In every family, there are stories of ancestors lives. Some of these are stories that are interesting or fun to know but which don't change our family's story even if they are embellished over the decades! An example might be an ancestor meeting someone famous. The ancestor could easily have told the story of the occasion in a straightforward way but it is not to say others who heard it didn't interpret it in their own way but present it to others as fact. Over the years, this could mean the story becomes more "details" that it originally contained however no harm is really done as it does not change the story of your ancestor's life!
However, sometimes stories evolve through a simple mistake and it can give a false impression. A case in mind was one where we were asked to investigate an ancestor who had reportedly played football for Scotland in the early part of the 20th century. It was part of a bigger family tree that we were tracing but naturally, there was interest in seeing if we could find out more about this footballer's career.
We had identified that the player had indeed played for a senior team. He had a full time day job and played football at the weekend. For anyone who knows about Scottish football, the bible of facts and figures is "The Wee Red Book" and his name did appear as a Scotland internationalist. When we looked further into his career we quickly realised that the Scotland player was actually another person with the same name!
We discussed this with the client and they were surprised as they knew the Scotland player had come from the same small town as their ancestor. We were able to tell them that their ancestor didn't come from the same town but why the mix up? Had someone assumed that it was the same person and passed on the story in the family with the birthplace of the internationalist given without any proof?
The truth was probably more complicated. It turn our that whilst their ancestor who was on their father's side of the family, had not come from that town, the client's mother's family had originated from the internationalist's home town. the likelihood is someone mixed the two facts - footballer's name and town - in all innocence.
Family stories can be a great sources of information but it is important to check them out where they involve facts like the footballer's story. Family members pass on this information with a genuine belief that the stories are true so it is important to handle any new information sensitively. Although there might be initial surprise at this change of direction in the family's story, most people are keen to know the new details and are pleased to have an accurate family history.
Kin Tree have the skills and resources to investigate your family stories. Most turn out to be true and we can often add details and images to word of mouth stories so please contact us for for a no obligation chat on how we can help you bring your family's story to life at
kintree@ymail.com
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