Best Yet

[rosss009]

Yes I agree the Kevin Whately programme was certainly one of the best yet. I agree that it would be interesting for the programme to use ordinary people for a series.

[ksouthall]

I would gladly volunteer to take part, although I guess most other subscribers to the forum and magazine would too.

[rosss009]

So would I!!! I would love it.

[ksouthall]

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to blag many trips abroad out of it as my ancestors have been in England for centuries. I have found a couple of soldiers who went abroad so maybe I could get a day trip to France out of it, plus a visit to Madras.

[paulberyl]

If they used me and my family they could certainly make the programme on the cheap - back to the 18th century without leaving Birmingham!

Paul

[ksouthall]

Is that for all branches of your family? That makes my family tree sound quite exotic. That sounds like my father-in-laws family who were mainly from the West Midlands. Mind you, if ever I come across ancestors from a new county, I get quite excited. My ancestors are mainly from Devon, Cornwall, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire & Sussex. I found an ancestor from Derbyshire which was very exciting - that's about the closest to abroad I have come (other than the soldier who travelled.)

Also, most of my family were farmers or labourers. I have found an 18th Century vicar which was quite exotic, by my family's standards. He was descended from a 16th Century haberdasher in London but unfortunately the Haberdashers' Company records don't go back that far.

[paulberyl]

[font="times new roman"][size=3]Hi Katherine,[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3][/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]There was some poetic licence – but not a lot.[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]My parents, my grandparents and all but one of my great grandparents were born in Birmingham [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Of my sixteen 2xgreat grandparents:[/size][/font]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]ten were born in Birmingham[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]three were born in what is now the West Midlands[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]one was born in Ireland (although his father had been born in Birmingham)[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]one was born in Bristol[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]and the most exotic, one of my 2xgreat grandmothers was born in Jamaica[/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Of the twenty-three 3xgreat grandparents I have been able to positively identify:[/size][/font]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]thirteen were born in Birmingham[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]five were born within the West Midlands[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [font="times new roman"][size=3]one in Liscard[/size][/font]
[size=3]·[/size] [size=3][font="times new roman"]one in the Isle of Man[/font][/size]
[size=3]·[/size] [font="times new roman"][size=3]three I have not been able to trace their place of birth[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Of my twelve 4xgreat grandparents I have traced all were born in Birmingham (this is around 1770/80s)[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]The only two 5xgreat grandparents I have traced were again both born in Birmingham (1750s).[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]Their occupations could be an A-Z of Birmingham industries. Whilst there are some agricultural labourers (when the now Birmingham suburbs were still farm land ) my ancestors in the main were engaged in the gun trade, jewellery trade, leather trade, engineering and “metal bashing” industries (brass founders, chain making and nail making). [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3]A programme on my family history probably wouldn’t make very riveting viewing! [/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]There is obviously a draw between Birmingham and my family. I actually left Birmingham when I was twelve when my mother remarried and my step-father moved jobs. When I started work my job took me not only all over the UK but also Europe – but where did I end up prior to retiring – back in Birmingham! [/font][/size]
[size=3][font="times new roman"][/font][/size]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]Paul [/font][/size]

[ksouthall]

[link=http://www.multi]I[/link] have just tried to find Liscard on Multimap.co.uk but couldn't find it. It sounds like it should be a rock out in the sea somewhere as I am sure I remember hearing it mentioned on the shipping forecast when I was younger. Despite living inland, my dad always insisted we listened to the shipping forecast - I am not sure if that was to remind him of his links with Devon or because he worked on a farm and liked to check out the weather. The only other place I could think it might be was the old spelling of Liskeard in Cornwall.
Your Jamaican born ancestor sounds interesting. Do you know how they came to be over there or got over here?
Also your Isle of Man ancestor - that's further abroad than any of my ancestors have been born. (Unles you count a couple of great-great-great-great-uncles who were born in France at the tail end of the Napoleonic wars because their father, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, was a private in one of the Foot regiments.)
Your family tree sounds pretty interesting to me. At least there had a variety of jobs and were involved in interesting trades.

[paulberyl]

[font="times new roman"][size=3]Hi Katherine,[/size][/font]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]Liscard is an area of the town of Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula in Merseyside. [/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]When I first identified my 3xgreat grandmother on 1851 census her place of birth had been shown on the census as Liskeard, Cornwall and I spent (wasted?) a lot of time trying to trace her birth in Liskeard. It was only when I finally tracked down my 3xgreat grandparent’s marriage in Wallasey that I was able to trace her birth in Liscard. Unfortunately with the surname of Jones I have not been able to positively identify her parents or where her father was born. A “mystery” was how my 3xgreat grandparents met. My 3xgreat grandfather was born in Birmingham; he was a widower, his first wife having been born and died in Birmingham, and following his marriage to my 3xgreat grandmother they both lived in Birmingham. How did someone who was born, bred and lived in Birmingham meet and fall in love with someone from the Wirral who was considerably younger than he was?[/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]My Jamaican ancestor, Ellen Logan, is another mystery. She married in this country in August 1837, not long after the introduction of civil registration, and her marriage certificate is the earliest certificate I have. From this I know her father’s name and occupation (coppersmith). What her father was doing in Jamaica I have no idea; I do not know who her mother was, whether she had any siblings or when she returned to this country. [/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]Thinking about it perhaps WDYTYA would like to do a programme on my family history and fly me out to Jamaica so that I can investigate this branch of my family. Alternatively I may have to pay for a genealogist in Jamaica to carry out some research for me.[/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]But I do have one claim to fame. My mother was illegitimate but we do know who her father was, Olly Whateley, who was already married and was my grandmother’s boss. After my mother’s birth Olly and his wife emigrated to America where he became butler to the American aviator Charles Lindbergh, and was butler at the time of the Lindbergh kidnapping, when Charles’s son was kidnapped (and subsequently murdered). I have been able to obtain a copy of the statement Olly gave to the Police following the kidnapping. [/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]This is why I find family history research so fascinating, so many answers but so many more questions. [/font][/size]
[font="times new roman"][size=3] [/size][/font]
[size=3][font="times new roman"]Paul [/font][/size]

[ksouthall]

Hello Paul,
Thanks for letting me know where Liscard is. I have had a look on Wikipedia to find out more about it in case I find I have ancestors from there too.
Could your ancestor from the Wirral have been in service or a nanny for her future husband's children? If she was in service, she may have been working away from home but gone back to Wallasey for the wedding.
Ellan Logan sounds like she probably had Irish ancestors. I wonder how many generations of her family lived in Jamaica and how easy it would be to find out more about her.
I have wondered about hiring researchers but am worried it could cost for little extra information. The magazine often gives tips so I think I might see if it has any advice about how to pick a researcher.
The information about Olly Whateley is really interesting. It must have been terrifying being interviewed by the FBI, especially as they were probably very suspicious of all the household stff, especially non-Americans.
Do you know if Olly Whateley has any connections to Kevin Whately? (I know the surnames are spelt slightly differently but that doesn't mean there can't be a connection, does it?)
Katherine