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  #1  
Old 01-02-20, 11:15
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Phoenix Phoenix is offline
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Default Cherished stories

Do you find it possible to abandon the family stories you have grown up with, or amend your interpretation of them?

I have just put Best Mate in contact with a distant cousin. The link is the Lannings. We heard so many stories when we were children and most proved distorted - unsurprising since one dated back to the 1820s.

Distant cousin states that her ancestor was cut out of a will. £15k, some eight children and he copped a share of the residue, so probably £3-4k. BM was unable to convince her that just because he didn't get a named amount it didn't mean he didn't get anything and he actually got considerably more than his elder half-siblings.


I've had to completely reverse long held opinions, particularly when I've heard the same story, but with a very different slant put on it. I sometimes think my mother and her sister grew up on different planets.


What about you?
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Old 01-02-20, 15:08
Olde Crone Olde Crone is offline
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My grandfather was a precious only child and his mother died of a broken heart when he was posted missing in Ww1 and did not return home after the war ended. Um....no. She died of Spanish Flu in February 1919 and my grandfather was present at her death.

My.grandmother was orphaned young and sent to a terrible children's home. When she died, her sons took flowers to the now demolished orphanage and all had a good cry. Um.....her mother died when my gran was 14 and working. Her father died when she was in her late 40s and she got married in his house, so they were not estranged.

But just try convincing living relatives! The records are wrong, according to them.

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Old 02-02-20, 17:11
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People seem to want to cling to the stories about being done down or badly treated.

The only family story I have is one that can't now be proved or disproved, but my Dad told it to me and I cherish it because it's inexplicable.

My Dad's father, Jeuel, was a picture framer and had a shop in Stoke Newington Church Street. One day when my Dad was little, in the 1920s, a woman came into the shop with a photograph of the King. (People used to have photos of the monarch on their walls, like Alf Garnett).

The lady was recently married and expecting a visit from her parents who were going to stay for a few days. She wanted to impress them and made a great song and dance about the photo and the frame, which had to match the woodwork in her hall and the mount had to be just so, etc etc and most importantly it had to be ready in a week in time for the visit. My grandfather assured her the work would be done to her satisfaction and she left the shop.

My grandfather picked up the photo, looked at it, and then threw it behind a very heavy filing cabinet. My father looked puzzled and grandfather said "She doesn't want a picture of the king!"

All that week my father was on tenterhooks wondering what would happen when she came to collect the framed photo.....but she never did.

How did my grandfather know??!
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Old 11-02-20, 13:56
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Strange request then Nell.
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