Riggin/Chenery Heir Hunters


Riggin/Chenery

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Today, the heir hunters discover a family mystery

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stretching back over a century...

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We're just trying to figure out who this person was.

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He was born in 1911.

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-Mr Thandi, nice to meet you.

-Hello.

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..while another team investigate the case

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of an unusual village character who tragically died in a house fire.

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Now, I know at some point when he was younger,

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that he didn't live at home and that he lived some of the time

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in the woods.

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A visit from an heir hunter can change lives.

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Hello.

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I'm not expecting a million,

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it's just going to be exciting to receive it.

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The cases that land on the heir hunters' desks

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involve people from all walks of life.

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One unique case that recently came to the attention of researchers

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was that of Stephen Chenery.

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Stephen used to paint everything, whatever he saw,

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whatever was nature, children, he could paint it just off the cuff.

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I've got a drawing of what Steve done of me.

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He done that in 1958 and then when I went round there one day,

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he gave it to me, which I think is very special.

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That artwork is absolutely priceless.

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Stephen lived all his life in the village of Shipdham, Norfolk,

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and was known for being a colourful chap.

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Steve was a small man, wore an old suit jacket

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and his trousers were

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held up with string,

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wore boots, never saw him in shoes.

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Those who knew Steve well saw his eccentric financial management.

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I was sat with Steve and he got two biscuit tins out of a tea chest.

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I actually said to him, "What have you got in there, Steve, biscuits?"

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He said, "I sold some land."

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And he took the lid off these two biscuit tins

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and I've never seen so much money in my life.

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In his later life, Stephen Chenery lived alone, rarely venturing out.

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Some call him a hermit.

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He was restricted to one room,

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and the rest of the house, you never got to see it.

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And it was quite a shame, cos he was not that mobile.

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But on the evening of the 11th of January 2015,

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there was a dramatic turn of events and his house went up in flames.

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It was quite late at night

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and all of a sudden I thought I could smell smoke.

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It was chaos out here.

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I think there were three fire engines, two ambulances,

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a couple of police cars. It was absolutely mad.

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No-one knows what caused the fire, it's believed it was started

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on the ground floor.

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Mr Chenery sadly passed away, aged 87.

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Everybody was really, really devastated.

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You know, especially the people who had been going in

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and keeping an eye on him and doing his bits of shop

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and his pension, you know, cos people were kind to him.

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Without any known next of kin,

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the case reached London-based heir hunters Fraser & Fraser.

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It was kind of the end of the day, people were packing up

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and I kind of noticed something

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about a man who passed away at his house

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and then we found out that he actually owned the property.

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We had to start working immediately.

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So, what was the story behind Stephen?

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The search began for his next of kin.

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Birth records established his father was a carpenter,

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Frederick Chenery, born in Mitford in 1886.

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His mother, Rosa Agnes Baker, was born in 1890

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and worked as a dressmaker.

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I don't think they ever went out anywhere,

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but his father, he was...

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From what I gather, he was a clever carpenter.

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When war broke out, he would have been 28 years old.

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Records show that Stephen's father Frederick was called up

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and served for 300 days.

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Frederick Chenery joined

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the Norfolk Regiment in about April 1916,

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but he was immediately transferred to a labour company.

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With the introduction of conscription,

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soldiers who were regarded as medically unfit

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for front-line service were transferred to labour companies.

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In the war, Frederick's duties would have involved

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maintaining the roads that brought essential supplies

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and food to the front line.

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He would be under the control of a sergeant

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and his sole life would be to maintain that bit of road.

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But they'd probably be living in an old corrugated-iron dugout

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in the ground and they'd be under continual shell,

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and if he's further forward, machine-gun fire,

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because, of course, the German interest was to destroy these roads

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to stop the supplies getting to the front.

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For 30-year-old Frederick,

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his time on the front line must've been stressful and frightening.

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He will have seen numerous dead, rotting corpses,

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parts of bodies and things like that and, whatever they say,

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it must affect somebody's long-term mental ability.

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And some people could cope better than others,

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but most First World War veterans would suffer

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from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

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After the war, Frederick moved back to Shipdham

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and married Rosa in 1919.

