Re: aaargh!!
Not necessarily, I'm afraid, CaptainMurdock. I've been in the very same situation here. Maybe I phrase my opinion badly or maybe some people just wait for a chance to bash me. The result is the same. I keep getting called a Nazi by people who never have been to Germany nor are aware of the fact that I am a left-wing liberal and actively fighting the neo-Nazi movement (family tradition, kindof: all my grandparents and their siblings have been in the German Resistance. Some actually survived).
Makes for a few really good arrrrgh-moments, though.
And fortunately, the vast majority of posters here is able and willing to solve disagreements in a mature, polite and flame-free way.
Ziyal, could it be that this distant relative simply has the wrong photo? Maybe the person who got the minor order is not your ancestor but someone else (a friend or other relative) who got his order around the same time; maybe even in the same ceremony. A mix up can happen. And since it was so long ago there is nobody living who could identify the person on the photo. But with a little luck there might be a written document. Afaik parts of the Imperial court archive survived the revolution. Do you happen to speak Russian? Then you could contact the Russian archieves directly and spare yourself a lot of red tape.
My current arrgh: the lift/elevator in my house that was being modernized 2 weeks ago (in spite of working perfectly) has been out of order ever since. Last wednesday and yesterday it actually worked for a few minutes in the evening, only to be out of order again the next morning. It'd be amusing if I hadn't injured my foot. Hopping up three stories with a full shopping basket is surely strengthening the leg muscles but it weakens my sense of humour considerably.
Not necessarily, I'm afraid, CaptainMurdock. I've been in the very same situation here. Maybe I phrase my opinion badly or maybe some people just wait for a chance to bash me. The result is the same. I keep getting called a Nazi by people who never have been to Germany nor are aware of the fact that I am a left-wing liberal and actively fighting the neo-Nazi movement (family tradition, kindof: all my grandparents and their siblings have been in the German Resistance. Some actually survived).
Makes for a few really good arrrrgh-moments, though.

Ziyal, could it be that this distant relative simply has the wrong photo? Maybe the person who got the minor order is not your ancestor but someone else (a friend or other relative) who got his order around the same time; maybe even in the same ceremony. A mix up can happen. And since it was so long ago there is nobody living who could identify the person on the photo. But with a little luck there might be a written document. Afaik parts of the Imperial court archive survived the revolution. Do you happen to speak Russian? Then you could contact the Russian archieves directly and spare yourself a lot of red tape.
My current arrgh: the lift/elevator in my house that was being modernized 2 weeks ago (in spite of working perfectly) has been out of order ever since. Last wednesday and yesterday it actually worked for a few minutes in the evening, only to be out of order again the next morning. It'd be amusing if I hadn't injured my foot. Hopping up three stories with a full shopping basket is surely strengthening the leg muscles but it weakens my sense of humour considerably.