searching your roots

[action]

lately i've begun looking up my ancestors. safe to say it's been quite the journey so far. i've managed to go back to half the 17th century in one instance. needed to have a basic understanding of latin though, since birth notes were done by church in that period and all in latin.

the most awesome find though, was that two of my direct ancestors served in WWI. both my great-grandfathers on my father's side have individual files which i managed to look up. i found that both survived the war and were given the cross of war for long service at the front.

also, my grandfather always had this war knife which he claimed to have taken from a german soldier in WWII, and today i could identify the weapon. it turned out to be the luftwaffe fighting knife, LW marked with a 6. which was, in that time, seen as a trophy of some sort. he claimed to have had to killl a german soldier to get it. it looks like this:

curiously, it came with this sheathe:

i did some research, and that is an US M8 knife sheathe. my grandfather would have got this from a US soldier. when he took the knife, he must not have taken the sheathe with him. guess a friendly US soldier gave him his as a token of gratitute for killing a german soldier. a german knife in a US sheathe. quite ironic come to think of it...

once you start digging in your family's history, you can't stop though. it's highlt addicting.

Edited October 17, 2017 by action

[BlueJean Baby]

Yeah it can be addicting. I traced back to the 1600's on both mom and dad's sides of my family. Irish and Scottish roots on both sides. 

I have one ancestor that rode with Quantrill's Raiders and Jesse James 😆

[Silverburst80]

All i know is my surname isn't really my proper surname, my Grandfather was orphan and so was given the name of the people who adopted him.

[DieselDaisy]

I researched my grandmother's side. haven't managed to go back much further than 1830s when the British census data fizzles out (to back further you rely on parish records). My great grandfather fought in World War One in 1918 in the West Riding/Duke of Wellington's (I have his King's Certificate and a bag he had); he had a finger shot off at the Battle of Épehy. I am researching everything I can. I have even bought that battalion's war diaries from National Archives, Kew. 

I had three great uncles who fought also, one of whom died at the Somme, the other whom was in the Navy, the other was in the Durham Light Infantry,

This photo is in my grandmother's possession - I scanned it in. From it I have found his battalion but have not proceeded much further in my research.

I've not began researching the rest of my family. The little I know of my grandfather's side is my great grandfather played for Tranmere Rovers and Sheffield United; he even has a wikipedia page,

He was a ladies man apparently. I just missed out on knowing him but I knew his wife who we called ''Little Grandma'' - she was the very definition of a battle axe and he was hen pecked. As soon as she left to go shopping, if my mother was visiting say, he'd say to my mother, ''get the chip pan on'' haha.

Apparently that side are ultimately descended from Scottish aristocrats (Lairds).

Edited October 18, 2017 by DieselDaisy

[action]

this is a picture of my great grandfather. i found it in his file. it was the first time i ever saw his face

he served as a member of the genie in anvers

then, he was transferred to calais (gravelines) where the belgian army reorganised themselves.

sadly, i dont have pics of my other great grandfather, who served in the third line and which took quite the beating from the germans...

 

 

[DieselDaisy]

8 minutes ago, action said:

this is a picture of my great grandfather. i found it in his file. it was the first time i ever saw his face

he served as a member of the genie in anvers

then, he was transferred to calais (gravelines) where the belgian army reorganised themselves.

sadly, i dont have pics of my other great grandfather, who served in the third line and which took quite the beating from the germans...

 

 

Belgium? On the Yser front under King Albert which held the left flank of the western front?

[SoulMonster]

My father has been doing this for decades now. He is very meticulous and does a great job. every time he visits he hands me a new edition of our family book which traces our family as far back as he can get, in some cases to the Black Plague. Really impressive. I have been helping him out a little bit, but I don't want to do too much of it, it is his hobby to enjoy, I can pick it up when he goes.

[action]

25 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Belgium? On the Yser front under King Albert which held the left flank of the western front?

correct.

my great grandfather (the one i dont have a pic of) always was a member of the third line, first division of the belgian army. first he fought in Grimde and then the fight at the Yser (bend of tervate, schore and schoorbakke).

incredibly, he survived.

when the war ended, he got a daughter, my grandmother. 8 months later, he died in a stupid work accident at the railroads. poison grenades couldnt kill him, but work did...

[SoulMonster]

Fun fact: One of my direct ancestors, John Cunningham, a Scottish nobleman, was officer at Vardøhus fortress in Finnmark, Norway, and responsible for the local witch hunts. He oversaw the burning of many alleged witches. 

[DieselDaisy]

4 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Fun fact: One of my direct ancestors, John Cunningham, a Scottish nobleman, was officer at Vardøhus fortress in Finnmark, Norway, and responsible for the local witch hunts. He oversaw the burning of many alleged witches. 

Did he introduce the Munchy Box into Norway?

[SoulMonster]

47 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Did he introduce the Munchy Box into Norway?

We have always had healthy eating habits. No Scot could do anything about that. Besides, you really obsess over munchy boxes, don't you?

[DieselDaisy]

6 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

We have always had healthy eating habits. No Scot could do anything about that. Besides, you really obsess over munchy boxes, don't you?

Picture the mindset which created it. You have four or five - kebab (meat), pizza, chips, etc - of the most unhealthy foodstuffs on the planet and somebody at some stage in Scotland went, ''you know what would be a good idea? Put all these foods in a pizza box and sell them together''.