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We did a birth search using the names of the parents,

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which were Chenery, and the mother's maiden name, which was Baker,

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through which we discovered

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that there were two sisters of the deceased,

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an Ivy Monica Chenery, born the 10th of November 1919,

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and a Nora Agnes Chenery, born the 21st November 1920.

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Once we looked into the background of the house,

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we find out immediately he lived there with his family.

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When we'd done our enquiries, obviously,

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everyone knew that he had two sisters,

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one of them actually died a spinster at the house

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and the other one did get married and actually came back to the house

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to live with her brother.

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The research shows that none of Stephen's sisters

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had any children either, so no close family

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were going to be beneficiaries.

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In 1939, when Stephen was 12, World War II broke out.

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Conscription came in and all men and boys over the age of 18

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were expected to register,

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but for many families this was a terrifying prospect.

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The social implications of not registering for conscription

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would have been quite extreme

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because you'd have been outlawed by your own community.

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Other people - your neighbours' children - are listed.

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"Why aren't you going?"

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And after the war, it would have got even worse

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because he didn't do his bit.

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So I would suggest that anybody who actively avoided conscription

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after the war was not popular.

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Despite the severe penalties, Frederick Chenery didn't want

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to risk his own son enduring similar frightening experiences to his own.

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So he made a remarkable decision.

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The theory is that something possibly could've happened

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to his father during the Great War.

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And it was so horrific that I don't think he wanted

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the same happening to Steve.

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And although Steve would've only been able to serve

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in the end of the Second World War, I think whatever old Mr Chenery saw,

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that it was enough to stop him letting Steve be called up.

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So he just sent him away from the house

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and he was told he had to live in the woods.

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No-one knows at what age Stephen lived in the woods from or until,

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but perhaps his father believed he was taking every precaution

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to try and save his life and his sanity.

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There was a big fear in the villages that you might get called up

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from the age of 16, and I think that old Mr Chenery's fear

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of having him sent off was enough to make them say no.

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"You don't exist. Go and live in the woods.

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"That way you can't be called up."

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Stephen's friends believed he lived in the woods for more than two years

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and wasn't seen at all during this time.

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I think you'll find that this is the area.

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This is where he said that he used to live.

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Probably it's all right on a summer's day,

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but on a winter's day or a cold day, I wouldn't want to live out here.

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For Stephen, as a young lad, it must've been very, very hard

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because he would've had to have probably shot what he ate.

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He wasn't supposed to be seen but I think it was more to keep

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the authorities from knowing he existed rather than from neighbours.

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Stephen eventually moved back home,

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but in some way, his father's eccentric plan worked.

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He never went to war. No-one did seem to be bothered about

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him not going to war.

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I never did hear any reason why he didn't, you know, from other people

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why he didn't go to war,

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and I never did hear of anybody talk about it much.

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Back in the offices of Fraser & Fraser and the team have

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been researching Stephen's mother - Rosa Baker's side of the family.

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Out of three siblings, only one had any children.

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Rosa's sister Ellen, she married a Stephen Bradshaw

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and went on to have three children.

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All of those three children had passed away before the deceased

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so we then had to look into their children.

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On that stem we actually found a total of five heirs,

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so it was relatively small, but we got in very quickly

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and I think we spoke to them before every other company.

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Next, the heir hunters had to try

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and track down Stephen's father's family line.

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In the end, the team tracked down 34 heirs on the father's side,

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making it 39 in total.

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One of them - a first cousin once removed - lives in

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Barton, in Cambridgeshire.

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The first approach, the gentleman walked up the path

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and he was very relaxed, very chatty and very friendly

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and came in and sat down.

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And it very quickly became apparent he knew an awful lot about

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the Chenery side of the family, and he knew more than I did.

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I think it was my mother's first cousin,

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but I didn't know Stephen existed.

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John was particularly intrigued to find a part of the family

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he wasn't aware of.

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It was incredibly interesting

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because I've done research on my own family.

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I've gone back four generations and written a book

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and had it published, mainly for my two children.

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Because if I hadn't had done it,

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all that history would have been gone when I died.

