I you could go back and ask an ancestor a question, which ancestor would you pick? and why?

[applegrove]

I would go back to my paternal great great grandmother Jane and ask her who her real mother was. We know the father was a soldier named Hunter. We know she was adopted at birth by the local teacher and his wife, and then brought to Canada when she was 9. We know her mother lived around Meikleour Estate in Scotland. Jane told her daughters she remembered having tea with fancy ladies as a child. But if I could just find out who the mother was their might be genealogy in that family that would go back generations. And I want it. But it will never come to be.

[LaurenG]

1. My g g g grandmother McClellan

Born 12/22/1817 no clue who her parents were. She married into a fairly well to do family and she also lived with that family before her marriage. Pennsylvania father, Virginia Mother, she was born in Ohio. :shrug: So frustrating I feel your pain.

[AsahinaKimi]

2. Oh this is easy...

Saburo Asahina

I would want to talk about the early Edo period and what life was like in Feudal Japan from
his perspective. I would also love to talk to Shunsho Asahina and Kuniyoshi Asahina.


Asahina Kamon.

The Asahina of Suruga province were descended from Wada Yoshimori (1147-1213), whose 3rd son Yoshihide adopted the name Asahina. They entered the Sengoku Period as a chief Imagawa retainer family and were represented by two branches, one of which produced Asahina Yasutomo while the other was headed by Asahina Nobuoki. The Asahina became especially important after the Imagawa defeat at Okehazama in 1560, for afterwards Imagawa Ujizane came to rely on them to maintain order within his domain. Following the collapse of the Imagawa in 1569, the Asahina became vassals of the conquering Takeda. When the Takeda were in turn destroyed, surviving Asahina entered the service of Tokugawa Ieyasu.

[hunter]

3. It wasn't me. I've never done much soldiering.

But hanging out with Dr. Who was a trip.

[RebelOne]

4. One of my ancestors on my father's side

was Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the pirate. I would ask him where all his treasure is buried. My father said he knew but didn't have the money to go after it. Unfortunately, my father died with his secret.

[Bucky]

5. I'd ask my grandfather what he was doing in those 8 missing years in his life

Papa Berry basically disappeared from the historical record during the 1920s. He always said he was with the merchant marine during that time, but after his death, we found his records and discovered that he'd left the service in 1921, not 1929 like he'd always told us. Cue the Twilight Zone music. Then, suddenly in 1929 he shows up in a job as a railroad man working in Tulsa, joins the Masons, marries a girl, and settles down to a quiet life. Beautiful man, but he took his secrets to the grave.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. the "Cherokee princess"

[burrfoot]

7. I think it'd be pretty interesting to

have a conversation with my boy Aaron.

[MorningGlow]

8. Too many questions for too many ancestors, for me

But I think the top one would be asking my maternal grandmother or perhaps one of her parents if their Italian surname really was made up, altered from an Irish surname. We've got too much fair skin, and green and blue eyes, on that side of the family!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. You could be north Italian with a lot of Lombard (Germanic tribe) ancestry

:shrug:

[MorningGlow]

12. Nope.

Everyone's from Sicily! :D

[Lydia Leftcoast]

13. The Vikings conquered Sicily in the eleventh century

Really. Those guys got around.

[MorningGlow]

17. And the Celts controlled the shipping lanes in the Mediterranean at one point

So I wouldn't be surprised to find a whole hash of genetic anomalies in our DNA. It's just that our entire family history is simply labeled "Italian", but there was a rumor of an Irish sailor who left his genetic contribution and a name that once started with "O' ", that later got "Italianized" and the "O" was dropped. I just want to find out the truth of it, but with the family we've got left, it's been downgraded to "just rumor", as in any mention of it by a fringe cousin gets the general reply, "Who told you THAT?" and then it gets scoffed at by the rest of the family. But I say where there's smoke there's fire. I want to find the fire. Heck, I want to find the spark! :)

[sammytko]

18. Saw lots of blond green eyed sicilians when I was stationed there

They were conquered by everybody throughout the centuries.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. I'd ask my maternal grandfather about his first marriage

which my mother and grandmother found out about only after he was dead.

I'd like to know if I have any extra cousins.

