Do you know your family history?

One film I want to see is The Wind that Shakes the Barley, I haven't got around to it yet but keep meaning to.
My maternal grandfather fought as a soldier for the Free State during the civil war.I remember as a boy admiring his medals and asking what they were awarded for. To this day I still don't know. My paternal grandfather apparently spent some time interned by the British authorities.Again, I know little about this and perhaps I need to find out what happened. Not only to satisfy my curiosity but also to get a sense of who I am and my family history.I guess it also helps to repair some schisms within my family. Divorce within Irish Catholic families, even in the 1970's was frowned upon and the consequences run to this day. So maybe some research to satisfy a variety of concerns but also to satisfy the amateur historian within me. It would also be an excuse to go back to Ireland if ever one was needed, for the first time in 20 odd years.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

Not well.

My cousin's wife had managed to trace it back into the 19C, but apart from learning about a cycle-making business established by one ancestor, and another running a pub in Lincoln, I don't think we know much else. My maternal grandfather, who died when I was very young, fought in WW1, and apparently his only comment about that was, "It was Hell".

We had no skeletons in the wardrobe but did not keep records, we had very, very few family photographs and we tended not to tell each other much about ourselves. No special reason for that, no "stiff upper lip" nonsense, just our nature!