Genealogy Chat

So far my most interesting rellie is my mum in 1994 she won a nation wide compition for the 'BEST POST OFFICE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM' having only been running a PO for 18 months We are all so proud of her wonderful achievement. I hope this counts!!!

Well, he isn't a direct ancestor but first cousin of my 5 x gt grandmother. John Walford was hanged for the murder of his wife. It's a long story but he would have got off with manslaughter these days. Several prominent people spoke up for him at his trial because he was very popular locally. He is famous because he stopped off at the local pub on his way to be hanged and had a farewell drink with his friends. He was hanged on a hill overlooking his parents' cottage and his body gibbeted for a year before being buried where he was hanged. The spot appears on OS maps of Somerset as Walford's Gibbet. He was written about by Wordsworth, Coleridge and Thomas Poole, the diarist, who spoke up for him at his trial. There was also an opera writen about him. 'The Charcoal Burner', as well as a couple of small books. I have the trial transcripts and they make fascinating reading. A direct ancestor Edward Capps was awarded a pension by Charles II for his 'services in restoring the Crown'. I'm not quite so chuffed with him because I'm a republican. lol, Gwynne

My ancestor Thomas Bluett, ‘a native of Ireland’, was shot as he was returning to his home off Drury Lane from work on a Saturday evening in 1846. The culprit turned out to be John Graham, a teenage boy playing with a loaded gun on his way to a shooting gallery. Thomas at first seemed on the road to recovery, but his condition gradually deteriorated. His case was given considerable coverage in the press over the following weeks and the boy's father was heavily criticised for allowing a 15-year-old to have a collection of weapons. In the early hours of 11 May 1846, his lungs full of fluid, Thomas lost his struggle for life. He was no more than 27 years old.

nudge

Sorry to leave you for the weekend, folks. It has been particularly hectic. I never realised when I started this thread that it would attract so much interest!!!!

Rebekah - I am now a Fully Qualified Southerner as I have spent longer Darn Sarf than I have Oop North. Also, my mother died last year and the house was sold, so I no longer have any ties with Oop North. Oh, and I married Essex Man!!!

Do you miss your pigeon loft Angela? And what about the mushy peas, the Hovis, the whippets..... and of course rickets?

I have very much enjoyed reading all the stories listed here. I have a part time grave robber - who hit the mother load and turned the family fortunes. J

Paul, I do still pine for the ferrets occasionally and will have to find an alternative source of mushy peas!!

I would have thought the most difficult thing for you is adjusting to shoes after clogs, isnt it?

Play 'avock with yer bunnions, do clogs. I am finding the Hush Puppies much better. Of course in't north they are Hush Ferrets.

hi to all of those who say they have no one good your coal miners proved the heating that kept EVERYONE warm, your ag lab FEED everyone, your lace makers DRESSED everyone. this is from some one who only has the above in her tree sob sob lol

The vast majority of my ancestors were butchers and publicans. Which would be all very well, except that I'm a teetotal vegetarian...

No interesting ancestors for me I'm afraid, but I have a friend who is closely related to a well known murderer...a very well known murderer...and what is worse, now I know, I can see the family resemblance!

I know what you mean Sheila..... my mother in law was a dead ringer for Rudolf Hess.

Lol Sheila!

this is not a drunk joke my g g granddad was a beer house keeper . but he had no legs and was manouvered up and down to the bar in the dumb waiter.

My Horne ancestors ran the family grocery business in Gloucestershire for several generations living in the same street for about 150 years however my great great grandfather's younger brother emigrated to America took a degree at the University of Chicago and became a missionary to the Chicasaw indians in Olklohoma. The strange thing is I don't think my mother had ever heard of him. I only found out when his grandson contacted me through these boards. I had him on my tree as dying young as I couldn't find him on later censusus.

i've always rather treasured a (very) distant connection of my husband's, named Edward Gold, known by that branch of the family as 'the Scamp' and who lost the family estate. He was short tempered, sadistic, weak and a compulsive gambler. He became involved with an unscrupulous but clever young relative called John Dunning, who was a brilliant and ambitious lawyer and a far better card player than Edward. Edward became involved in a murder charge; he had been gambling and had as usual lost heavily. Later that evening he rode off, dressed as a highwayman, held up his gambling partner and shot him. There was a witness who claimed it was moonlight and that he saw 'the Scamp's' face after he had shot his victim. John Dunning defended Edward and won the case, claiming that the witness could not have identified Edward as it was not moonlight. He produced a calendar that he had made himself claiming there was no moon that night! John Dunning succeeded in getting Edward acquitted. The trial had been very expensive and he owed Dunning huge amounts of money that he paid back in land leaving him penniless and he died a few years later. Beverley from Perth

Ive recently found out that my great great great grandfather emigrated to america and down the line i am distantly related to brad pitt oooooo arent u all jealous lol