Today's Date:

This worldwide project to research a very rare surname began one afternoon over fifty years ago when a cousin took me to see what he called the "family churchyard" at West Walton in Norfolk. On arrival we were horrified to find that the gravestones behind the church were in the process of being deliberately smashed to pieces. We protested to the rector, with the result that our great grandfather's and great great grandfather's gravestones were spared. A life-long passion for family history began that afternoon which very quickly blossomed into an attempt to link all living Edgooses to a common ancestor. It took over 40 years to achieve that goal.

Today, fifty years later, those two headstones lie flat on their faces behind the church, perhaps already overgrown by grass. There is nothing there to remind us that our ancestors lived in this village for two hundred years after 1796.

Unless stated otherwise, the names of all places are in England.