General Chat

Oh, Brian, the funnybone isn't in the genes then? ;)

Oh, that's all right; thee and me aren't quite rellies, are we?!

You must remember your first reply to me -- in fact, the very first reply to the very first message I ever sent here!

"There are similarities there, but not an exact match"

Now, call that a hug if you like. ;)

The particular Owen Sound branch in question, no, we haven't managed that. Before No.1's DKA episodes came the last year of cancer doings, my mum and my sister, and it's just always some blasted thing. Sister's young daughters suffering from Lyme disease for the last three years, their father currently starting treatment for the same thing ... Me being where I am, mum and sister being hours away ...

I did hear from another branch of the Owen Sound clan via ancestry.ca a couple of years ago -- a descendant of William & Annie's sister Emily's daughter Rose. Emily, the one my mum thought was her maiden aunt, who had three husbands ...

And then the very next prospective cousin I contacted here (he's the one with the French side, also shared grx2 grparents) said:

"MMmm, not so sure"

Now who could blame me for thinking I must smell of rotting seal meat or something?!

Next came the Ohio cousin (more shared grx2 grparents). Much more enthusiastic. Unfortunately, a right-wing fundamentalist ...


I was shocked to hear about your daughter -- was she the one getting married when we first 'met'? (And I did send my best wishes in that thread!)

I,m delighted to have Canadian cousins ,as Janey has said lots were descended from British Home children as my cousins are, Their Mum was a Home child in 1909 aged 10, bless her, Grandad was widowed in 1906 leaving him with 4 children and no family that could help him ,he needed to work so it was no other option to put his children aged from 7 to 2 in a McPherson home in Londons East End By the time they were in the home the parents had to sign a disclaimer to the children otherwise they wouldnt be kept up to date with the childrens welfare and whereabouts, This was cos Barnados had done the same as parents had objected to their children being shipped overseas without asking their permsiision and had made a big STINK about it ,To cover themeselves when children were admiited to the homes the parents had to in effect sign away their parental rites otherwise Barnodos wouldnt take them ,Other Home s followed suit,
Anyway my Aunts daughter found the family in WW2 when she came over in the Canadian Nursing Corps to london and found one brother which led to a reunion with the other two brothers and grandads wife & chidren of his second marriage which wasin 1909 just after the girl was shiiped off to Canada,unfortunately grandfather had passed away in 1939 so nell never got to see her dad again BUT since then the family has stayed in touch .My Mum was the eldest child of the second marriage
My youngest sister & her OH and daughter emigrated to Canada in 1978 and last year at last decided to take Canadian citizenship.
I always think the British and Canadians have a lot of respect and kinship with each other.
As i said I am very proud to have Canadian famliy

That's wonderful that everyone got back together, Shirley, although sad about their father. So many of the home children never managed to make contact.

My mum's Uncle Charlie truly was orphaned (I have now discovered) and came over at an age when he was the classic case of a farm labourer, not an adopted child (found him as such in the 1911 census). Apparently he always told his family that Charlie Smith was his "orphan" name. Then I found his marriage record and saw he'd given his parents' names, and I've found their marriage etc., so that really was his name. I wonder that he didn't stay in touch with older siblings. I guess they might not have ever known what became of him either, just as those parents didn't.

And of course we must always remember -- Canada sprang into action in 1939, while those Yankee cousins sat it out until 1942 ... before they decided to save the world single-handedly ...

Hi Janey,
No, it was my son Mark who got married (2005), they are expecting our first grandchild Halloween Day.

Susanne isn't married and is still at home. She missed out on social life late teens and early 20s due to a knee problem (she was in a wheelchair at one time) and has never caught up.

I keep telling her to emigrate to Canada (or Oz). If I were younger I certainly would. I'd settle for a couple of months exploring over there, now. I'd do the Lakes, the Rockies and the coasts. Make that six months, it's a big Country !

And speaking of shock -- who here would've picked me & Brian for cousins, even by marriage??

Oops, crossed in the post. Congratulations -- and do pass on my thoughts of her (sorry, no prayers from these quarters!) to my young, uh, third cousin once removed. ;)