What they were known as
 

I find it rather sad that I don't know what most of my ancestors were known as.

Was at a funeral yesterday & met up with a second cousin who is suddenly interested in family history.

She said "I started off by asking Mum what her grandparents were known as, and she said 'Bill and Emma' "

And they become real people. (If only I'd asked the same question, not "what were their names?")

To be honest its not possible to know is it really.

My maternal grandmother had a few choice names for some of them that she imparted :d and some usual derivatives i.e. Polly, Jack and one really obscure one 'jewel' that turned out to be someone we think was called Martha that I'll probably never get to the bottom of!

What I'd like to see is some photographs of some of mine. I have none past my maternal grandfather and only one of him and I'm beginning to doubt its him anyway! I have none of any of the others, anything above my maternal grandmother I haven't any photos on either side or any of my grandmother's peers in her family.

Ahhhh photographs :confused:
How I long to discover if the original photos of the Gt Gt Grandparents still exist.
All I have are two not very good photocopies, for which I'm very grateful ..... but ....... :rolleyes:

Until a few years ago, one of the Gt Grans (Elizabeth) seemed a very serious, boring and 'worthy' person but after contact with a distant cousin, she became Lizzie and what a difference that's made !
She has a real personality + I had a tiny B/W pic of her which I'd never bothered to look at properly and when enlarged, discovered a cat on her shoulder :D
Now I think she must have been lively and fun and not the dour Scot I imagined.

At the risk of boring everyone again .... here she is

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o.../Lizzieweb.jpg

What a brlliant photograph although I must say the cat looks like its sitting on the dogs head rather than 'herself's' shoulder ! :)

Rachel, my rather fearsome 2xgt grandmother was also Elizabeth, but after I found out she was always called Bessie I had a slightly different view of her!

My grandmother was christened and registered as Muriel Mary. However, she was always called "Mimi"! (from both names)

Oh, and that reminds me, my grandfather's first name was Cecil, which my grandmother, Mimi, didn't like - she always called him John!

Thankfully my mum told me this snippet because I never knew my grandfather as he died before I was born.

One of my grandfather's sisters was Emma Louisa known to her brothers as Lemonsqueeser.

Since the ggggrandparent challenge has rekindled my interest in family history I have discovered several millitary records which include a physical description. Knowing that some one was five foot tall and giner or five foot eleven and blond helps bring them to life.

My nanna was Eleanor but was always called Nell, but so was her mother, who was baptised Helen. Eleanor's daughter is Elaine - she isn't called Nell, but the names are all variations of the same, but I don't know if they realised it at the time.

My grandfather (not Nell's husband who was Jimmy), was always called Bob, but was registered as Cecil Alfred Herbert. His siblings were Tom, Dick, Bill, Kit and Gypsy - only Bill being anything close to his real name - Kit's real name was the same as her mothers.

Mum only knew her great-aunt as Aunty Cissy but her name was Rebecca - the only girl in family of seven.

Then there's my husbands grandmother who was called Ruth, but for some obscure reason, her husbands family always called her Jean.

This is very true..."if only"...I am fortunate to have photos of my grandparents and we were a close family,,,,but...one thing I will never know why...because I didn`t ask..
my mum was
Enid Miriam Anson.....and her dad (my grandad ) always called her DEL
Where do you get Del from Enid Miriam ?.....I`ll be wondering the rest of my life.....allan

[QUOTE=maggie_4_7;63297]To be honest its not possible to know is it really.

QUOTE]

But if you can find out, I feel you should make the effort. When I started, I was interested in the genealogy, rather than the fh side. Progressively, I feel that some ancestors might not recognise the thumbnail sketches I have of them.

All the Edmunds I have in my tree... when they appear as Edward in a census, it must mean that they were known as Ned or Eddie - but which?

And yes, I value photos hugely. Physical descriptions I am a little more wary of. I watch men shrinking, then growing again. Hair colour changing, even eyes. Some must have been more accurate than others - but which?