I've been diving into my family history for a while, mostly using the census records to get started and fill in blanks. It's been fascinating, if only to discover that as far back as I've managed to get (1600s on my father's side) there's just English names and place names involved - I was convinced I'd find an Irish connection somewhere, but it's nowhere to be seen.
There is still the mystery that first appealed to me, though. My maternal grandfather, Walter Thorne, was quite a character. His mother, Alice Skull, was in service in London when he was born and try as I might I can't find a record of her marriage. She gave birth to Walter at what I now know to have been her sister's family home, and although there's a father's name on the birth certificate I can't trace anyone of that name and occupation on the census records at the time. It seems likely that she chose the name "Thorne" as that was her own mother's maiden name, and that she chose not to reveal the father. Was it her employer at the time (a favourite theory of one of my sister's)?   At any rate, from my Mum's memory of her she was a severe, strict woman of high standards, so someone fairly amazing must have made her kick over the traces! But Walter was fostered for some years, as Alice went back to work (I'd guess she had no choice) and the family who fostered him were, apparently, abusive drunks. He ran away to sea as soon as he was old enough - falsified his age by a year to join the Merchant Navy. Continued with the false age to join the army, and then transferred to the newly created Royal Flying Corps. He finished his service days as Air Vice-Marshal, and my Mum's tale was that a job fell vacant in the war which carried an automatic knighthood. There were two men in line for the job, and all that separated them was that one man was (on paper at least) a year younger - so Walter's fudging of his birthdate caught up with him in due course.
If any Mudcatter knows of a George Thorne who was in London in 1897/8 and who was a journeyman carpenter I'd be fascinated to know - otherwise my maternal great grandfather is likely to remain a mystery, and so my tracking back has to stop there on that line, which is frustrating.
Otherwise there's no blue blood anywhere and all that's remarkable is how each line of the family headed towards London at some point - my Dad's family from Yorkshire, the Cotswolds and Devon and my Mum's family (as far as I can go) from Wiltshire and Cornwall.
That was the other coincidence I've enjoyed - one possible contender for my Mum's maternal grandfather seems to have worked as a lock keeper in St Katharine's Dock in London, which is where I lived for about twenty years, and his parents started off in Cornwall where I have often wanted to live and feel very much at home.
I love this stuff!