was 35 years old) and accepting of his situation. The 1920s cloak of secrecy was not a neccessity in the 21st century - indeed, the knowledge has brought a form of bonding between his descendents and a certain satisfaction in knowing how and why he died so young. So, to turn the popular journalistic saying around a bit: "Publish and be thanked!" I was interested, if a little sad, to discover that my great-great grandpa actually died before my great-grandfather was born, leaving my great-great-grandmother with two small boys to bring up on her own. I had heard he was knocked down by a horse and carriage in Lincoln High Street. My great-grandfather went on to study theology as a mature student at Oxford University and to become a vicar, moving to Northumberland where my granny grew up. It made me impressed by the strong women in our family, and I found it quite inspiring. So, the further ago these tragedies happened, the less shocking and sad they will be, and the more we'll tend to think about what effect they had on the following generations. We started tracing our family history about eighteen months ago. It's so interesting and very addictive. On the Paternal side we've gone back to 1781, and on the Maternal side back to 1841. The only 'shocking' thing we discovered was when two second cousins married, and both families disowned them !!! tell all, secrets are dangerous and after all the truth can be a