Navvies.

[Brigade77]

Going into my family history & discovered that it was my great grandfather who broke out of agricultural serfdom & joined up to build the railways when the Welland Viaduct came to the village. This fits well with why my grandfather settled in our current stronghold, at the time it was the last stop on that railway . . .

I've just finished reading : "Railway Navvies. A History of the Men Who Made the Railways by Terry Coleman" .

If you've ever been involved in a large construction project then this is essential reading. I can think of more than a few snowflakes who need a bash 'round t'ead with this book. There's even a few pikturez for our resident fukwits . . .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Going into my family history & discovered that it was my great grandfather who broke out of agricultural serfdom & joined up to build the railways when the Welland Viaduct came to the village. This fits well with why my grandfather settled in our current stronghold, at the time it was the last stop on that railway . . .

A few years ago and curious, I did a bit of research into my own family history - I found it immensely interesting. I have no living relatives and always wished I had asked more questions. When I was very young, my father had always liked us to holiday around the Norfolk Broads, seemed to know lots of people down there and even hinted at some being relatives, but I had taken it with a pinch of salt because everyone was an uncle or aunt back then. Decades later, my bit of research confirmed we (the whole family) had moved to Yorkshire in the 1830's to 1870's to work on the railways, but not as navvies. I was even able to find an old photo of my Gt Uncle proudly stood in front of his express engine, with his fireman, from the turn of the century.

It seems they gradually drifted up here, as the railways expanded and more railway jobs became available. My father had worked on the railways, until he saw the Beeching cuts beginning to happen and jumped ship.

I didn't find any murders, highwaymen or etc. I did find a relative who's girlfriend had been murdered in front of his eyes in a pub, in court as a witness and another involved in providing first aid when a horse drawn Mail coach had been involved a wagon driven by a drunken driver in the middle of the night, plus a vague connection to Lord Nelson.

 

[Brigade77]

I can trace my direct line back to 1646, which fits nicely with around the period they started writing things down. It is addictive once you start, shame really that the Mormons have it all sewn up & the main sites are sooo expensive.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

My cousin did extensive family research on my mother's side and managed to get back to the 1500s and establishing that they were originally Normans. It did help that there's a book about the family. She discovered that the family owned a big house that's now a National Trust property and was featured in a recent film called The Other Boleyn Girl. Another of their houses still exists, but one manor in Hampshire was destroyed by fire in The 50s. More recently they were described as 'clothiers' with involvement in the cotton trade. This last fact gives me a sense of amusement knowing it would have Nobby Dangler foaming at the mouth. But I can't see his nonsense any more, so I'll miss out on that small pleasure. When my cousin died a couple of years ago, I was lucky to inherit her family artefacts including a large family portrait from early 1800s and some silverware/cutlery, etc with family crest on.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

My cousin did extensive family research on my mother's side and managed to get back to the 1500s and establishing that they were originally Normans.

Mine only goes back to around 1650, then becomes much less certain, but generally suggested to be of Norman origin on the paternal side. I got completely stumped on my mothers side, I only managed to trace it back to a great, grand parent an Henry Rhodes le Farrar who died in 1869 - which again I think is Norman.

 

[Vinty]

What is interesting about this ancestry stuff is the number of ancestors you actually have.
If you go back only 10 generations you have over 1000 ancestors.
I read that if you go back to the time of Charlemagne you have over 1 trillion ancestors, which is of course is statistically impossible.
It appears that we start marrying people with whom we share common relatives.

 

[ReganAndCarter]

Mine only goes back to around 1650, then becomes much less certain, but generally suggested to be of Norman origin on the paternal side. I got completely stumped on my mothers side, I only managed to trace it back to a great, grand parent an Henry Rhodes le Farrar who died in 1869 - which again I think is Norman.

Yes, fascinating to see where you've come from and back to 1650 is good going. Same with me, one side is well documented, but father's is a dead end. Le Farrar does sound Norman or thereabouts.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Yes, fascinating to see where you've come from and back to 1650 is good going. Same with me, one side is well documented, but father's is a dead end. Le Farrar does sound Norman or thereabouts.

I made a guess earlier. without actually checking how far back it went - it actually goes back as far as 1550 and in one thread there is a tenuous link to Sir John Winter, the 15th century Royalist. I should not have looked at it, because I then spent much of yesterday evening on it, digging away for more fascinating details. I managed to find out that my grandparents had got married in the main church of the local city and the engine driver great uncle had got himself buried in the local minster. I had originally assumed they were quite poor, but those two facts suggests they were quite a 'well to do' family.

When I had originally began the 'digging', around eight years ago, I began it with nothing more than vague memories of who might have been relatives. One possible family of relatives had emigrated to Australia back in the 1950's, with there two young sons. I then managed to make contact with one of the sons about four years ago and we were able to confirm we were cousins. He said his mother, then a widow, had moved back to the UK back in the 1980's and coincidently had moved to the very same village I moved to into in the late 1970's and still live. Which suggests our paths must have crossed very many times in the local high street

I had begun it, just knowing the names of my two parents. They were each the youngest in their families and I came along late in parents lives, so most of my relatives had passed away when I was quite young. Both of them had then passed away too, long before I gained any interest in tracing my roots. As a youngster, every adult was called uncle or aunt, irrespective of any actual relationship, which made it incredibly hard work to sort the wheat from the chaff.

One uncle I remembered as having some sort of mental issues and remembered when visiting him, being told not to make any sudden noises. I managed to trace that to shell shock resulting from WW I. Another, I remembered visiting us in his RN uniform, some years after WWII. My dad, I was told was on minesweepers during WWII.

All fascinating stuff and a bit of research pulls at least some of the memories together, to make sense.