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So the Chenery line only came

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into my line when my father married a Chenery.

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The heir hunters don't know

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when John will receive his windfall or how much it will be.

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And John hasn't considered how he will spend this

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out-of-the-blue inheritance.

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I have no idea.

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It's like counting your chickens before they're hatched.

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No, I have no idea what I'm going to spend it on.

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At the same time, Stephen was an old boy who lived in Norfolk and we're

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not expecting any large amount of money from the inheritance.

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The Chenerys are scattered all over Norfolk.

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There must be at least 40 of us, but I'm not expecting a million.

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It's just going to be exciting to receive it.

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Today, Andrew Fraser is overseeing the sale of Stephen's

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burned-out house at auction.

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We've gone with a very low guide price in order to track

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the maximum amount of interest.

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Although there is no planning permission and there's no guarantee

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that you'll be able to build

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anything other than what's already there.

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The house is being sold at the Landmark Hotel in London.

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The burnt out property that

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we've got, which is lot number 83,

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is one of the most interesting lots

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in the whole catalogue.

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As with all auction lots, the more roughed up they are, the better.

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Buyers love to be able to add value.

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That particular property has had a ton of interest.

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I think we're guiding it around 50,000 and I thoroughly expect it

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to go for at least twice that.

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I'd like to save face and make sure

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it sells for over and above the 75,000.

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Anything over 100,000,

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someone's paying a true premium for this site.

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83. Lot 83 is Quarry View. I'm going to start the bidding at 75.

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You want to come in at 80? 90. I'm doing 95. You want to say 100?

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-It's gone up very quickly.

-Now give me 126 if you will, sir.

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126 is bid. Give me 130 on the phone. 130.

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131, yeah? 134 now.

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Back to the telephone.

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-MAN:

-135.

-135, even better. That's more than I was asking for.

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For the first time, £135,000.

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Second time £135,000. This is it.

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It is going to go then for the third and final time for £135,000.

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-Well done. On the phone at 135.

-It's been an excellent result.

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That's significantly above where we would consider any developer

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would want to be, given it has no planning permission and therefore

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there's an awful lot of hope value now assigned to that purchase price.

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The money from the sale will now be split between his 39 heirs.

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As Stephen Chenery's legacy moves on,

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his friends and neighbours

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will always cherish the memories they have of him.

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My happy days were gone with all the children down the watery lane

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watching him paint, watching him draw.

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He was a really clever artist.

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He was just a good friend of mine, really.

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I really was probably as good a friend with him as anybody,

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to be quite honest.

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He was just could company, really, and everything we did together

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and all the things he taught me.

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He did teach me a lot, really, cos he was a clever man.

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Steve was one of a kind.

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He was a man that possibly that years ago there were quite a few

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because there were village characters

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but Stephen was one of the last of the few, I'm sure.

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In Halifax, Christopher David Riggin sadly passed away, aged 70,

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on the 6th of August 2015.

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He was an educated lad, he finished up an accountant.

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Then, when his mother died, he were on his own, same as me.

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About three years ago, my wife invited him round for Christmas.

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A very intelligent man.

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Sat down with him, we spoke for ages about politics, all sorts.

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Brought a bottle of drink down with us

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and we had a real good time together.

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Christopher's friends, however, did not know any of his family,

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so his estate was passed to a firm of local solicitors.

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From what we've gathered,

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he lived with his mother

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until she passed away and also he was a recluse in his later years.

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His mother, no, she was very nice.

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She was always smartly dressed, immaculate.

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She used to have the house decorated every 12 months.

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She did everything for Christopher, she'd always have his meals ready.

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She just adored him. It was a good mum and son relationship.

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As no will was found, heir-hunting firm Finders

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were called in to search for Mr Riggin's next of kin.

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Fortunately, the solicitors passed on personal documents

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found at Christopher's home.

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The solicitors on this case have informed us

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that the estate value should be in the region of around £200,000,

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so, obviously, it's a high-priority case for us,

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we need to try and find some beneficiaries.

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We've been provided with the deceased's birth certificate

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and we can see that the mother of Christopher David Riggin

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was Maud Riggin, but she was actually formerly Shearn

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on the certificate.

