In a way, I think it's a shame when dearly-loved family myths are exploded - like discovering the truth about the Loch Ness Monster. It can be so much more fun to speculate about all sorts of exciting possibilities, than to discover the rather mundane truth. All my life (and I am now in my 80's) the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell was referred to as "Cousin Bertie" in my family, because some family members truly believed that he was related to us. The Myth: Our family myth is that one of my gggrandmothers (Sophia REDSHAW) was the illegitimate daughter of Earl RUSSELL, the 19th century statesman and Prime Minister. The story was that Sophia's mother was employed as a cook in the Russell household in Bedford Square in London and that her employer, Lord John Russell, was the father of her daughter. The daughter, born in 1841, was sent back to Lincolnshire to be brought up by her aunt & uncle, while her mother continued to live & work in London as a cook then housekeeper for one of the large London stores, Robinsons. Sophia's paternal relations kept in touch with her and she corresponded with her cousins, Walter & Bertrand (Bertrand Russell, the philosopher, allegedly). Some of my mother's relatives always felt that this was a rather special connection with a noble family and that they were somehow touched by the glamour of it all! The Reality: My gggrandmother did indeed go to work in London *after* her illegitimate daughter was born, and she was housekeeper to the famous London store, Robinsons. She did *not* work for Lord Russell. However, one of her sisters was employed in London as housemaid to a rather minor aristocratic family and I think that is where the "aristocratic" angle developed. The Russell connection, I think, is that my gggrandmother's niece also went to work in London and married Robert Francis RUSSELL in 1879. Far from being aristocrats, the Russells were cab-drivers. One of the offspring of this union was called Walter, and he certainly kept in touch with his Lincolnshire relatives, and his mother, Alice, corresponded with my mother at least until early in the 20th century. So, my aristocratic appearance and superior behaviour have been inherited from the sons of the soil of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire and owe nothing to saucy goings-on in Victorian high society - as far as we are currently aware, but you never know what else might turn up..... Peter. On 15 February 2014 21:43, Louis Mills <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi, Missing Lincs, > > I spent the morning going thru the Archives of another mailing list > looking for information on a place I knew too little about. I found some > good information, but I also ran across a bunch of postings that reminded > me of a theme for out list. More on that below. > > One item jumped out at me. It was a post asking a person to go to a > churchyard about 8 miles away and to get a rubbing of one of the > gravestones. Now, it was dated early February a few years back, and my > first thought was, "You need to say NO." Nobody's gonna get me traipsing > around a churchyard in mid-February to do a rubbing. I've been in wet, > cold churchyards with six inches of snow on the ground and I don't plan to > repeat the experience. Now, I'll admit, I didn't see the response in the > archives, so, if there was one, it was "off list". We have so many good > people on this list who don't mind going out of their way to help, but > let's not kill ourselves trying. > > And I've still got one of those, "Hey you're a MILLS, help me with my > family tree" requests in my mailbox I need to reply to. I'm still working > on the wording. > > But the other mailing list had some of the same issues we've had on > ours. People believe certain myths about their families, or make up myths > sometimes. Certain truths are inconvenient. If you find Henry and Sarah > in the census listed as married and the oldest child is three, then they > got married 4 years before, right? The marriage registration must have the > date wrong, eh? > > So, for the benefit of everyone on the list, what is your "favorite" > myth vs. reality? Here's another example: > > MYTH: My ancestor owned a farm in NETHER HEREBY.... > > REALITY: My ancestor leased farmland in NETHER HEREBY... > > > I have found that my fellow Americans believe that everyone owned > their own houses, farms, etc. It's part of the American dream. But one of > the reasons many of our ancestors went to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, > Texas, etc. is the desire to own the land they worked. Of course, now, if > you own a farm, the "people" want to take it away from you and give it to > the "people". You own the farm, you must be Rich, so we want to take it > from you. > > There's darn few of us who had any ancestors with money and land. > Most of my ancestors seemed adverse to holding on to any money they got, > and none of them had much to pass on to their children. > > Again, what is your myth and reality? > > Lou (list admin.) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

Peter, Peter What is that funny comment about the Loch Ness monster? What are you saying? I've popped so many family myths doing my Scottish genealogy that I'm hanging on to the Loch Ness monster as the last cornerstone, of truth in Scotland at least. Don't you go casting aspersions on our lovely monster. :-) Judith On 17/02/2014 11:10 a.m., Peter and Jean Swinbank wrote: > In a way, I think it's a shame when dearly-loved family myths are exploded > - like discovering the truth about the Loch Ness Monster. It can be so > much more fun to speculate about all sorts of exciting possibilities, than > to discover the rather mundane truth. All my life (and I am now in my > 80's) the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell was referred to as "Cousin > Bertie" in my family, because some family members truly believed that he > was related to us. > >

My wife is related to Nessie.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  After all, she's a McPherson.     Lou ________________________________ From: Judith Harper <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sunday, February 16, 2014 3:07 PM Subject: Re: [LIN] Loch Ness monster ! Peter, Peter What is that funny comment about the Loch Ness monster?  What are you saying? I've popped so many family myths doing my Scottish genealogy that I'm hanging on to the Loch Ness monster as the last cornerstone, of truth in Scotland at least. Don't you go casting aspersions on our lovely monster. :-) Judith On 17/02/2014 11:10 a.m., Peter and Jean Swinbank wrote: > In a way, I think it's a shame when dearly-loved family myths are exploded > - like discovering the truth about the Loch Ness Monster.  It can be so > much more fun to speculate about all sorts of exciting possibilities, than > to discover the rather mundane truth.  All my life (and I am now in my > 80's) the famous philosopher Bertrand Russell was referred to as "Cousin > Bertie" in my family, because some family members truly believed that he > was related to us. > > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Judith, Judith! don't panic! I only meant that it's better not to know whether the LNM actually exists, because if we were to discover that she doesn't exist then we wouldn't be able to have our lovely fantasies about her. Or if she does exist but is only a rather boring large eel, then equally we lose our illusions! So I hope all the scientists and submarines and MRIs etc never come up with a definitive answer about Nessie. As far as I'm concerned, Nessie is alive and well and is every bit as weird and wonderful as my imagination can make her! And, by the way, I'm an honorary Scot now (I think) having lived in Glasgow since 1955, though, alas, I have no proven Scottish roots, despite having the good Border names of Armstrong and Redshaw in my ancestry. Regards, Peter On 16 February 2014 23:07, Judith Harper <[email protected]> wrote: > > Peter, Peter > > What is that funny comment about the Loch Ness monster? What are you > saying? > > I've popped so many family myths doing my Scottish genealogy that I'm > hanging on to the Loch Ness monster as the last cornerstone, of truth in > Scotland at least. Don't you go casting aspersions on our lovely > monster. :-) > > Judith > > >