Margaret Ann Moore

What of my hunch that this derelict cottage might have had something to do with our family search? Well no, there's no real link but Tommy told us that it used to be lived in "a very long time ago" by one Margaret Ann Moore. But as there were several separate Moore families in the area it is highly unlikely that this lady was connected to the family we were tracing.

Margaret Ann Moore's cottage. Poor Crop The building stands at the edge of a field of wheat but just look at that awful colour. Tommy Simpson told us that 2002 had been a very wet year and as a result, this crop was in a poor state,- hence the brown colour. After taking the photo we returned to the farm parlour, by now the table was groaning with boxes of old letters, bills, receipts and 150 year old love-letters.

Funeral Cards

My wife Angela (my constant helper and note taker on this quest) asked him if there were any other avenues we could explore in our search for John Moore and his family. Tommy disappeared and returned with an album of what must have been well over a hundred "Funeral Cards" all neatly catalogued. Now I had heard of these pasteboard items before but never seen one, let alone this many. Tommy explained that these were issued when a person died and given to all the local households and friends partly as a memento and also a reminder of when the funeral was to take place. (Like we do in the death notices in newspapers nowadays) Because of the importance of the house and household the Simpson family always received one of these. So there before us were the names, date of death, place of burial, of most of the residents of the area stretching back through the 1800's. Here's an example from the collection.

Funeral card for Robert Morrison 1883. DIED On Saturday 13th January 1883 at his residence, Claggan, ROBERT MORRISON His remains will be removed for interment in BALLYKELLY new Church Burying-ground on, Monday, 15th inst , at 10 o'clock a.m.

Each card an individual work of art. Each about 13 x 9cm, some with deckled edging, others embossed. All sombre of course. Black edging dominated. Ears of corn, angels, lots of curlicues and swirls. Some were even pierced with intricate designs like lace.

Among these cards we found several Moores but they were all dated in the mid 1800's so if they were relatives of John Moore there would have been a gap in the lineage and these Moores would have been great or even great great grandparents.

Have you come across funeral cards? You might have one in your family, passed down through the generations from a relative's funeral that took place many years ago. Please let us know. You can e-mail us here at ypam-online@bbc.co.uk or use the form below- (Editor)

Time for more phone calls and another member of the Moore family enters the scene to help in our search ...