[blogslut]

51. That's what led my aunt to delve deep into her family history

After he died, my mother's siblings discovered that my maternal grandfather was married twice before he married my grandmother. He had one child from each marriage. One ex-wife told the child my grandfather had died. The other ex-wife told my grandfather that the child had died. My aunts and mother tracked down one child, a male, in fairly short order and he was welcomed with open arms. It took another 20 years to track down the other child, a girl. My mom and aunt went to visit her but she was near death and had become a shut-in so there wasn't a lot of bonding.

This looking back transformed my aunt into a genealogy machine. She's traced her/our family back to the 1500s and I couldn't begin to name which ancestor I would like to meet - so many interesting people!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

11. I'd ask some of my mother's ancestors

why the hell they ever left Norway. If they hadn't, maybe I'd be living in a civilized, socialist country with a decent health care system.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. Ha, my paternal grandfather's brother and his wife came over here

and stayed for three years. Then they went back and became the parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents of the people I met at the family reunion on my recent trip.

Of course, if my grandfather had gone back, he would not have met my grandmother, and my father, and by extension, I, wouldn't exist.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. You might have existed but you'd be somebody else.

Some Norwegian with good health care.

[Maccagirl]

16. Wonderful thread Applegrove.

They'd have to form a line, but the first person I'd want to talk to would be my gggrandfather, Robert Roscoe, who I found out is buried under a civil war monument. He enlisted twice and was wounded severely (became an amputee) so I would ask him about his experiences in the war and also what happened to his first wife (my great-grandmother's mother) who seems to have disappeared with no documentation except for their wedding license. I only know her name and that she was Jewish.

[csziggy]

19. Charles Crow, the Baptist minister

Who was my 5th great grandfather.

I'd have a bunch of questions to ask the man.

Did he really leave South Carolina because of a disagreement with the church that ordained him about their rules that did not allow church elders and ministers to own slaves? Is that why he went to Alabama and became one of the largest slave owners in the county?

How could a man who claimed to be a minister to all OWN other human beings?

Why did the slave that had been allowed to preach to his fellow slaves leave Crow's church after Crow returned from an absence? Was it (as a biographer implies) because Crow did not want a slave preaching, even though Crow would not preach to slaves?

Why did Crow start the Alabama Baptist Convention and begin the movement that resulted in the Southern Baptist Convention? Did he do it to promote his own philosophy of hate and slave ownership?

How could a so called "man of god" encourage such hatred and intolerance?

[polly7]

20. Oh! Oh! Leinzig Chief of Farnworths de ffarnworth. He's my 24th great-grandfather.

(I'm not sure that even qualifies as being related anymore), but I guess I'd ask him what's up with all the ff's? I also have an Aunt who was one of Dr. Frederick Treves nurses' who cared for Joseph Merrick. I would ask her if Mr. Merrick ever managed to live in contentment after so many years of terrible treatment. Can you tell? ..... I love genealogy.

I hope you solve your mystery. Female ancestors can be hard to trace in the best of circumstances, adoption would make it ten times worse.

[applegrove]

22. I got her birth certificate which matched so well to the oral history we did have. It was

just not to clear on who the birth mother was.

[iverglas]

21. hey you, PM me

You've done the whole scotlandspeople thing?

I know somebody who works at the GRO for Scotland and is willing to help with tricky searches.

If you have a date of birth and a good idea of the place, it just might be possible to find the matching registration if the mother registered it -- or parish record of a baptism if pre-1855.

[applegrove]

23. I did the Scotlands People thing and found her birth certificate. It matched exactly

with the information we already had from the oral tradition (name of adoptive parents, birth father, description of where the little girl had tea). It was just a little vague about the birth mother.

[iverglas]

24. you can still PM me ;)

If you have a name for the mother -- surely it must be on the record? although not if the registration/baptism was by the adoptive parents maybe. Or even any details at all, like residence, occupation, anything ...

Genealogy is my real avocation (smiting down gun militants is just a minor hobby), and I've cracked more cases than I could ever count now. ;) Yes, that's an invitation to dare me!

[applegrove]

25. Sure thing. The little girl's name was Jean/Jane . The birth name

was given as Hunter/Ruxton. The adopted father was Gow and the adopted mother was Margarite Gow. The estate Gow was a teacher at was Meikleour (the little girl remembered having tea at an estate on the river Tay). The year was 1838. We knew her as Jane Hunter and that is what it says on her birthstone. They immigrated to Nova Scotia when she was 9. The story was that a lady had an affair with a Captain Hunter in Scotland. Margaret Dow was the maid. Gow was the local minister (he was indeed a lay minister by the time he lived in Lunenburg, N.S.). Good luck!

