An Object Lesson.....

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 12:44 am

I can recommend the paperback fiction novel by Robert Goddard "In Pale Battalions".

I'm not going to disclose the plot or the ending, but suffice to say that, although it is a work of fiction, it's an object lesson for genealogical research in that there may just be someone out there who knows the truth about great-uncle Angus' disappearance or whatever, even many years after his death.

My father died in 1960. Once I traced the tree back as far as possible, - until my first day at New Register House I didn't know that my namesake granpa came from just to the north of Montrose, - I then started thinking about various childhood memories, and was able to track down what turned out to be a cousin of my father's who lived in Ayr where I'd lived from 5 to 21, but, sadly, she had long since left this world, and I've been unable to trace other relatives on that side, if only to find out if they have the DCM and Egyptian, Sudan, and SA medals won by my great-uncle during his service with the Cameron Highlanders and then the Black Watch in WWI. He was "in the line" at the Battle of Omdurman!

Having been successful with that I then recalled childhood memories of occasional visits to a house "at the top of the hill" somewhere in Clarkston, which I was able to locate after an hour or so driving around, - probably my dad's greatest pal from his 20s and 30s, and, with other little snippets, confirm his name and, sadly, discover that he'd only died a couple of years before my search. OK, maybe he'd been gaga for a few years but maybe he'd have been able to tell me all about my father and their escapades.

And if he hadn't died childless, then maybe he'd have told some of his kids some of the same stories that I have very vague memories of hearing the adults talking about when I was a kid and totally uninterested, especially after the Bells when tongues loosened

- a hijacked roadroller and problems on the Rest and Be Thankful stick in my memory, along with the whisper of the terrible scandal that could have resulted over the forging of a reference that in part led to a long and succesful Civil Service career.

I think that you can see the point that I'm making

Don't automatically assume that because those involved are long dead that there isn't someone out there, not necessarily a relative who has relevant information. Sometimes it can take surprisingly little effort to find them, other times it can take years, but the effort can still be well worth it.

David

PS Why haven't I still not gone up to Aberdeenshire and had a get together with my elder half-sister

dww

Post by **Tracey** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:21 am

I for one am looking for a good read at the moment as i am fed up with "The Life and Times or adventures of James Scott Skinner! searching for clues. My sadness is that i didnt start earlier but what i am finding is that ...............in the morning when i am waiting for my bus (i am the youngest one there 42 !) i share the shelter with a lot of the older generation from a housing complex and you get talking. A lovely man, sadly now gone, worked at the same place as my great Uncle. A few weeks ago there was a man who was telling me all about his experience in the war. I learnt recently there was a Scottish lady related to me (no one here knew her) via my elusive Donaldson side ? and sadly she died a few weeks before i knew of her existance, on thursday i was speaking to lady who remembered my grandparents well (different to how my parents and unlces and aunts remembered) I live in Essex and this is all to do with my Scottish side !. My sister in laws grandfather was in Shangi prisoner of war camp - which he finaly had the courage to visit this year.

I hope that all these people have family that are interested and listen and ask - thats if they want to tell them as i have found they tell strangers but not family and that is their way of dealing with the past horrors. I have recently been given a name and phone number of an elderly lady who knew my other Scottish great grandfather well and am not going to waste time anymore and will ring her pronto !

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:29 am

Tracey wrote:........snipped ............I hope that all these people have family that are interested and listen and ask - thats if they want to tell them as i have found they tell strangers but not family and that is their way of dealing with the past horrors. I have recently been given a name and phone number of an elderly lady who knew my other Scottish great grandfather well and am not going to waste time anymore and will ring her pronto !

And ..... , the result of the phone call

David

Post by **Tracey** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:35 am

I only just learnt of the phone number from my dads cousin in America ! My plan is to phone her tomorrow and as im off on Monday maybe she will see me if she doesnt go to bingo !!

Give me a chance i havnt long been in from work

DavidWW · Post by **DavidWW** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 1:47 am

Tracey wrote:I only just learnt of the phone number from my dads cousin in America ! My plan is to phone her tomorrow and as im off on Monday maybe she will see me if she doesnt go to bingo !!

Give me a chance i havnt long been in from work

Nae prob

, just fascinated to know the outcome of the call, whenever you decide to make it

David

Post by **Tracey** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 2:12 am

I promise i will and will post my findings. The few still living past is far more interesting than anything found on S/P A few months ago i met up with a lady at Waterloo Station that would be my gt grandfathers niece,s daughter ( i have all the records to show what a hard time her mother had and how my gt grandfather didnt want her to be put into an orphanage and i became very emotionally attached to these !) she is in her 80,s and was born and still lives in South Africa, that sort of finding is magical to me - but a very emotional meeting. I am lucky to have 100,s of letters dated from 1880,s and was able to give her letters concerning her mother and grandmother full of stuff she never would have known about. I have letters naming lots of people not related and have desperatley tried to find those concerned assuming they are as interested as me but no luck so far

Post by **Tracey** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 10:41 pm

Called twice today - no answer

but tomorrow is another day

LesleyB · Post by **LesleyB** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 11:54 pm

In a similar vein, but a bit of a side step, one of the best moments for me in all this rummaging around in families was to be able to send a lady of 90 a photograph of the grandmother she had never seen.

For some reason, although there were no "odd" or irregular family circumstances, she had just never seen a picture of her grandmother who had died in the same year that this lady was born and I felt very priviledged to be able to send her a copy of the photo I had.

You don't start off working on your family tree thinking this sort of thing is what it is all about, but as a result of all the research, these are the amazing kind of events which unfold, and for me, its these events which become the defining and pivotal moments of the journey.

Best wishes
Lesley

Post by **Tracey** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:23 am

Isnt it a great feeling ? along with my letters there were lots of photos. I was also able to give the lady mentioned above very early photos of her mother and grandmother and aunt. The only reason i know these were them is from detailed descriptions in the letters. I have also slowly but surely been able to put names to faces through contact i have made.
I really wish and am sure through a site like this i will be able in time to pass on letters to others (not blood related) of names mentioned in these and what they were up to at the time.

I know i am priveledged to have these as not many get given the oppertunity to read through 250 + letters that their very own family have written and i got quite spooked handling and reading them - couldnt keep them in the same room as me as i was sure they would haunt me, now i wished they did ! . I wish i was bright enough to one day write some kind of book based on these as they also mention historical moments of the time, they also worked for "noted" people.
What impressed me the most is how quick back then a letter could get from Scotland to England and vice versa - puts the modern postal service to shame !

WilmaM · Post by **WilmaM** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 12:51 pm

Some times it's the youngest generation that prompt things,

My daughter [ 12] was sitting near her great grandmother last Sunday, Granny called me over and said " you know, seeing K sitting there reminds me of a photo that hung in my Grannies house"

The photo was of a young girl, Granny thought she was a step-sister of her mother's but remembered that she had died young. So thought it was sheer co-incidence that K looked like her.

Any snippet is enough to set me off.....

Found the girl, her parents and Death Cert. She was a half sister and died at 14 , so not out of the question that my daughter could resemble her Great Great GrandMother's Half Sister.