Don't believe what you're told

Thank you, Heather. Actually I already knew about the Parish Clerks and have found a few Greenhalghs there. The trouble is I've been deep into other branches of the family and tended to neglect my Greenhalghs and Gunns. I must get back to them. My great-grandaunt Ann Greenhalgh, who emigrated as Ann Williamson, apparently lived in Geelong but her great-great-granddaughter, with whom I'm in touch (slightly), lives in Sydney. I don't know if any of Ann's descendants are still in the Melbourne area; another thing for me to look into. A close cousin of mine, only once removed, lives in a place called Burwood. Does that mean anything to you? I know it's in the Melbourne area and that's all.

 

Gillian, that almost makes you an honorary Aussie.

 

Many thanks, Margery - a proud moment for me, especially as I have even more relatives in Australia, but we won't go into them now!! Where do you live?

 

I am very aware of cyber safety as my son is a cybercrime expert (he's not a criminal, rather he warns other about the dangers). However I am happy for Gillian to know that I live in rural NSW, inland from the mid north coast beach town of Forster. It's a great place to live if you don't mind gravel roads, satellite broadband and no mobile phone service. Wonderful bird life and lots of wallabies are constant visitors.

 

Yes we know Burwood it's closer in towards the city (Melbourne) than us.

 

Many thanks Margery and Heather. As suggested by Peter, I won't ask any more questions.

 

My maternal grandmother always used to say that we are descended from Suffolk Giants! It was partly true. She had an uncle who was a Coldstream Guardsman who fought in the Crimean War. He was well over 6ft and was reputed to be the tallest man in the British Army at that time. Don't know about being a giant in THAT sense but he did win a DCM (Distinguished Conduct Medal) at The Battle of Inkerman, so he was certainly a giant in valour.

More of a myth was my great grandmother's tale that my maternal grandfather was the illegitimate son of the local squire. Have found no evidence for that and somehow I don't think they'll allow me to dig up the squire to do a DNA test!

 

It's very interesting to read how many people have been told they have Irish ancestors- my father told me his mother came from Co. Clare - though my research I discovered her father came from Bern in Switzerland! The surname is unusual (thankfully) and anyone with it in the UK are all related so I've had a wonderful time finding them all, meeting distant cousins and added a wealth of history to my family. Some were quite influential in the beginnings of Queensland.
I was also told my uncle (Dads brother) was in the navy And died during WWII - amazingly enough he lived until 1984 living in Wiltshire and had spent the war there! All this ' mis information' makes life very challenging when trying to research your family. Oh yes and my aunt (dads sister) called Violet Ida decided she didn't like her name so decided to call herself Elizabeth!
Thank goodness for electoral rolls as that's where I found my uncle living with my grandmother and after receiving his marriage & death certs I found my one and only cousin! I have to thank the clerk of her parish council as her mother had died in 2003 and 10 years later I sent an email asking about the family and got a reply back a week later to say my cousin was living in same house that my uncle had moved to in 1941!

 

My husband's aunt was named Ivy Isabel but always known as Mavis. Some years ago I asked her the history of this and she said that she preferred Mavis as it was the name of a favourite school teacher. Now it is one thing to want to be called something else but another thing to persuade all of the family to do so. We only learned of her real name when she was honoured with an Order of Australia. The amazing twist to this story is that her youngest sister (there were 8 siblings) was ASLO named Ivy Isabel and she had no idea that Mavis wasn't Mavis!
I wonder how many families have two living siblings with the same name?

 

I had a half sister whom I thought was called June. My father always called her June. Later I found out her real name was Ivy. It seems June worked a Lyons nippy and when she first went to work there the staff had a habit of calling newcomers to the job "Junior" or "June" for short.

Ivy decided she preferred June to Ivy and so she was. Even my father called her June!