Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Has anyone gone back to the homeland in order to research more about your family's past? I am thinking that I may need to do that to find out if the story of what my mom told me was correct.
She had told me I was Russian up until the Wall fell in 1989. Her story up until then was that her parents, who were aristocracy, fled during the Revolution. They had 3 children there and came here and had another 3 children, but died in a car crash and she and the 2 other younger ones were put in an orphanage. BUT she then told me that really I was Lithuanian and just felt since it was part of the USSR, it was easier to tell me I was Russian. And I was like MOTHER!!! They are two different countries and nationalities! BUT her story of being aristocracy still stood. The only thing I have of her is her birth certificate and the name of the orphange where she grew up. I tried Ancestry.com, but got nothing, so am thinking when I retire, I just may go to Lithuania to see if I could find out anything about her "story".
So asking again, has anyone ever done this and was successful??
If she made up the Russian thing she probably made up your aristocratic ancestry. It's also possible she heard that from a relative and passed the story along to you without having verified it.
I'm to the point where I no longer believe any unresearched family stories. Every single one in my family turned out to be bogus. For some reason people back in the day loved to make stuff up I guess out of a false sense of self importance and/or a social inferiority complex.
The USA is my roots, apparently my ancestors, like myself, have a hard time staying bin one place for 5 years at a time. The only ones who seem to have gotten ahead are those who recognized that and got jobs that required or allowed moving around like a nomad. This has been the case for almost 400 years in America.
I fully agree with CAVA. Because my paternal grandpa would not talk about our family past, I thought my aunt (his daughter-in-law) would be a good resource when I first started my genealogy search. At different times she told me that my paternal ancestors were rich, or from English aristocracy, or from an (American) Indian Chief, or my great grandmother was a doctor/Indian Princes. None of it turned out to be true. One time during one of her Indian Chief stories, I said "I believe you Jane because I'm sure none of our ancestor women would a plain old Indian Brave". She would not talk to me about family after that
If she made up the Russian thing she probably made up your aristocratic ancestry. It's also possible she heard that from a relative and passed the story along to you without having verified it.
I'm to the point where I no longer believe any unresearched family stories. Every single one in my family turned out to be bogus. For some reason people back in the day loved to make stuff up I guess out of a false sense of self importance and/or a social inferiority complex.
But the only problem is, is that there are no relatives where she could have heard it from except her older brothers, but they split when their parents died as they were 16+ adn too old to go into the orphange. My mom saw them a few times growing up, but then lost track of them as they left the area. The only thing that would make it believable is that they had money enough to buy a car as back then, you had to pay in cash. All 3 younger children who ended up in the orphange were approximately in ages 3,2,1. There was no birth certificate (it was found later on during the war and my mom discovered that she was actually 6 months older than they thought.) And the Russian thing really wasn't a lie per se, since Lithuania really wasn't an independent country when I was growing up but part of the USSR.
I know people tend to glorify the past, but there has to be a reason why they left at that point in time and like you said, this is where research is necessary and it has to be in Lithuania. And maybe one day I will find out.
But the only problem is, is that there are no relatives where she could have heard it from except her older brothers, but they split when their parents died as they were 16+ adn too old to go into the orphange. My mom saw them a few times growing up, but then lost track of them as they left the area. The only thing that would make it believable is that they had money enough to buy a car as back then, you had to pay in cash. All 3 younger children who ended up in the orphange were approximately in ages 3,2,1. There was no birth certificate (it was found later on during the war and my mom discovered that she was actually 6 months older than they thought.) And the Russian thing really wasn't a lie per se, since Lithuania really wasn't an independent country when I was growing up but part of the USSR.
I know people tend to glorify the past, but there has to be a reason why they left at that point in time and like you said, this is where research is necessary and it has to be in Lithuania. And maybe one day I will find out.
The story kind of reminds me of the woman who claimed for years that she was Princess Anastasia, the only surviving child of Nicholas and Alexandra. She presented a lot of compelling evidence but I believe her story was debunked using dna.
