52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Family Lore
The point of this challenge is to write about one ancestor every week in 2024, according to a given prompt. I will be writing about ancestors and other family members.
Many of us have heard stories from our grandparents about incredible feats our ancestors did or a famous person we’re related to. What’s a tale that has been passed down in your family? Did it end up being true or did it turn out to just be a good story?
There have been very few stories passed down in my family, so I’ve been battling to think of something to write for the very first prompt for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2024. There is one piece of family lore that I very much doubt, but have no evidence at all for being doubtful about it. I’m just going by my instinct.
My grandmother, my father’s mother, was Emily TAYLOR. I didn’t know her at all, as she and my father’s father, died when my father was 6 years old. Emily was born in 1886 at Bundalong, near Yarrawonga, Victoria. On 25 April 1910, Emily married William Lowe JONES at Richmond, Victoria.
Many years ago, when I began to research our Jones family history, my father told me not to waste my time researching his mother’s side of the family, as she had no family. I quickly found out that her family was very large. Emily had nine brothers and sisters, and that was just the beginning. As my research progressed, I found that those brothers and sisters also had large families. I will never forget my father’s shock, each time I told him about yet another cousin, aunt or uncle that he had never known about.
It wasn’t long before cousins, some close and others more distant, were making contact with me. It has been a huge highlight for me to meet up with many family members over the years. Many years ago, I was fortunate enough to meet the oldest living member of my grandmother’s family, her nephew’s wife. At the time of meeting her, she was in her 90s. I was very excited to meet her, just because I had heard what a wonderful person she was, but also because I was sure she would have known my grandmother. However, she very quickly took me aside, to very quietly tell me that I had the wrong family, as there was her husband hadn’t had an aunt named Emily.
I had documentation to show her, which surprised her very much, and she had to admit that, yes, Emily was definitely her husband’s aunt, even though she had never previously heard her name mentioned by the family.
So, the question is, why did Emily not have contact with her family, after her marriage. According to some members of my family, it was obvious that Emily had fallen out with her family over the man that she had chosen to marry. I’m sure it isn’t that simple. Before her marriage, Emily had been working in Melbourne and would have met her husband at that time. I’m sure her leaving home, and going to live in Melbourne had nothing to do with her future husband. It’s possible that she went to work in Melbourne, and due to the difficulties of staying connected at the time, just lost contact with the family.
Whatever the reason, it’s very sad that the family seemed to have split. It really doesn’t matter to me, what the reason, but I’m very pleased that I discovered family history and have been able to connect with my grandmother’s family.
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Tracking Down The Family 
In this day and age of social media, it does seem difficult to believe that people could lose contact with their nearest and dearest. But I think it could have happened. Life was much busier then with less labour-saving devices. If I had to do half of what my grandmother had to do physically in her life – washing, cooking, gardening, I’d be in bed at 7pm every night and barely able to keep up with my parents and siblings. The past is a foreign country.
Yes I agree Alex. I’ve lost contact with many in my family even though we have SM and technology. There is no hope that I would have been able to stay in touch in those days.
Good Evening Jennifer, My Grandfather was John Taylor who I believe was Emily’s older brother. If I have things right maybe there was a split in the family because of their mother dying after being burnt in a house fire at her mother’s house. Things would have been hard back them for a man to be left with quite a few children. John Taylor married Catherine Margret Mitchell who was Yarrawonga/Mulwala. They had 11 children. My father was Harold Mitchell Taylor who died in 1963 from the result of an explosion at the the Mulwala Explosive Factory. I knew Mavis Taylor senior she was a kind generous lady. Knew her daughter Mavis who later I think changed her name to Jo. Have found your Article’s on the Taylor family very interesting. Only have one brief memory of my Grandpa Taylor walking near a Red Post Box near their home in Yarrawonga. Knew my Grandmother as she came to live with us for a short time after my father passed. Feel they were “Battler’s” with all their children. I am 71. I have a cousin in Yarrwonga Max Grinter who would be about 75 who would know far more than me about the Taylor family Regards Gaye Deegan (Taylor).
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Hello Gaye, Thank you so much for making contact. Your theory about the family becoming fractured after the fire could very well be true. I often wondered how William managed the young children after his wife died. A few years ago I had contact from a few who were descended from John and Catherine. It was Mavis that I mentioned in the article. I don’t usually write about people after 1900 for family privacy reasons, so didn’t mention her name in case it offended anyone. Thanks for our kind words.