djhooker
30-11-2009, 02:14 PM
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1231971/John-Prescott-breaks-discovers-dark-family-secret.html
John Prescott breaks down as he discovers family's incest
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott wept after discovering a dark secret about his family's past.
The Labour MP recently learned of an incestuous relationship between his great-great grandmother Athaliah Parrish, and her widowed father Thomas with whom she had four children.
This twisted relationship in the family tree means that his great-great-great grandfather was also his great-great granddad.
The 71-year-old politician uncovered his ancestors' dark past while tracing his Welsh roots for the BBC documentary Coming Home.
Mr Prescott, who was born in Prestatyn, North Wales, in 1938, wept and said: 'The evidence is clear, though we can't prove it 100 per cent, that my great-great-great-grandfather Thomas fathered children with my great-great-grandmother.
He said he admired Athaliah's 'courage'.
'It's something that people might say you don't want to talk about, but I didn't think I would get emotional about this.
He is moved to tears as genealogist Gillian Smith tells him: 'From what I've been told, the daughters took over the roles of the mother when they died, and they took over all the roles of the mother. It was quite common as well.'
Prescott also learned how his ancestors worked 'below stairs' for the aristocracy.
Athaliah later married neighbour William Jones. Thomas Parrish was not invited to the wedding.
She died aged 42 in 1868 from consumption and tuberculosis leaving ten children.
In another twist, Mr Prescott, who is an anti-hunting campaigner, found out that his ancestor John Morgan was the master of hounds for a fox hunt.
The former deputy prime minister was just five when his family moved from Wales to Hull but says he still thinks of the country as home.
As part of the programme he returned to Chirk, in the county of Wrexham, to research his Welsh roots further.
His Welsh mother, Phyllis, was from the border town, where she and her 11 siblings lived in a miner's cottage.
John Prescott breaks down as he discovers family's incest
Former deputy prime minister John Prescott wept after discovering a dark secret about his family's past.
The Labour MP recently learned of an incestuous relationship between his great-great grandmother Athaliah Parrish, and her widowed father Thomas with whom she had four children.
This twisted relationship in the family tree means that his great-great-great grandfather was also his great-great granddad.
The 71-year-old politician uncovered his ancestors' dark past while tracing his Welsh roots for the BBC documentary Coming Home.
Mr Prescott, who was born in Prestatyn, North Wales, in 1938, wept and said: 'The evidence is clear, though we can't prove it 100 per cent, that my great-great-great-grandfather Thomas fathered children with my great-great-grandmother.
He said he admired Athaliah's 'courage'.
'It's something that people might say you don't want to talk about, but I didn't think I would get emotional about this.
He is moved to tears as genealogist Gillian Smith tells him: 'From what I've been told, the daughters took over the roles of the mother when they died, and they took over all the roles of the mother. It was quite common as well.'
Prescott also learned how his ancestors worked 'below stairs' for the aristocracy.
Athaliah later married neighbour William Jones. Thomas Parrish was not invited to the wedding.
She died aged 42 in 1868 from consumption and tuberculosis leaving ten children.
In another twist, Mr Prescott, who is an anti-hunting campaigner, found out that his ancestor John Morgan was the master of hounds for a fox hunt.
The former deputy prime minister was just five when his family moved from Wales to Hull but says he still thinks of the country as home.
As part of the programme he returned to Chirk, in the county of Wrexham, to research his Welsh roots further.
His Welsh mother, Phyllis, was from the border town, where she and her 11 siblings lived in a miner's cottage.