[iverglas]

29. this them?

You didn't say Who Gow was the teacher, or was it the minister? You said both. ;)

I'd spotted these in the 1841:

Name: Alex Gow
Age: 50
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1791
Civil parish: Perth
County: Perthshire
Address: Jeanfield
Occupation: Teacher
Alex Gow 50
Margret Gow 35
Jean Gow 5

There's also a John Gow schoolmaster aged 51 in Caputh in 1841. And I spotted a clergy Gow in a census, will have to look around again because at the time you hadn't said minister. Is that them in the household above, though? Do you know who Margaret was before she married? Since they were childless at that age it wasn't likely a family adoption, it was probably a lucky chance to have a respectable couple who wanted a child.

So you don't have this baptism record? (I don't have SP credits at the moment to check what's in old parish records there.) There weren't birth registrations before 1855, just parish baptism records.

https://www.familysearch.org/

Name: Jean Gow Hunter
Gender: Female
Baptism/Christening Date: 08 Nov 1837
Baptism/Christening Place: CAPUTH,PERTH,SCOTLAND
Birth Date: 19 Jan 1836
Father's Name: Hunter
Mother's Name: Jane Ruston
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11337-6
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: 1040073

Meikleour is in Caputh parish. No Ru*ton-s in Perthshire in 1841 at all. Dang, eh?

Christened almost two years after birth, so the "adoption" may not have been at birth, or the baptism was just delayed? Seems she was with the Gows when it took place, anyhow.

No Ruxton Ruston Ru*on in Perthshire in 1841 at all ... still playing!


edit - marriage of the above couple?

Groom's Name: Alexander Gow
Bride's Name: Margaret Dow
Marriage Date: 23 Dec 1834
Marriage Place: Caputh,Perth,Scotland
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M11337-6
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: 1040073

they had one child who presumably died in infancy

Name: Andrew Gow
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 10 Mar 1838
Baptism/Christening Place: CAPUTH,PERTH,SCOTLAND
Birth Date: 17 Feb 1838
Father's Name: Alexander Gow
Mother's Name: Margaret Dow
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11337-6
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: 1040073


These are the only Ruxton events in Perthshire at familysearch - no Ruston events:

Alexander Ruxton
Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910
marriage: 23 Dec 1854 —Liff Benvie And Invergowrie, Angus, Scotland
spouse: Agnes Cameron

Charles Ruxton
Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910
marriage: 03 Dec 1854 —Dunbarney, Perth, Scotland
spouse: Helen Curr

James Ruxton
Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910
marriage: 27 Aug 1794 —Longforgan, Perth, Scotland
spouse: Anne Smith

Eliza Ruxton
Scotland Marriages, 1561-1910
marriage: 22 Sep 1825 —Perth, Perth, Scotland
spouse: George Ower

The last couple had children George 1829 and Eliza 1827; George died in Massachusetts 1904. I suspect they emigrated early too; I don't see them in 1841 or 1851.

This is probably a big coincidence ...

Name: Charles Hunter Ruxton
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 01 Apr 1830
Baptism/Christening Place: INVERKEILOR,ANGUS,SCOTLAND
Birth Date: 27 Mar 1830
Father's Name: George Ruxton
Mother's Name: Jane Carnegie
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11293-4
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: 993437

... unless Jane was a Ruxton by marriage and had a longer relationship with Hunter than thought ... No, that couple had loads of kids, up to 1851, and they're in the 1851 census in Brechin.

Last night I went through the 1841 census for address Meikleour and didn't find any gentry looking types, and unfortunately can't see the images w/o going to SP and paying.

Still playing!

[applegrove]

37. You are amazing. I spent months to get the birth certificate. And look at what all you've found.

Margaret Dow and Mr. Gow (the teacher at Meikleour acccording to Jane's birth certificate (he later was a lay preacher in Lunenburg Nova Scotia)) had two sons that survived that were born after Jean/Jane Hunter. Wow. This is a lot to take in. I'll have to get a pop. Sit and let it all sink in. I did not know the mother's name was Jane too. On the birth certificate the writer says the parent's "supposed" names were Hunter/Ruxton. Jane/Jean kept the name Hunter her whole life so we know that part of it is real. Wow! You've given me quite the treasure.

