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Any historical stories in your family?

StupidLikeAFox

When I was younger my grandad told me a story about "The Emergency" in Ireland. He told me how each house was given a gun and two bullets, and how the young men used to carry out some exercises/basic training around that time just in case. It was great to get a personal insight into the stuff that was happening around that time. I also had a great grandfather who fought in WW1 - died long before I was born but apparently he rarely talked about it what with the stigma involved and all that

So great people of AH, do you have any historical stories in your family? Did your granddad storm the beaches of normandy? Did your grandmother hide IRA men in her chimney? Did your uncle die in auchwitz (from falling out of his guard tower or otherwise)?

Ive no idea what my family were doing during 1916, the War of Independence, Civil War etc. But I love hearing stories of the ordinary people who were caught up in historical events

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angeleyes

For Forks Sake wrote: »

In a similar vein, I must be the only person in the country who didn't have a relative in Thomond Park when Munster beat the All Blacks in 1978.

If all the stories told are true, the attendance on the day was somewhere in the region of 4.2million people.

My hubby was at the match in Thomond Park- he still has the program from it. He went with a few friends from school. There were only 12,000 people at the match and DH says 100,000 claim they were there. DH has memories of being dragged onto the pitch after the match. They went with the expectation of seeing Munster lose and seeing a great team such as the All Blacks. He has said that there was awful coverage on RTE as well which was disappointing.

twowheelsonly

bottlebrush wrote: »

Our house was searched by the Gardai looking for kidnapped Dutch Industrialist Tiede Herrema in 1976.......but then again all the houses in the area were as well. He was eventually found not too far away in Monasterevin.

Our house was searched as well (in Cork) and I still remember my mother asking the Garda to bring down some stuff from the attic while he was up there. I was 12 at the time and my mother told me they were searching everyones houses. None of my friends houses were done though !!!

PLL wrote: »

. Many times she has been asked to write about it all, she is 88 now. She doesn't like talking about it, but apparently there are lots of stories. Not something I would dig for more info about but would be fascinating to hear all the same. My daughter's are an 1/8 Dutch, which will be a lovely heritage for them to research.

Do it while you can - even just chat to her and record it. My biggest regret is not having the cop-on to do so when my grandmother was still alive. I still remember a lot of her stories but not as much as I'd like to.

My Grandmother was locked up in Kilmainham during the War of Independence and had some savage stories including being dragged down the stairs there by her hair and being kicked about - all of which is verified in various different publications. Her family was a Republican one and their house in Sandymount was considered a safe house. Apparently it was also used as a munitions store for a time as well in around the Rising but we don't have any verification or great details of that.
Her father (my great GF) apparently was a very well spoken, intelligent and elegant man. In earlier years he insisted on hanging two pictures of WW1 British Soldiers in the hallway of the house to the disgust of almost anyone that visited the house. However, between his demeanour and the photos, when the Brits came on a raid they were satisfied that it was a 'Tommy' house and left him alone thereafter. The two unknown soldiers, his 'dear brother and nephew' did their job !!!

Summer wind

My grandad was in the old IRA. He sent and received lots of letters from Eamon De Valera. When the Black and Tans were around they'd a curfew on our town and anyone seen out after midnight would be shot on sight. My great grandmother died and my grandad and his family had to put sacks on the horses hooves and take her body to the graveyard and bury her in darkness. If they'd been caught the Black and Tans would've shot them. When my grandad died the IRA wanted to come to his funeral and fire shots over his grave but my nana wouldn't let them.

On the other side of my family two of my great grandmothers sisters were on the titanic and were rescued in lifeboats. My great grandmother was about 7 months pregnant and when she heard about the titanic sinking she went into premature labour and gave birth to a little boy. They didn't find out for a long time after that her two sisters had been saved. They settled in America and both had families there.

On both sides of my family there were soldiers that fought in both world wars and came home with medals. The medals were always in the houses displayed in big frames with timber surrounds.

[Deleted User]

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Last year, my Dad told me a story about his uncle who died in World War One.

Teddy was working in a drapery shop in Dunmanway or Drimoleague in West Cork. The shop was owned by a Church of Ireland man.

One day, a British Army Major walked into the shop and told the owner to lay off all the Catholic employees.

My grand-uncle was now unemployed and struggling. His only option (the plan of the British Major) was to enlist in the British Army.

