Wordsworth or Keats. My dad was quite excited about it, he was probably more cultured than I am!

Wow that’s amazing so many on here can go so far back

I wonder how my great great great (I think another great) grandparents marriage was accepted granny being form England and grandad being from Sri Lanka (Sinhalese)

Not so much my own, as I'm adopted, but we've recently found out some fascinating stuff about my DD's ancestry, through my husband's family. She's a mix of Turkish, Greek, Polish and Hungarian on her paternal side, with lots of interesting names in her family tree. All various strands of Jewish - Sephardi and Ashkenazi.

On my husband's side they were samurai, they still have the family armour back in Japan in his ancestral home.

@JacobReesMogadishu

I’ve just been googling and found a website which says he was one of the major 19th century poets. I had no idea he was that well thought of. Guess I’d have been more impressed if I’d been related to Wordsworth or Keats. My dad was quite excited about it, he was probably more cultured than I am!

He’s really good, @JacobReesMogadishu! And unique in that he was self-taught, used Northamptonshire dialect in his work (which is brilliantly attentive to the details of nature and how the Industrial revolution changed the countryside), and had a fairly screwed-up personal life, partly because being famous made him feel alienated from his peasant roots (while of course he wasn’t socially accepted by the London literati who admired him but also treated him like a talking dog), and drank like a fish, couldn’t feed his family, and developed a serious MH condition and was delusional — he’s famous for a 90 mile walk he took after escaping from an asylum in Essex back home to a woman he believed he was married to — and ended his days at the asylum James Joyce’s daughter spent most of her life in.

Cool ancestor...

Very little compared to most people I know. Some of the stories I grew up with were untrue, other bits are hard to find documentation, and in general it wasn't something my family talked about much.

I stumbled on findagrave.com while looking for my grandmother's obituary. That has had some interesting finds for me, a few names even 2 generations back I'd never heard before.

I recently found out my dads side of the family from 1600 were Romany gypsies
Don't know much about my mums side...

Nothing. Dh has traced his family back to 1054. He cannot find anything before then.

1054

That’s incredible

I can't find anything for Northern Ireland, I'm at a standstill. What are the best sites for Ireland?