>> For the rest of April, the List theme is "what did my ancestors do and where did they work".<<< Look, its 08.00 am and I am waiting for emulsion to dry humour me OK LOL My MORAN Line, came to Brimingham from Ireland, finding the births of my great grandmother and her siblings is a nightmare, they just don't seem to be on the GRO LOL my great great grandfather Patrick was a labourer, but my great granma worked in Hockley, the jewellery quarter she made gold chains. got a pic of her wearing a double heart brooch, I figured she made it herself, it doesn't look quite "even", so my mother (bless her cotton socks) promptly produced the brooch LOL and its hand made for sure!! My GREEN Line are from around Solihull, they were brass founders, the younger generations made intricate brass works, or were draughtsmen (architectural) my Great grandfather was a scale beam maker (journeyman) in the Jewellery Quarter, I guess he liked the double heart brooch too cos he married the maker LOL They moved to Willenhall, he became an Oil stove dresser, must have been more money or something cos its a real change of direction! their female children worked at "stokes's" in Walsall, in castings, (got 2 beautiful figurines my granma made and took home to her mom, the little tea leaf LOL!) the eldest dau married a guy who worked for a bank and they emigrated to the US, the second dau married a guy who was a road tester for Sunbeam motor bikes just off Goldthorn Hill Wolverhampton, have seen him on TV when there did a story on Sunbeam!! the youngest dau, my granma, LOL well she leads right into the wayward Women thread ROTFL on her way to work she had to walk past Smith's Flour Mill, and this guy there whistled her every morning, yeah the guy from the previous email LOL she became Mrs BLEWITT much to the annoyance of her mother in law LOL but my granma wated him and she got him ! sounds familiar to me that does ROTFL My granma, I only found out recently, had an illigitimate child in the 1920's, and her mother (MORAN of the double heart brooch) looked after the baby whilst my granma continued to work, sadly the baby died aged 14 months. So many women would have been disowned at that time, but not my MORAN/GREEN, everything I find out about them tells me they were a closely bonded loving family. The 2 sons of this family, both joined the army, the eldest long before the war, he died of GPI, Yeah that one of emails a while back LOL the other lost a leg in WW1, and his mother (she of the double heart brooch) went with the Salvation Army to France to see him, nurse him and travel back here with him! She was killed during WW2, she was in her 70's, she stepped off a bus late at night and was knocked down by a car! shes my favourite ancestor, my favourite person in history! she loved her family with a passion and was as wayward as hell LOL shes had twinkly eyes and a cheeky smile!! Mellie How Come My Coat Of Arms Has Buckles At The Back?