Bob Discovers He is NOT Lord of the Manor

Bob and I went into Leeds to visit the historic shopping district. Walked around for an hour and did a bit of shopping, then stopped in at a pub for lunch, and rode the bus back to Ken and Linda's house. While we were in Leeds, Linda was on the internet on her geneology site, doing research on where the Hope ancestors would have lived in Leigh, using census records. She was able to go all the way back to 1841! We left for Leigh mid-afternoon, armed with addresses from the census records. We were able to find neighborhoods where the houses would have been, had they still been standing, but had no luck with actual houses until the last one, in 1901. Bob's great-grandmother had died, and that split the family up a bit. His grandfather, who was 9 years old at the time, moved in with his older sister and her husband. The older sister was Ken's grandmother. We found the house, which was one of a bunch of attached row houses, and took photos. We visited the cemetery where Bob's great-grandfather is buried in an unmarked grave, and we visited the war memorial where a handful of relatives are listed. Then we drove to Ken's older brother's house to meet the rest of the family. They had prepared a barbeque for us, and we had a lovely time meeting Ken's brothers and their wives. The picture above is the entire group: from left to right, Ken, Linda, Allen, Norma, Bob, Jenny , and Eddie.

Bob's been hoping to find a title somewhere in his past: Earl, Duke, Marquis, something along those lines. We've discovered that his ancestors were coal miners and silk weavers, however, so I guess we'll keep working. ;)

After the BBQ, Ken and Linda drove us 2 hours home to Nottingham, before driving back to Leeds themselves. I hope they come to visit us sometime, so we can have the opportunity to show them HALF the hospitality they showed us!