It wasn't until I had a child of my own that I actively started looking into my own family history but that was just the active beginning of my search. The spark had been lit a long time before when I was still a child in my family's home.
As I remember, the breathless buzz of gossip caught my attention even though my nose was buried in a book as usual. It was my mum and my gran, her mother, discussing (gossiping about) family members, their family members. Before my gram married my grandad, her last name had been Gilchrist. I knew that because somehow it was important and also because it was the last name of my Auntie Peg, who I was named after, although how anyone thought it was a good idea to call me Margaret when even she went by a different name, I don't know.
But what they were discussing was something that happened a long time before. Before my mum was born but, now that I think about it, it was something that happened when my gran was a young woman because she got married in 1918 just after the mystery that started in 1917.
Was the mystery a bit deal back in 1918? Probably not. There might have been some local speculation as to whether it was an accident or intentional then. Now, as far as the family knew, the body was interred in the family plot in Leith. Perhaps it was those books that started the discussion between my mum and my gran or perhaps it was rumours of a new book being written about Tom Thomson's death. But, although much has been written, no definitive answers have been found as to how an experienced outdoorsman like Tom could have drowned on July 8, 1917.
No comments:
Post a Comment