Nice People Thread No. 15, a Cyber Summer

chris_m

PasturesNew wrote: »

I did see that, but dismissed it as it's not really true. It's not that the stuff has nearly gone off .... it's that the marketing people want to keep stock shifting quickly so they put a rough/arbitrary date on a lot of stuff.

I know that - I was being facetious
Some stuff (eg some cheeses) can actually be better after the sell by date than before then. It may not look as pristine but can taste better.

PasturesNew

chris_m wrote: »

If someone knows their relative had been resident in Cornwall or within the traditional boundaries of the county palatine of Lancashire (Duchy of Lancaster, which works the same way as that of Cornwall, except it's the Queen rather than the Prince of Wales), then I dare say an enquiry of Farrer & Co would set the ball rolling.

They must have a process, otherwise why hold back part of the monies in case of any legitimate claims?

The thing is, it's not about "their relative". If somebody died today, aged about 90 and they were an only child, and if their parents were only children, you'd then have to go back another generation. Now you're looking at people born ~1880 or so.

Firstly, does the deceased have brothers/sisters? No
Do their parents have brothers/sisters? No
So who were their parents?
Then down their trees: first line, all dead.
Next line ....

By this point you're so far from "known family" with several married names/remarriages, that a name might only be a "flicker of possibility and maybe recognition".

Or, even, you just assume that when somebody dies their estate was wound up by somebody .... it's not something you go actively delving into.

But ... if you saw a name on the intestate list that has the same middle/last name of your great-granny's brother's first/last name and you think they headed that way but you've not got down to tracing them properly/fully yet then you might just take the time out to do it.

People on a tree can easily be "one of 1000".

You might not even be their relative. You might spot it and think "ooh there's that woman that my grandmother's brother married; he died, I wondered what happened to her ...." so you might be the clue/information that knows who her parents were.

Records are incomplete, people do odd things, things that might not be found/spotted by others who are unrelated.

People lose touch and all sorts. I watch Heirhunters, so see a lot of the strange instances of how people've ended up on the English list. A lot are adopted, or born abroad, or all sorts.

PasturesNew

Right now, a lot of those on the list are people who were displaced due to WW2.

Here's the list:
http://www.bonavacantialist.co.uk/

Pyxis

There are those firms that try and search out relatives of intestate deaths, for a percentage of the estate, so there must be some in Cornwall. They must have a way of finding out who's died intestate.

PasturesNew

Pyxis wrote: »

There are those firms that try and search out relatives of intestate deaths, for a percentage of the estate, so there must be some in Cornwall. They must have a way of finding out who's died intestate.

It costs a lot for random strangers/a firm to even attempt it. They start by guessing if somebody's worth anything. If, say, they died in a care home and their previous address was a rented flat, they won't even look.

The estate has to be worth enough for them to believe they'll get paid more than it's cost them to do the research.

If somebody is on a list and dies, they pay £10 to get the certificate.
They might then pay another £10 for their marriage certificate.
Then £10 for their spouse's certificate.
Then a copy of any Will of their spouse.
Then their siblings' birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates ....

And so on.

Add on the staff cost of that and you're soon racking up a spend of £500-1000 "just to look".

A lot of their "research" is often online now, trawling the family trees of people who have put them online, to try to get a head start or a clue.

I've 1000 names on my tree, if one on the bona vacantia list looked like a "possibly on the tree" person I'd be intrigued. It's rarely about getting any money as those people will have nothing - and, most likely, they won't be a blood relative.... but it's good to have that closure.

e.g. if my great-grandmother's brother's only son's wife died 40 years after him, I'd be able to pick her name off a list From the other side of the coin I'd have not gone trying to nail down her potential death/location as there are too many variables for somebody "of no particular interest/concern to me/my tree"

PasturesNew

I was watching Heirhunters earlier in the year and they were trying to find a woman's tree.... later on in the week, in my own tree, my eyes popped out when I spotted that she'd attended the funeral of one of my great-great-grandmother's brothers (or similar) ... that was a spooky coincidence.

Once you've got a tree, all the names of people that married into/out of the family - and all the locations etc become tucked away in your head and your ears !!!!! up and eyes open when you spot that name/location in other places.... always looking for "the next clue, a little snippet, a guide".

Pyxis

That censor is a real idiot sometimes!


I wonder if roses have prickles?



Well, blow,me down! The censor doesn't mind those!

How's about pricking one's thumb?





Yep! Doesn't mind that!




Fingerprick? Pinprick?


Hahahahaha! Perhaps it's gone to bed!

PasturesNew

Channel 4: An Immigrant's Guide to Britain

Stupid programme, with annoying/stupid furreners asking stupid questions of random strangers .... it's basically a waste of airtime, along the programming quality of Eurotrash but without the boobies.

Pyxis

Oh dear, it's turning into Contrary Pyxis Night!

I quite enjoyed "Immigrant's Guide"!
But then I like Henning Wehn!

michaels

Generali wrote: »

POSH ALERT

If you were being taken to the opera for the first time in your life, what would you want the experience to be like? Is there anything you'd like to have happen or not happen?

I'm thinking of taking Mrs Generali to see Carmen for her birthday.

I think the starting reference is 'Pretty Woman' - do you see yourself more as Richard Gere or Julia Roberts?

Doozergirl wrote: »

I've done a little bit of homework on getting Portuguese passports for the little ones. It's easier to start with the husband first.

Not something I ever imagined would be particularly advantageous, but there we go!

You clearly haven't read that under the Portuguese tax system you can draw your pension tax free.....