Surprise…..surprise…..!

Some years ago, I noticed a request on the Genealogy.com site regarding a William Inskip born in Peatridge Staffordshire…..well… having lived in Staffs nearly all my life I had never heard of a Peatridge !

After further investigation I found out that this William Inskip (1829) had the same birth year as one of my ancestors sons….who had disappeared from Staffordshire….

William’s family appeared on the Wirral near to Bebington in 1881…

So I contacted a John Inskip from the U.S.A who had posted the request for information regarding William….

After further investigation we found that this was in fact my William who was my 3X Gt.Grandfathers eldest son….and his relative also who was actually born in Forsbrook.

Some months later I was sitting at home and the telephone rang…..and a voice with a slight American accent asked if I was Terry Inskip…..I replied “yes it is” and asked who was speaking….he replied “John Inskip”…..and said “would it be o.k. for us to meet up….”

I said “why where are you ?” and he replied “I am standing outside The Smithfield Hotel with my wife Sharon in a little town called Uttoxeter….!”

To say I was stunned was an understatement !!!

He was only a mile from my house…..

I gave directions and within 20 mins he and Sharon arrived on my doorstep….

After talking about our Inskips for a while and having coffee and cake (which my wife Jane  quickly obtained from the local shop…) I drove them up to Dilhorne All Saints Churchyard where they took some photos and then on to Forsbrook, where we had a walk round the village….

I then drove them back to the hotel they were staying in  Stoke…..and they showed me the results of some of their recent research, from the Stoke on Trent Archives.

They had found out that William had worked for a rich family as a coach driver and had moved up to the Wirral with them…..at the site where their home had been in Seabridge (Peatridge…!)  they found a monument almost derelict…..with a dedication to William Inskip the best coachdriver in the world …ever…(wierd !)

William was missing from home on the 1841 census…and at the tender age of eleven or twelve I found him listed as a 15 year old shop labourer working and residing at Normacott Grange, on the outskirts of Stoke on Trent…

William then became a coachman for 16 years for a Mrs Ann Boyle who lived at Seabridge near Newcastle, Stoke on Trent.

On the 1851 census Ann Boyle is described as a 45 year old annuitant and head of the household…

William is down as servant/coachman, 21 years of age,unmarried and born in Forsbrook, Staffs.

Eventually ending up as Librarian in Bebington, on the Wirral, Cheshire. ( William Inskip 1829-1868)

John Inskip, who had arrived on my doorstep, was born in Liverpool and had emigrated to the U.S...he had come to visit his father who still lived on the Wirral…. and decided to visit Staffordshire while he was over here……It took me days to recover from the shock…..!

So ….beware…..you never know who will turn up !