[Len Cnut]

I honestly want to move to Scotland, they seem like the last down to earth people left of the UK.  Paddys are alright but they quite seem to have the same ummm...i dunno, most Paddys I’ve encountered seemed to be slightly more formal than your Scots.  I should probably try actually going to one of these places instead of forming impressions off the telly and folks I’ve met.

[SoulMonster]

16 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

Picture the mindset which created it. You have four or five - kebab (meat), pizza, chips, etc - of the most unhealthy foodstuffs on the planet and somebody at some stage in Scotland went, ''you know what would be a good idea? Put all these foods in a pizza box and sell them together''.

That must be fantastic when you are too drunk to make your own food and just want to gorge.

[DieselDaisy]

1 hour ago, action said:

correct.

my great grandfather (the one i dont have a pic of) always was a member of the third line, first division of the belgian army. first he fought in Grimde and then the fight at the Yser (bend of tervate, schore and schoorbakke).

incredibly, he survived.

when the war ended, he got a daughter, my grandmother. 8 months later, he died in a stupid work accident at the railroads. poison grenades couldnt kill him, but work did...

They opened the sluices and flooded the estuary; essentially the left flank of the western flank was protected by the flooded region. The Battle of the Yser basically ended the 'Race to the Sea'.

[DieselDaisy]

16 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

I honestly want to move to Scotland, they seem like the last down to earth people left of the UK.  Paddys are alright but they quite seem to have the same ummm...i dunno, most Paddys I’ve encountered seemed to be slightly more formal than your Scots.  I should probably try actually going to one of these places instead of forming impressions off the telly and folks I’ve met.

You seem like a poncified/Frenchified Arsenal loving Southern fairy who is desperate to go down a northern mine, drink a £1.80 pint of Ruddles and launch a tirade about Thatcher and Mike Ashley like any good Northerner would do. 

Apparently the Scots call the Geordies, ''Englishmen with brains''.

[Len Cnut]

15 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

You seem like a poncified/Frenchified Arsenal loving Southern fairy who is desperate to go down a northern mine, drink a £1.80 pint of Ruddles and launch a tirade about Thatcher and Mike Ashley like any good Northerner would do. 

And then fuck off back down to London after a fortnight for a prawn sandwich once i realised there was actual work involved

[Gracii Guns]

I started this, but got bored when I kept hitting barriers. Namely the Irish Sea. 

The best thing about knowing your heritage is the family stories which get passed down. My great-grandad was a market gardener, so well known in the town. Just this summer at an event there, an old codger walks up to me and asks "are you one of Bob Smith's?". I don't know how good his eyes were, but he was expecting me to be of my grandparent's generation. I did beam with bride when I said "yes, I'm his great-granddaughter". Sadly he died in 1960, so never got to meet him. But he left enough money for my great grandmother to live off for another 50 years. (She lived very frugally, but needn't have, judging by the inheritance). I'm told that he could leave his horse untethered outside the pub, and it would be waiting for him after he'd finished his pint. 

Oh, and some McLeod's popped up as distant relatives. 

[DieselDaisy]

I had a wonderful 'Holmesean' moment when looking up my great grandfather's history. From his service record I had the date he joined his battalion, the 9th West Riding/Duke of Wellington's. I bought from Kew archives the war diary (each battalion kept a daily diary, hand written by the commanding officer - they are fascinating documents). On that day the diary mentions 83 new recruits joining - it even provides a time for me!

 

36 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

And then fuck off back down to London after a fortnight for a prawn sandwich once i realised there was actual work involved

Just go on the rock and roll.

[Ace Nova]

My ancestors were an Italian family that ruled over a large portion of Italy for close to 300 years during the middle ages.   I can't post the name because the name of the family is still my last name now.   But anyway, there are about 9-10 castles that they either built, or controlled at some point, that are still around today as tourist attractions. 

[DieselDaisy]

4 minutes ago, Kasanova King said:

My ancestors were an Italian family that ruled over a large portion of Italy for close to 300 years during the middle ages.   I can't post the name because the name of the family is still my last name now.   But anyway, there are about 9-10 castles that they either built, or controlled at some point, that are still around today as tourist attractions. 

Borgias? Medici?

 

[Ace Nova]

Just now, DieselDaisy said:

Borgias? Medici?

 

Different region...but not too far off...and slightly before the Medici I believe....not as famous as those families either.  There was a mention of certain members of the family in Dante's Inferno. 

[john lennon]

I wish I could get into that shit as well, but as far as I'm aware, my family's been a mess for at least the past century because the men bailed on their pregnant women and shit so practically I ain't even related to the people with my last name since my granddad's dad wasn't really his dad. 

And, you know, it's hard to track em down only having the women because ya know they got re-married and I've no idea what their original last names were. 

[john lennon]

I do know some interesting stories that my great grandma told me when I was little before she died, however, but there's not really any exciting stuff like you guys seem to have. Up until two generations ago all my ancestors were working class drunks and gamblers drinking and gambling their money away leaving their wives with the responsibility to provide for the family both financially and in every other way. 

Ya know, factory workers, farm-workers, unemployed... So the women would, like, get small jobs as cleaning ladies and such.

Edited October 19, 2017 by john lennon

[john lennon]

I do know my great grandpa on my dad's side of the family was a military officer and also a hardcore nazi. They say he cheered when Hitler invaded Poland.