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

31 thoughts on “A Family Secret Unveiled: My Great Grandmother’s Scandalous Past | Real Stories Documentary”

1. 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

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. They need to bring this show to Canada!

6. 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.

7. 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 )

8. This YouTube’s comments section should be renamed “Skeleton in the Closet Portal”!
   Juicy!
   Mine? My brother still doesn’t know that he’s my 1/2 brother thx to my mother’s affair with the local butcher!

9. 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…

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

11. 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 !!

12. 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.

13. 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…

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

15. Teenager Mary could have been a surrogate mother.

16. 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???

17. 3 1/2 mins until they got to the first story

18. Loved this video 🥹

19. Great show.

20. Just like baby Obama.

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

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. My (step) grandfather had a terribly convoluted origin story that he didn't find out until after his older "foster" sister, Shirley, passed. It turns out that Shirley was his half sister. Both were brought up by his uncle and uncle's wife. The couple adopted Shirley, but only ever fostered him. Shirley's mom, Madeline, was in and out of her life, so my grandpa met his mom multiple times, but was never told about the relationship.

    In my opinion, this all shows that human relationships and our definition of "family" has always been complex, we just didn't talk about it.

25. Through DNA, we found that Grandma was married at 14, had 2 children, left them all behind to start over, she remarried never having been legally divorced. Grandma lived to 96, her children lived until 94,daughter having lived her entire life just next town over and was told her mom (our grandma) died in her 20s.
    Grandma re-married, had 2 boys, husband died in 10 yrs. She grew mean as she aged. She had a photo album (I have now) of her with her first family… always told us she was that families nanny. 😢 She took these secrets to her grave.
    We've connected with the grandchildren of her first family.❤

26. Berlitz did not pay well, it was not a University position. For example see how James Joyce barely made a living in Trieste tutoring for Bertlitz.

27. My Dad was the Family Genelogist. He took both written and oral histories, as well as, researching at the local Guernsey County Library using Census Records and Polk City Directories.

28. I can’t imagine giving away my child. Especially after 3 or 4 years of bonding even further and the child bonding with you. That is terrible. I have 8 and 3 year old daughters crying 😢. God Bless the couple that adopted her! And love the photo. They look exactly alike!

29. This was so sweet!

30. The young lady asking for help on her DNA looks almost identical to my daughter my daughter is Britney Ashley Brown Flanagan but her biological father is Ray Layne Smith and that Smith name was also spelled Smyth.

31. I was left to but as a foster child one of 3 is my father JFKennedy, Elvis or Charles Freddie Donovan of Massachusetts.

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