Random Genealogy (who do you think you are?)

[Howard Moon]

Has anyone here had a crack at compiling their family tree? or know of their family history? Anyone famous back there? any cool stories? war heroes? League footballers?

I'm one of those people with such an exciting life that i sit there glued to who do you think you are on the telly, watching other people trace their histories...transfixed. After a little while getting envious i thought id dig into mine a little bit then got kind of addicted. I dunno, i feel like once you find out where you have come from you have more purpose in where you are going - its like you are a part of a big team, fronting a big team, you have taken the baton and are taking it forward for them, and who comes next... anyhow, i feel like maybe sharing a bit of my past, in the hope that others might do the same, we might find out we have famous peoples histories back there somewhere, or at least some cool tales

Personally i had not too much trouble tracing my mums side as far back as the 1500s, but had a lot of trouble with my dads side, hit a road block only a few generations back.

My mums side has English/Scottish and German. Her dad, my pa was the coolest pa, he was one of those swashbuckling pa's that was always swigging from a bottle, always had a story to tell - he flew planes, he sailed boats, he rode motor bikes - he had a limp that he always noted was a war wound but if i ever asked him about the war he would always laugh it off and move on, clearly didnt want to talk about it.

He got Leukemia in his late 60s and after a short illness was very sick, he called me into the hospital, i walked into the room there it was just me, him and his brother...all the tales came out - i felt like he was passing the baton before he passed away. He spoke in detail about the war, he was only 16, snuck off lied about his age, was stationed in New Guinea, his job as he put it was to go back over the battle fields to collect the dead....i cannot imagine a 16 year old dealing with that! He said to deal with the torment they used to wipe boot polish onto bread like vegemite to get stoned.. to try and mentally escape.

He passed the next night, i was glad to have had that last night and have known about all the stories - it was probably the initial driver in me wanting to know more about the past. As i dug back further down his tree it was his grandfather who first emigrated from the UK, he settled in Wangaratta, he ran the towns first news paper and was mixed up in a few Kelly gang dealings of the time. Id love to to more about this! have to dig more. ive got a book of the history of Wang and he is mentioned a lot as William (big) Wilson .. i love the nickname big - sounds like a character from the old west.

My dads side is all Italian, he is first generation - half of his siblings were born there, half here. Their tale is familiar to most Italians, post ww2 the father came over, worked hard for a few years to save enough to send for the family. What i didnt know was that it was frightfully expensive, it wasnt always state sponsored. He basically had to take a huge loan and leave the family as insurance, get over here, work hard, pay the debt build a house and life then send for the family. I have much respect for the sacrifcice to give me what i have today. I used to shy away from being a wog... most kids hide their differences but as you get older the things that make you different are the things you want to promote - im a proud Italian Australian now.

As i said i hit a road block after my grandmothers mother - its quite hard dealing with papers written in Italian but i made the most ground wen i travelled to the home village in Sicily and visitied the local church, but even then there were mysterious holes in the story.

As it turns out it was a tough time to live in sicily in the time, and there were some very poor people, if such people had a child that they could not support or afford, there was a wooden wheel of sorts in the town squares that babies could be placed in - to be 'adopted' by wealthier generous families, or more commonly orphanages or churches. These babies were generally given invented surnames. This i believe is where my last name originated and the reason why i cant find anything further back than 3-4 generations. all i saw in paperwork was the word unknown where the mothers name should have been.

Anyhow thats a brief go of where i have got to,

has anyone else done theirs>? any famous people or cool tales? or even regulation trees they would like to share?

 

[Lore]

I was obsessed for a while, I have an ancestry account and can trace back most lines to at least eight generations... Fairly typical stories amongst them, a few gold rush migrants, some post-war migrants. One bunch who migrated out of the UK not once but twice, first to America, then back and then to Aus. The most frustrating thing is that that line that went to America and back, I can't get further than the America part... and it's the direct paternal line. I want to know precisely where that surname comes from, dammit!

