A Family Secret Unveiled: My Great Grandmother’s Scandalous Past | Real Stories Documentary

It did happen that a man would not want another man’s child so a woman who wanted out of poverty or better social status would abandon a child to the street or to a orphanage. This would be a secret in the family. I suspect this happened more than what is acknowledged. A woman would not want it known she abandoned a child. There seemed to be a prevailing male attitude of wanting a woman to only have his biological issue. Step-children were often treated poorly by step-parents. In Victorian England, in the slums - if not abandoned at birth, the average age was 3 to5 years . A different ethnic or race, social status, an unwed mother, many reasons a child is left behind. A sad footnote in the history of humanity.

My maiden name is Pickering. My bio great grandfather Pickering left his wife & like 8 kids, moved to Canada & started another family. Didn’t change his name though.
I know this type of thing isn’t uncommon but it feels weird that it’s the same last name.

This show has the longest intro in the history of shows.

Just like baby Obama.

Great show.

Loved this video 🥹

3 1/2 mins until they got to the first story

I've been trying to verify the identity of my great grandfather (my father's mother's father) by examining my DNA matches on Ancestry. We have a name that has long been passed down as my great grandfather, but I am more than suspicious that the person is fictitious, invented to cover up an out-of-wedlock birth. I've isolated matches that appear to be unrelated to my father's known family and unrelated to any of my mother's known family. But from the ones that have accessible trees I cannot find a name that's very convincing as a possible candidate family. The grandfather's surname of record cannot be found in any of my matches' family trees after the late 1700's or early 1800's.

I have DNA matches that are the descendants of a woman that I believe is likely to also be a daughter of the unverified grandfather in question. I've contacted her grandkids and was told she was adopted by a couple at age 4. Nothing is known of her biological parents or the circumstances of her adoption. The last name of the couple that adopted her is in my family line via my father's paternal great aunt who married a man with that last name. But I have not been able to link up the adopter family line with my 2x great aunt's husband's family line, though there is likely some link. The descendants of the woman who I believe is my grandmother's half-sister are only related to my father's full siblings' descendants. They are not related to my father's half-siblings' descendants. So, she is not related to any of my fathers' paternal lines, and she is not related to any of my father's mother's maternal line. That leaves the unverified paternal line of my paternal grandmother. I haven't been able to get it narrowed down any further than that no matter how much time I spend trying to figure it out through DNA matches. :( Anyone have any ideas???

Teenager Mary could have been a surrogate mother.

I look like my Fathers half sister and his fathers side of the family..

When my Grandfather died back in 2001 , my father had suffered a heart attack a few days earlier in Arkansas , unable to go to my Grandfathers funeral as my father had just had surgury , my mother was forced to contact my Aunt , her sister, who lived in Arizona , my two sisters and my cousin they took care of my Grandfathers funeral and what ever was needed..meanwhile my Mom myself and my husband stayed near my dad and took care of him....1 yr later I went and spent a few days with my sister who lives near me , I other lives in Indiana ,,, She calmly asks me if I knew she and our other sister were actually half sisters...I ,knew they were both my half sisters as my Mom had been married before ,,I am 15 and 18 yrs younger then both of them ..I was stunned to say the least...no I said..our Aunt had told them the story that my mom had kept hidden for over 50 yrs..my Grandparents had always raised cattle and considered them more important then their daughters,,they were both in the field taking care of their stock when a bad trouble causing neighbor boy snuck on the property and attacked my mom , ,,, sadly she ended up pregnant and was sent to live at a home for young mothers ,,she was told by my Grandparents to give my sister up...my Grandmother had a sister , who lived in the same town were this home was and she told my Grandparents , that in no certain way was my Mom going to give up my sister that she was their granddaughter , my Grandparents allowed my Mom and my sister to come home , The Dad of my sister saw her one time and was told to never contact or visit again...this happened in 1948..My Mom eventually married and had my other sister , Her first husband adopted my sister and gave her his name ..thus no one knew the story until my aunt let it out ..needless to say , I had to be the one who had to tell my mother what her sister had done ,,she was quiet for a bit and said my aunt should not have told , but in a way I think it lifted a heavy burden of my mothers shoulders , because my dad, who was a bit controlling and abusive used this information against my mother , if they were talking between the two of them, if my sisters or I came into the room they would get quiet and there was always this unspoken pressure that mom could not say ,,,my dad loved to be in control in our house ,,I lived in a world were I was bullied by my father and called stupid and dumb ,,He is no longer with us , but my Mom is an amazing 91 yr old lady who has raised three amazing girls...

