Jones/Green Heir Hunters

Every year, half a million people die in the UK.

One in three leave no will or no known relatives.

In all of the time I've been here,

I've never seen a single person visit him.

If the estate is not claimed by a member of the family,

all the money will go to the government,

and that's where the heir hunters come in.

They are specialists in tracking down beneficiaries and informing

them of an inheritance, which can come like a bolt out of the blue.

When I got the phone call, I was very shocked and surprised.

Heir hunting is fiercely competitive

and hundreds of thousands of pounds can be at stake...

I've still got a quarter of a million pound estate to try

and find a home for.

..and it can reunite families and long-lost relatives.

Awesome. It's been such a blessing meeting Aunt Pat.

Above all, it's about giving people news of a surprise windfall.

Could the heir hunters be knocking at your door?

HE KNOCKS

Coming up, a case in Wales that is an heir hunter's worst nightmare...

The name Jones in North Wales is just about the most

needle in a haystack job you could ever possibly get.

..and the poignant story of a beloved son.

He idolised his mother,

and his father. That's why, I think, he never got married,

you know, not to leave 'em.

Plus, how you could be entitled to inherit unclaimed estates

held by the Treasury.

Could thousands of pounds be heading your way?

It's early on a Thursday summer morning and Saul Marks,

a case manager for heir hunting firm Celtic Research,

is heading out on the road.

So, today, we're going to Mold Register Office.

Today's trip is the latest stage of research in an ongoing

investigation into the £11,000 estate of Harold Jones.

Saul has already managed to trace some family members,

but there are many more to discover until he can be sure he's found

his heirs, and names to research don't come much harder than Jones.

I think it's fair to say that researching

the surname of Jones is rather a piece of genealogical masochism.

Harold Jones died peacefully in the hospital near his care home

in Rhyl, North Wales, on the 7th of March 2012, aged 88.

One of the relatives Saul has already tracked down is

Vera Williams and,

although she doesn't have any photos of Harold, she remembers him well.

Harold and my father were first cousins.

Harold's mother and my grandmother were sisters.

He was about 5'8",

quite trim, not overweight, well, when I was a youngster,

he wasn't, anyway, and always, always,

especially if you saw him when I'd finished work, or something,

at half past five, you saw him going down the street, he was

always in a shirt and a tie and a nice jacket or suit.

He was a very quiet person, very introverted person,

a very private person, actually.

Um.

..you never knew...

what he was doing or where he was going.

Harold died without leaving a will

and his estate was advertised by the Treasury Solicitor in 2012.

Saul took up the search and after weeks of investigation,

he managed to solve Harold's mother's branch of the family,

which led him to six cousins, including Vera.

But, to complete the research on this case,

Saul must make sure he's found every heir and that means unlocking

the difficult father's side of the family.

It's the worst surname to research simply

because there are so many of them.

Um, and especially in Wales, so I'm not sure if, uh...

If we're incredibly wise researching a Jones case in Wales.

Liverpool-based Saul is the company's man in the North West,

and the firm also has offices in mid-Wales

and London run by father and son team Peter and Hector Birchwood.

As Harold Jones died in North Wales, Saul has taken

the lead on the case, but, despite hours of research,

the paternal side of the family has proved tough to crack.

Normally in our work, when we look at the birth, marriage and

death indexes, we're able to establish from the index

if the family we're tracing is the right family, um, because of

clues on the index such as mother's maiden name on the birth index.

With such incredibly common names like this, um...it's a lot more

difficult, so we actually need to get

the information from the certificates themselves.

Saul's established that Harold was born in 1923,

the third son of Henry Lloyd Jones and Margaret Hughes.

Both his brothers died as bachelors ruling out beneficiaries from them.

Harold married a Margaret Roberts in 1950, but she predeceased him

and they had no children, so the search has to widen to

the Jones' and Hughes' sides of the family.

Henry Lloyd Jones was one of five children

born to David and Jane Jones.

