ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN ...

That was the theme of the Guild of One-Name Studies seminar I attended in Abberley, Worcestershire, on Saturday 24 February.  As ever, there was a range of interesting and informative talks on various aspects of the topic.
However, the event was also the scene of a 'happy accident': of all the people I could have spoken to for the first time at the event, during one of the breaks I 'just happened' to get into conversation with another Guild member who, it turns out, could be a distant cousin. As we chatted about our family history research it soon became apparent that we both had CLOSE and HARKER ancestors from Swaledale, Yorkshire.  Both surnames are common in that area: I have TEN marriages between a CLOSE and a HARKER in my CLOSE one-name study, including my own 3g-grandparents. How they are all related to one another, if indeed they are, remains a mystery for the time being - more research tasks to add to our 'to do' lists ...

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