When America holds women’s body hostage and ignore the other half of the development it’s no wonder abandoned babies are born every second.

I can’t imagine not knowing your family history!! I’m proud of my Great Grandfather who left the south because he hated the hate against black Americans so he packed a bag & settled in Redbank NJ !! A Large family followed !!

there is a california birth index. enter the mothers maiden name and the last name of the child.

Yep women can't no longer put it on the guy they want into be and these men can no longer hide there side children and then there is the race thing boy oh boy...there's that are being crushed about time...

I had a 2nd Cousin who lied about his age & fought all the way through WWI & when Pearl Harbor happened, he again lied about his age & fought all the way through WWII.
Afterward he became a Dedicated, Practicing Alcoholic. He and my Uncle would go down to Miami and take the Boat over to Havana, and spend, sometimes, Weeks partying in the Casinos and Flesh Pots of Cuba.
Even a cursory study of WWI, especially the Massive Losses that France and England took well before America joined the fighting.(Mebbe we Americans didn't "Win" the War, at least We can be credited with Shortening the time the Allies spent Fighting and Dying En Masse, before Germany finally surrendered). Is it any wonder why they flatly stated "We Lost The Flower Of Our Youth in The Trenches Of The Great War"........That may well have been an Understatement for England, and France lost more of their Young Men than Britain
Remember Kiddies, before we had another World War & thought up the Genius Idea of Numbering them, WWI was called "The Great War", and/or "The War To End All Wars"
Military & Civilian Losses for Great Britain were 994,858 Killed, Plus another 180,000 for their Colonies
Military & Civilian Losses for France were approximately 1,927,000
Unlike more Recent & "Modern" Wars, Neither country drew their Military Fighting Men and Officers from among the nation's "Poor". They sent their Best and Brightest(Along with a whole bunch of their Poor, as well, and Piled Their Dead Up Like Cord Wood)
I'd be remiss not to include Germany's Losses, which went Well Over 2.7 Million, and when All the Losses were tallied, the figure was an Astronomical 15,000,000+ Lost.
Who can even think of all the Brain Power Splattered in The Somme, Flanders Fields, Verdun, Chateau Thierry, or Belleau Wood? Did they Kill Off The Guy who would have Cured Cancer, found the solution to End World Poverty, and other "Issues" we're still Flummoxed by, over 100 years after The Armistice was declared, and Germany went home & began gearing up to do it all over again, Only More So, with a few extra tricks up their sleeves(The Final Solution, for instance)
I mentioned Vietnam earlier, so while we're at it
(Vietnam was, where the Brits, and Americans(Even More So than the Brits) tried to "End Poverty" by drafting almost exclusively(Meaning They got their Cannon Fodder)Using Just As Many As They Could and Then Some) from among The Poorer and Less Educated "Huddled Masses", like Yours Truly, to do the Majority of The "Fighting And Dying For(I disremember why Exactly, but I'm sure The Commies were mentioned a whole bunch in the Propaganda they Shoveled Down Our Throats on TV every dang night & twice on Sunday )

My morher's father grew up without his father. Turns out his father had married and had two more children. After a DNA test my mother found his half siblings. Even though she had movednto a new town several states from her home town she found them living about 20 minutes away! The new family had never known he had been married before with children.

They need to bring this show to Canada!

When I had my DNA done, I never could figure out why all the connections (100's of them) were on my mother's side and not on my father's side. It wasn't until later that I was told by an aunt, who swore me to keep it secret, that I did not come about because my mother, 13 years old at the time, was raped by a boy next door. I came about because my grandfather (her father) raped her. I have not told my mother I know the truth, and I never well. But it does explain a lot.

My name should be David Eaton not Richard Cole and that's not even scratching the surface of the lies I was told by my narcissist psychopath of a mother.

First time here and only got 6 minutes in. The intro to the show is waaaaay too long and then, the lady had the audacity to compare the poor girls' ancestors against each other. One was a professor and one was a plumber and it was stated that it was a "step down". Really. Won't be watching this again.

Maybe since the wife was infertile and a child was really wanted it was arranged for her to be the surrogate. It’s done more often than people realize

I'm hall in usa

Do plumbers in the UK make less than US plumbers? Any reasonably successful plumber probably makes as much as any three professors put together!

How is it that Herbert is this swingin' "bachelor", while Mary Agnes is a lonely "spinster'' both at the age of 21? What's up with that?

As I understand, all of them have no right to have the title. The title died with the last living upon abdication.

Kind of baffled by the white people who think they're Maori. LOL

I have an unreal DNA discovery….all I can say is these secrets are so devastating, especially learning them so late in life.