Other than Henry, only one other child, Thomas,

appeared to go on to have a family.

He had four children.

The eldest child of this family,

who would have been Harold's first cousin, was George Hewitt Jones

and his informant on his death certificate was his son,

who was also called George Hewitt Jones.

If George Hewitt Jones Junior is still alive, as we hope he is,

he will definitely be an heir to Harold Jones' estate.

Discovering there could be a living heir on Harold's father's

side prompted Saul to leave his office and make

the 25-mile trip to the register office in Mold, North Wales.

Solving this case could depend on what he finds there.

The objective of the day is to, hopefully,

find a gentleman named George Hewitt Jones and...

who registered his father's death in 1976.

What we're going to do at the Register's Office,

is we're going to order two certificates.

The hope is that he or one of his siblings may have been

the informant on their mother's death certificate and that they still live

now at the same address that they were living at in 1992 when she died.

Um...

and we can then, hopefully, get in contact with them that way.

But, before the death certificate,

Saul needs confirmation from Lillian and George's marriage certificate

that the groom's father is Harold's uncle.

Saul is a well-known figure at the Register Office.

Right...

so, this is the first one, this is a marriage. It's George H and

Lillian M, but I'm fairly sure those are the middle names.

I've put the bridegroom's father must be Thomas Jones.

Are you sort of urgent for this or can we...?

Yeah, today, I want the priority service.

So, on the priority service. OK.

Well, if you'd like to take a seat for one second,

I'll do a search and we'll go from there.

Brilliant. Thanks very much.

With one in four people in Wales named Jones,

admin assistant Gwyneth and the team at the Register Office

are well aware of how difficult it is to pinpoint a specific Jones.

There's absolutely loads of Joneses. Isn't there, Sue?

So, really, we do need some detail that's going to tie up,

you know, ie, if you were after a birth,

we really would need the father's name or the mother's name to

make sure that you've obviously got the correct one.

Um, preferably, obviously, as much information as you can give.

If it's a marriage then it's the father's name that we

need for the bride and the groom, and that, basically,

would help to tie everything together.

A probate researcher gets paid a percentage of a legacy,

as agreed with the beneficiary.

So, if Saul can't crack this case,

all his many hours of hard work will be for nothing.

But, luckily, today, he doesn't have to wait long before superintendent

registrar Noelle comes back to him with some good news.

-Is it the right one?

-Yes, it is. Bridegroom's father.

Thomas Jones, brilliant, that's wonderful.

Well, in that case, I won't pay for that yet,

because I'll give you this one. This is...um, let me put that down.

So, this is the death application for Lillian May,

-who I'm hoping was the bride in that marriage.

-Was the bride, yes.

So, good news for Saul on the marriage certificate.

The groom's father is Harold's uncle.

Now, all Saul needs is to find the correct death certificate

for Lillian May for that all-important informant's address.

So, she's got to be the widow of George Hewitt Jones

-and her maiden name has to be Hughes.

-Was Hughes, yes.

-Brilliant.

-OK, if you'd like to take a seat, we'll be back with you shortly.

-OK, thank you.

While waiting anxiously,

and hoping for news that the death certificate he's asked for

will show the same Lillian May who was on the marriage certificate,

Saul reflects on the success of today's research so far.

I'm really pleased with this.

Um, the lady's just told me this is the right marriage.

Um, I thought it probably was, so, this is the marriage certificate

of George Hewitt Jones and Lillian May Hughes.

22nd of February 1930, so I can add that to the tree.

This was the less risky of the two certificates.

This is really confirming something I was quite confident about.

The next one is the big crunch.

But Saul's hopes that the Lillian May named on the

death certificate will be Harold's aunt receive a bitter blow.

This is a serious discrepancy here now,

so I'm a bit worried that this next certificate

is going to turn out to be the wrong Lillian May Jones.

Sometimes, the work of an heir hunter involves more than

just finding long-lost relatives.

Sometimes, they're given the task of sorting through

the house of the person who's died without leaving a will.