[iverglas]

39. what do you know about the history of the estate?

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/blairgowrie/meikleour/index.html

Half a mile south of the village, on the shore of the River Tay, is Meikleour House. This was built in 1734 by Robert Murray Nairne and his wife Jean Mercer of Meikleour, heiress of the estates of Aldie and Meikleour. They are best known for planting the Meikleour Hedge in 1745, only shortly before Nairn was killed at the Battle of Culloden and Jean Mercer left Meikleour to seek refuge and anonymity in Edinburgh. The house was remodelled in the form of a French château in 1870 by the architect David Bryce.


(It's disputed whether the 1870 build actually retains any of the 1734 or later build.)

What/who was there for the next 100 years after 1745?? I can't find anything. Except that more recently Lord Lansdowne took the name Mercer-Nairne in order to inherit ...

In 1871, everyone at Meikleour House seems to be an employee (gardener, mason, labourer, gamekeeper, laundress ... and families).

In 1861 our source cleverly transcribes it as Mickleous. "Officas Mansion House Of Mickleous"? Again, only the help -- gamekeeper etc. Same situation, basically same people, in 1851.

The question is: who the heck owned it / lived there in 1841??

The only ones I can't rule out in that census (by occupation or status in 1841 or 1851) in Meikleour (Meikleour House isn't identified separately as an address in the transcription I'm using) are

Mary Craig 70 - no occupations shown
Agnes Blackhall 15

alrighty, now we may have something ... and I'm afraid that you have these things already and I hate doing this when people don't make full disclosure !! --

Name: Isabella Mcowen
Age: 50
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1791
Address: Meikleour
Occupation: independent means
Isabella Mcowen 50
Christian Mcowen 45 (female) also independent means

Ann Scrimgeour 60 - no occupations
Janet Scrimgeour 15
William Irons 4 - he's a servant in 1851 it seems

Isabella West 70 - no occupation

Mary Wilson 60 - no occupations
Janet Wilson 20

I keep looking at a farm household in West Haugh of Meikleour -- that's about 1.5 miles east, on the river, but that doesn't make it Meikleour House.

I don't suppose it could have been another estate in the Meikleour area? In 1851 there are a John and Catherine Crerar at what seems to be Delvine House very near by, with a slew of children named MacKenzie (which may have been transcribed wrong of course) with very fancy names, and a load of servants, one of whom is a dairymaid named Ann Gow aged 48. In the 1841 census the Crerar couple is in a gamekeeper's lodge in Caputh and he's described as a male servant, odd. It's just that the 1851 household has:
Catharine Mckenzie 18
Georgina Mary M Mackenzie 16
Lucy Jane Elenora M M Mackenzie 15
Susan Anne Eliza M Mackenzie 13
and names like that ... kind of fit the tale!
In 1841 the children are transcribed as surname McKenra Bort (argh) at my source and are at Alva House, Alva, Stirlingshire, in an independent means Johnstone household with a governess etc.


I think my bet might be on the Mcowen sisters, whose name is unfortunately probably screwed up there.

What you need to know is who owned the house!


edit - on the Mcowens, if they were unmarried:

Name: Isabel Mcowan
Gender: Female
Baptism/Christening Date: 21 Jul 1788
Baptism/Christening Place: CRIEFF,PERTH,SCOTLAND
Father's Name: John Mcowan
Mother's Name: Mary Mcvean
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11342-4
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: unknown

or Christian could have been a sister-in-law:

Name: William Mcowan
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date: 17 Nov 1805
Baptism/Christening Place: CRIEFF,PERTH,SCOTLAND
Father's Name: John Mcowan
Mother's Name: Mary Mcvean
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11342-4
System Origin: Scotland-ODM
Source Film Number: unknown


and I was wrong about Andrew Gow dying in infancy:

Groom's Name: Andrew Gow
Groom's Birth Date: 1838
Groom's Birthplace: Perth, Scotd.
Groom's Age: 38
Bride's Name: Louisa Sophia Hebb
Bride's Birth Date: 1850
Bride's Birthplace:
Bride's Age: 26
Marriage Date: 03 Feb 1876
Marriage Place: Bridgewater, Kings, Nova Scotia
Groom's Father's Name: Alexr.
Groom's Mother's Name: Margaret
Bride's Father's Name: John N.
Bride's Mother's Name: Eliza W.
Groom's Marital Status: Single
Bride's Marital Status: Single
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: M53462-3
System Origin: Canada-EASy
Source Film Number: 1298990
Reference Number: P.121 C.N.43

I see John married 1873 in NS as well.

