Tell us your family secret

PinkFly

kowloon wrote: »

I'm distantly related to a famous Nazi sympathiser who was executed for treason after the war. Might be a family secret but I'll tell anyone who'll listen.

Me too!! We could be related!!!

Edit: wrong lad... My one decided to cyanide himself the night before his execution... Coward!

Killer Wench

My grandmother was a promiscuous woman in her youth. She had quite the reputation for stealing other women's husbands. Her husband stealing ways ended when she became pregnant with the sheriff's child.

Of course, this was back in the 1920s or 30s. My grandmother is black and the sheriff was white. He was also a high ranking member of the KKK.

The sheriff's wife learned of the baby and my grandmother was chased out of town. She moved north and met a man who didn't want another man's baby. She aborted the baby herself, using a hanger and water (I think). Then he married her.

My grandmother just turned 100. She still talks about keeping her ankles trim and waist slim for the men.

Howard Juneau

Jester252 wrote: »

Apparently I'm related to the British royals

Apparently, we all are.

canadianwoman

Howard Juneau wrote: »

Apparently, we all are.

If it's true , first dibs on the Crown.

Howard Juneau

canadianwoman wrote: »

I would not know where to begin with my family secret.

You're actually an American?

Howard Juneau

canadianwoman wrote: »

If it's true , first dibs on the Crown.

They reckon if all europeans go back thru the generations that after about 12, 13 we are all related

Howard Juneau

Have lots, but a good one is my grandmother was a raging alcoholic & one day got into bed with a bottle of vodka & a box of matches.
Glug, Glug, boom!

JBTM

Ye should meet up

Rho b

Howard Juneau wrote: »

You're actually an American?

Get out an Atlas and educate yourself :P

Howard Juneau

Rho b wrote: »

Get out an Atlas and educate yourself :P

An atlas?
Where the feck am I going to find a museum open at this time of night?

canadianwoman

Howard Juneau wrote: »

An atlas?
Where the feck am I going to find a museum open at this time of night?

Since when do museums carry atlases? I think you need a library for that.

canadianwoman

Howard Juneau wrote: »

You're actually an American?

It's worse then that.

stefan idiot jones

canadianwoman wrote: »

It's worse then that.

You're not English are you ?

uch

My Grandfather was on Hunger Strike

gozunda

I was found under a cabbage ... My 'father' confirmed this before he died .... Therefore I am not related to my family - but I knew that anyway.

WilyCoyote

Osborne wrote: »

We know how they get the figs in Fig Rolls.

Well, if it isn't the bould Jim Figgerty! How're ya Jim? Long time no see/hear.

WilyCoyote

christ on a bike! wrote: »

I miss Biggins

That's some secret

uch

Who said anything about secrets ?


I'm left handed

ringadingding

Some great stories here.

Also stories confirming my hatred for the church is justified.
The sooner the backbone of the church is broken the better

road_high

wuzziwig wrote: »

My Dad was born out of wedlock in the 40s. They tried to force my Gran to give him up but she fought tooth and nail and kept him. She's Catholic and when he was 5 she married a Protestant. 2 huge scandals at the time in her community. Nowadays it's practically the norm!!

Your grans a legend. Absolutely fair play to her. Both massive no no's back then.. Delighted she didn't give in to the small minds.

timthumbni

When I was younger my father used to make up outlandish claims. He once told us that he had invented the question mark.

Gloomtastic!

ringadingding wrote: »

Some great stories here.

Also stories confirming my hatred for the church is justified.
The sooner the backbone of the church is broken the better

I agree with you on this one but the 'fear factor' kept the majority of people in check. Without this moral authority, goodness knows what society would have been like.......

I mentioned, a couple of pages back, a few lightweight scandals involving my family. My wife's family on the other hand is riddled with them. She's English.

chasmcb

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

I don't know any of the secrets of my family but there's a rake of those secrets on my OH's side. On his mum's side: His great-grandad was abducted and shot by the maquis as a collaborator. When we go to the OH's home town, you'd pass by family members of the guy that shot him, the two families don't speak.
The OH's grandad was in love with one girl, but married her sister instead to get the money and property she would inherit. The family (two sisters, their parents and the husband) all lived in the one house; until the OH's grandad got the sister he was in love with pregnant. Her baby was born within 2 weeks of the other girls first child. The sister and baby were shunned by the family, disgraceful seeing as no one ever said anything or shunned the OH's grandad. The sister's son has only recently met his family (he's in his 60's now).
On his dad's side: His granny and grandad had 7 kids, the 7th one isn't the grandad's daughter, the granny had an affair while the grandad was away for a year working. The grandad knew about it and forgave her. One of the children is a bit of a bitch and never liked the 7th child. When she was older and snooping around, she found some letters revealing the secret. She then decided to announce what she had found out at the Christmas dinner table in front of all the extended family. Bear in mind that the 7th child knew none of this.

"A bit of a bitch" is a bit of an understatement! What a nasty, vindictive thing to do.

canadianwoman

chasmcb wrote: »

"A bit of a bitch" is a bit of an understatement! What a nasty, vindictive thing to do.

That is something my younger sister would do. There are more reasons like that why I never talk to her anymore.

WilyCoyote

timthumbni wrote: »

When I was younger my father used to make up outlandish claims. He once told us that he had invented the question mark.

?

Galway K9

My grand uncle was raped by a priest in mayo, he told his parents and others, who then committed him to a mental hospital at 16, he died last year in there as an old man , no kids or family. nobody was told about him until at the funeral some family friend told me.  I am disgusted still.