The details are sketchy, but he died in a trench in Flanders or The Somme.

Sounds like a very interesting story.

You should research him, if you have his name/ the time

This is an database of all the Irish-regimented soldiers that were killed in WW1
http://imr.inflandersfields.be/search.html

Use the online census for 1901/1911 to help find his name via your grandparents census return, if you don't already know his name. It's available online for free, too

http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie/search/

So many interesting stories out there waiting to be found. There is a huge amount of information available online, free.

If you find your grand uncle's details via that first link, you should be able to find the location of his grave, and a picture of his gravestone easily enough.

[Deleted User]

My grandfather was born in 1895 and his great, great grandfather was hanged in spring 1799 for leading the United Irishmen in his area. His defending barrister was the notorious Leonard MacNally - talk about bad luck.

My grandfather's uncle was a senior Fenian in the US, who took part in the 1867 invasion of Canada and became well-known in Irish-American politics (I came across a long obituary on him in the NYT some years back)

My uncle, who received the family farm off my grandfather, told me that my grandfather got the farm in the 1930s from the Land Commission after they divided up the local ascendancy estate. That I knew. What I didn't know was "they said they were giving him it because our people were thrown out of this land by Cromwell". So I went into the local library and checked the Books of Survey and Distribution from the 1650s. There in black and white listed in possession of the same land in 1641 on the eve of the Rebellion was a man with the exact same first and last name as my grandfather and we've lived there for many, many centuries. It could be a coincidence but it was interesting to see the continuity.

Grayson

My Granddad was in 1916, he was in the IRA under Collins and was one of the first 21 officers in the Free State Army. He commanded Beggars Bush during the civil war and left the army afterwards to become one of the the first guards. He had a very uneventful life after that. We did some research on him and found loads of medals that he received. Unfortunately the reason the medals were issued is still classified. The guy we talked to in the archives thinks it is because he was probably in intelligence. He never talked much about his time in the IRA or the army.
He met my Granny because she was involved in the Howth gun running.

Other side of the family hasn't got a single story.

bottlebrush

Deleted User wrote: »

My grandfather was born in 1895 and his great, great grandfather was hanged in spring 1799 for leading the United Irishmen in his area. His defending barrister was the notorious Leonard MacNally - talk about bad luck.

My grandfather's uncle was a senior Fenian in the US, who took part in the 1867 invasion of Canada and became well-known in Irish-American politics (I came across a long obituary on him in the NYT some years back)

My uncle, who received the family farm off my grandfather, told me that my grandfather got the farm in the 1930s from the Land Commission after they divided up the local ascendancy estate. That I knew. What I didn't know was "they said they were giving him it because our people were thrown out of this land by Cromwell". So I went into the local library and checked the Books of Survey and Distribution from the 1650s. There in black and white listed in possession of the same land in 1641 on the eve of the Rebellion was a man with the exact same first and last name as my grandfather and we've lived there for many, many centuries. It could be a coincidence but it was interesting to see the continuity.

Are these available in all libraries do you know? If so, would like to check out my own family's land history.

Grayson

I forgot to mention my granny, the one involved in the gunrunning, worked in Kilmainham during the civil war. She had an autograph book that she got all the prisoners to sign. Some wrote poems and songs into it, some drew pictures. It was donated to the military museum a couple of years ago but I managed to get scans of it first.

Taltos

One of my grans was in the Mna, used to run messages and guns in her basket on the bike. My other gran (paternal) was in some march after the rising, she died in childbirth so my dad only heard those stories 2nd and 3rd hand (aka evil stepmother quashed all tales). Mum used to have president Hilary and one other president around for sandwiches and tea years ago shortly after she got married, something to do with Dad I think as he was very political when younger. Weird thing was she only let all of the above slip a few years ago before she got ill and none of it was a big deal for her, didn't understand why it was for me

[Deleted User]

bottlebrush wrote: »

Are these available in all libraries do you know? If so, would like to check out my own family's land history.

They should be available in the Archive section of your county/city library. Check your library's Online Catalogue. I'd be surprised if nowadays they weren't online in some form - Google Books?
They only exist for 29 of the 32 counties. They are crazily detailed because the English wanted to know who owned what in each townland so that they could reward their soldiers/merchants/adventurers/colonists.