And now familysearch is giving me the old technical difficulties message ...

[applegrove]

44. It was owned by Admiral Keith's daughter and her husband a french count at the time

I think he was Count Flauhault or something like that. Grandson (or son) of Prince Tallyrand. Meikleour was not their primary residence in Scotland at the time because they had another estate inherited too from her father. One of their daughters married Lord Lansdowne so that is how he fits into the picture.

Indeed the sister of one "Captain Hunter" died at Meikleour in about 1828 (I don't know if meikleour always means the estate only or if it could mean a village or as you say another estate there). I found evidence that the estate was rented out at one point as a tenant described the wonderful library there in the 1840s or 1850s. I wondered if the Hunter's rented it for a long while if they rented it at all. This Captain Hunter had a mother who was a Rollo (another wealthy family). He was building an estate of his own around 1840 so he would have needed a place to stay. Don't know. So many unanswered questions. And like I say..without confirmation of the mother's name we just don't know. Ruston is logical but why then did the scribe of the birth certificate say "supposed" names for the birth mother and birth father? I assume Hunter was a correct name because Jane/Jean used it her whole life and indeed it is inscribed on her gravestone in Lunenburg: Jane Hunter Finck (Finck being her married name).

[iverglas]

46. I'm confused about the birth certificate (edited) (again)

because there really was no registration in Scotland pre 1855. Was there a registration at some point by the Gows, who reported the mother's name? But because the mother wasn't present registering, the info could only be entered as being reported by a third party. It would be surprising for the name of a father not present to be entered at all.

At SP in old parish registers there is a baptism for Jean Gow Hunter, Caputh, Perth, ... and as I narrow the search to November 1837 (I'd requested 1836 to 1838 and got a hit), I get error message from SP too. Not my day. Anyway, that's the record you're referring to, the baptism I foundat familysearch? The transcription there comes from the same source as SP. Because I don't understand how it could be a "birth certificate".

So ... more info begets more info -- you likely have this? -- I'm assuming there's some confirmation that this is your James Hunter, having no idea where the mother's name came from!

Name: James Hunter
Gender: Male
Baptism/Christening Date:
Baptism/Christening Place: EDINBURGH PARISH, EDINBURGH, MIDLOTHIAN, SCOTLAND
Birth Date: 04 Feb 1796
Birthplace: Edinburgh Parish, Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland
Father's Name: Patrick Captain Hunter
Mother's Name: Jane Rollo
Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C11981-8
System Origin: Scotland-VR
Source Film Number: 1066687
Reference Number: 2:18K6ZM3

Patrick Captain Hunter ... a name or a rank?

Siblings
Patrick 1797 Edinburgh
John 1799 Edinburgh
William Hugh 1801 Edinburgh
Mary 1803 Edinburgh
Sarah 1804 Edinburgh
Jane Isabella 1805 Edinburgh
Roger Rollo 1807 Edinburgh


and in 1851 we find -- at the estate you referred to I would guess:

Address: Auchterarder House
Civil parish: Auchterarder (equidistant the other way from Perth, abt 20 mi from village of Meikleour)
County: Perthshire
James Hunter 55 - born Edinburgh - Capt Army Half Pay Farming 100 Geres Employing 4Lab (half pay = inactive/pensioned)
Sarah C Hunter 46 - born Edinburgh - annuitant
William H Hunter 49 - banker, visitor
Jeane Hunter 21 - visitor (relationships not stated)

So this is he, if he is him. ;)

Lots of siblings there to try to track down descendants of ...


edit -- you could check these records at findmypast:
http://www.findmypast.co.uk/army-service-records-search.action

First name: James(including variants)
Last name: Hunter
Country of birth: Scotland
County of birth: Midlothian
Year of birth: 1796 +/- 2 years

HUNTER J (dob) ? WO97 Chelsea (Chelsea Pensioners collection -- retired military)
HUNTER James ? WO97 Chelsea
HUNTER James ? WO97 Chelsea

If you were lucky enough that one of them was him, it could be hugely informative. I found a grx3 grfather enrolling in the military at the age of 16 on Christmas Eve 1814 (how hungry or drunk did a kid have to be to do that?) and then being discharged in Grenada because of his health several years later.