My job is to go through every cupboard and try and find some deeds

to the house or even some indication that he would have owned it.

Today, company boss Andrew Fraser has finally got the keys to

a house in Greater Manchester to visit the home of William Green,

who died in 2012,

leaving an estate estimated at £100,000.

To us, it's very important to go through a house to find any

assets and liabilities,

because we've been given very little information from the authorities

and, therefore, we need to find it ourselves.

The house visit is only the latest part of the puzzle that

London heir hunting firm Fraser & Fraser has been piecing together,

since picking up the case from the government's list of

unclaimed estates published by the Treasury's Solicitor.

But case manager Ben Cornish recalls how they very nearly gave it a miss.

Green is generally quite a common name,

so, it can be a bit of a nightmare to research this,

quite a lot of records, but, in this particular case,

we know that the deceased had two middle initials,

which was...which could help us with our research.

William Alfred George Green died on the 20th of March 2012

at his local hospital near his home in Stockport.

Long-time neighbour Steve Brown has fond memories of Bill.

Bill was a gentleman...

a really nice guy. If he could help you, he would.

If you wanted anything, he'd fetch it for you.

Bill was a very quiet, private man, but a lovely natured man. Lovely.

He would do anything for you.

And although Bill lived on his own and had never married,

it seemed he ran a busy household.

He used to grow his own tomatoes and he had an aviary in the back.

He'd loads of pets. Yeah, he was just lovely.

He used to give me apples for apple pies...

..on the condition I made one for him.

Bill had been a car mechanic and his professional skills appeared

to make him particularly popular with at least one neighbour.

He was good like that, cos, I mean...I used to come and ask...

for details about my car when broke down. He was very good.

He'd help anybody.

With a valuable estate comes competition, so the heir hunters

were under pressure to crack this case before the arrivals.

They kick-started their search by following a tried and tested route.

So, initially, we will look for a marriage of the deceased,

to see if the deceased had a spouse,

and we also look for children from that marriage.

In this particular case, there was no marriage,

which doesn't necessarily mean that are no children,

but it's an indicator to us that there probably isn't.

The deceased was in his early 70s when he passed away.

So, there was a possibility that he, you know, his mum could still

be alive, or his father, so that's the next thing we would check,

to see if they have passed away.

The team quickly establish that Bill's mother, Jane,

had died in 1999 and his father, Douglas, had died in 2004.

According to records found by the heir hunters,

Bill's father played a remarkable

and very dangerous role in World War II as a firefighter in the

RAF base near the coastal town of Pwllheli in North West Wales.

Former RAF firefighter Steven Harrison appreciates only too

well the frightening scenario facing those early crews

when trying to rescue airmen from their burning planes.

The role of firefighters during World War II obviously was very busy at

a time when squadrons were returning from missions

and that was the point where they could well crash.

And they might have bombs hung up as ammunition still in the aircraft,

so, if they did crash,

there would be danger of exploding ammunition and exploding bombs.

And it seems these valiant men were up against it,

even when it came to the tools they were given to carry out their job.

The firefighting equipment of the World War II firefighter,

was quite basic, really.

There had been some progression using foam, which was really,

at that stage, just a soap, really, soap bubbles,

reinforced soap bubbles, to spread over the fuel surface

and they also used CO2 extinguishers as well.

But the firefighting protective clothing was not very good.

It was basically a leather jacket.

There was some development of an asbestos suit,

so, if the fire didn't get you, the asbestos suit most probably

would, so, it was very precarious and it called for some bravery.

But even while Douglas was busy braving the intense heat of

a burning cockpit to rescue his fellow airmen,

case manager Ben discovered that he'd found time for a family life.

The parents married on the 14th of April 1941,

and we found that William was the only child born to the marriage.

We also made sure, we found death records for both parents,

just in case they had remarried and had other children,

which would mean they'd be half-blood siblings to the deceased.

Having established that there were no near kin, the team looked for

Bill's aunts and uncles on both his mother Jane's side

and his father Douglas' side of the family.

