Finding stuff out about your family

Found out years ago that my heritage is pretty linear at least a couple hundred years back.

We all seem to have lived in the same 30 mile radius til the present day.
 


Dark Traveller said:
My Grandad served in the DLI during WW2, as a cook. I already knew this since I was a young un, and that he had been a bit of a rogue when there, never sent any money back to my Nanna because he kept loosing it playing cards.

What I didn’t know until about five years ago was that he had fought(?) in Italy, and that he had had an affair with an Italian woman whilst he was there!

My Mam mentioned this in passing when I was casually chatting with her about our family history.

The conversation went something like this....

Mam: “Yes, your Nanna and Grandad had a bit of stormy relationship when I was growing up....”

Me: “....oh aye, think you mentioned that once or twice over the years....”

Her: “He was a bit of a character your a Grandad, I don‘t think your ever fully trusted him again when he came home after the war.....”

Me: “Oh right, was that because of his gambling and not sending money, and then losing his service medals?”

Her: “No, because when he got home, he owned up to having it away with some Italian woman when serving in Italy. Your Nanna then dragged him down to their village doctor to talk about what he may have brought home with him and to get his bits checked out....”

Me: (stunned silence.....)

Her: “....What’s up? Your face has gone a bit weird....”

Me: “Woah, hang on a moment, we have been talking about grandad on and off for over 40 years, and your telling me this now!?!? That’s quite a bit of information to just casually let slip!!!”

Her: “Oh right, really? The first time? I am sure I’ve told you that before....”
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My dad was in the DLI during the war . Came back and married mam 3 years later .
One day when in his 60's he had a heart attack at work and was rushed in to hospital .
Went in to see him and all he could talk about was me getting my mate ( who worked at the same place ) to get his gear from his locker .
My mate got his gear and in it was a pristine carefully wrapped picture of a woman with a loving message on the back . Asked him who it was he says " Gerry tart, your mam doesn't need to know " .
Somehow I think she meant more to him than that . Wish he could have met her again.
 
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A lot of my family served in the wars but unfortunately most of them were killed in action or soon after. My Great uncle Pte Colville Law of the Cameronians was gassed at the Somme but never really recovered from it; he dropped down dead in Glasgow central station in 1929 aged 32. I've still got his stick (pace stick?) with the Cameronians badge. I used to have to share a bed when I was very young with my great aunt Lilly, Colviilles sister and still remember how she fondly spoke about him. My father died in 1973 of cancer and I only have very vague memories of him (hence we had to move in with my Aunt Lilly). All my Mam would tell me was that he came from L'vov and moved to Scotland after the war and they met in 1957. It wasn't until about 10 years ago my Mam told me everything; he came to Scotland as POW in 1945 aged 18 and was interned in a camp in Mussleborough for a year or so. He joined in 1943 as soon as he was old enough. His division was called the "Ukrainian National Army", otherwise known as the 14th SS Galicia. There was a book wrote about his division called the Rimini list and I think there is a film in production as well? I've researched the history of what my father went through with the division and it's horrific. The division was smashed at Brody/Tarnow by a Russian armoured corps with 8000 casualties and chased through the Alps until they surrendered to the Americans. They hid from the Russians for months in the Alps. 700 of about 30,000 survived.
 
The Fitter said:
A lot of my family served in the wars but unfortunately most of them were killed in action or soon after. My Great uncle Pte Colville Law of the Cameronians was gassed at the Somme but never really recovered from it; he dropped down dead in Glasgow central station in 1929 aged 32. I've still got his stick (pace stick?) with the Cameronians badge. I used to have to share a bed when I was very young with my great aunt Lilly, Colviilles sister and still remember how she fondly spoke about him. My father died in 1973 of cancer and I only have very vague memories of him (hence we had to move in with my Aunt Lilly). All my Mam would tell me was that he came from L'vov and moved to Scotland after the war and they met in 1957. It wasn't until about 10 years ago my Mam told me everything; he came to Scotland as POW in 1945 aged 18 and was interned in a camp in Mussleborough for a year or so. He joined in 1943 as soon as he was old enough. His division was called the "Ukrainian National Army", otherwise known as the 14th SS Galicia. There was a book wrote about his division called the Rimini list and I think there is a film in production as well? I've researched the history of what my father went through with the division and it's horrific. The division was smashed at Brody/Tarnow by a Russian armoured corps with 8000 casualties and chased through the Alps until they surrendered to the Americans. They hid from the Russians for months in the Alps. 700 of about 30,000 survived.
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I wouldn't imagine the Russians would have took too kindly to a Ukrainian who joined the SS like .
I worked with an old Ukrainian concrete finisher on the sites in the 70s . 8 remember saying to him " bet you killed plenty of Germans Demitri ?" . Yes he says " killed plenty Russians too" laughing .
A strange place to have been.
 