Just for interest, by 1861 he's a Lt Col retired, still at Auchterarder House, widowed apparently, with servants. No owner in residence in 1871 or 1881.

It's a hotel now. ;)

[applegrove]

48. It was from sp. I don't know if it was a baptism record or not. It is burried deep in

my genealogy boxes. Yes. I think that is the Hunter Rollo family I was looking at. One of the sisters died at Meikleour in about 1828 or 1829. I payed no attention at first. Then when the name meikleour popped up on the sp document I got more interested in what that Hunter family was up to. Surely more than one Captain Hunter in Scotland at the time. (Actually more than one Captain Hunter in that family). And I pursued a few of them but nothing interested me like this family. But. I don't know. So many threads. So impossible to verfy anything. But thanks. You are bringing back fond memories of my internet trips to Scotland in years gone by. (I started out looking for estates along the river Tay believe it or not).

[iverglas]

49. too late to edit again (edited!)

Just trying to find the timeframe



http://www.archive.org/stream/directorytogentl00find/directorytogentl00find_djvu.txt
Full text of "Directory to gentlemen's seats, villages &c. in Scotland: giving the counties in which they are situated - the post-towns to which each is attached - and the name of the resident"
-- question is the date of the publication -- it could be 1833

Auchterarder House
Auchterarder
Perth
James Hunter

The dates do seem to be a little off, if he was in that house in 1833.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2ec312b4-f297-4344-8eb9-1e9119e7ffcd

"Following the Reformation, St.Mackessog's remained a parish church for 100 years. The church closed in 1660 when the roof fell in one Sunday a short while after sunday service. In 1832 the east end was converted into the burial chamber for Hunter of Auchterarder House."

i.e. already established there in 1832.

Likely not findable in 1841 as he was off soldiering.

http://inchbrakie.tripod.com/abookofthegraemes/id67.html
"Mr Graham-Stirling of Strowan married in 1858 for the second time Jane, daughter of William Hugh Hunter of Auchterarder, and niece of Colonel Hunter of Auchterarder House"
-- Jeane, the visitor in the 1851 census, for info

muddled ...

http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-512-619-C
the google search results list says:
"Auchterarder House, a Neo-Jacobean mansion house designed in 1834 by William Burn for Captain James Hunter, was extended and lavishly refurbished in 1886-7"

so if that's accurate, the timing could be right.

[applegrove]

50. Oh yeah. That was a dead end. I remember that. Got me off the Hunters and onto

the owners of meikleour in my desire to suss it all out. As I said before the only way out of this mess is to talk to Jane/jean Hunger Gow Finck and ask her who her mom was or who those ladies were by the river Tay?

[applegrove]

38. I just reread by post to you with the little girl's information re Hunter Ruxton. I make no sense.

In my defence my sister had just called and told me my dad was onroute to hospital after a fall and I was upset. Still I should have reread my post. Amazing that you sussed out what I was trying to say. That was a real Rosetta Stone of a post. Sorry.

[iverglas]

40. I live for this ;)

After I discovered -- only from months of slogging through databases, when I'd just started out to do a few lookups at FreeBMD and see what I could see and found a big fat nothing -- that my mother's surname is totally fake, an invention by her grandfather and his younger sister (although it was her second middle name ... suggesting a father not her mother's husband) ... and then I was finally told the probable reason (he deserted rather than be sent to Afghanistan after India, yay gr-grf) by his oldest granddaughter now deceased (who had no idea her family name was fake, just knew her grandfather's tales; the actual case of papers he promised her, that no one had ever seen the inside of, was burned by another daughter-in-law on his death) ... well, I still haven't confirmed/disproved his tale of who his father was, which would involve DNA from a current high-level titled person, whom I've actually been introduced to by email and who is my age and quite pleasant but I didn't quite make it to begging his spit ... well, you can see what I cut my teeth on. ;)

My luck is that I have a perfect male line down from my gr-grf so the DNA thing could be done. You, you're starting from a female ancestor; no such luck.

