Family History Through The Alphabet Challenge: D is for.....

On the back of the A-Z April Challenge, the lovely folk at Gould Genealogy devised another challenge - Family History Through the Alphabet Challenge. Each week, we work through the letters of the alphabet sharing perhaps an elusive ancestor, a favourite or particular ancestor, or perhaps a heirloom.

D is for Discovery

I have a search facility set up on a well known auction site for some specific family names. Every time something is listed with the particular name I receive and email and a link to the item.

A few months ago I received within a week two such emails. Two different items listed by two different sellers, relating to the same surname. I was delighted! I watched the items and placed at the appropriate time a maximum bid and then waited. The first item was an original document from 1844 and pertains to a lease. A mistake with written on the page, so on the reverse is an amendment.

At the end of the auction I won the item and then waited patiently for the item to arrive. When it did I was not disappointed. I wrote to the seller asking if they had any further information. I received a response that the item belonged to a friend, whose father used old documents, which he cut up and used them to decorate lampshades. I was so glad that for whatever reason he changed his hobby and this beauty of a document survived.

The second item related to a book, which is a first edition and as well as containing poetry by the John Bowring, the book also contains a small biography written by Lady Deborah Bowring, the second wife of the deceased.