Skandhaless said:
I wouldn't imagine the Russians would have took too kindly to a Ukrainian who joined the SS like .
I worked with an old Ukrainian concrete finisher on the sites in the 70s . 8 remember saying to him " bet you killed plenty of Germans Demitri ?" . Yes he says " killed plenty Russians too" laughing .
A strange place to have been.
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From Military Wiki where I found out most of the stuff: 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)
 
AB22 Easy Tiger said:
My Dad’s brother was killed during WW2 on Lancaster ND994. It was a. Royal Canadian Airforce plane and he was the only RAF man on the flight. I was contacted last month by someone who had been researching his family tree and it turns out we’re 4th cousins. He was born and raised in Canada. I knew that one of my great grandfather’s brothers had emigrated to Canada so it didn’t come as too much of a surprise.

Spooky coincidence though, one of his cousins on the other side of his family was part of the same Lancaster crew as my uncle.
Spooky coincidence number 2, this 4th cousin of mine lives less than 30 miles from me in Houston.
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Have you met him yet?
 
We were on holiday in Arnhem a couple of years ago and the wife just casually mentioned that her aunty Rita had been here as she was a flying Nightingale. Mad.
www.bbc.co.uk

Lilian West: The last of the Flying Nightingales

Lilian West witnessed the full horror of World War Two as one of the "Flying Nightingales" - the air ambulance nurse who risked their lives to bring back almost 100,000 wounded soldiers from the European mainland to British hospitals.
www.bbc.co.uk
 
Tuono said:
Me Grandfather Albert A. was always known as "the man of mystery" because all he would say about his life before he moved to Sunderland in 1918 was; He was born in London, when he was a kid he lied about his age to work on a ship then jumped ship to live in Canada. When war broke out in 1914 he came back to England and joined the Sherwood Foresters aged 23.
I got his enlistment papers and his next of kin was an "aunt" who lived in Chelsea. His marriage certificate said his father "John" was a plater in the shipyards but deceased, no mention of his mother. He died when I was 10 but I knew he supported Chelsea all his life so I assumed this was where he was born but searched records for all London to try and find his birth. There was only one possible birth I could find that could be him, an 18 year old girl from Ripon called Jane A. gave birth to an Albert A. in a hospital in Hammersmith, she disappeared from records for a few years and as far as I could tell Albert was Christened then given to a church orphanage where he too disappears from records. I thought I had him banged to rights but I couldn't be 100% sure this was the same Albert so I started to trace Janes relatives. Jane had died a spinster in the 1960's and she never had any more kids so I traced her sisters living relatives and one agreed to do a DNA test to see if we were related. I was 99% sure we'd match but we didn't so I was back at square one, who the feck was my Grandad and why was he so secretive about his past. Anyway through being on the Ancestry.com DNA list I'd get hits from all over the world from relatives One hit was from a close relative living in Hammersmith but no way did our families cross even though we matched as second cousins. Then I got a hit from someone in America who was also a 2nd cousin and who also matched with the Hammersmith guy. I contacted her and discovered her Grandmother had been born in London but the family had been split up when both her parents had died, she was sent to live with her aunt, her older sister went to live with the grandmother but her older brother was put into a Barnardo's home where after 3 months he was shipped off to Canada and she never saw him again. They stayed in contact through letters and in 1914 he re-enlisted in the Canadian Cavalry having already served them for 4 years. When the Canadians arrived in England on his first weekend of leave her brother headed to London from their base in Kent and was never heard from or seen again. The only problem was her brother was called Alfred Jonah Gaster and my Grandfather was called Albert A. Alfred Jonah Gaster disappeared one day in 1914, the next day 23 year old Albert A- was born.
Since this discovery I have found out a lot more about him, his parents and his siblings. It's just a shame my father and all his brothers and sisters apart from one living sister never knew who there father really was.
You're right Paddy, family history is fascinating.
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Fascinating stuff, great read T.
 
My gran who live to be 103 had it really tough. Imagine losing 3 brothers within weeks in the first world war and then losing another to diphtheria! One brother's grave has never been found, but my uncle took her on battlefield tours in the 80s and miraculously found 2 of their graves. He was a CSM in the Royal Anglians at the time.
 
My 3rd great grandfather was the police sergeant who arrested serial killer Mary Ann Cotton who was hanged at Durham prison on the 24th March 1873.
 
I found out that my Aunties mother and her friend worked in an office in London during the 50's. The 2 of them decided to look for a place/flat to share nearer where they worked.They found a place advertised and for an unknown reason my Aunt's mother was the only one available to view it at the time so they agreed she should go and have a look and see what it was like. My Aunt's mother went and viewed the property but when she met up with her friend she told her although the flat was nice enough and the cost was reasonable there was something weird about the owners and she felt strange. They decided not to take the flat- The address was 10 Rillington Place and the bloke was John Christie
 

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