Scenes from a christmas luncheon table...
The things you learn about your heritage when you're back with your family at Christmas time.
I've always known that my Dad's Australian family line was started by an illegitimate child of a lord (and one of the house's maids xD) who'd jumped ship in Oz when he was a very young man. He'd stood to inherit a substantial amount of money upon his grandfather's death but refused to return to England in order to claim it as were the circumstances of the will. My grandfather and one of his brother-in-laws had tried to go back and claim part of the estate etc when they were in their 30s I believe, but couldn't provide sufficient proof that they were in fact descendants for the solicitors.
The bit I found out was that the lord in question was Lord Charles Lovell of Bramshill, Godalming. LOL Total LOL OMG. These guys had a three million pound petty cash bin at the turn of the 20th century; I'm totally sure I've seen stuff about the family etc on Antiques Roadshow. CRAZY PANTS!
Apparently my Great Grandfather was a 'Bounty Rider' and I have NO CLUE what that means in Australian terms as I'm pretty sure its not the same as the whole Wild West Bounty Riders from the US... And then all I could think of was the lolarious ones from Space Adventure Cobra (which I SOOO still need to get my hands on to inflict on my friends xD).
My Grandma used to talk about an Uncle or something that used to wander into town with a parrot on his shoulder. Which used to weird me out rather substantially cause it must've been around the 20s/30s by then... And NOW I found out he was a Horse Thief. WTH!? Were there even horses to thieve in the 30s? xD xD
Not to be out done, on my mother's side I discovered that Mum has the same birthday as her older sister Nilda, and her youngest brother Albert. What happens 9 (10?) months before May the first!? xD xD
Mum, heartily ripping into prawns with me and in full anecdotal swing informed us all that she and Albert used to turn the lights off in their house as kids and force feed their Seventh Day Ddventist mother pork and prawns because "Its dark so God can't see you." MUM! *cracks up* Good to know she's EXACTLY THE SAME this entire time... xD
I've always known that my Dad's Australian family line was started by an illegitimate child of a lord (and one of the house's maids xD) who'd jumped ship in Oz when he was a very young man. He'd stood to inherit a substantial amount of money upon his grandfather's death but refused to return to England in order to claim it as were the circumstances of the will. My grandfather and one of his brother-in-laws had tried to go back and claim part of the estate etc when they were in their 30s I believe, but couldn't provide sufficient proof that they were in fact descendants for the solicitors.
The bit I found out was that the lord in question was Lord Charles Lovell of Bramshill, Godalming. LOL Total LOL OMG. These guys had a three million pound petty cash bin at the turn of the 20th century; I'm totally sure I've seen stuff about the family etc on Antiques Roadshow. CRAZY PANTS!
Apparently my Great Grandfather was a 'Bounty Rider' and I have NO CLUE what that means in Australian terms as I'm pretty sure its not the same as the whole Wild West Bounty Riders from the US... And then all I could think of was the lolarious ones from Space Adventure Cobra (which I SOOO still need to get my hands on to inflict on my friends xD).
My Grandma used to talk about an Uncle or something that used to wander into town with a parrot on his shoulder. Which used to weird me out rather substantially cause it must've been around the 20s/30s by then... And NOW I found out he was a Horse Thief. WTH!? Were there even horses to thieve in the 30s? xD xD
Not to be out done, on my mother's side I discovered that Mum has the same birthday as her older sister Nilda, and her youngest brother Albert. What happens 9 (10?) months before May the first!? xD xD
Mum, heartily ripping into prawns with me and in full anecdotal swing informed us all that she and Albert used to turn the lights off in their house as kids and force feed their Seventh Day Ddventist mother pork and prawns because "Its dark so God can't see you." MUM! *cracks up* Good to know she's EXACTLY THE SAME this entire time... xD