HOW DID OUR OLD RELLIES MEET & WHAT ARE THE CHANCES THAT

Post by **HeatherH** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 4:22 pm

HI Sheilajim.
I don't have any marriages between relations but from what I can see most of my rellies met at work. I have a number in the bleaching field who end up married to weavers or printfield labourers and so on. I imagine many of the others met at church as it was the main social event in their lives and for many the only thing they did besides sleep, eat and work at that time.
The only long distance relationship I know of as they all seem to be from the same parishes is that of my own parents.
My Uncle ( who was from Glasgow was working in Millport in the early 1950s and had met my Mum and her sisters and friends.(His wife and 2 children were living in accomidations there are the time.) He told them of his wee brother Billy who was in the army and serving in Malasia and asked them to write him as he thought it would be nice for his brother to hear from home when he was so far away. Mum did indeed write to Billy but because of how slow the mail was getting to them he was home on christmas leave before the letter ever reached him. Bert( my Uncle) told him of the people he had met while working in Millport and one night Billy took the ferry to Millport and went to a dance asked about and introduced himself to my Mum. The letter eventually caught up to him and as far as I know Mum still has it tucked away. They were married in Millport the next year. An unusual first meeting for sure.
Happy Hunting,
HeatherH

Muriel · Post by **Muriel** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:17 pm

Yes, I'd agree about work - I've got lots of marriages where it's obvious that's where they met. The last one I transcribed he was a carpet cropper (not one I've heard before) & she was a worker in a carpet factory.

The other place people met, particularly in the cities, was at church. I've got an address to my paternal Ggrandfather in 1912 on "the attainment of his Jubilee as an elder" and it is signed, inter alia, by his doctor (an elder), his son (a deacon), my maternal great-uncle (the Treasurer) & 2 members of the family who supplied the middle name of one of his daughters, altho' there was no relationship. The are several other names I recognise from having heard my great-aunts mention them. Most of my family were married by the Minister who ordained him as an elder in 1862 or his successor, who was the Minister 50 years later!

Muriel

Kathykins · Post by **Kathykins** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 7:19 pm

I haven't quite gotten around to checking the details, but I'm pretty sure this was happening quite a lot among my relatives too. There's one branch where a grandson marries someone with the same surname as his grandmother, again in a very small community. No madness in our family that was ever officially diagnosed...

But I do have a none incestuous story too - while looking up a census record for a great great uncle, I came across my great grandmother's name. She and my Uncle were apparently working as servants on the same farm, and I like to think that Uncle Charlie introduced her to great grandad. I've no proof whatsoever, but it's a nice story to make out of a big co-incidence!

Kathy

Post by **AnneM** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 9:11 pm

What I reallly want to know is how my great grandmother, who was born in Greenock and brought up in Belfast, met my great grandfather, who was born in Abbey St Bathans and seems to have grown up in the Borders!!

Work that one out if you can.

Anne

David Lang · Post by **David Lang** » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:53 pm

Not got any close cousins marrying but I do have a coupleof sets of brothers marrying a sisters , in fact i have 3 sets of this at various times, some in small towns others in Larger areas.

I do have one that might be true , although yet to prove it.... On my fathers side we (Lang's) are all from Campbeltown and we have a female Reod marry sometime around 1800.

On my mother side its mix from all sorts of areas, all leading to Partick. I managed to trace bacl a female relative , who it turns out had married twice , and guess what she was born In Campbeltown is a Reid by birth and I suspect her parent to be the Uncle of the Reid on my Dads side.

So after about 170 years my parents could be related!!!!

wini · Post by **wini** » Thu Aug 30, 2007 10:05 am

Mine mostly lived in the same area.
I am sure there must hae been some close marriages but haven't worked those out.
I have 2 Brothers who married 2 sisters and they gave their chilkdren the same names. VERY CONFUSING

WINI