Unexpected Encounters

Unexpected Encounters

When we first started Family History we looked out some old photographs. One in particular was a group of gentlemen, my mother had told me was her father and his brothers, one of which was the Mayor of Wolverhampton. I don't remember her telling me who was who, and there are no names on the back. My Grandfather was born in 1842 in Brewood near Stafford, and was 15 years older than Grandma, so I did not know either of them.

My husband John and I arranged to visit the Record Office at Stafford for the day.
We had little information and were not very successful, so decided to visit the village of Brewood. It was a Saturday afternoon and very quiet with just the Newsagents and the Butchers shops open. As we walked along the street we heard singing coming from the Butchers shops "come and buy my meat".We went to investigate.

We just started to tell the jolly Butcher of our plight when some customers entered the shop so we said we would wait until he was free to talk. A lady who had overheard that we were trying to trace our family joined in and said she might be able to help as she had a next door neighbour who had written a book on the history of Brewood. She said if we followed her car she would introduce him to us. However the author of the book, Mr David Horivitz was not at home.

She invited us into her home to have a brief look at her copy. After a cup oftea we said we ought to be getting home. She suggested we ring David Horivitz the next day. Her cottage was fantastic and the garden was one mass of daffodils. On the was home John jokingly said He was glad we had arrived in our red Mercedes, even though it was an older model as the cars in her drive were quite posh. However the next day I rang David Horivitz, who seemed to be expecting our call.

Right away he remarked on the neighbours very nice house and asked me if I knew who the occupants were. I said I had no idea. He said it belongs to Jimmy Lee of the pop group "Slade" and it was his wife we had been talking to. He offered to investigate our Evans family. I had a letter a little later from him but no definite connections.

Later we visited the area on holiday and spent two days at the Record Office. Lunch time the office closed for about an hour. We sat in the courtyard eating our lunch. A man approached us and said he had overheard us talking about the name Evans. He told us he was a professional researcher and was also researching an Evans family. Then he said "Do you know if your Evans has anything to do with Jack the Ripper"? Quick as a flash John said "0h I wouldn't know, it's my wife's family."

I sent a photograph ofthe family with a smaller photograph of my Grandfather as an older man to the Express and Star Wolverhampton asking if anyone recognized any body or had a similar photo. I had two people ring me, one was an elderly gentleman whose wife was the niece of Fred Evans who was Mayor of Wolverhampton around 1905. We visited him twice and he told us some very interesting things, but still unable to connect the photo. He knew John and our son Mark were football supporters, as he was.

We heard all about Bobby Moor, who had lived opposite and had been a friend of his son. He would often ring us up on a Saturday evening and after a short talk with me about the family history he would chat to John and Mark about the matches, especially Wolverhampton Wanders. We missed him when he passed away, but still keep in touch with his son at Christmas.

Another person who contacted us was from America, he also was related to the Mayor of Wolverhampton. He often came back to visit a relative and said he would like to meet us. He arrived one afternoon complete with his Laptop. He is convinced there is a family likeness, between Fred Evans and one of the men in the photo. I have learnt a great deal about Fred Evans from both the gentlemen and the Wolverhampton Mayoral Office, but still cannot find dear old Grandfather George.

I am still hopeful! Somebody must have a photograph like mine tucked away in their attic. Any suggestions gratefully received.

Journal Article: 

unexpected-encounters-72.pdf