Books of Survey & Distribution

bottlebrush

Deleted User wrote: »

They should be available in the Archive section of your county/city library. Check your library's Online Catalogue. I'd be surprised if nowadays they weren't online in some form - Google Books?
They only exist for 29 of the 32 counties. They are crazily detailed because the English wanted to know who owned what in each townland so that they could reward their soldiers/merchants/adventurers/colonists.

Books of Survey & Distribution

Thanks for that Fuaranach. Luckily, they exist for my county so am looking forward to doing some research shortly.

dresden8

PLL wrote: »

Details of this are hazy as it is my oh's grandmother. She is Dutch and lived through the war, took Jews in and there is some stories that she walked a long way to get food (I think) for her family. Lovely lovely woman. Many times she has been asked to write about it all, she is 88 now. She doesn't like talking about it, but apprently there are lots of stories. Not something I would dig for more info about but would be fascinating to hear all the same. My daughter's are an 1/8 Dutch, which will be a lovely heritage for them to research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_famine_of_1944%E2%80%9345

McChubbin

All these stories are wonderful to read!
I don't have many stories from my own family to contribute but I can say this:
My granny on my mother's side of the family grew up on the North Strand and distinctly remembers the time during WW2 when the Germans dropped a few bombs in the canal. She was only in her early teens but told me on a few ocassions how she and her siblings were in bed at the time and next of all the wall came down on top of them. Can't even begin to imagine how terrifying that must've been for her. She's 86 this year and usually quite open to talking about the war but I can see in her eyes that she doesn't like recalling that particular incident so I don't often bring it up.

Another story that I must try and get more information on: My great-grandfather on my mother's side was taken captive as a POW in a German camp twice during the first World War. He managed to escape both times and from what my mother tells me, he wasn't right in the head after that. As far as I know, we have a metal swastika and a German Iron Cross up in the attic that he stole from a German solider during one of his escapes.

Also, my grandfather, again on my mother's side, trained as a silver service waiter in the Ritz in Paris during World War Two.
Sadly, due to there being a fire in the hotel about 30 years ago, no official records of his time there exist. My mother's dearest wish is to go to Paris and visit that hotel, to see where her father learned his trade. Ahh, some day.
Another story concerning my grandfather harks back to when a bomb went off in Liberty Hall. I can't recall the exact circumstances of the bombing (I'll ask my mother about it and get back to you) but what I was told was that at the time, my grandfather worked as a bus driver for CIE and was stopped at the quays for his lunch break when he heard an almighty explosion.

Driving up towards the plume of smoke in the air, he saw what happened and set to rescuing people caught up in the blast by putting them on his bus and driving them straight to hospital to get help. He even went out of his way to drop one badly shaken young lady who was a frequent customer of his straight to her parent's door as he was so concerned.
A truly selfless, lovely man. It's my biggest regret in life that I never got to have long chats about him concerning all the interesting things he did in life. He died when I was five years old. Stupid cancer.

Spanish Eyes

My great grand uncle was the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. (Pro Cathedral).

I have his photos and all. Brilliant.

My Grand Uncle died in the Great War and is buried in Gallipoli. Went there several years ago and it is just so evocative. Helles memorial and cemetery. He was in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. That side of the family were Church of Ireland.

My OH grandfather is buried in the Massicault Cemetery in Tunisia. That was WW2 Africa Campaign.

Huntergonzo

My Grandfather fought in WW1, he was at the Somme, Verdun, Passchendaele etc, all horrifically brutal battles. He was shot through the shoulder in late 1917 and honourably discharged towards the end of the war when he was nearly ready to rejoin the fighting but luckily for me the war ended, otherwise I may not be typing this post. Incidentally my father only very recently found the bullet my grandfather was shot with, as he did bring it home with him.

I never met my grandfather (he died before I was born), but apparently he spoke very little about the war. By all accounts he was probably one of the many who joined up without really knowing what they were getting themselves into.

Apparently when anybody asked him what the war was like he would simply respond "it was the war that should never have been", and left it at that.

Big Nasty

One of my ancestors was a general in the American Civil War on the Yankee side.

KingBrian2

My relatives were highway men and if you go back a little further one of my ancestors was a pirate.

Edgarfrndly

Great Grandfather on my mother's side was in the IRB and fought in the Easter Rising. We had all kinds of memorabilia, photos and medals in my grandmother's house. They went missing a few years ago nobody knows where they are. Grandmother is too old now to really remember anything, so it's futile asking her.

