That's what we need I think - timelines to try to place everything.
And no, please don't investigate my floorboards. One skeleton is definitely enough.
And as I think I've mentioned before the last occupant of this house was definitely accounted for and ended their days in hospital with no suspicious circumstances.
I'm not sure what I can say about your father or how I can help in any way but you know where I am if you need me.
Okay I do have some good news.
On a very personal front I have managed to wallpaper one wall of one room and there are no bubbles, wrinkles or tears. In fact it looks very smart if I do say so myself. Which I do. And so do Reliable Rob and his merry men who appeared very impressed with my ability to wield not only a paint roller but a wallpaper brush too. In between doing a bit of decorating sans Father-dearest (who is due to return shortly and then I can delegate it to him) and feeding the guys here (another story for another day) I have been trying to get all the information into some sort of order.
Hence why I think we need a timeline in which to place the people we know of so far.
So in other good news I managed to get a rough date for that photograph of your great-grandparents and the six children. And using that I'm fairly certain which of the children are which. I had it in my head that the youngest would be the mysterious sixth child; perhaps put up for adoption as they couldn't afford to feed such a large family. Or perhaps it sadly died young and for some reason that hadn't been recorded.
But no. It is the eldest looking girl. She is the one whose name we are missing. And I should have realised that to be fair given that Great-aunt Ethel and Great-aunt Mary are younger than gramps. So I returned to the photographs that were with your gramps' papers in the metal box and I think one of those may be her too. Older obviously but there are definite similarities. And she appears in one of the other photographs with what may be your Great-uncle Bojo and another man and a small child. I'm assuming that the other man may be her husband and the child their child but without a name I'm struggling really.
So I'm going back to census data to see if there is anything at all to tell us who she is.
From the letters it seems that gramps was sent to prison in 1957. There are letters from your gran dated July that year in which she is bemoaning him being in there and her being left alone in the house at an address in McKeesport. She also makes reference to it being a 2 year sentence and then in the last one from her that he was due out June '59. It seems that he served the full sentence because he wouldn't provide information to the authorities. Your gran isn't specific but keeps making mention of 'the job' so I'm trying to find out what he was sentenced for and will come back to you on that one.
The other correspondence was from a friend of your gramps. He appears to have been tasked with keeping an eye on your gran. At first I thought that perhaps your gramps was concerned that she might struggle with him in prison but it seems he may have been far more concerned as to what she may have got up to in his absence. The first couple are really only confirming that she is okay and keeping busy at the house. Again I wonder if there are some cryptic meanings behind the content. You'll have to have a look for yourself and see if you can pick anything specific out but much of it appears to be about where she's visited and who she's seen. The later ones though are more concerned with Great-uncle Frank visiting and what his intentions might be. The friend seems to think that Great-uncle Frank may be doing more than simply keeping a brotherly eye on gran.
Perhaps it was that that made me think so I went back to the family tree to check on your father's date of birth. Of course it is perfectly possible that he was conceived shortly after your gramps' release from prison however with a birth date in February '60 I am now wondering about the involvement of Great-uncle Frank.
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