Douglas' father was William Alfred Green

and his mother was Lily M Simmons. They had six children.

They left descendants, including the deceased's father.

So, with this, the team knew that there were potential heirs

who were full blood relatives on Bill's father's side,

but what about his mother's side of the family?

His mother was a lady called Jane Ellen Roberts.

We know that she was illegitimate.

There's no father mentioned on her birth certificate. Um, we think...

later on, from the family information that we got, that she

was informally adopted, but adoptions didn't really start till 1926, 1927.

She's born 1919, so we think it's just an informal adoption,

but she carries on the Roberts name after,

so it doesn't feel that she was with the Jones family for that long.

The discovery that Bill's mother was illegitimate

had an immediate impact on the case.

When we established that there were full blood relatives

on the paternal side,

it meant that the maternal side wouldn't be entitled

because the deceased mother was illegitimate

and any deceased siblings that she may have had would now be

half-blood relatives, and, under the rules of intestacy,

full blood has a prior claim than that of half-blood.

With an estate worth an estimated £100,000, the team were aware

that they may not be the only heir hunters on this case,

so they wasted no time in tracking down two of Bill's aunts.

It's quite unusual, finding aunts of the deceased still alive.

Um, obviously, they're of that older generation,

so they'll have a lot of the family knowledge, so, it's always good

to have them there to confirm what we've already done in our research.

But as the case progresses,

news of Bill's death comes as a bit of a shock.

Billy was such a lovely boy.

I didn't believe it. I still can't believe it, you know.

Heir hunters trace thousands of rightful beneficiaries

every year, but not all cases can be cracked.

There are over 10,000 estates on the government's own list

of unclaimed estates,

which have eluded the heir hunters and remain unsolved.

Cases get put onto the list once we have made our own enquiries

to see if we can trace kin and then we upload them

onto the website daily.

Today, we're focusing on two cases that are yet to be

solved by the heir hunters.

Could you be about to inherit some money from a long-lost relative?

First, is the case of...

..who died on...

..aged 70.

Malcolm was also born in Halifax on the 21st of August, 1937.

He never married and had no known children.

He had one sister who died without children in 1984.

Malcolm's father was...

..who was born on...

..also in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

His mother was born...

on the 21st October 1905

in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

She had one brother, Norman Gill, who died in 1978 with no children.

At the time of her death on...

..Malcolm's mum, Emma, was using the name Shooter.

Maybe this could unlock the mystery.

Next, from Norfolk County Council,

do you have any clues that could crack open the case of...?

..who died on...

..in Great Yarmouth.

Pauline had also been born in Great Yarmouth on the 21st March 1942.

Pauline had never been married,

but it's believed she might have had two children.

She was one of eight siblings.

Both Malcolm and Pauline's estates remain unclaimed and,

if no-one comes forward, their money will go to the government.

The money raised by the Bona Vacantia Division is passed

annually to the Treasury and it goes into the consolidated fund,

therefore, to benefit the country as a whole.

Do you have any clues that could help solve

the cases of Malcolm Hugh MacDonald or Pauline Bartlett?

Perhaps you could be their next of kin.

If so, you could have a windfall coming your way.

In London, the heir hunters were searching for heirs in the case of

William Green who died in March 2012

leaving an estimated £100,000 estate.

By taking on a case and investing the company's resources

and time into tracing heirs,

the heir hunters take a huge gamble.

If a rival firm managed to sign up beneficiaries for

an agreed percentage of their legacy before they do,

then all the work and effort is for nothing.

The other stumbling block is if a will is found.

We very rarely come across a will,

but...it's always something I'm looking for,

before we all do too much work

and all our time would then be unrecoverable and it's a loss.

When someone dies intestate,

company partner Andrew Fraser is tasked with

the job of arranging house clearances,

searching for deeds and documents and auctioning homes and contents.

Crucially, he also has to look for any signs of a will

stashed in a house.

But he often doesn't get access to the house

until after the team have spent costly hours researching heirs.

