Message 46 of 308

Just a thought

If you had a chance to invite someone in your family tree to dinner who would you invite and what would you like to talk about? What ???'s would you ask? Let all of us know what helped in this decision and why.
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Replies 1 - 10 of 12
My Father's Mother. All we can find out about her is that she came to the U.S. from Bohemia. She seemed to be alone on the boat over so was she an orphan or what?


3 months ago
i think i would have to invite my dad's mother as well. my paternal g-father was a pastor as was his brother. jeremiah was killed in a train wreck when dad was just 5 months old. for some unknown reason, his wife gave dad away to his pastor uncle and his whack job wife.

dad didn't even know his brothers and sisters were brothers and sisters until he was 19. the shock was so great, he had a heart attack.

i want to know what her reasoning was. i can't find anything much about her either. just recently found out what her re-married name was.
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3 months ago
My mother's mother. She died of an infection in the hospital after surgery when my mother was only 3 or 4 years old, so mom doesn't remember her. All I have are a few pictures and her maiden name. I've managed to find her in the census, but that's it. Of course, I'm just starting out so I've got a lot to learn about research.

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3 months ago
My great grandmother. She married in 1858 and produced 11 children in five states between then and 1883, following her coal-miner husband from mine to mine. She was widowed in 1886. She had to be incredibly strong willed and organized. Imagine moving from PA to CT with eight kids in 1880!
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3 months ago
I would like to meet my 5th gt grandfather and discuss the Rev. War and how the family came to the decisions it made. He owned the farm land that the battle of Brandywine was fought. During that year he lost his father, wife, and all his children except 2 probably due to dysentery due to the battle. One of his cousins led the British around the American flank which lost the battle for Washington. Another of his cousins who lived next door owned the house Washinton stayed in during the battle. The whole neighborhood was Quaker so they didn't participate in the battle. The feelings of everyone must have been so intense.
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3 months ago
Wow...really got me to thinking!
First thought of the "fella's" then thought the gals would most likely be the best historians, so, it would have to be my Grandmother Ivy who died when my Father was only nine. I seem to be the spitting image as I have the wedding portrait (circa 1897) hanging over my bed & my Grandchild swears it's me (OK, he's three...but still) and after I worked for more than twenty years delivering babies, I learned that Grandmom Ivy was a country midwife in Nebraska...life does go full circle.
BonnyB

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3 months ago
I think it would be my grandmother on my mother's side. She was an orphan and I can't find any records of her. So that part of the family tree is a complete blank, except that my mother once told me she was Irish.
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3 months ago
That's a good question...again, Mike! I thought about this and just can't pick one. I never had the opportunity to know any grandparents; my grandfather was the last and he passed when I was only four months old. Each ancestor that I have come to meet (so-to-speak) through my research, holds their own certain allurement, their own charm and character...I really want to have them all over for a very large dinner party! My father, I never met. He and my mother divorced before I was born and she slyly kept him away from me because he threatened to take me from her and he had an ugly temper I hear. I would love to ask him a few questions on how one can walk away from a child, suppose he had no legal recourse as he never showed up for the divorce proceedings. I think my G-Grandfather on my mother's side would have to be seated at the head of the table, I would love to learn more about his experiences. I would have to take a quick course in German though! I could go on and on.... I have enjoyed all the responses to the question as well.
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3 months ago
WOW!!! It is a toss-up between my paternal grandmother's grandfather, who was from India and ended up in Bermuda. I can't find any records of him in Bermuda and want to know what his real family name was, because it was changed. I would also want to know where in India he was from. The other person would be my paternal grandfather's grandfather. Nobody knows anything about him except his last name. There are a few first names that are in the family bible and when I went to Nova Scotia a few years ago, was told that he may have been from Barbados, but was told by the clerk at the Public Archives of N.S. and the curator of the Black Cultural Center in Dartmouth, N.S., that there are no records for blacks that were born in N.S. or emigrated there from another country. I want to know where he really came from, and his REAL first name.
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3 months ago
My Great Great Grandmother, Wilhelmina (1837-1922). She came to this country, from Germany, with a husband and child. She became a widow shortly after. She married a widower with children. They had more children. She ran a safe house for Jesse James and his gang. She was Jesse's wife's midwife for both of their children. She became a widow again and in 1880 married another widower with children, who was a Civil War Veteran. She moved from southern MO to Mt. Olive, IL. I would love to know more about her life. I know she had it hard. According to her obituary, she was a well-respected woman in her community. I love to talk to her about all that she seen happen to this country. She lived through the US-Mexican War, the Kansas Civil War, John Brown's Harper Ferry, Civil War Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's Assassination, Civil War, Spanish American War, and WWI. She saw the Industrial Revolution take America by a storm. She saw the invention of the telegraph, light bulb, sewing machine, phonograph, diesel engine, the automobile, and even the first airplane. Imagine what she would think if she could see us now.

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3 months ago
Replies 1 - 10 of 12