I got a decent deal on a world heritage membership a month or two ago but I haven't done a whole lot with it yet (I was intending on pursuing the American thing a bit more).

I actually got the opportunity to go over to Europe and the UK last year and met some of my relatives (the more recently related ones) which was cool... and also to see some of the places they lived and worked at that time, even some of their graves. You wouldn't think it, but it does actually make you feel closer to them, even though you never met them.

It's fascinating how many people grow up so close to one another though. Like one of my ancestors has all his great-grandparents born in the same county, and both sets of grandparents married in the same parish. And then there's double cousins around somewhere as well, because one of my 3x great uncles on one line and one of my 3x great aunts on another line married each other.

And some of the naming traditions - there were two sisters, one called Eliza and one called Elizabeth both living at the same time (I checked). A lot of times kids were named after grandparents and such, and if a sibling died in infancy then the next child of the same gender would be named after the grandparent again. Apparently there's actually a bit of a system to it, first son after dad's dad, second son after mum's dad, and so forth.

 

[Howard Moon]

I was obsessed for a while, I have an ancestry account and can trace back most lines to at least eight generations... Fairly typical stories amongst them, a few gold rush migrants, some post-war migrants. One bunch who migrated out of the UK not once but twice, first to America, then back and then to Aus. The most frustrating thing is that that line that went to America and back, I can't get further than the America part... and it's the direct paternal line. I want to know precisely where that surname comes from, dammit!

I got a decent deal on a world heritage membership a month or two ago but I haven't done a whole lot with it yet (I was intending on pursuing the American thing a bit more).

I actually got the opportunity to go over to Europe and the UK last year and met some of my relatives (the more recently related ones) which was cool... and also to see some of the places they lived and worked at that time, even some of their graves. You wouldn't think it, but it does actually make you feel closer to them, even though you never met them.

It's fascinating how many people grow up so close to one another though. Like one of my ancestors has all his great-grandparents born in the same county, and both sets of grandparents married in the same parish. And then there's double cousins around somewhere as well, because one of my 3x great uncles on one line and one of my 3x great aunts on another line married each other.

And some of the naming traditions - there were two sisters, one called Eliza and one called Elizabeth both living at the same time (I checked). A lot of times kids were named after grandparents and such, and if a sibling died in infancy then the next child of the same gender would be named after the grandparent again. Apparently there's actually a bit of a system to it, first son after dad's dad, second son after mum's dad, and so forth.

What I also notice is it's very hard to break out of whatever social class your families are born into, it's almost as if predetermined...

It's just goes on an on as you go back, in the exact same class. It seems to take some extraordinary moment or a very strong individual to break the glass ceiling..as it were.

Even for my pa, he was a very hard worker and ended a very wealthy man, built a successful business from scratch, was a gifted engineer, actually built and registered Australia's first 3 wheel vehicle. But cruicially he had 3 daughters...and without being sexist, nobody to take over the business.

So the wealth got redistributed down the line again, to pay personal debts and for rubbish. A promising move into another class fades away once again.

It makes me realise why he sought me out in his death bed, the eldest grandson, he was trying to pass the baton.

Even the Italian side, made the big move to escape a lower class but end up here, granted in a better life but starting from scratch in the working class.

 

[Howard Moon]

Then you look at the famous people on the show, it very funny that they seem to have nobility down their lines, which seems to have them placed in a place of public spotlight now.

All very Interesting!

 

[Howard Moon]

As it turns out, my nonno had 3 options opened to him when he decided to leave. Australia, America or Argentina. I assume they had to start with a

I love doing the sliding doors, what may have been. It does seem he chose the harder option but in the end the blue sky potential option. All for his future kin, for me!

I used to struggle to speak to him, he spoke mostly Italian, we communicated by motions...I wish now I could say thanks.