Today, Andrew has come to Bill's home.

And it's a welcome revelation.

Excellent! This is, um...

Just what we're looking for in terms of assets,

because we have tax, pensions, the assets and details what we...

the solicitors will be looking for.

Although he'd had girlfriends,

70-year-old Bill had been an only child and a bachelor

and had lived in the family home in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

His friend and neighbour Amy Thorpe remembers him fondly.

Bill was a very quiet, private man, but a lovely natured man,

lovely, would do anything for you.

And, even though he used to hoard things, if you went and asked him

for one particular letter, he would go and pick it up straightaway.

He knew exactly where everything was, so, in his mind,

he was very methodical, but, to everybody else, he was just...

You know, just was a hoarder!

It seems Bill had also been devoted to his parents.

When I moved in, Bill was in the house on his own

and his parents had already passed away.

Um, and he has a caravan in his back garden that belonged to his mum

and dad, and he used to sit in it regularly reading books and things.

It was his way of feeling close to his mum and dad, I think.

And when we did our garden at the back, we asked him

if he wanted to move the caravan out and he wouldn't part with it.

He said, "No, no, no. That's all I've got left of them.

"I'm going to keep it."

It seemed that a love of all kinds of transport ran in the family

as Bill's grandfather, William, had a job on the buses in the 1930s.

William worked for Black & White Motorways Ltd,

a coach company which was founded in 1926 in Cheltenham.

It was the heyday of British coach travel, as not every household had

a car and coaches were mainly used by groups for organised outings.

The Black & White coaches became one of the first express commuter

services to and from London with three services a day.

It was quite luxurious

and Black & White was probably in the top half a dozen

companies in the country and, for example,

they had toilets on board from 1930,

and a courier, a second staff member, just to look after the luggage

and the interests of the quite low numbers of passengers,

roundly, 30 passengers.

So, it was an upmarket operation.

William, also known as Bill, was a fitter for the company,

and would have carried out all the maintenance on the coaches,

but he was also employed as a driver.

Bill would probably have been very pleased to have go

driving as well as being a fitter.

It would have got him out and about at weekends, changed his scene

and his environment, and it would have been extra income.

The company remained a vanguard of British coach services

for 50 years until, finally, it became subsidiary of

the government-backed National Bus Company in 1969 and then, by 1976,

the Black & White fleet name was gone.

Having established who Douglas' parents were,

the heir hunters made a major breakthrough.

We traced two aunts who were still alive.

And there were a further three aunts or uncles that left descendants,

and then one that had passed away in infancy.

One of the first beneficiaries to hear

the news of their inheritance was Bill's aunt Joyce who hadn't

seen the nephew she knew as Billy for many years.

This particular knock on the door

was the last thing she'd been expecting.

This very posh gentleman come to the door and he asked me

was I related to William.

And I said yes, I said, "I'm an auntie."

And he said he'd passed away.

Billy was such a lovely boy.

I didn't believe it. I still can't believe it, you know.

But it's true, innit?

Bill's aunt still has very fond memories of her nephew.

The short time I knew Billy, he was the same as Dougie,

he had the same personality.

Friendly, kind, like when he took me to the train station,

he was more worried about me than his mother being on her own,

but, that was the last time I saw Billy...

when I left there.

And Joyce has her own theory on just why Bill remained a bachelor.

He idolised his mother...

and his father. He was one of the best sons going, that's why I think

he never got married.

You know, not to leave 'em.

Bill's father, Dougie, had four sisters.

At the time of Bill's death, only two were still alive.

His aunt Joyce and his aunt Lilian,

who was also taken by complete surprise by the news of her nephew.

Billy I hadn't seen since he was a little boy.

So, well, I was really surprised. I was shocked, you know.

-Catch!

-Talking about Billy brought back memories

of Billy's father, Lilian's brother, Dougie.

I was very close to Dougie.

I think I was his favourite. Yeah.

That's why he took me up to North Wales for a holiday.

