By Christine Grayden
LAST month when I wrote about Dr Jan Bassett’s experience of finding a bundle of letters in her grandmother’s chiffonier - letters which turned out to be from a New Zealand soldier during World War One - I certainly didn’t think a similar thing would happen to me. But recently I was sitting with my old mate Laurie Dixon, going through the names of 118 World War One servicemen and one nurse associated with Phillip Island, who John Jansson and I have found in the war records.
I was hopeful Laurie might have at least some family memory stories to add to the information we have on these people. When we got to the Dominick brothers who had worked for Jessie McGregor (Janet, married name Watson), Laurie said: “Christine, I’ve got an album of post cards those boys sent to old Jessie when they were away. I think she was their foster mother or something like that.” It was one of those Bingo! moments all researchers live for.
LAST month when I wrote about Dr Jan Bassett’s experience of finding a bundle of letters in her grandmother’s chiffonier - letters which turned out to be from a New Zealand soldier during World War One - I certainly didn’t think a similar thing would happen to me. But recently I was sitting with my old mate Laurie Dixon, going through the names of 118 World War One servicemen and one nurse associated with Phillip Island, who John Jansson and I have found in the war records.
I was hopeful Laurie might have at least some family memory stories to add to the information we have on these people. When we got to the Dominick brothers who had worked for Jessie McGregor (Janet, married name Watson), Laurie said: “Christine, I’ve got an album of post cards those boys sent to old Jessie when they were away. I think she was their foster mother or something like that.” It was one of those Bingo! moments all researchers live for.