My other great grandfather was in the British Army in India, oppressing Gandhi and the lads.

Talk about polar opposites.

Oh, and Patrick Sarsfield is like my great-great-great-great something or other.

Avatar MIA

A relative of mine was alleged to have been involved in an incident that's mentioned in Irish history books. He's name checked in Dail records.

But that's all I'm going to say.

Spanish Eyes

Great history of involvement in the Great War. Misnomer if ever I heard one. But anyway...

Only for Kevin Myers it would all be buried like the war dead. Kudos to him, he brought it all out and made it ok to acknowledge.

May they rest in peace for the week that's in it.

corner of hells

One of my ancestors fought in the Battle of Tallaght when 2000 Fenians attacked the police station , he was the RIC officer in charge of twelve RIC men and has a memorial in Glasnevin cemetery.

arybvtcw0eolkf

I found a photo of my great grandfather in uniform.

I have a photo of his last will and testament which he made in Feb 1916 ~ I'd have to pixel a name and part address on it so I won't post it now, but if anyone is interested I'll post it up.

This is the uniformed photo, I believe it was taken before he traveled to France with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Bubbaclaus

One of my ancestors shot Michael Collins

Spanish Eyes

Katie Nutty Diagram wrote: »

I found a photo of my great grandfather in uniform.

I have a photo of his last will and testament which he made in Feb 1916 ~ I'd have to pixel a name and part address on it so I won't post it now, but if anyone is interested I'll post it up.

This is the uniformed photo, I believe it was taken before he traveled to France with the Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Oh please do. I really like REAL historical sources.

I guess they were all instructed to make a will before going to battle.

Balmed Out

The only thing of real interest coming to mind is that my grandfathers brother was stabbed and killed in New York after a pub brawl. A sad end for a guy that wasn't long after emigrating and I suppose its now impossible to imagine the worries / stresses / hopes etc he had. The family never learned the details of it all. Of this mans 10 siblings and one half sibling my own grandfather was the only one not to have emigrated.

On the other hand my grandfather on the other side was fairly lucky. He emigrated to the states joined the US army not all that long after the first world war and left it just before the second world war. Came back to Ireland and married a woman who had inherited a farm. Lucky so and so was obviously from Kerry. I saw his army papers when I was a teenager and always mean to look into the dates since I cant understand how he got into the army when they were surely demobilizing in a big way.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Oh please do. I really like REAL historical sources.

I guess they were all instructed to make a will before going to battle.

"In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to my wife Mrs Mary ******* 19 Summerhill Dublin"

He was in the 9th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

Spanish Eyes

Katie Nutty Diagram wrote: »

"In the event of my death I give the whole of my property and effects to my wife Mrs Mary ******* 19 Summerhill Dublin"

He was in the 9th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers.

That's a great piece of history you have there.

I wonder who the witnesses were?

Anyway, doesn't matter. It's the real deal. You are lucky to have it in your possession.

It's kinda sad too isn't it.

My Great Uncle was in the Dublin Fusiliers too. Died in Gallipoli.

Have to say the War Graves Commission is excellent.

indioblack

I was told that in 1920 British soldiers set fire to buildings in Mallow, Co.Cork. As they made their way along the Cork road into town, my heavily pregnant grandmother hid in the fields across the road from her cottage - and that night my mother was born!
On another occasion in that period the cottage was searched by soldiers. The officer asked to enter one room but was told by my grandmother that her father was ill in bed inside - the officer apologised and left.
My father served in Normandy in WW2 - with his mate, Private Murphy - who instantly earned the name "Spud".
They sheltered all night in a foxhole whilst the Germans shelled the area. In the morning an officer came upon the pair and enquired as to why they were still there - the rest of the battalion had been pulled back - intelligence had warned them of the German artillery the night before. My dad and Spud were the only ones not told!
Dad was invalided out shortly after and Private Murphy deserted, [back to Ireland?], and disappears from history.

Spanish Eyes

A lot of "hidden history" on this thread.

Thanks to all who have contributed. Made fascinating reading.

indioblack

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

Question 1: Arthur has been living in Patricks backyard for 800 years. How many brave men are required to get rid of Arthur and restore this great and beautiful country to the people it belongs to?

42
Is the answer to life, the universe and everything.
The tricky bit is understanding the question.