in search of a granny I never knew...

[percy toboggan]

Tomorrow, along with my better half and my elder sister I'll be driving down to rural Leicestershire to see the village my Dad's mother was born in, and grew up in, and got married in. I never knew her. Never knew anything about her, including her 'home' village until recently. I thought she was from Shropshire! She died in '49, and I came along two years later. This will be only the second proper day out my sister and I have had together in thirty years !

We'' be looking in churchyards and cemeteries, and hoping her old house is still standing. All the info we've gleaned has come via the net - it's relatively simple - no pun intended.

I reckon the family history thing kicks in during later middle age. The only advice I'd give to younger orgers is to treasure your older relatives. Talk to them and get their thoughts on tape - even video. Do a 'Desert Island Discs' thing with 'em if they like music. (I'm taking the cassette player to mutha-in-laws next week, she's 84). You might think this is daft but I guarantee it will be pricless in the decades to come, for those descendants yet to arrive even.

In this day and age our loved ones shouldn't just shuffle off with no record, no commentary of their lives. They lived in interesting times too.

[Munro]

You are absolutely right about the genealogy thing kicking in in middle age.
We live in West Sussex but feel more at home in the graveyard at Latheron among my wife's relatives, now if only we could find some living family in Scotland.I cant seem to get my children interested in the subject but my son is forty so I might still be around when it kicks in for him.
Hope you have a good and rewarding trip to Leicestershire

[Angela]

Percy, you and I must have been born in the same year (not so sure about 55 being LATE middle age!:eek:). It was only last year that I started looking into my family history.
It was partly the birth of my baby granddaughter that made me think of it, together with having been very ill earlier in the year, and having no close family of my generation or older.
I only ever knew one of my grandparents -my maternal grandmother, who died, aged 91, when I was 25. She lived with us though, and I was very close to her. All the others died before I was born. I do remember a lot of what my granny told me, but of course I wish now that I'd talked to her a bit more about her younger days.
I've found rather to my surprise I've got a better sense of where I've come from now, that I never had before, and my 3 children all seem really interested as well. Still so much to discover ...
Anyway, I do hope that you all enjoy your day out, and that you find out more about your grandmother's life. :)

[karia]

There is something kicks in, but , like you , I find it hard to define !

I am part Scottish, part Irish and part French..and as a 'whole', I am proud to be all if these things.

Hope you find what you are looking for percy!

Taping the 'interviews'...great way to go,..so much more revealing than the blank verse!

Interested in the outcome, but totally understand that you may not wish to share such precious thoughts, and why should you!

All best wishes, Karia

[helenwyler]

percy toboggan, munro and angela I so agree with what you're saying. Even though at only 53 I'm not quite late middle-aged the bug struck forcefully last year.
My grandparents all died when I was very young and because they lived in Yorkshire and Devon, and we were in Bucks, it was a major undertaking to visit so probably only saw them once or twice a year.
I left it too late to get much info from my parents:(. They were both only children so my immediate family is very small, and finding out about my ancestors has made me feel more connected to social history and more defined as an individual.
It's also such fun being a detective! Mind you with a ggrandfather called James Robertson and only the barest details of their migration south it would have been nigh impossible to track him down (with no details of his wife) if it hadn't been for his extraordinary middle name Theophilus - an aspirational name for the son of an engine fitter!:D

[bluelady]

:lol: its worth tracing your ancestory, i have been doing it for three years or so and have got back as far as the 1700's. along the way i have made contact with people who are distant relatives, being through both direct and indirect lines. Some are my grt, grt, grt, grandparents brothers and sisters descendants and its fascinating when you get information from each other, its like doing a living history jigsaw. The contacts have been from both home and abroad. once you have contacts, you share resources.
I find genes reunited and ancestory are the best sites, i just pay ancestory on a pay to view basis when i know i have time off work to spend searching. i too am going down south in July to search some graveyards of ancestors of the 1800,s. Good luck with your search :Razz

[percy toboggan]

thanks all. Off to kip soon so I'm refreshed for the longish drive tomoz.
The only moot point here seems to be what constitutes 'late' mddle-age:-)
Well, I think fifty is the new forty but in mi Dad's time forty was defo middle age. I'm 56 now, and in what I consider the first stages of 'late' middle-age' None of this matters of course. I might feel older, might feel younger. All I know is I'm fed up of working for a living so old age is beckoning.If it means I can rise when I want to and stroll to the pub for a pint at lunchtime bring it on.

