Hi everyone. I would like some advice on how to find proof (or otherwise) that my husband has a connection to Arthur Worsley, the famous ventriloquist. A comment made by my father-in-law years ago has always intrigued me. "'E favours the Worsleys" was his quote and right enough, in his younger days, my hubby James does have the same features as Arthur Worsley and also a musical career. I cannot find any connection in his aunts, uncles, immediate cousins or even a generation further back. Are the records in Lancashire I am looking for not transcribed yet? Do I need to go back further generations? Am I just looking at the female additions to the family? Do I investigate the Worsley line itself? Or is it simply that there is no connection? When faced with a throw away comment like that where do I start? Any help would be much appreciated.
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Searching from hearsay
- Thread starter Angel54
- Start date
Family storis are often wrong or misleading, but it's very difficult to prove a negative, especially when the story is so vague.
I suspect that what most of us would do is research our family tree and see what we discover in the process, rather than focus on a story that might be northing more than a myth. In the process you'll encounter distant cousins, whether through LostCousins or other sites, and if there is any truth in the rumour someone is likely to know.
I suspect that what most of us would do is research our family tree and see what we discover in the process, rather than focus on a story that might be northing more than a myth. In the process you'll encounter distant cousins, whether through LostCousins or other sites, and if there is any truth in the rumour someone is likely to know.
See the Masterclass Tracking down pre-1837 baptisms and marriages
Thank you Peter. Jim's father told a few stories which I was sceptical about but in putting together his family tree I have discovered are correct. Thomas Witter carpets and Witter towballs are two of them. As you say at some point in my research I may come across more. Frustration gets the better of me sometimes especially when so many of the same first names are handed down through the generations making it so easy to accept the wrong record leading to an incorrect branch. On a Facebok page of the area I was born in I encountered a lady with the Witter surname and she was so excited to find me as she thought there was no one else with that name. I did some research for her and we really thought we were related until I double and triple checked and found that there were two people with the same name born in the same area in 1801 but with different forebears and descendants. Our trees did not match after all. I'm sure back in the mists of time there may be a connection but we are happy to have met anyway.
Perhaps the next step is to open a LostCousins account for your husband and complete his My Ancestors page? Worsley is a fairly common surname in Lancashire - half of all the Worsley births since 1837 have been in the county, and it's not a rare surname across England & Wales as a whole.
OPCs, and the Lancashire site in particular, are mentioned in the Masterclass I referred you to on Wednesday.