Ok, this is very random (but then, most of my posts are). My Mum bought a book which was published in 1903 last night. There was an inscription in the front of the book that said 'To Linda from Maria, Easter 1904'. Mum hadn't noticed the inscription, but found it spooky that the book had made its way from one Maria to another over 106 years! This got me thinking and I decided to look up Maria Gallaghers in the 1901 census. I found one who was born in the exact same town as myself in 1832. After a bit of research, I found out that she got married in 1878 and had moved to Middlesborough at some point. She died in 1907 and was aged 75. Interesting stuff.
This has always intrigued me - my Granddad found that my distant ancestors came from Italy and that my Great-Great Grandmother was originally from India. Although this has left me wondering how I've ended up in as mundane a place as Kent ;-P
Has anyone else found any random historical stuff similar to this?
That's really interesting. I love history but I've never researched my family history much, my dad's always been a bit close-mouthed about it, which makes me a little suspicious...haha.
It's like that show, Who do you Think you are? Although I never watch it all that much cos it kinda bugs me the way the people in it make such a big deal out of every little thing they find out.
That's very interesting. I don't know much about my ancestors either. I know I'm half Italian and half Spanish from both sides of the family. My dad's side was half from Piemonte (north west of Italy), and half from Madrid. Then my mum's side was half from Mallorca and half from Milano.
There's this rumour that there was a marquess called Stupenengo. Not sure if that's true, but I know Stupenengos have a coat of arms.
And I know that on my dad's side there were many anarchists, socialists, etc. in the begining of the 20th century. Some cousin of my grandad was an artist who was imprisoned for painting angels with dark skin.
The other day at work a woman came to get info about a Seminar we're doing, and when she heard my last name she told me she had some relatives called Stupenengo. She told me her last name and turns out someone with her same name was a cousin of my grandad or something, so we're related! Lol. That was so strange!
Oh, I found it:
Lo Stemma Araldico si desume dalla raccolta Lanino.
Arma: Inquartato: il 1° d'argento al lavabo di rosso; il 2° d’argento al giglio d'oro; il 3° d'azzurro alla margherita d'argento, fogliata di verde; il 4° di rosso, al leone d'oro.
I love the wash basin thingy that looks like it belongs to a bathroom. It's so random! Haha.
My roots are in the north of Finland, where they were farmers, blacksmiths on one side of the family and merchants on the other. One rumoured German or English ancestor and a distantly related Miss Universe from 1952 on the farming side. I'm amongst the first generation born in the south.
On our recent trip to England we attended a Catholic mass, as a church was celebrating 175th anniversary. Apparently one of my husband's ancestors was involved in founding the church/parish, and we didn't even know until just a few weeks ago, that his family (some generations ago) used to be Catholics…
My surname is Judge and there were various theories in my family about were the name comes from. Including it being an English name or a Welsh name.
I knew my Great Grandfather was Irish when I moved over here but that was all I knew.
I went into Carroll's in Westmoreland Street which is a huge tacky tourist shop to get something for Dad for my first visit back home. They had a big book full of surnames where you can get a "certificate of origin", so not expecting to see "Judge" I was quite surprised so I ordered it.
When it came it was titled "Mac an Breitheamhnaigh" and told that the name Judge is an anglicized version of "Breitheamhnaigh" which is the proper Irish for Brehon as in the ancient Brehon Law of Ireland. Which in itself is extremely interesting (women had the same rights as men, for exampple all they had to do to get divorced was to repeat three times in front of witnesses "I divorce thee"). It stated that the name "Breitheamhnaigh" originated in County Sligo. Other related names were "Brieve" (Scots word for a Judge), Brehony, Brehoney.
An unrelated bit of research by my aunt found that my Great Grandfather had indeed come from County Sligo. When Mum and Dad came here to visit me a few years ago Dad wanted to go to Sligo, just to see it, As soon as they got close they saw a van with "Brehoney Carpenters" on the side and a few shops in town with variations of the same name, solicitors and the like.
So it turns out that I'm part Irish my full Irish name would be "Stiofán Mac an Breitheamhnaigh" Although I have to admit that even though I'm settled here I will always be a total Scot.
