Ancestors

This is a true story!

My wife works for an antiquarian bookseller. One day, as part of her job, she was cataloguing some of her boss's back stock ready for offering for sale on the net and she came across an old book that caught her attention. It was entitled "The History and Antiquities of Thorne" published in 1869. Knowing that her ancestors on her father's side came from Thorne, in Yorkshire, she stopped to study it. She was not ready for what she discovered!

In three separate places in the book a previous owner had left their mark - "Edward Latham Snr, Mason, Wakefield". She could not believe her eyes! There before her, quite by chance, was a book owned and signed by her Great, Great Grandfather!

The book, with one of the three signatures, is pictured here with photographs of Edward Latham himself (bottom right and above that with his wife). Edward Latham, Mason, having moved from Thorne, is distinguished for having rebuilt the spire of Wakefield Cathedral. Not only that, at the very top of the spire, in a metal capsule, this fact is attested to in papers from the time of the completion in 1861.

I continue to tell our daughter this story in the hope that one day she will find herself passing Wakefield Cathedral and she will be able to point to it and exclaim about the spire that exists as a testament to her Great Great Great Grandfather!

PS. When my wife told her boss what she had found he let out a groan as he realised that he would have to give her the book, which he did.