Postcard Coincidence

I was very interested in the article on postcards by Helen Baggott in the October issue of Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine, because it brought back memories of when I first started researching my family history. At that time I made my first visit to the York Family History Fair and came across someone selling postcards, and thought I would try to find one of the church where I was both christened and married. I found two postcards and both were in the same condition, so I looked at the reverse side before deciding which to purchase.

I was amazed to find that the sender recorded on one of them (Norah Shay) had the same

surname as my maiden name, which is not a common name, so knew that this was the card for me. The card had been posted in Goole on 28 September 1908, and at that time I was unaware of family links in Goole. I was intrigued by the postcard, and couldn’t wait to try to see if there was a family connection.

I discovered that Norah Shay is my second cousin once removed, and that her grandfather was one of my great grandfather’s younger brothers. He, like my great grandfather and his siblings, had been born in Pontefract but had moved to Goole after his marriage. He lived in Goole for the rest of his life, which sadly ended in suicide at the age of 43. He was, however, buried in Pontefract in his sister Elizabeth’s grave, but his widow and eight children (including Norah’s father, John Shay) remained in Goole. Norah died in Goole at the young age of 25 years. Margaret Mawson, by email

EDITOR REPLIES:

I love coincidences. Has anyone else had a similar experience with a postcard?