Genealogy

[ChrisG]

Interesting we should be discussing this on here just now. Last night, I received an email from someone in Australia, by the name of Robert Spiller. My father's grandfather and this man's great grandfather were brothers. My father's grandfather was also Robert Spiller. His brother was Charles William and his sone was Charles William Robert Richard. CWRR had two sons before leaving for Australia in 1927; one of them or maybe another son born in Australia is the father of this Robert who emailed me.

Robert was a popular name for Spillers - great granddad was Robert, his son (Uncle Bob) was Robert and his son (Bobby) was also Robert. I havent been able to find yet whether or not Bobby continued the tradition. The generation before this was also called Robert.

[Lillia]

I havent been able to find yet whether or not Bobby continued the tradition. The generation before this was also called Robert.

How nice and how interesting, RuthG~

[paddy graham]

For anyone interested just found this site,RootsChat.com,they havea thread that covers most places.Even a Welsh,Irish,Cornish language only threads.

[Lillia]

For anyone interested just found this site,RootsChat.com,they havea thread that covers most places.Even a Welsh,Irish,Cornish language only threads.

Thanks, Paddy. I'll check it out~

[Spreckly]

Five years ago, OH was thinking about his paternal grandparents, and realised that he didn't even know their first names. Both his parents are deceased, but he has an aunt, and several cousins, so we started to ask around, and dig around. We spent several months on a...c...ry.co.uk, and G.....s R.......ted. Found a lot out, and the following summer on our trip to Kent, visited several churches where ancestors were buried. First person we spoke to in one church (a coffee morning was in progress), was a distant relative!

On we went, I researched my tree, only one side, as I am an adoptee, I now correspond with a distant cousin in Canada, we are both trying to find the next generation from our great x 3 grandparents.

Flushed with success, and already with some useful information, I traced my adoptive parents trees, as I often say, without them, I would not be who I am. Talking to a friend in the village where I live, I discovered that her late husband's family name was Conner (yes, Lillia, I think you have mentioned this in another thread). Got digging again, and it turns out that my Mother and friend's Mother shared the same great grandmother. It has been quite amusing. When I told my friend's daughter and son about my disovery, the daughter said that my adoption didn't make any difference.

A small world, as they say.

[Lillia]

That's fantastic, Spreckly! So ironic and interesting! Thanks so much for sharing~
(yes, Conner)

[ChrisG]

I have been awol for the last couple of days because I have been totally absorbed (not going to bed till 1am ) in researching my family tree.

My father used to tell me tales of his 'Uncle Charlie' (turns out it's actually his Great Uncle) had done a load of research on our familiy tree. Apparently we were one of only a handful of people who were able to trace their family lines back to the Norman Conquest. That research was apparently handed down and my grandfather had it. It was all lost when his second wife ran off with some man or other and went to live in Scotland, after causing the death of my grandfather (long story, but will be adding my mother's letter to my tree documents at some point, explaining the whole thing).

[And if you think that's a bit skeleton in the closet-ish, then my grandmother's mother was born in a workhouse because she was under age and unmarried ]

Anyway, I digress. The whole trail has not yet been fully confirmed (need a trip to Cheshire to do that properly, with appointments for seeing the archives in various places), but I have managed to trace my tree back to 1010/1020 in France. About 30 generations ago, my ancestor was the Compte de Criel, in Normandy. He came to England in 1066 and settled in Cheshire (married eventually into the Dodd family who owned Broxton Old Hall). To say I am excited is an understatement - and my father is also excited, as I broke the news to him this morning.

[Lillia]

I have been awol for the last couple of days because I have been totally absorbed (not going to bed till 1am ) in researching my family tree.

RuthG, this is SO exciting!!!!! I know the feeling! I'm so happy and excited for you!!!!! I'm so happy you shared this~

[Steve the Gas]

Very interesting.

[ChrisG]

There have been one or two complications - which I had to work out by logic.

There were two Henrys. According to what I had discovered, both had the same father and both were married to the same woman (at the same time ), but they were born about 20 years apart. They also both died the same year. I thought it possible that one of them might have been an uncle or cousin or something who happened to live with the family (perhaps his own father had died). Anyway, this morning I set about trying to work out who these two Henrys were and how they fitted together.