'But once I got courting, you don't bother any more.

'Years go by and you don't realise.'

And then, when you do, when you do catch up with it,

it's a disappointment.

You know.

But, uh, I feel sorry that Billy's gone.

With the team's research almost complete,

and after the Treasury Office had accepted the heirs they'd found

were the rightful ones,

Andrew was able to gather some final bits of information

from a visit to Bill's house.

This meant the last piece of the puzzle could be put in place

with a little help from Bill's trusty friends.

They've been in touch with the solicitors

and they've actually handed over all the paperwork they've got.

They haven't been able to find a will,

so I'm sure there isn't going to be a will on this occasion and,

therefore, the beneficiaries who we have located will be

the beneficiaries of Mr Green's estate.

This is a huge relief for case manager Ben.

So, now that we know that there isn't a will,

all our work hasn't been in vain, um,

and the family will benefit from the estate rather than the government.

The team has managed to bring the case to a successful conclusion,

uncovering all the heirs.

The estate of William Alfred George Green, we think, is worth

approximately £100,000 and will be shared between 22 beneficiaries.

For the heir hunters, their hard work has finally paid off,

and they will now receive their commission from a percentage

of the legacy agreed by each heir who's signed up.

But for one of the beneficiaries, his aunt Lilian,

the entitlement is stained with regret.

I feel very sad that Billy never got married...

..and had children because this would have all been settled

without any bother at all.

In Mold Register Office in North Wales, heir hunter Saul is waiting

for information he hopes will help him finally crack

the £11,000 estate of Harold Jones, who died in March 2012, aged 88.

What I've done now is, straightaway,

I've put in the application for Lillian's death certificate

and that's the one where I'm hoping the informant is going to be

one of their children.

It's the surname Jones which has made Harold's father's

side of the family so difficult to research,

but the mother's side is a different story.

Although Harold's mother, Margaret, also had a common surname, Hughes,

when Saul first took on the case in 2012,

he successfully managed to trace her relatives after weeks of research.

I managed to establish that Harold's aunt, Sarah-Jane Hughes,

got married... Would you believe it? ..to a Jones!

You would believe it in North Wales, believe me.

Umm...

Sarah-Jane Hughes married John William Jones in 1912 in Chester.

Sarah and John had two children. The elder of whom was John Owen Jones.

And, after a bit more work, I was finally able to establish that

John Owen Jones had two daughters, the elder of whom's name was Vera.

Harold's cousin, and maternal heir, Vera has

vivid memories of visits to his home.

When we'd go out when I was growing up, I used to go,

from the age of 15, um...

To my Auntie Maggie's every lunchtime...

..for a lightly boiled egg and a piece of toast.

Enough to put you off eggs for life,

but Harold used to be there sometimes, but he was very quiet,

a very introverted person, not very sociable.

While the maternal side might have been straightforward,

the paternal side is anything but, and, in Mold, probate researcher

Saul is hoping the death certificate he's waiting for will be of

Harold's aunt and the informant on it will therefore be a living heir.

However, he fears he's got the wrong person.

The Lillian May Hughes who we know is correct,

in 1930 she's putting on her marriage certificate that she's 23.

Now, ages aren't necessarily always accurate, but, um...

But this is a serious discrepancy here now, so I'm...

a bit worried that this next certificate is going to

turn out to be the wrong Lillian May Jones.

No, it's not the right one.

I've worked that out. I've worked that out.

So, we need to, we need to...

She was born the right year, but her maiden name is Jones on

-this one and she was a widow of someone else.

-Yeah.

This is a real blow to Saul's research

and could set his hunt for paternal heirs back weeks.

Right, well, that's the first disappointing news of the day.

Um, as I had just realised and come to fear that the death registration

of 1992 is not the same Lillian May Jones who was born

Lillian May Hughes, so that's a stumbling block and it's one of those

things that happen when people called Jones marry people called Hughes.

But, undaunted by this set back,

Saul is determined to keep pushing for a result.