You've probably not seen my boasting about my second cousin four times removed, the author of the judgment in the Person's Case. That one I only know about from someone who contacted me through Ancestry who has the same grx4 grandmother as me, that Viscount's grandfather's sister, something I'm sure I would never ever have gone after and figured out myself, and that I dearly wish I'd known when I was in law school ;)

[applegrove]

42. Genealogy is such fun. Though I was not as successful as you I did put a few "myths" to bed. The

family lore I told you must be true because there is so much out there to back up the story of the adopted girl.

[blueamy66]

26. I would ask my Dad why he changed our long Polish name

to a shorter English name when I was 4.

I have often thought of changing it back.....

on edit: After reading a few posts....can I add....I'd ask my maternal grandfather why he had his marriage to my maternal grandmother annulled, after my mother was born....and why he married 4 more times.....

[zanana1]

27. The one who emigrated from France.

The question would be; "WTF"?

[Supply Side Jesus]

28. Great Grandfather, he was around the Ludlow Massacre

would love to get his account of it

[frogmarch]

30. I'd ask my 3 great-grandfathers

who were Salem witch trials jurors WTF they were thinking. I think I pretty much know, but I'd ask them scornfully, making sure to include the F word, and then hurry back to the present.

[madinmaryland]

31. WOW!!! All of my great-grandparents were born in the 1850-1870 range.

Weren't the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690's??

:shrug:

[frogmarch]

32. Yes, between

February 1692 and May 1693.

Two of my gr grandfathers (Perley and Peabody) were jurors during the first set of trials (Court of Oyer & Terminer) in 1692, and the third (Ayer) was a grand juror in the later witch trials (Superior Court of Judicature) in 1693.

I wish I knew as much about my Civil War great-grandfather as I do about my earlier ancestors. I'd love to find a picture of him.

[iverglas]

33. not possible ;)

You mean great x something grfathers, we're sure!

My gr-grparents were all born 1850-1870 exactly too. The gr-grfather born earliest had my grfather when he was 50, and I'm not a kid, so those generations are long enough w/o stretching back another 150 years. ;)

[madinmaryland]

34. I assume he means multi "greats". Probably eighth or ninth great grandfather.

[frogmarch]

36. yes, of course I meant greatX grandfathers. I thought

that was a given. They were distant gr grandfathers of mine.

Interesting about your greats being born between 1850-1870. My Civil war gr grandfather was born in 1831. He became a father at age 35 and his son, my grandfather at 38, and my dad at 32...so they weren't young fathers either. I never knew my gr grandfather or my grandfather, and my kids didn't even know my dad. That's the down side of being an older parent, I guess.

[iverglas]

43. I was lucky

My grandmothers lived to 95 and 98 and only died in the 1990s.

And I wish I had asked *them* all the things I should have asked them ... even or especially just about their own lives. One immigrated to Canada as a young child, the other as a married woman with a kid, and I've been spending time trying to figure out her husband's military records in England (he died when I was 5). Two fantastic grandmothers, one superb grandfather, and that military one, well, 'nuff said.

I'm a relatively recent arrival in Canada, all grandparents born in England; applegrove predates me by decades. I'm always astounded at the records people have when they have families that go way back, in the US. Actually, I did find for someone who's a member here that her gr-grfather wasn't some sort of stowaway from England, he was descended from a drummer in the Revolutionary War! -- her grx8 grandfather. Once I figured out from censuses who his father was, it had all been done back from there already.

[frogmarch]

45. Rootschat

was very helpful to me in researching my Civil War great-grandfather's family in England. Maybe you'd find it helpful too.

http://www.rootschat.com/

It's free, and volunteer researchers there often lend a hand to members. With their help I found my great-great grandfather's will at the Nat'l Archives, as well as a photo of an oil painting of him. Lots of other info too. It's my great-great grandfather's son who emigrated to America before the Civil War who remains somewhat of a mystery.

Yes, you are lucky to have known your grandmothers. I didn't know any of mine...not even my step-grandmother. Maybe that's one reason I'm so interested in my family genealogy.

