Glad I'm not researching this lot!

[Bertha]

Thought you all might like this this little piece my mum sent me!

Many Many years ago
When I was twenty three
I got married to a widow
Who was as pretty as could be

The widow had a daughter
Who had hair of red
My father fell in love with her
And soon the two were wed

This made my dad my son-in-law
And changed my very life
My daughter was my mother
For she was my father's wife

To complicate the matters worse
Although it brought great joy
I soon became the father
Of a bouncing baby boy

My little baby then bacame
A brother-in-law to dad
And so became my uncle
Though ti made me rather sad

For if he was my uncle
This it also made him brother
To the widows grown up daughter
Who of course was my stepmother

Father's wife then had a son
Who kept them on the run
And he became my grandson
For he was my daoghter's son!

My wife is now my mother's mum
And it surely makes me blue
For although she is my wife
She is my grandma TOO!

Glad I'm not researching this lot!
Good night all
Bertha

[Clydesdale]

Hello Bertha
I loved the poem - and my grandfather left one too, albeit with a bit more detail . I have managed to track them all down - eventually - now trying to find all the siblings.

THE BERRY FAMILY TREE

(written to his daughter Edith (now in Nova Scotia)
in response to a request for family information in 1940’s)

I've just read your last letter, in it you're asking' me
Tae provide sufficient ancestors tae compile a family tree.

Weel, first there was Grandpaw, a blacksmith was his trade
They ca'ed him Geordie Berry, some fine horse shoes he made.
While workin' at a job in Perth, he met Christina Buette,
Said Geordie: "Will you marry me?", said Chris: "By God I'll do it".
And sae they baith were married and travelled roon and roon
And domiciled in dear auld Glesca Toon.

An noo, my ither Grandpaw, an engineer tae trade
He served his time in Glesca in a firm ca'ed Kinkaid.
A weel, ye'd want tae ken his name, they ca'ed him Alex Orr,
He married Nan MacKinnon a lass who leeved next door.

Noo back to Geordie Berry, weel he begat a son
It was his first, ha named him Tam, a de'il he wis for fun.

And noo ma ither Grandpaw, the yin ca'ed Alex Orr,
Well he belongs to Glesca, I telt ye that afore.
Weel, he begat a daughter, he ca'ed the daughter Kate,
And little did they know just then, they'd begat Tam Berry's fate.

Sae Tam and Kate were mairrit, got a hoose above a pub
They hadna much tae start wi'. Tam was idle, that's the rub.
But Tammy wisna lazy, as you will plainly see,
For Tam begat a bonnie bairn, the bonnie bairn was ME.

Sae, I grew up tae manhood, though it took me mony a day.
Then I spotted Edith Murray and I thocht "I'll mak her day".

And sae I've brocht ye up tae date, the rest you ken yersel,
But err I close my skreed tae you, there's mair I'd like to tell.

And that's an auld Scots Proverb, it tells the reason why
When digging up the past my dear, Sleeping dogs are best let lie.

Alexander Orr Berry 1892 - died ?………. In Old Kilpatrick, Dunbartonshire.