What I'm doing now is I'm searching the death index, um, for...

deaths of a Lillian May Jones who was who was born around 1906, 1907.

Could Saul's persistence be about to pay off?

There is a death listing for a Lillian May Jones who

died in Ruthin, which is also near to here, uh, in February '95.

Date of birth was 1st of August 1906.

This could be the Lillian May Saul is so desperate to find,

but will her death certificate be here?

-Ruthin is not here, is it?

-No, it's in Denbighshire North.

So, it'll be the Rhyl Register Office.

Yeah, that's very frustrating.

This is a further blow to Saul's day and he doesn't have time to drive

the 24 miles across to Rhyl Register Office before it closes.

However, Saul's got one more plan up his sleeve.

The other thing is to order George Hewitt Junior's birth

certificate and that'll give us his exact date of birth.

And then we can start looking for people called George H Jones

who are still alive with that date of birth.

With the day's research resting on this final throw of the dice,

Saul puts in his request to superintendent registrar Noelle.

I'm fairly sure he's George Hewitt Jones, those should be the parents.

-OK.

-If he's the wrong George H Jones, then we don't need it.

-Thanks very much.

-Could this finally be the piece of information

that will unlock Harold's father's side of the family?

Harold's father, Henry Lloyd Jones, had been one of five children.

He'd had three brothers and one sister. He'd worked as a stonemason

alongside his eldest brother, Robert,

a trade which had been passed down from their father, David.

The craft of stonemasonry has existed since civilisation began.

It's thought that the great Greek philosopher Socrates

practised as a stonemason alongside his father

before concentrating his efforts on philosophy.

Stone has been used throughout our history to build

some of the world's most iconic and durable buildings.

But, as stonemason Steven Blackwell knows only too well,

it's a profession that requires dedication from the outset.

Stonemasonry is very highly skilled...

and, generally, there was a five-year apprenticeship

and two-year improving.

Henry would also have had to have the patience of a saint.

Harold's ancestors would have set all their work out by drawing

whatever they wanted to carve on the stone first.

To cut 100 letters on a piece of stone...might have

taken as long as two days for Harold's ancestors.

Nowadays, we can do that in maybe two hours.

Steven has nothing but admiration for the pioneers of his profession.

Modern stonemasons rely on technology heavily.

We use modern sandblasting techniques,

diamond and tungsten-tipped tools.

The tools that Harold's ancestors used were principally hardened steel.

They probably produced articles of a finer finish of what we can,

so it's a remarkable testimony to their skills at that time.

Back in the Register Office in North Wales, finally,

there's been a breakthrough in the paternal side of the case.

So, is that the right one then?

Yes, that is the right one, right father and right mother, yes.

OK, we'll have that then in that case.

I mean, it doesn't tell us a great deal more,

but it'll tell us something.

This is just the result Saul was hoping for and, potentially,

very exciting news.

This certificate gives us a little bit of information.

This is the birth of George Hewitt Jones Junior.

It gives us his exact date of birth.

Armed with this new knowledge, Saul gets on his computer to see

if he can locate George.

Right. I think I've got him.

What I've done is I've searched on the electoral rolls

for a George Jones with no middle initial,

just a general George Jones, but with a specific date of birth

and I've done it all over the country, so, it could be anywhere.

There is one George Jones who has the middle initial H

and he lives in Prestatyn, which is not far from here.

So, I'm quite confident now that this is our man...

and he has a phone number.

Hi, is that Mr Jones?

Hi, my name is Saul Marks. I work for a company...

Saul wastes no time and gets on the phone

to try and confirm his findings.

We're working a case called Jones for our sins,

and we're hoping to find a George Hewitt Jones.

I was hoping that might be you.

And your parents were George Hewitt Jones and Lillian May Hughes?

Fantastic! Brilliant! I'm so glad we've found you.

Great news. It seems the phone call has delivered just what

Saul needed to hear.

Thanks very much. Thanks, bye.

Never give up. Never, ever give up.

