52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 7 - Favorite Discovery

Week 7 Prompt - Favourite Discovery -  What is the neatest thing you've found in your genealogy research? What makes you smile just thinking about it?

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Picking a favorite genealogical discovery was a challenge because there are so many options that come to mind. I have chosen to talk about one that makes me smile and feel sad at the same time.

In 2016, I was researching the family of my Dad's second cousin twice removed who also happened to be my Dad's third cousin twice removed. Being related in multiple ways is a very common occurrence in my Antigonish County relatives and makes for interesting family trees.

Anyway, the cousin in question was William Gordon Inglis, born September 17, 1900 in Lochaber Nova Scotia, the only son of  John Kirk "Johnnie K" Inglis and Annie Bell Forbes. I knew he had moved to the United States, eventually settling in Bisbee, Arizona and marrying Mildred Stephens. They had one son, William Gordon Jr., born, June 28, 1931, just months after his father was killed in a mining accident. I tried tracking down William Jr.'s death but was unable to find anything.

I remember vividly complaining to my sister about not finding a death registration or grave for William Jr. She looked at me quizzically and said, "Why are you assuming he is dead?" Agh, rookie mistake! It had never entered my mind that he was still alive.

I spent the next few months reading newspapers from Arizona west and trolling other internet sites for any sign of William before I finally found a likely candidate in California. Shooting off a letter explaining who I was and how I thought we might be related, I waited - impatiently. Several months later, I got a reply. YES, he was my William and he was very excited to have heard from me.
 

I very happily shared what information I had on his family and we got a chance to chat on the phone once. Bill told me that after this father died, his mother had no prospects in Bisbee, so she packed up what little they owned and drove across the desert to California where she had relatives. He knew his father was from Nova Scotia but that was about it. William Sr's parents, who were strict Presbyterians, had visited when he and Mildred were newly-weds and took an instant dislike to the new bride. Apparently, the feeling was mutual and as a result, there was no attempt to maintain contact with the Nova Scotia relatives once William Sr. died.  Bill admitted to me that his mother was, in fact, a wild woman who always lived by her own rules and that it was one of the things he admired most about her.

Bill talked about the trip he and his mother made to Bisbee in 2002 to visit his father's grave. They were told by the cemetery people that no one by the name of William Gordon Inglis was buried there. Mildred knew that was incorrect so they went through the entire cemetery looking for him. Sure enough, they found a stone for Wm. G. Englis. Bill said he paid for a new stone immediately.

He mailed me some newspaper clipping about his father's death as well as a copy of William and Mildred's marriage license. Although I mailed him several times after that, I never heard anything more from him. I assumed that the information I shared was enough to fulfill his need to know about his family.

Several months ago I received an email from his daughter telling me that Bill had passed away on April 27, 2019. She said she had just received a package from Bill's second wife that contained the information I had sent him and my email address. Her dad had mentioned our connection but until she got the package, she had not appreciated what it was and was most grateful to get it.  She advised that just after my last contact with Bill, his health started to deteriorate and he was unable to communicate to any extent. I asked if she could send me a copy of Bill's obituary and the location of his burial. She advised that Bill's ashes had been spread over the ocean near where he had loved and that his wife had not written obituary.

Although Bill is gone, I feel blessed to have been able to make the connection and thinking of the pleasure in his voice as he talked about his past always makes me smile.