I wish I had asked more questions. A typical lament of the amateur genealogsit. My grandmother would have known the answer; who is that in the wedding photograph behind the bride? those dates don't match what he said.
My paternal grandfather could never remember the exact date of his birthday. It was one day either way. My Dad knew who we were related to but not how and some names I am still working on to find the connection. Naming traditions are all very well except when cousins and aunts and uncles all us the same traditions. Thank goodness for Enos, I thought, when I found that name in a family. That was until I found two of them with the same uncommon surname, in the same area and, naturally, the one I researched in depth, with the more appropriate age, turned out to be the wrong one.
So back to the farmer, the undertaker and the butchers. One farmer had the sense and the foresight for subsequent generations of genealogists to leave a will when he died in 1780. From that point researches unearthed a real life Bleak House probate dispute, the family name remaining on the firm of undertakers and the still undiscovered links to the butchers - the Wooliscrofts in Bucknall, the Jones's in Cliff Vale and the Palmers in Etruria. Wonderful evocative names of childhood. A puzzle to entertain in that frustraing way for years to come. Do all genealogists like crosswords and jigsaws too?
No comments:
Post a Comment