Black Tie Wedding

[Darren L]

Researching our family tree I was surprised to learn that my Mum was born two years before her parents got married but her Mum was already using her husband-to-be's surname. He was previously married so I suspect there may have been divorce proceedings to complete before they could marry.

Yeah, that's no real surprise to be honest, skeletons in closets, there's an awful lot of brides were expecting in the good ole days.
When my Dad was researching our family tree he eventually found out his mums father was brought to NI from Oz at the age of eleven by an Auntie and given the name 'John Smith' as he was born out of wedlock. There was alot of stigma around such matters. The best of it was my grandparents knew this but wouldn't tell my Dad when he started researching the family tree in the 80's.

 

[paulfromcamden]

Yeah, that's no real surprise to be honest, skeletons in closets, there's an awful lot of brides were expecting in the good ole days.
When my Dad was researching our family tree he eventually found out his mums father was brought to NI from Oz at the age of eleven by an Auntie and given the name 'John Smith' as he was born out of wedlock. There was alot of stigma around such matters. The best of it was my grandparents knew this but wouldn't tell my Dad when he started researching the family tree in the 80's.

Yes I've found one or two birth certificates showing the first child came along a few months after the wedding. In one case the groom was 17. You can sort of work out what happened...

A member of my OH's family only found out he was adopted very late in life. Everyone on that branch of the family has pretty much said they don't want anyone investigating the family history in case it turns up any unwanted surprises.

I've only started researching our family since my Mum passed away and I was passed four large boxes of her notes. It's going to take an age to go through it all but it's fascinating - especially where there's a photo of someone you never knew but you can find out a few details about their life. I did wonder if it might be an good topic for a thread as I'm sure lots of other members have similar interesting photographs.

 

[dweezil]

Fair enough, both my kids have my surname and I was never married to their mum. (Thankfully)
Tracy quite often uses my surname as its easier as hers is double barrelled, one from her Dad the second part from her stepfather.
I would fully expect when we do get around to it that she'll keep her current name for professional reasons but use mine for convenience.

Probably just convenience but one of my ex wives still uses my name even though she's been remarried for ten years; doesn't seem quite right and i wonder how her current husband feels.

 

[Darren L]

Yes I've found one or two birth certificates showing the first child came along a few months after the wedding. In one case the groom was 17. You can sort of work out what happened...

A member of my OH's family only found out he was adopted very late in life. Everyone on that branch of the family has pretty much said they don't want anyone investigating the family history in case it turns up any unwanted surprises.

I've only started researching our family since my Mum passed away and I was passed four large boxes of her notes. It's going to take an age to go through it all but it's fascinating - especially where there's a photo of someone you never knew but you can find out a few details about their life. I did wonder if it might be an good topic for a thread as I'm sure lots of other members have similar interesting photographs.

I'm sure there was many a 'knee trembler' , lol, behind a dance hall resulted in pregnancy .
It's not so bad I think when it resulted in marriage and more often than not a lifelong relationship, much worse when young women were sent off to a 'laundry'.
Religion having the power it did have in years gone by often resulted in terrible abuses and the stigma of 'bringing shame on the family'.
More often than not the older generations never spoke of these things.
I only found out years after my maternal grandfather died that he had a twin sister called Greta, she was shipped off to Australia at the age of 13 or 14 to work as a Nanny , he never spoke of her and we were fairly close, he did tell me alot of stories when I worked with him. I often wonder have I relations on the other side of the world.

I think it's a very interesting topic in general, I have considered doing one of the DNA Ancestry searches to see if anything turns up.

 

[Brown Bottle]

Yes I've found one or two birth certificates showing the first child came along a few months after the wedding. In one case the groom was 17. You can sort of work out what happened...

A member of my OH's family only found out he was adopted very late in life. Everyone on that branch of the family has pretty much said they don't want anyone investigating the family history in case it turns up any unwanted surprises.

I've only started researching our family since my Mum passed away and I was passed four large boxes of her notes. It's going to take an age to go through it all but it's fascinating - especially where there's a photo of someone you never knew but you can find out a few details about their life. I did wonder if it might be an good topic for a thread as I'm sure lots of other members have similar interesting photographs.

We found letters at my Grandma's from a girl who had been sent away, we assumed to have a baby. Nobody survivng knew who it was, certainly wasn't my Grandma's daughter.

Cheers BB

 

[kensalriser]

I'm sure there was many a 'knee trembler' , lol, behind a dance hall resulted in pregnancy .
It's not so bad I think when it resulted in marriage and more often than not a lifelong relationship, much worse when young women were sent off to a 'laundry'.
Religion having the power it did have in years gone by often resulted in terrible abuses and the stigma of 'bringing shame on the family'.
More often than not the older generations never spoke of these things.
I only found out years after my maternal grandfather died that he had a twin sister called Greta, she was shipped off to Australia at the age of 13 or 14 to work as a Nanny , he never spoke of her and we were fairly close, he did tell me alot of stories when I worked with him. I often wonder have I relations on the other side of the world.

I think it's a very interesting topic in general, I have considered doing one of the DNA Ancestry searches to see if anything turns up.

I think the tests are a bit of a money spinning con.

 

[stevec67]

I think the tests are a bit of a money spinning con.

I don't, provided you don't expect too much. My parents have had it done with interesting results. My mother is almost exclusively S Yorks and N Notts, barring a late bit of Irish, which fits where she is from and with the family tree tracing that my uncle has done. My father is more or less 100% Irish, again this fits the family known history. I've not bothered because I now know what would result, and in any case I know that we're all the result of a thousand years of people wandering around N Europe in search of somewhere to live and work, and with a reliable food supply. It was the potato famine that drove my Irish ancestors to England, a state of affairs that has existed for centuries.