[jaykay]

Lol MAK

One side of my family can be traced fairly well. The other side disappears quickly the wrong side of the blanket in South Yorkshire slums. I don't doubt they were feisty survivors, I just don't know about them. I wish I did but they weren't the sort of people to appear in official records.

[SallyintNorth]

My family has found records of ancestors of ours being taken into the workhouse.  These sorts of local records don't make it onto the Salt Lake City databases, but are still there if you are able to spend long hours over many weekends poring over the actual old Church records and the like.  Mum and Dad enjoyed this type of research very much; as well as the entry to the workhouse, they also found the next part of the story as one of the brothers was listed as an 'underpuddler's mate' in a later note.  So clearly, he'd found work, which was great.  Rather lowly work though - the puddler stirred the molten iron; in modern parlance we would think the underpuddler a subordinate of his, and the underpuddler's mate an assistant to that.  But we suspect there was some stirring or other action that had to occur below the surface, which was the underpuddler's job, and clearly this was a two-man operation, hence his need for a mate.

[SteveHants]

My grandfathers were a draftsman and a plumber repsectiveley, grandmothers a nurse and a seamstress. I have inhereted none of those skills...prior to that nobody knows, my paternal grandfather was of german extraction, his dad burned all records after the outbreak of WWI, paternal grandmother was an Irish immgrant and for some reason her fathers past was shady, both sets of grandparents grew up in the rougher pars of salford and I dont think any records were kept....

[RUSTYME]

Maternal grandad grew up in Acton London , but was Irish and came over as a toddler in the early 1880's and i have no idea about any of the Russell family . He went in the army as a drummer boy and was in the military there after .
Nan Russell was a nurse in ww1 .
Paternal gd was a stoker boiler man and then a bus conducter , Nan Clarke was a clippie .
Her mum , little nan as i new her , was a seemstress and later , after her husband died in 1942 , lived in kent with her brother , and grew and sold flowers .
Her parents were seemstresses too . She was a Hargrave by marriage but her side , Nevitt , came from Lancashire area and i think they were agricultural labourers .
Grandads lot came from Stevenage area and his gd was a miller there .
So bits and bobs have come down sort of .
Wish i knew more about them .
My aunt , by marriage , was German and was in the Hitler youth . Pictures of her shaking hands with the man himself . But she was lovely , like a second mum to me when i was a kid .
They are all gone now , including parents , and due to head injury , the memories of them are all mixed up or gone , lost like tears in rain , so sad , i miss them so much .

[MikeM]

both sides of my family come from the eastend. All were dockers and heavily involved in the labour movement. I guess all I inherited from them were the classic docker traits of being bolshy, workshy and the ability to pilfer anything that isn't nailed down. If it is nailed down, we take the nail as well.

[plumseverywhere]

both sides of my family come from the eastend. All were dockers and heavily involved in the labour movement. I guess all I inherited from them were the classic docker traits of being bolshy, workshy and the ability to pilfer anything that isn't nailed down. If it is nailed down, we take the nail as well.

Oh that made me giggle! My Dad is East End too! A member of his family was involved in a bit of light pilfering (Buster Edwards was his name...)  I think People of the East End are some of the most hardworking I know though 

[tizaala]

I have traced my fathers side way back to when the family fought for a Norman Duke in some local dispute , he was so greatful he gave them a large estate , and there is still a village called Ault on the north coast of France. Dads side had a long millitary history , His father was RSM with the Staffordshires and served in the Boar War and WW1, Dad was In 3 Commando,  Mums side were Master bakers and had the first steam bakery in Bridgenorth.
Some of you might have a sample of my great uncles handwriting  , he was a director of Armitage Ware and the handwritten logo was his work. My great aunt Grace was seamstress to Mrs Copleland ( Spode Copeland) at Trellissick House.
None of their skills have been passed to me .