We go from late middle age into being 'old' I suppose. At least 'old age'.I won't mind being called 'old' when I'm in my sixty odds...why should I? I won't care anyway. Seventy plus is also 'old' on my book, but 'elderly doesn't kick in 'til yer eighty.

Just my take on the lattter stages of life. Don't mean Jack. Sorry, if I'm sounding like a teenager.

[crayola]

You may all call me cold and unfeeling but I have no interest in where I came from and no desire to find out anything about my older relatives or ancestors. I am me and that's it. I might feel different when I reach my mid fifties but I doubt it because I have become less and less interested as the years have gone by.

[trinkie]

I am a grannie - and I find that my grand children are not the slightest bit interested in anything I am doing or have done ! But I dont expect them to be - they have far too many exciting things to do. We do things together now and create memories that way.

But, I write down all my stories and stuff them in a drawer for someone to find when I am long gone.

I have also made several tapes of Blethers. You should do the same one day. Jot down as much info on the back of photos - not just names and dates, but what was happening at that time.

It's when you Retire you will have more time, and inclination to do such things. Dont waste your precious time when you are so young worrying about what happened before.

Enjoy your trip to your Grannie's Grave - that will surely be a very special day for you and your sister.

Regards
Trinkie

[Munro]

Percy, how did your weekend go, hope you found what you were looking for
We are coming up to Caithness again in September and have found B&B
with a fellow clan member to my wife's.
We were watching Trawlermen last night and thinking about the ancestors
going to sea in 1800s how tough were they.

[cuddlepop]

Both my grannies died when I was little and I only met my dads mum twice.Dad died before I got over the terrible teenage years and could see him as more than the enemy so never really new him.Dad came from a family of thirteen but with the outbreak of war the elder childern were evacuated to Glasgow from Guernsey and never really got the "family" back together after peace was declared.

I have two aunties that I keep in touch with all be it on an irregular bases and maybe when I can I'll go back to Guernsey and find Dads old haunts.
What I did find out is that Dads great,great Granny was a nanny to the Csar of Russia's children and my auntie can remember all the wee keepsake.s GG gran was given when she returned home.
My dads dad was a miner in the tin pans on the Devon coast and thats about all I know.
It must have been awful during the occupation of Guernsey and it all seems so surreal that my dads family lived through it but there's no recolation of it anywhere.

Percy I hope you find all that you are looking for and You dont have to far to travel.
Me I think with mum's family in Canada and dad's in Normandy/Guernsey as well as Scottish and English links I'm going to have fun:lol:

[Whitewater]

Percy, you will probably not see this post until you return, but what you are doing is simply great.

My wifes late uncle was a cooper based in Wick. He had no family of his own, but both he and his wife travelled all over Britian and Ireland going to wherever the herring were being landed, they had a wonderful life, and I know this because of recordings made for the Wick Heritage Centre by Ian Sutherland of which we now have copies.

The stories told were priceless and funny, many of them I knew about already, he often would reminince when we went out to the Seaforth club for a dram or two. We also found out so much more about their lives which we only heard from the tapes, altough there was a lot of fun there was also a great deal of sadness as well. When my son was born he asked if we would name him after him, it was our delight and pleasure to do so, and my son grew up knowing a lovely old couple whom he loved very much and although they both passed on many years ago he has never forgotten his grand uncle and always has a listen to his voice on the tapes when the aniversary of his death comes along.

What you are doing is wonderful and priceless.

[percy toboggan]

thanks all foir the feedback and encouragement. Some really interesting stories and comments to.
WE had a good trip. Not very productive in some ways but we got to se Harriet's birthplace, the house is still there and it's a lovely part of the world. Quintissential , rural England.
I tried making a web page as I usually do but my p.c. is playing up. It's available as a word doc if anyone wants to p.m. their e.mail address.The usual mildly self-deprecating, mildly entertaining stuff - he claimed, somewhat wildly!