Perhaps the theme of this is a common one from that place similar to how many Southerners tell stories about how their family made fortunes that were lost or stolen before or during the civil war. Another popular one is the seven brothers tale that has these brothers arriving together in the new world and then splitting up and going off in different directions. Generally these don't hold up to close scrutiny. It drives me crazy to see such false stories in my own family perpetuated in other peoples' family trees. They get very defensive when I take them to task in an email.
We are planning to go to Ireland next year, to try to verify some family history and geneology. It turned out that almost our entire family - DH's and mine - are from County Cork.
One of the stories in my family goes that Dear Old Grandpa (whom I never met) was a randy sort of fellow. He had two older brothers who inherited the family shipyard. In a fit of jealousy and pique, he burned the shipyard down and absconded to America with the insurance and money in the safe, and fled to Chicago, where in true Irish tradition of that time, and with a lack of information exchange between Ireland and America, he became a cop. True or not true? We only know that the part about Chicago is true. While we don't plan on walking up and crying "Cousin!" to any folks we find who may be related, it would be nice to know the facts.
Although to be strictly honest, DH's interest in geneology is driving him. What is driving me is the urge to explore a beautiful country, experience its culture and food, and have a little pub crawl or three. I AM Irish, after all.
We are planning to go to Ireland next year, to try to verify some family history and geneology. It turned out that almost our entire family - DH's and mine - are from County Cork.
One of the stories in my family goes that Dear Old Grandpa (whom I never met) was a randy sort of fellow. He had two older brothers who inherited the family shipyard. In a fit of jealousy and pique, he burned the shipyard down and absconded to America with the insurance and money in the safe, and fled to Chicago, where in true Irish tradition of that time, and with a lack of information exchange between Ireland and America, he became a cop. True or not true? We only know that the part about Chicago is true. While we don't plan on walking up and crying "Cousin!" to any folks we find who may be related, it would be nice to know the facts.
Although to be strictly honest, DH's interest in geneology is driving him. What is driving me is the urge to explore a beautiful country, experience its culture and food, and have a little pub crawl or three. I AM Irish, after all.
Very cool! I hope that you willl find out if the first part of the story is true; but why would you not tell cousins, if you meet them, that you are related? Just curious!
The story kind of reminds me of the woman who claimed for years that she was Princess Anastasia, the only surviving child of Nicholas and Alexandra. She presented a lot of compelling evidence but I believe her story was debunked using dna.
Perhaps the theme of this is a common one from that place similar to how many Southerners tell stories about how their family made fortunes that were lost or stolen before or during the civil war. Another popular one is the seven brothers tale that has these brothers arriving together in the new world and then splitting up and going off in different directions. Generally these don't hold up to close scrutiny. It drives me crazy to see such false stories in my own family perpetuated in other peoples' family trees. They get very defensive when I take them to task in an email.
Hmmmm.... hardly any similarity at all. She never told people any of that and kept it a secret from many that she was even an orphan and born here, and to be honest, I take umbrage in the fact that you discount that fact. She was never delusional about her past as she knew nothing and didn't even remember her parents as she was 2 when she lost them. You should be happy that at least you have relatives to tell those wacky stories.
Hmmmm.... hardly any similarity at all. She never told people any of that and kept it a secret from many that she was even an orphan and born here, and to be honest, I take umbrage in the fact that you discount that fact. She was never delusional about her past as she knew nothing and didn't even remember her parents as she was 2 when she lost them. You should be happy that at least you have relatives to tell those wacky stories.
How was I supposed to know that from your previous posts? I don't think you said she kept it a secret. Nevertheless, there are very few "secret aristocrats" in this world, so I'd take that piece with a grain of salt, particularly since she was unable to provide any evidence. She might have told you that to make you feel better about her orphan past. There were a lot of stigmas back in the day that we don't consider as such now.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
a plain old Indian Brave". She would not talk to me about family after that