 

[Howard Moon]

And another thing! It's funny, when I lived in the UK I attempted to get my dual nationality passport from Italy, went through all the hoops but at the last minute I felt very guilty, can't explain the feeling but my family gave up everything to leave, the ultimate sacrifice...and this snot nose just wanders back in like it's a matter of convenience... I started to wonder what they would think? pride or anger?.

It's weird though, in a lot of places overseas I felt a stranger, an interloper, a round peg in square hole but the minute I hit Sicily, I felt a warm comfort, I felt home?

Is this due to my family connection or something greater?

 

[Lore]

What I also notice is it's very hard to break out of whatever social class your families are born into, it's almost as if predetermined...

It's just goes on an on as you go back, in the exact same class. It seems to take some extraordinary moment or a very strong individual to break the glass ceiling..as it were.

Even for my pa, he was a very hard worker and ended a very wealthy man, built a successful business from scratch, was a gifted engineer, actually built and registered Australia's first 3 wheel vehicle. But cruicially he had 3 daughters...and without being sexist, nobody to take over the business.

So the wealth got redistributed down the line again, to pay personal debts and for rubbish. A promising move into another class fades away once again.

It makes me realise why he sought me out in his death bed, the eldest grandson, he was trying to pass the baton.

Even the Italian side, made the big move to escape a lower class but end up here, granted in a better life but starting from scratch in the working class.

I think that's really interesting. It's the similar with my family, until you get to Australia (that's the UK side with the gold rush migration). Before coming to Australia they were pretty much all working class, living in the slums. I think they must've been farmers or something at some point before migrating into the city to look for work, but that's speculation. The last one to leave the motherland was a clerk, so he must have been literate. I've been back to where they lived in the slums, and even now when it's been modernised it's still not a nice place to wonder through.

The clerk ended up doing something really stupid, his eldest son and namesake was killed as a result and he ended up depressed and 'in the drink'. That name is basically taboo now, it hasn't been used in the family since. They then came to Australia and his wife stuck by him (even though there are letters from her family offering to take her and the children in)... he was mostly useless, pottering around in the goldfields and getting into the alcohol again. His father turned out to be useless as well, he married twice then abandoned the second family to move to Australia, get pnuemonia and then die as a result - apparently he tried to treat the illness with whiskey! Anyway, back to the clerk. They lived near the seam and his wife took in washing - she made just enough extra money from that to put her youngest into school for a year (the eldest had begun school in the mother country - that way both of them would have the basics). After that both of her sons would work by day and study at night, and both eventually became successful people in and around Ballarat... Since that generation most of the descendants have been teachers, doctors, soldiers or some sort of other professional, except for my line who are mechanics. haha (okay, specialised mechanics, but still).

On the other side they're European post-war migrants, there's still a lot of influence from that. They came from the farms there and here mostly they were tradies. My parents' generation some of them went to uni and got degrees but then for some reason the women ended up staying home to raise their kids, so their qualifications aren't really relevant at all and they never actually used them (which seems like a waste). In both instances they raise their families on a single average income. My generation is more into studying and such, but I'm one of the older ones so it's more of a wait and see.


I guess that's the value of the industrial model of education, free at the point of delivery and available to every person in the country.

 

[Howard Moon]

I think that's really interesting. It's the similar with my family, until you get to Australia (that's the UK side with the gold rush migration). Before coming to Australia they were pretty much all working class, living in the slums. I think they must've been farmers or something at some point before migrating into the city to look for work, but that's speculation. The last one to leave the motherland was a clerk, so he must have been literate. I've been back to where they lived in the slums, and even now when it's been modernised it's still not a nice place to wonder through.

