Surprising Family Tree Finds!

[SophieJones]

Thank-you letting me join the group and I hope this is the right place to post!

My Grandma was the most amazing, kind and beautiful woman who sadly passed away last year. She was the glue of our family with 4 kids, and multiple Grandchildren. Over the past few weeks we have finally made the effort to start clearing out her house to get things sorted and get the house up for sale. My husband and I were clearing the attic last week when we came across a box containing some quite shocking photographs of my Grandma (who seemed to be in her 20s at the time) appearing in a 1960s UK Spanking Magazine (something I never thought I would end up having to write!!!

I was in absolute disbelief when I found the photos and I didn't really know what to do - my Aunt was at the house with us helping to clear so we rather awkwardly brought up what we had just found. My Aunt then confided in us that she knew about the photographs and the story behind them. In the 1960s my Grandma was in her late 20s with 4 young kids and was married to my Grandfather (who passed away before I was born). In the 60s my Grandfather was involved in an accident in his workplace which effectively left him disabled and unable to work for a period of time. Disability laws/benefits at the time weren't great and, as he was the only breadwinner in the household, it left the family in a difficult position. Well paying jobs for women were also few and far between so my Grandma basically had no choice and ended up replying to a modelling magazine advertisement in the newspaper as the family needed money to put food on the table, pay rent and afford clothes for the kids. She posed for a few modelling shoots which brought in some much needed money. Apparently my Grandfather absolutely hated her doing it but he realised that they had no real choice (it was never talked about in the family).

When I initially found the photos I was so weirded out and I am ashamed to say quite embarrassed that she had done something like that - however I am so incredibly proud of my Grandma! She did this as an act of love so that she could put her family first and provide for her husband and her children

I know this isn't the most conventional post but it shows that there really are some strong women in each of our family trees!

She is in the centre of the first pic, right on the second and stood in the 3rd.

Sophie.


Photos deleted. (Steve - Moderator)

 

[gibbo]

Some people find interesting things in attics. I've never had a attic but would love to have had one with some sort of treasure in it

 

[DaveHam9]

I've never had an attic or a basement.

 

[p.risboy]

I would think a few years ago, it would have been ok to include the photos, but nowadays some people are far too easily offended. or just waiting to be offended and complain.
It's sad fact, these days.
I for one saw a humorous side to them, but a fantastic find, nevertheless.

 

[SophieJones]

I would think a few years ago, it would have been ok to include the photos, but nowadays some people are far too easily offended. or just waiting to be offended and complain.
It's sad fact, these days.
I for one saw a humorous side to them, but a fantastic find, nevertheless.

Thank-you so much, Steve! I am really sorry if the pictures caused any offense, I really didn't mean for them to x

 

[p.risboy]

Thank-you so much, Steve! I am really sorry if the pictures caused any offense, I really didn't mean for them to x

Not a problem Sophie. No worries.

If it was just up to me, I would have left them in.

 

[gibbo]

- however I am so incredibly proud of my Grandma!

Its stories like these that give a insight into who they were. Your grandmother stepped up to the plate and did what she had to do at the time. Everyone has a story to tell and this was part of hers

 

[p.risboy]

My 2x Paternal Grandmother had 7 illegitimate children over a 17 year period, up to 1871, then she married her daughters husbands Father in 1884.
She worked in a Hotel over a period of 13 years. So it might be fair to say she was working as a 'lady of the night', and a 'servant' in the Hotel.

Steve.

 

[SophieJones]

Its stories like these that give a insight into who they were. Your grandmother stepped up to the plate and did what she had to do at the time. Everyone has a story to tell and this was part of hers

Thank-you! I am so, so proud of her! She did it as an act of love for her family. It must have been really difficult for my Grandfather too bless him but she did what she needed to do to help support her family ❤️ xxxx

 

[gibbo]

My 2 x great Aunt and her partner were up on man slaughter charges in 1900 due to the fact their baby died, partly from malnutrition and a bowel problem. They were allowed bail until the case could be heard but they wanted to go to jail as they would get fed in there as they were stone broke and family weren't in a position to help them. They did 12 months jail and were out by 1901 census where i found them with their other children. Tho still don't know who looked after the other kids while they were in jail. Its a long story but that is the gist of it, sad reading when i found the newspaper article

 

[benny1982]

My 1600s Sussex ancestors took me back to Somerset, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. A welathy landowner and minor knight is an ancestor.

 

[p.risboy]

I had a wealthy female relative who invested in the fashionable store of 'Liberty, London', amounting to £3000. She eventually swapped her Liberty holdings for some land in Australia.
Arthur Lasenby Liberty was born in 1843 in Chesham, Bucks, only a few miles away from Great Missenden where my relative lived.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberty_(department_store)

 

[benny1982]

Many of my Essex ancestors were of Suffolk descent. Must have been something that attracted Sufoflk folk to Essex. Better work, and nearer to London. I even have a Lincolnshire ancestress who settled in Colchester.

 

[gibbo]

My Aunt has written a book and had it printed for family members, a lot of the information she had found in a tin trunk that belonged to my great grandmother.
In the book there is a section on my 4 x great grandfather, not a very nice person which i already knew from newspaper articles but one that was funny was "if there was something he didn't like about the colony he threatened to send a letter to his second cousin Queen Victoria"
He was also the one who always told people he was related to Queen Victoria and he also said he second name of Toward come from relatives who owned Toward Tower in Scotland. Neither of these things are true and at the end of the day lying didn't serve any purpose to him as his own behavior bought him down

 

[benny1982]

Descending from the riff raff is better than descending from royalty anyway.

 

[Ellie7]

Nicholas Adamson ,Priest of Yeadon ,Yorkshire (RC)direct line of my Husband Adam of Otley Clerk and wife Maud Found in BOOK of ROllS my line comes from William STEVENSON near Beith Ayrshire who went over with Hugh Montgommery from Braidstone Beith to County Down. Too many to find my direct line. Grandfather George came over to Ayrshire with his brother William Stevenson

 

[juliejtp]

A distant rellie in more ways than one was a policeman in New York narcotics dept in the 1920’s plus. A newspaper report had he and another policeman working under cover.

 

[juliejtp]

My 5 times great grand aunts husband was a cousin to the Bronte sisters grandfather Thomas Branwell.

 

[pinefamily]

A recent discovery has made me a little unsettled. A second cousin, possibly once removed, is a suspect in a prominent series of murders here in South Australia in the 1970's and 80's.

 

[pinefamily]

Also, a DNA test with Ancestry has thrown out chunks of my wife's and my ancestry.
Who would have thought I had 7% Chinese ancestry? I had blonde hair as a child, and have blue eyes.