Is there a chance someone knows for sure the identity of the ripper?

[JadenCollins]

We have similar ancestry.

I guess that's a typical thing for people who are from the states. We all have foreign/overseas ancestry.

[Mayerling]

We have similar ancestry.

Probably many people on this board have similar ancestries to ours. It's actually rare to find someone with a notable in their family, or at least to know of one for certain. One of my mother's cousins on her mother's side was married to a man who was distantly related to an opera house impresario. And at college I knew a descendant of one of the unfortunate Salem "witches".

Really hard to find people like that.

Jeff

[SuspectZero]

In 1888 my mother's mother's father (my maternal great grandfather) Ike Singer married his wife Rebecca Kreutzner in Manhattan during the Great Blizzard of that year (in March). Ike was from Birmingham, England (he's my English ancestor), coming here about a year before. Rebecca/"Becky" was from the Polish portion of the German Empire of that period. Ike worked on a grain elevator. My mother's father's parents were from Hungary, and were married in the late 1880s (my grandfather Ben was born in 1891 in lower Manhattan). My father's father's family were in Russian Poland (and did not emigrate to the U.S. until the 1900s). My father's mother's family were in the U.S. (from Russia) and lived in Philadelphia.

No remarkable figures among these folk, just hard working immigrants or first generation Americans.

Oddly enough, years ago, while studying for a bar exam, I knew an English born lady taking the test, whose grand-mother (the lady claimed) was living in Whitechapel in 1888, and on the night of one of the murders (the lady did not know which) passed a man who seemed to be looking over at her in a peculiar manner - so that my acquaintance's grand-mother always felt she may have seen Jack the Ripper. But how could she tell?

Jeff

We have similar ancestry.

[Pcdunn]

We were corn millers from Portaferry,County Down.

Butchers from Scotland tarrying in London.

County Down and County Clare are where my Dad's ancestors came from, I'm told. They emigrated in the 1850s with the whole family, landing in New York, eventually wending west to South Dakota, where my grandfather seemed to have been fairly prosperous. He died years before I was born. Only clue to occupations I've located is that great-grandpa (aged 14 upon landing in NY) was said to be a merchant (or store-keeper, not sure which, really) in Iowa. Still hunting down the rest.

[el_pombo]

Hello el_pombo

Yes, should there be anything there! You never know! Mind you, even if we did get a result, most of us wouldn't believe it!

Best wishes
C4

True, but it would at least give us so much more information with which to work!

Why can't they release the files with the informants names and details blacked out?

I find this very odd!

[c.d.]

That is very interesting. Do you happen know any good literature on this? Or some sources?

Regards, Pierre

Hello Pierre,

By false leads I simply meant that none of them led to a suspect being charged as the Ripper.

[Mayerling]

In 1888 my mother's mother's father (my maternal great grandfather) Ike Singer married his wife Rebecca Kreutzner in Manhattan during the Great Blizzard of that year (in March). Ike was from Birmingham, England (he's my English ancestor), coming here about a year before. Rebecca/"Becky" was from the Polish portion of the German Empire of that period. Ike worked on a grain elevator. My mother's father's parents were from Hungary, and were married in the late 1880s (my grandfather Ben was born in 1891 in lower Manhattan). My father's father's family were in Russian Poland (and did not emigrate to the U.S. until the 1900s). My father's mother's family were in the U.S. (from Russia) and lived in Philadelphia.

No remarkable figures among these folk, just hard working immigrants or first generation Americans.

Oddly enough, years ago, while studying for a bar exam, I knew an English born lady taking the test, whose grand-mother (the lady claimed) was living in Whitechapel in 1888, and on the night of one of the murders (the lady did not know which) passed a man who seemed to be looking over at her in a peculiar manner - so that my acquaintance's grand-mother always felt she may have seen Jack the Ripper. But how could she tell?

Jeff

[DJA]

Going back in history we were clergy or warriors in Nth Ireland.
Bit of both sometimes.Not always in Ireland.
Often aligned to the Red Handed Knights of Ulster. O'Neill.

Horse knowledge and skills seem to be in the blood.

[GUT]

Musician friend moved in next door up here for a while.

Used to holiday in Portaferry as a youngster and knew the mill and stable remains.Actually played close by. Described it all to me very well.
Small world.

Doctors and Seamen. Hmm.

That's cool that he knew your ancestral home, sis married a Pom and she's visited a few churches where family served

[DJA]

Musician friend moved in next door up here for a while.

Used to holiday in Portaferry as a youngster and knew the mill and stable remains.Actually played close by. Described it all to me very well.
Small world.

Doctors and Seamen. Hmm.

[GUT]

We were corn millers from Portaferry,County Down.

Butchers from Scotland tarrying in London.

Some of us know a little, even a bit, but we don't know much about their day to day lives.

Mine were mainly Clergy, Drs Lawyers Sea men or Coal Miners

[curious4]

Hi, curious4.

And there's always the JTR files never declassified by the Scotland Yard to avoid compromising the "identities of police informants"!

Regards!

Hello el_pombo

Yes, should there be anything there! You never know! Mind you, even if we did get a result, most of us wouldn't believe it!

Best wishes
C4

[Mirandola]

'He proves by algebra that Hamlet's grandson is Shakespeare's grandfather and that he himself is the ghost of his own father.' (Joyce, 'Ulysses')

The real question is : after such a huge investment of time, labour and ingenuity by so many people over so many years, and with so many researchers fervently believing that their own candidate is the only true Ripper - what possible evidence could be found that would completely convince everyone?

Police declarations? We've got lots. Contemporary denunciations? Scores of them. Oral confessions? Ten a penny. Written confessions? Got them too. DNA? Not feasible. 'Means, Motive, Opportunity'? Motive we can know nothing about, Means and Opportunity - a cast of thousands.

No, the question is never going to be resolved to everybody's satisfaction; quite possibly we already know the killer's name - and equally possibly we never will.

[DJA]

We were corn millers from Portaferry,County Down.

Butchers from Scotland tarrying in London.

[GUT]

I wonder how many people know much at all about their relatives born in the mid 1800s