The clerk ended up doing something really stupid, his eldest son and namesake was killed as a result and he ended up depressed and 'in the drink'. That name is basically taboo now, it hasn't been used in the family since. They then came to Australia and his wife stuck by him (even though there are letters from her family offering to take her and the children in)... he was mostly useless, pottering around in the goldfields and getting into the alcohol again. His father turned out to be useless as well, he married twice then abandoned the second family to move to Australia, get pnuemonia and then die as a result - apparently he tried to treat the illness with whiskey! Anyway, back to the clerk. They lived near the seam and his wife took in washing - she made just enough extra money from that to put her youngest into school for a year (the eldest had begun school in the mother country - that way both of them would have the basics). After that both of her sons would work by day and study at night, and both eventually became successful people in and around Ballarat... Since that generation most of the descendants have been teachers, doctors, soldiers or some sort of other professional, except for my line who are mechanics. haha (okay, specialised mechanics, but still).

On the other side they're European post-war migrants, there's still a lot of influence from that. They came from the farms there and here mostly they were tradies. My parents' generation some of them went to uni and got degrees but then for some reason the women ended up staying home to raise their kids, so their qualifications aren't really relevant at all and they never actually used them (which seems like a waste). In both instances they raise their families on a single average income. My generation is more into studying and such, but I'm one of the older ones so it's more of a wait and see.


I guess that's the value of the industrial model of education, free at the point of delivery and available to every person in the country.

Love it! Just the stories I was after.

But think about it, the level of qualifications fit the time, sure back then a clerk was a sliggt step up but if you happened to be colledge educated you were something!

Now the basic tertiary education is pretty much back to base level isn't it? Everyone has a degree, I mean your nothing til thesis

 

[Lore]

Love it! Just the stories I was after.

But think about it, the level of qualifications fit the time, sure back then a clerk was a sliggt step up but if you happened to be colledge educated you were something!

Now the basic tertiary education is pretty much back to base level isn't it? Everyone has a degree, I mean your nothing til thesis

Haha yeah. And they match with the provision of free education as well... which is interesting – like the free degrees that the boomers/gen Xers had access to. The standard of living improves, but it does so for every generation within the same 'class' by approximately the same increment I suppose. Whether every class improves by the same amount is an entirely different story!

 

[eth-dog]

My family history has many different nationalities. Mostly Irish with a bit of French, English, Scottish, Welsh and even a stroke of Greek in there (a very long time ago)

 

[Max Headroom]

I'm 4th generation full Aussie on both sides, a bit boring on the multicultural days at school for the kids. Lots and lots of convicts in my family tree....

Mostly English/Irish and some Norwegian.

My claim to fame is being directly descended from one of the founding members of the Hellfire Club in 18th century England. Apparently members of the upper class got up to all sorts of shenanigans away from the prying eyes of the public

It was obviously all downhill for my family after that!

 

[Howard Moon]

I'm 4th generation full Aussie on both sides, a bit boring on the multicultural days at school for the kids. Lots and lots of convicts in my family tree....

Mostly English/Irish and some Norwegian.

My claim to fame is being directly descended from one of the founding members of the Hellfire Club in 18th century England. Apparently members of the upper class got up to all sorts of shenanigans away from the prying eyes of the public

It was obviously all downhill for my family after that!

It's funny, everyone goes back looking for nobility or royal blood but what happens if you find it?

Is it supposed to make you change your behavior? Oh I can act noble now! Or is it depressing? Look how far we have fallen, we fell asleep at the family wheel

 

[GUMBLETRON]

My Dad's side is a long line of shoemakers and chimney-sweeps, though if you go back far enough there's a mysterious Austro-Hungarian source during the Napoleonic Wars that my Grandpa hasn't been able to dig beyond.

Mum's is more interesting. Her Dad's line is originally Scottish, coming down through the guy who invented the bayonet light socket. Meanwhile, great-grandpa on her Mum's side ran the Forestry Service in British India and snagged a CBE for his efforts, so there are some amazing photos to leaf through.

 

[Howard Moon]

Every time I read about the east India company my head spins! I can barely fathom how it all came about, how it worked, how it accidentally came to rule the people... Such a huge story of human history really.