Ancestry etc -worth it?

[LadyArowana]

I don't know the etymology of 'wardrobe'

It's a corruption of the French garderobe - from garder: to keep, and robe: dress or gown.

Interestingly, in days of yore, the garderobe in a grand British building was the toilet/bog/loo. It was often jettied so as to project out from the building, so that the...ahem... 'jetsam' could drop straight into the moat. :x

Strange really as the French I believe use the term "armoire" from the exclamation "Ah" "moi" uttered on encountering their reflection in the mirrored door.

 

[Penners]

Correct, Milady. I understand garderobe to be français ancien.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Bit OT, but we are debating' Ancestory-worth it?' ---- imagine my recent surprise whilst confirming the whereabouts of some family members during the Happy Valley days of Kenya, to find that a cousin, (hopefully several times removed) was known as 'The Girl with the silver syringe' :shock:

 

[Penners]

The mind boggles!! :shock:

Does history relate whom she syringed, and why... and how?

On second thoughts, forget the "how". I don't want to know!

 

[Flyfisher]

I've been reading Keith Richards' autobiography recently. Plenty of syringes in that. :shock:

Back on topic though (now that's a first!), imagine my shock to discover that I was very nearly American.

I've traced my paternal line back to 1765 so far but the interesting thing is that my paternal line is descended from the only one of six children who didn't emigrate to America in the 1850s. I'd love to find the story behind why he, alone, decided to stay in England. Thanks to the wonderful records kept by the Mormons, I've also found a very detailed account of the life of one of the brothers of my Gt-Gt-Grandfather and, oh boy, was life tough back then!

The other thing that never ceases to amaze me is how much the world has changed in such a few generations. My Gt-Gt-Gt-Grandfather was born in 1765 a mere six generations ago. How the world has changed since then!

 

[wobs]

One with tracing and mapping your ancestry is where you record it.

I was chatting with someone on Mrs Wobs side of the family who is tracing their family tree back, and she know people who have had their details lifted and copied onto other family trees. This is pure laziness, and means that their family tree is grossly inaccurate.

Imagine recording how a relative of yours died, only to have those circumstances copied onto another family tree with no connection with yours. And for those details to be available on line.

For this reason we recommend you do not store the information that you put togther on line.

 

[Penners]

I have a direct family tree dating back to the 16th century - largely thanks to a great-uncle. He di dmost of the work and constructed the tree on a roll of wallpaper (not woodchip, I hasten to add). I've been able to add the generations who have succeeded his work and transfer the whole thing on to a computer record. The whole tree now includes nearly 400 people.

We're quite copious breeders, we Pennerses!

On topic: no, I haven't used Ancestry or any other paid-for services.

 

[CatherineB]

My grandparents used to have something similar to Penners' wallpaper chart. I remember we were just squeezed on the bottom. I wonder what happened to it - nothing good, I expect

 

[Penners]

we were just squeezed on the bottom

Mmm - nice! :wink:

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Does history relate whom she syringed, and why... and how?

Well there are some pretty well known names listed in the group, so your guess is as good as mine! I think the Happy Valley crowd are well recorded.