Don't confuse Rootschat with Rootsweb. Rootsweb isn't free. :-)

[iverglas]

47. I've never warmed to rootschat

There's a more UK-specific help site on the net where I spend most of my life. I'm the helper and never the helpee, well, not entirely true, little things I don't have paid access to I do bum from my pals there. A great person I encountered did some searching at Kew for me in person and got me the Anglo-Boer War record of my gr-grf's sister's son after I found him on line in an Imperial Yeomanry list (under his father's fake name ... some families do have 'em). I found a later trace of him in SA through the on-line archives there, I guessed that a novelist in SA by that surname might be his son -- and when I finally found the surname in someone's tree, my decade-long quest for a cousin bore fruit: I was put in touch with the gr-grdaughter of my gr-grfather's sister, born in SA and now living in the US midwest ... who had never heard of her gr-grmother. She at least had some idea her own surname was fake, her gr-grfather having allegedly adopted it in honour of his Scottish ancestors. I had to tell her it was actually to evade creditors after he gambled his very large inheritance away on the ponies and went bankrupt.

If anybody does need help with English ancestors, I'm more than happy to give it a shot. I'd give you references in the form of crazy success stories on line, but that would be telling too much. ;)

I guess now that someone has generously given me my star back, the genealogy group would be the place for me to solicit busy-ness. Work has dried up this summer and I'm bored!

[frogmarch]

52. Fascinating!

You've done a lot of research! I'd never before heard of Kew.

Through Rootschat, I found records of my maternal gf having served in the Boer War, and also my paternal great x2 grandmother and some of her grown children emigrating from England to SA after the death of my great x2 grandfather in England. Their son, my gr gf, emigrated to America.

Hope to see you at the gen group. :-)

[trof]

35. I'd asked my dad (or mom) who brought the divorce proceedings.

I've pieced together the 'why'...I think.
Evidently 'the other woman'.
It's a long story that happened during WWII.
I'd like to know if it was my mother or father who wanted the divorce.
I was 4.
:-(

[Glassunion]

41. Kind of tough...

On my mom's side I would choose great... great... great grandfather. He was a slave. I would ask him how he went from a free man to a slave. Our tree stops with him on her side.

On my dad's side I would go way way way back... There is a farmhouse in Ireland named after him that is a national landmark. I would ask how the hell the farmhouse was named after him, if it was his companion that gave his life to allow him to escape the farmhouse from the British army. It's always the generals and never the underlings that get the glory.

[bikebloke]

53. My grandfather

He died young after being gassed in the Great War. Hence, he was mythologized. I'd be curious as to how he really was.

Then the ancestor who migrated from Scotland to Virginia in 1677 as an indentured servant.

Further back to the Norman knight who invaded with William in 1066.

[suninvited]

54. another things which would be interesting would be

if you could go back and TELL an ancestor something, what would you tell them?

I would have told my maternal great grandfather to drill!

The biggest gas well in Parker County, Texas is currently on my great grandfathers land. A fact I have only heard, but do not have actual proof of. The mineral rights were retained by the family when the land was sold.

Judging by the first royalty check that I (as an heir) received, if my great grandfather were alive and got one single payment (not all split up among heirs) it would have been over one hundred thousand dollars.

My great grandfather lived dirt poor on that same piece of land his entire adult life. Maybe it is best he didn't know, since they probably couldn't have gotten to it then.

[Bertha Venation]

55. I think I'd ask my Grandma if

she was happy as a young wife and mother.

Because I think she wasn't, and I want her to tell me about it. If she'd want to.

I miss her so much.

[dana_b]

56. my paternal great grandmother

she was full blooded Native American (not sure of the tribe) but her son's (my grandfather) death certificate says her last name was Dahl (a Scandinavian name) and he was listed as "white". He was not, however, and was very dark skinned and looked "Indian". Her husband (my great grandfather) was a German whaler, fair skinned. I would love to talk to her and find out about her roots.

[soleiri]

57. My Grandfather on my dad's side

He died when my dad was a young boy,
and there is so much family mythology around him,
that I don't know what's true and what's family lore.
Add to that, my dad's family are known to embellish stories.
Someone in the family once said that he rode with Pancho Villa, and another person denied it.

I'd find out the names of his and my grandmother's parents,
and if he or my grandmother had any brothers and sisters.
Thanks to very persistent aunts, my mom's family has genealogy records back to the 1600s,
but for my dad's family, we have nothing.

Btw, anyone know a good genealogy site for records in Mexico?