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She hasn't actually mentioned a father.

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It's quite unusual to not have a father.

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Usually, when that were to happen,

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it would be due to an illegitimate birth

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whereby the mother was a spinster when the child was born

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and there's no way of really knowing who the father is.

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The certificate indicates that the mother was married previously,

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but, obviously, she'd separated from the father,

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whether they got divorced or not, we don't know,

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but she subsequently had a child with another gentleman.

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Already with mystery surrounding Christopher's parentage,

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the heir hunters will only be able to build half a family tree,

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and trace heirs on Christopher's mother's side.

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Ryan delves further, and unearths Maud's marriage certificate

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from 1937 to George Riggin, a civil servant.

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He was 41 when they married and she was 27,

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but she was a domestic servant.

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It's a profession where illegitimate births were more prevalent

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than some other professions.

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Among the papers Ryan has been given

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is a letter Christopher wrote to one of his mother's friends.

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He's used the electoral registers to find out more

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about his mother's life before he came along.

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It seems Christopher was also using records to get answers

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that he was never given by his family.

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He's established that his mum was living with her husband

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up until the Second World War.

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In one of the last paragraphs, he says,

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"Frankly, I consider it extremely unlikely that George Riggin

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"was my biological father.

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"It would take DNA evidence to convince me otherwise."

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I guess he never really got the answers

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as to who his father really was.

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Ryan is keen to see if his mother Maud had any other children,

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as they would be the first in line to inherit from his estate.

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Ryan discovers that Maud did have a second son, Michael Riggin,

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but, again, no father is listed on the birth certificate.

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He sadly only lived for four days.

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With no living brothers or sisters,

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the search for Christopher's heirs

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has now moved to his aunts and uncles.

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Well, this is the bit where it gets interesting, really,

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because we can delve a bit further back into the history of the family.

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We can go across along the maternal side of the family

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and try and hopefully find some beneficiaries.

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I've just found the deceased's mother on the 1911 census

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with her parents.

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The copy of her marriage certificate says her father was William Shearn.

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William Shearn, a coal miner, marries Beatrice.

0:19:240:19:27

They've been married about seven years, they've had three children.

0:19:270:19:30

Obviously, one of those is the deceased's mother.

0:19:300:19:33

There's another child mentioned on the census as well,

0:19:330:19:36

her name is Annie Shearn,

0:19:360:19:38

so she would have been a sister of the deceased's mother.

0:19:380:19:41

Ryan and the team now need to check the 1911 census

0:19:420:19:46

and see if any more children were born after it was compiled.

0:19:460:19:49

We can do a birth search from 1911 onwards

0:19:500:19:53

until roughly when the deceased's maternal grandmother, in this case,

0:19:530:19:58

was about aged 45.

0:19:580:20:00

It looks as though there's probably five more siblings

0:20:000:20:04

of the deceased's mother.

0:20:040:20:06

So, we're looking at maybe, so far,

0:20:060:20:09

seven aunts and uncles on the maternal side.

0:20:090:20:13

Ryan now needs more manpower,

0:20:130:20:14

and for his team to focus on the aunts and uncles one by one.

0:20:140:20:18

The census is there.

0:20:200:20:21

Can I just give you a line of this?

0:20:210:20:23

And there's a complication surrounding one of the aunts

0:20:230:20:26

listed on the census.

0:20:260:20:28

Mysteriously, her birth certificate is missing from the records.

0:20:280:20:31

It's good news. We've managed to find a couple of beneficiaries,

0:20:320:20:35

I think.

0:20:350:20:36

These heirs appear to be aunts of the deceased.

0:20:360:20:39

We're looking at the sisters of the deceased's mother.

0:20:390:20:44

Ryan is calling one of the heirs.

0:20:440:20:46

Christopher's aunt, 85-year-old June.

0:20:460:20:48

Hello, is June Brown there, please?

0:20:490:20:52

Would you want me to call you back or is it OK to hang on?

0:20:520:20:54

-HE WHISPERS:

-She's gone to put her lunch in the oven.

0:20:570:20:59

The beneficiary I just spoke to was really helpful, really friendly.