My brother and I found our family after 40+ yrs search. He was the III, and I was the 5th generation M... Named after my maternal grandmother via Ireland/Spain. We regard them as "nuggets of gold". Met our 2 older sisters who were raised by our mom's mother, totaling 11 children without us. Our dad placed us 2 in an orphanage, eventually adopted by our parents. I remember our 2 sisters visiting us there but did not remember them as my sister's. I was 3. Photos years later I recognized them. The 'ties that bind', I was too young to know they were my siblings. ❤️🌹🇺🇸

The origin story of Domini Douglass is one of the biggest unknown puzzles and descendants cannot go back any further than him. Was he really the son of 13th Earl of Morton and a mysterious Irish woman.

What a grand series 👏. Thank you ❤!

Why do you find it necessary to have music in the background? It’s very annoying and distracting from the dialogue. Just lose it! People want to hear what is being said, if they want to listen to music they’ll go to a music post. 😊

Bastards! All of ‘em!

The soldiers story just broke my heart , knowing just the sacrifice those boys and our American soldiers too , all died so very young but so very brave so their familys could be so proud of them...each of them were stolen from living long lives and having familys themselves. God bless all of them and American soldiers too and let them never be forgotten or just a name in your family history but forgotten. .
Thank you for sharing
R.A. Halls story ---- a real brave soldier who sacrificed his life for the war efforts

When I was the age of 15, I met my father. Then I came to find I have 26 half brothers/sisters

I would like to know more about my Grandmothers German roots. Fries. She married sn Irish man in 1921 to an O'Neill. Can anyone help me.

I think i will submit a DNA sample to find about my Grandmother German roots.

I've seen these 2 people in photos. My family ran from there titles and hide there names and changed there names. We have commonwealth rights how can I find deeds and holdings I feel should be our choice over the supervision of them that and where legal rights are covered up? Help😢

what a great tv show

How do I get a hold of 1 of the some one to help me fine my dads family tree

Excellent genealogy work

My g grandmother was born to my 2x grandmother when she was 55, which I find dubious. Perhaps she was the illegitimate child of one of her "siblings " ? I think it may be unknowable. Genealogy is fascinating!

My stepfather got his DNA tested as soon as he could. He was adopted out of Seattle in the late-1940s, and had been told that he was adopted two weeks after he was born, and that his mother had died in childbirth. He had been told that his biological father was likely a sailor coming into the port (he is a native of Ballard) and that his mother was likely unmarried, as she bound her stomach, leading him to walk with a limp to this day. His adopted parents divorced when he was young and his adopted mother and adopted maternal grandmother got primary custody, with visitation with his adopted father, as his adopted father remarried and had biological children.
Well, he did his DNA and it was a real shocker! His biological mother was married to his biological father, and he had an older sister and an older brother as well. His mother didn't want any more children, and so his sister slept in the master bedroom with their father. When his mother unexpectedly got pregnant in her 40s, she freaked out and bound her stomach in an effort to conceal it. She did not die when she gave birth to my stepfather, but instead lived another two years after that. Her doctor had a sister who was married but couldn't have children, and organized the adoption of my stepfather to his adopted parents, never telling my stepfather the entire story. We found out that his older brother passed away in 1989, the same year my stepfather's first son was born, and that their parents were deceased as well. He did track down his sister and they are in touch and have a wonderful relationship; she lives a couple hours away from us and they have gotten together a few times. When his sister did the DNA test, however, it was discovered that his sister was the result of an affair, not my stepfather, but she was never treated any differently by the patriarch of their family, and he raised her like she was his own daughter, never letting on that he knew or not if she was biologically his.

Pals brigade....misguided idea, multiple boys from the same family, neighborhood died together . Wiping out a generation of a family or neighborhood

You said a plumber is a “step down”. That was just rude! Plumbers are intelligent, resourceful
+ so important. Think before you speak nonsense comments.

What is a kiwi? Definitely not the indigenous people to in this particular case. Why even refer to them as kiwis as a race, because they’re still British.

My grandfather, born in the late 1800’s, was in the cavalry of the US army in WWI… he was on a HORSE and he didn’t die. I knew that was amazing. I didn’t know that in some situations the life expectancy in trenches was six weeks!!!

I just found my grandfather‘s business card for when he was in the war. I have his unit number or whatever it’s called. I don’t know much about military stuff but I really want to find out more about grandpa‘s situation in the war. This makes me even more interested.

I’m the family genealogist. I have found some stuff my sister wishes I hadn’t. There are things that I know I will never discover due to lost records (census) as well as burned church records churches burned.

Aw this is so sad.