I decided to write to lists. I put Henry the elder on one side of the page and Henry Jnr on the other. I added their dates and put the wife between them. If the wife had been married to the younger Henry, he would have been only 16 years old when he married her (and she was a lot older than he was.

The names of the children though were the clincher. Henry Jnr had three children, two called John and one called Thomas. I thought it odd though that neither John had died young (they had a propensity for giving a child the same name as a deceased one, but it wasnt usual to have two of the same name living at the same time). Henry Snr also had a John and a Thomas. The dates (never an exact science when you are talking about the 1550s) were similar - and then it dawned on me - Henry Jnr and Henry Snr were in fact the same person and the five overlapping names, were in fact two children called John and Thomas! And the two Henrys were simply that someone at some point copied a date down wrongly - they werent 1518 and 1534; they were both 1518.

Hard work, but so rewarding when it all comes together.

[Steve the Gas]

[LittleBrownFrog]

Well done for untangling all that

[Lillia]

There have been one or two complications - which I had to work out by logic.

There were two Henrys. According to what I had discovered, both had the same father and both were married to the same woman (at the same time ), but they were born about 20 years apart. They also both died the same year. I thought it possible that one of them might have been an uncle or cousin or something who happened to live with the family (perhaps his own father had died). Anyway, this morning I set about trying to work out who these two Henrys were and how they fitted together.

I decided to write to lists. I put Henry the elder on one side of the page and Henry Jnr on the other. I added their dates and put the wife between them. If the wife had been married to the younger Henry, he would have been only 16 years old when he married her (and she was a lot older than he was.

The names of the children though were the clincher. Henry Jnr had three children, two called John and one called Thomas. I thought it odd though that neither John had died young (they had a propensity for giving a child the same name as a deceased one, but it wasnt usual to have two of the same name living at the same time). Henry Snr also had a John and a Thomas. The dates (never an exact science when you are talking about the 1550s) were similar - and then it dawned on me - Henry Jnr and Henry Snr were in fact the same person and the five overlapping names, were in fact two children called John and Thomas! And the two Henrys were simply that someone at some point copied a date down wrongly - they werent 1518 and 1534; they were both 1518.

Hard work, but so rewarding when it all comes together.

Wow!! Well, you have solved a mystery and doesn't it feel so good? I have run across a similar problem...my grandfather (1500's) appears to be living in 2 different towns at the same time with 2 different fathers! Same wife though~~ I do believe it is the case often, that things were copied wrongly.

[albertajune]

One of the best thing About researching family is actually going into ancesters homes. My OH came from a real cockney type family in London. They were barmen, stall holders etc. no jobs of note. When researching his mothers family I got stuck in the 1850's and only on looking at the cencus for Lambeth did I discover that the one I was stuck on came from Cuddington in Bucks. He turned out to be a thatcher and his parents farm workers.
On going to the Bucks record office, I found wills that showed the family had at one time been land owners and the family had records in the record for the family going back to the 1300's. With copies of the wills etc, we went for a day trip to Cuddington, went into the local pub for lunch and asked are there any Hollymans's still in the area. The barman said no, but had we seen Holyman's farmhouse which was the oldest house in the village.
We went to the farm, which now is a still very much how it was. The barn nearby is very much modernised with almost the whole front being of darkened glass. On seeing us looking, a guy came out and was very interested at who we were as he was also researching the family. He asked did we know about the bishop. It turned out that the brother of Roy's ancester was the 2nd bishop of Bristol at the time of Henry V111 and their is a lot of documentation about him.
Anyway were were invited into the farmhouse which was a wonderful experience. The lady that had it renovated said that it only had dirt floors originally and she found lots of treasures buried there. The original old stone hearth was still their with it's centuries old carvings of names.
We then went on to the malt house which had belonged to the family. I knocked on the door asking for permission to take a photo and showed the owner a copy of the will mentioning it. The lady was delighted with the will that I gave her and said to come in and have a good look round as the back of the house was particulary interesting. Again a wonderful experience for Roy to actually walk on the floor that his ancester had walked on. Going into the homes brought what had just been names to life

[p.penn]

That must have been so thrilling June! I know how fantastic it was to go into my grandad's pubs in Bermondsey and Tooley St - especially the former as they had uncovered the original bar fittings a few years back. Also, as there is reference to the pub, and a statement from my grandad in the Old Bailey records, it was brought to life even more.

Sadly, he died before I was born, but I remember my grandma.