0:21:050:21:09

I had a really nice chat with her.

0:21:090:21:10

She was able to give me some more details on the family.

0:21:100:21:13

We're kind of struggling to get any quick leads

0:21:130:21:15

on one of the maternal aunts

0:21:150:21:18

and she said that this maternal aunt called Aida M Shearn,

0:21:180:21:23

known as Margaret, may have been adopted out of the family.

0:21:230:21:26

That means one less stem to research,

0:21:270:21:30

but the mysterious aunt Elizabeth could still be a beneficiary,

0:21:300:21:33

and June had news on her, too.

0:21:330:21:36

One of those she was able to clarify who the mystery person was

0:21:360:21:40

who was missing from the 1911 census.

0:21:400:21:43

The lady I spoke to did say that that person was called Elizabeth.

0:21:430:21:46

The team need to dig from before 1911

0:21:470:21:50

and look at Christopher's grandparents William and Beatrice's life at this time

0:21:500:21:54

for more clues.

0:21:540:21:55

METALLIC CLINKING

0:21:580:22:01

Back in 1905, records show that Christopher's grandfather William

0:22:010:22:05

was already a miner in Wakefield.

0:22:050:22:07

He and Beatrice had married two years earlier

0:22:080:22:11

and had a child, Annie,

0:22:110:22:13

but life was tough, and William, then 26,

0:22:130:22:16

was determined to do well for his family.

0:22:160:22:19

Around this time, Pennsylvania, in the USA,

0:22:210:22:24

was advertising for experienced miners to work in its new mines.

0:22:240:22:28

William Shearn would have been looking for new opportunities

0:22:310:22:34

to increase his wage packet and his quality of life.

0:22:340:22:36

And Pennsylvania and the anthracite coalfields there

0:22:360:22:39

could well have been one of them.

0:22:390:22:41

They would have been building new housing,

0:22:410:22:43

so living standards should have been, hopefully,

0:22:430:22:45

a lot better at the time.

0:22:450:22:46

It looks like William upped sticks

0:22:470:22:49

and headed to Pennsylvania for a new job.

0:22:490:22:52

His young family followed shortly afterwards.

0:22:520:22:54

This is the shipping records which show the maternal grandmother,

0:22:540:22:59

Beatrice Shearn, going over with her baby daughter Annie.

0:22:590:23:03

That was in 1905,

0:23:030:23:05

so not long after William settled over in America.

0:23:050:23:09

But life in the New World was not all the family had hoped for,

0:23:090:23:13

and three years later, records finally shed light on

0:23:130:23:17

Christopher's missing aunt.

0:23:170:23:19

Now we've got another record of an incoming passenger list this time.

0:23:190:23:22

This is in 1908, so a few years later.

0:23:220:23:26

And this is the most interesting one for us.

0:23:260:23:30

It was actually Beatrice, William,

0:23:300:23:33

along with the baby Annie that they had,

0:23:330:23:36

and now this Elizabeth Shearn,

0:23:360:23:38

daughter that had been born in the States.

0:23:380:23:40

The life that they'd hoped for in Pennsylvania didn't quite

0:23:400:23:43

work out the way they'd hoped,

0:23:430:23:44

and they missed the old life so coming back to West Yorkshire,

0:23:440:23:49

getting back in with wider family and also with colleagues

0:23:490:23:53

and other friends as well was probably something of a comfort.

0:23:530:23:56

I don't think that emigrating is the right thing for everybody.

0:23:560:24:00

Having now found birth records for Christopher's aunt Elizabeth in the

0:24:000:24:04

USA, if she was alive, she would be an heir to Christopher's estate.

0:24:040:24:09

We had no reason to suspect that the person missing

0:24:090:24:12

from the 1911 census was in fact born in the United States.

0:24:120:24:16

Birth records show William and Beatrice

0:24:170:24:19

went on to have six more children in the UK

0:24:190:24:22

and William carried on as a miner.

0:24:220:24:24

With the Shearn family tree now complete,

0:24:270:24:29

the team have found eight heirs to Christopher's estate.

