Discovering...

Today I met up with an elderly gentleman who knows the large cemetery in York like the back of his hand and offers his genealogy skills on a Friday to people searching for their relatives.

I met him with a second cousin I did not know existed until a month ago. More biazzare was the gentlemen played bowls with my dad many years ago. We spent three hours going through records and chatting and then out walking the cemetery so he could find the buried sites I was looking for.

I found the positions of several public graves where my great granny and her family are buried. A public grave was used for up to six people who could not afford to buy a full plot themselves. Then I was totally thrilled to find that my great granddad (her husband) was also buried there. My elderly aunt was worried as to where he was laid to rest after his tragic death, so I was able to ring her and put her mind at rest. She has worried for years as to what happened to him.

My original plan to solve two family stories has turned into a full scale project and it is amazing what I am learning and the people I am meeting along the way