tracing dead relatives

One of the biggest coincident, and the spookiest, was many years ago when I was just starting out on the family history. I decided, on a whim as I was passing, to call in to the local museum which also housed the Essex Regiment Museum. I was trying to find out more about my husband’s grandfather who was killed in WW1. I didn’t even know which regiment he had been in. I found Ian Hook, the curator, who was only in the office a few days a week – first stroke of luck. I was taken to his office where there were 2 elderly ex-soldiers helping with research; they were only there two afternoons a week – second stroke of luck. Dr. Hook looked up the person in question, Walter Charles Hollingsworth, in the Essex Regiment list, not too common a name, but he wasn’t there. The research the two volunteers were doing was looking for “strays”. That is Essex residents who signed up to regiments other than the Essex Regiment. Bearing in mind this was before there was ready access to records on line, the only way was to go through paper list after paper list of other regiments personnel with a ruler looking for Essex addresses – and there are lots of regiments. Suddenly a voice from the corner said ”I think I have found him”. Firstly I had, by chance, picked the very day the volunteers were there, and secondly one of them was going through the Herts & Beds regiment and had his ruler on the “H” and immediately I said his name the ruler was there – HE HAD FOUND WALTER On speaking to Dr. Hook at a later date he said this was not an unusual occurrence. He thinks there a lot of old soldiers up in “the big Mess Hall in the sky” saying, after a pint or two, "OK chaps who shall we wind up today?”.