Rachiee

My snooty aunt had an affair with the local vicar. When her husband found out she ended it and even though he was heartbroken he took her back and they worked through it and are still married. My mam told me one night when we were drunk dont think any if my cousins know.

canadianwoman

I finally got around to writing this out. It is a LONG story....have a pee and get a drink first if you need either........


......................

This story goes way back......back to New Brunswick, Canada, 1946 when a 15 year old girl named Opal got together with a man 20 years older then herself. His name was Leo. Leo might even be a bit more then 20 years older then Opal but I would have to dig through my family records to find his birth certificate. No one in the present family knows how Opal and Leo got together. That part of this story was never explained to me and anyone who knew the entire story is deceased now.

Fast forward to October 5 1947 and a baby girl is born. Her name is Leeana and she was raised in the Catholic faith with both of her parents until something happened to Leo when Leeana was 5 years old. He had to be put in a long care nursing home for adults.

I've heard 2 stories over the years as to why he was put in there. One story was that he had a job in a factory where paint was made and the fumes from the paint caused him to become increasingly violent towards others. Since it was in the 1950s this is possible. The other story is that he developed a brain tumour that could not be operated on and it was that which made him increasingly violent but it was not enough to cause him to die. This was kept hush, hush for several decades by Opal. Leeana was not allowed to say a thing.

Anyway Opal raised Leeana alone until 1960 when Opal hooked up with a handsome young man named James.James was 5 years younger then Opal and he was Leo's nephew as well. Leo and James' mother Georgina were brother and sister. Georgina was also my grandmother or so I was told.

In early 1961, James went overseas to Germany. He had enrolled in the Royal Canadian Armed Forces and was a medic in the army core.
Before he left for Germany he was in Canada long enough for someone to become pregnant with a baby girl. He never knew it until he was in Germany. Opal wrote him letters and sent him one photograph of herself in a pantsuit. I havew the photo. There was a noticable bump (which my younger sister later said was probably a small pillow shoved into her pants). She and Leeana were living in Ontario, Canada by this time

In November 1961, a baby girl was born (me!) and 2 or 3 months later I supposedly baptised Catholic No records have been found which is strange because Opal was a hoarder and we went through all her things when she died in 2002. I am currently looking for a needle in a haystack trying to find out the Church I was baptised in and only 2 photographs of the baptismal survived the last 50-ish years.

When I was 18 months old James returned to Canada. He and Opal set up housekeeping. I'm not sure what became of Leeana at this point but I heard (from Leeana in later years) that there was a lot of fighting between the three of them at this stage and by the time she was 18 Leeana had her own place. This is no surprise having to grow up listening to James and Opal fight almost 24/7 until I was 18 years old.

As I grew up over the years Leeana was a comforting constant figure in my life. I spent a lot of time with her at her place as well as being home with 'my parents'.

I (and also my younger sister and brother) was/were told that Leeana was my/our Aunt so I/we grew up thinking she was Aunty Leeana. That went on until the 1970s. When I was 18, James and Opal split up. My younger sister Phyllis, being the family trouble maker she was, was packed off to New Brunswick to stay with relations and to get her out of 'the way' as I was told by Opal. After that things got really messy.

My younger brother(age 13) and I (age 17...going on 18) were kicked out of the house by our mother. I went to stay with my friend Jane and her folks and my brother went to Leeana's place.
I could not even finish highschool at this point in time....my life was in too much disarray.

Our father had hooked up with a lady from work (Canada Post) and my mother met some nasty guy named Bruce in a bar and hooked up with him. A few months later my dad rented a 2 bedroom apartment for us kids. Because I was now 18 I could stay there with my brother Bill and be his guardian of sorts. Phyllis came back from NB a couple of months after that. She also had something to tell us.

When Phyllis was in NB, she found out that Leeana was really our half sister and that Dad and Leo were actually Uncle and nephew. Opal had been keeping the truth from us for all those years. I have to say that I was stunned when I heard it and Leeana did tell me later on that it was true but that Opal had sworn her to secrecy many years earlier because Opal was ashamed that Leo had gotten ill....was in fact James' Uncle and she not want anyone's pity/disapproving looks over the years (which I think is also why they moved from NB to Ontario).

After digesting the facts presented in front of me I was delighted that Leeana was in fact my sister. I have always thought of her as a second mother and she was the sweetest kindest lady you could ever want to know. She did have some deep seated anger issues but she never turned them towards me or anyone else for that matter. Instead, I noticed an anger within her that she could never quite rid herself of and I often thought it came from somewhere else and not from her own personality.

Many years later in 2010 after Leeana's death, I did find out that she might have been raped at the age of 13, that she had become pregnant and I am that baby. After Leeana's death this was the 'story' that my younger sister kept telling everyone (she seemed to delight in doing that) and that the man I thought was my father (James) is not my father. As far as Phyllis is concerned my father is someone else and that Leeana is actually my mother. Of course if it is true it would explain the sudden move from NB to Ontario.

The worst part of this story is that Leeana never told anyone about being raped (if true). If it is true she took it to her grave and then the man who I thought was my father is not my father....someone else could be but it would explain all the anger Leeana had within her over the years.

road_high

Galway K9 wrote: »

My grand uncle was raped by a priest in mayo, he told his parents and others, who then committed him to a mental hospital at 16, he died last year in there as an old man , no kids or family. nobody was told about him until at the funeral some family friend told me.  I am disgusted still.

Awful story but sadly not uncommon in the past in "holy" Ireland.

quickbeam

Wow, this thread is amazing and interesting.

Weird the number of secret siblings or cousins out there. I'd make you think you never know who you're next girlfriend or boyfriend actually might be.