Even if you're searching a Jones family, never give up.

Brilliant! We've done it, that was the big breakthrough that we wanted.

I've spoken to George Hewitt Jones Junior, he's happy for me

to go and see him. Um...

He's confirmed that he's the right person and we've traced the

right family and I'm thrilled, absolutely thrilled. Brilliant.

Saul explodes into action to go

and sign up this first paternal heir of Harold's estate.

This visit is now very, very important.

He is the first heir that we've found on the paternal side of the family,

and it's taken us an awful lot of research to get this far,

so I'm going to be sitting down with the family tree with him

and going through it and, hopefully, he'll be able to tell us

enough information that we can start visiting more heirs this

afternoon and signing them up.

Where's 22...?

Although Saul might have found one potential heir in George,

he's relying on him for information on the rest of the family.

Otherwise, he'll be back trying to deal with that

impossible Jones name.

-This is you? George Hewitt Jones Junior?

-Yes, yes.

-Junior, I've been calling you George Hewitt Jones Junior.

-Yeah.

-Right, so there were six of you.

-Yeah.

So...all of you who are still alive...

-will be entitled to inherit a portion of this.

-Mm-hm.

And, just as Saul had hoped,

it seems that George has got a firm grasp of who is who in the family,

opening up a whole new world of untapped heirs.

-That'll be Margaret Florence.

-Uh, huh, that'll be...yes, that's...

-A bit younger than your dad?

-Yes.

-Let's...

This is great news for Saul and it looks like all his hard work

and persistence is going to pay off.

-So, if your father was alive...

-Yes.

-..and his sisters and whatever,

-then they would get to share the estate.

-Hmm.

But, because they're not alive, the father's line comes down to you.

When a beneficiary signs up with a probate research firm,

they generally agree to allow that company to help them make a claim

for an agreed percentage of his or her share of their inheritance.

OK...

For George, this completely unexpected legacy is something

he could never have imagined happening to him.

When I got the phone call, I was very shocked and surprised and...

Yeah, and he told me what was happening.

I didn't know him and I didn't know any of the rest of the family.

I've never had nothing in my life before so...

It's a surprise. Yeah.

And Saul couldn't be more pleased with the results of the meeting.

Mr Jones was very, very helpful.

He was able to tell us about his brothers and sisters

and the rest of his immediate family.

Sadly, his eldest sister's passed away,

but he and his wife were able to give us details of his nieces and nephews

and his brothers' phone numbers, so I'm going to go and give them a ring.

He was also able to talk about his Aunt Flo,

that was Margaret Florence Jones, and her line of the family.

She married another Jones, so, six more sons all called Jones.

Um, so, yes, we've got a number of leads to work on.

Um, I'm thrilled that Mr Jones was happy to sign with us, so he's

another one ticked off the list, as it were, and we've got to go

and find the other Joneses now, so bring on North Wales!

Keen to keep this positive momentum going,

Saul immediately arranges to visit George's brother, Phillip.

-Hi, Mr Jones. Saul Marks.

-Pleased to meet you.

While Saul explains what he's discovered so far,

Phil is able to add some of his own information to the family tree,

and it seems this unexpected visit has started something.

It's nice to be remembered, really, so I've asked

Saul for a copy of the family tree and he said he'd gladly send me it.

Along with a clear form so that we can study the family tree,

it'd be so nice.

And a few days later,

thanks to the information he was able to learn from George

and Phil, Saul has traced and made contact with

many of the heirs on Harold's father's elusive side of the family.

There are still two branches of the Jones side to track down,

but, so far, Saul has found 21 heirs who will inherit a share of

Harold's £11,000 estate.

But, for Vera, the cousin who knew him

so well in childhood, the legacy is tinged with sadness.

We lost touch with Harold when Auntie Maggie died,

so, I'm at the funeral and, after that, um...

there were no contact at all, really.

Unfortunately, families do lose touch, but, uh...

That's life, I'm sorry, isn't it? Hmm.