0:24:290:24:32

The next day, Parmjit is sent to Yorkshire to meet some of the heirs

0:24:360:24:40

and explain the case to them.

0:24:400:24:41

June Brown is Christopher's youngest aunt,

0:24:450:24:48

born in 1930 and living in Leeds.

0:24:480:24:51

KNOCKING ON DOOR

0:24:510:24:52

-Hello, June. I'm Mr Thandi. Can I come in?

-Yes, dear.

-Thank you.

0:24:550:24:58

I want to explain to you why we're here.

0:25:000:25:02

-Yeah, it's about my nephew Christopher.

-Yes.

0:25:020:25:05

-Christopher David Riggin, who passed away on the 6th August.

-This year?

0:25:050:25:10

-This year.

-This year?

-This year.

0:25:100:25:12

Oh, has he been ill for a long time?

0:25:120:25:14

I honestly don't know what he died of, but the office will do.

0:25:140:25:19

We can always ring the office later and they'll tell you

0:25:190:25:22

what he passed away.

0:25:220:25:23

I can just remember a little bit when he was small,

0:25:230:25:26

but for the past few years,

0:25:260:25:27

we haven't seen much of him, really, at all.

0:25:270:25:30

When he was young, he wasn't interested in lots of storybooks.

0:25:300:25:34

He preferred to look through an encyclopaedia.

0:25:340:25:36

He was intelligent.

0:25:370:25:39

Parmjit is now on his way to see June's older sister.

0:25:420:25:46

Eileen Lawrence, Christopher's cousin,

0:25:470:25:49

and the daughter of the American aunt Elizabeth, and her husband,

0:25:490:25:53

have both travelled from Nottingham to be here for Parmjit's visit.

0:25:530:25:56

-Christopher was quite shy.

-Yes, he was a very private person, actually.

0:25:580:26:03

-So he never really...

-Didn't have many friends.

0:26:040:26:07

-He didn't have much to do.

-No, never married, of course.

0:26:070:26:09

And lived all his life in that little house in Halifax.

0:26:110:26:15

He's died alone, hasn't he? It's...

0:26:150:26:18

I mean, I've had a lot in my lifetime, deaths, anyway.

0:26:190:26:24

49 years next week since my husband died. Well, what do I want?

0:26:250:26:30

I mean, I'm 88. I mean...88 and a half.

0:26:310:26:35

So, I didn't know what to think. I don't know what to think.

0:26:360:26:39

But Parmjit's work still isn't done. Now he has to head to York.

0:26:420:26:46

The time now, it's just gone 7.10.

0:26:470:26:49

We have to see the last two beneficiaries on our list for today.

0:26:490:26:54

They are maternal cousins of the deceased, brother and sister.

0:26:540:26:58

Hello, Mark.

0:27:010:27:02

It's Mr Thandi. Nice to meet you.

0:27:020:27:04

I couldn't believe it when they rang up and said that they got in touch

0:27:050:27:09

with us about some inheritance, they wanted to get in touch

0:27:090:27:12

about the family tree.

0:27:120:27:14

So just one of them things. I never expected it coming to us.

0:27:140:27:19

If we do inherit a bit of money,

0:27:200:27:21

I'm sure my partner and kids will be wanting a holiday.

0:27:210:27:25

Mortgage is due to be paid off,

0:27:250:27:26

so hopefully get a bit of that paid off.

0:27:260:27:28

I have two horses and I need a new horsebox

0:27:280:27:31

so some of it will probably go towards that.

0:27:310:27:34

And then... I don't know, really, just other little things.

0:27:340:27:37

Might be worth going through the family tree

0:27:370:27:40

to see what else we can find out.

0:27:400:27:42

Overall, the team are happy they've been able to find

0:27:430:27:46

eight beneficiaries for Christopher Riggin's estate,

0:27:460:27:49

which is estimated to be worth £200,000.

0:27:490:27:53

I just think it's sad when you...

0:27:530:27:55

Another member of your family has gone.

0:27:550:27:59

It's...

0:27:590:28:00

Puts everything in perspective.

0:28:020:28:04

Yeah, he's going to be missed. He will be missed.

0:28:040:28:07

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