It has been another lovely bright, sunny day. Again there was a cool breeze, but though it meant a jacket was needed first thing, it was soon warm enough to wander about in shirtsleeves. As usual, the Gorse Fox popped round the corner to escort Ellie to school, with Urban-Cub. Ellie was, apparently, in a stroppy mood, but whilst not chirpy, she didn't seem too troublesome.
The Gorse Fox spent much of the morning working on the family tree. Again, he is working through the draft of the "Law" book he produced last week. This is fairly straightforward, if a little tedious. However you suddenly come to something that makes you sit up.
One Mary Ann Law married a Mr Webb. They then proceeded to shell out at least 19 children (there may be more, but that is as far at the Gorse Fox has got). He was so bemused by this that he went back to official Government GRO Index. He search for any Webb child born in the relevant Registration District, whose mother's maiden name was Law. As he moved through the index in 5 year slots, the children just keep appearing. With numbers like this, the warning bells ring. Was there another Webb in the area? Well, yes. Was there a Webb who had married a Law living in the the area. No. He checked Marriage records. He checked census records. All of the sensible cross-checks came up negative. The Gorse Fox can only conclude that she was immensely fertile! (You may wonder whether the children survived the first few years - well, yes that did. Again he checked the GRO index. Every one of them survived into the 1900s).
Ellie is with us overnight tonight as Urban-Cub has to run the store through to close.
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