Only last night I managed to solve a problem that had been bugging me for years. My grandmother had told me that a relation of hers (and she didn’t know the name) had kept a farm on Goldthorn Hill, about half a mile from where I live now. I managed to identify the buildings which seemed most likely, but without a name or even an approximate date to go on, I couldn’t resolve this. So it’s been on the back burner for about 20 years.
Until last night, when I sat down with a cup of tea to read “Accidents” – a study of accidents in 19th century Wolverhampton written by my good friend Jane Smith. And there was my four-times great grandfather, Joseph Hartland of Pearson Street, owning a farm on Goldthorn Hill which he rented to a (named) relative of his. It all fits. After 20 years.
The moral is: never give up. The information you need may well be out there somewhere – it’s just a matter of finding it.
Jane’s book is available through Amazon – if you have relatives in Wolverhampton, I can thoroughly recommend it.
