Importing An Ancestor

ICopyright. 1893. by American Press AssocifcXionJ CHAPTER II. THE TOWN OF THETFORD AND TOMBS OF MY ANCESTORS. Ön my arrival in London I halted there two or three days to make inquiries and get my wits into working order. I soon decided that I must get back among the old country towns and villages. There I would begin a series of antiquarian researches. I would be a young American specially interested in old churches and churchyards. Wishing to at once get into some old and thickly settled section of the country, I took the Great Eastern road and went up into Norfolk. Speaking of my antiquariau hobby and 6pecial fondness of old churches and churchyards lo a fellow passenger, he mentionetl the town of Thetford, on the Little Ouse.it) Norfolk county (and partly in Suffolk). as a place in which 1 might see sume very old churches still standing and the ruina of othersmuch older. "There, on the Norfolk side of the Ouse," said my fellow passenger, "you will see St. Peter's, called the "black church" because built of flint. Also in Thetford, on the Suffolk side of the Ouse, you will find St. Mary's church. a largo thatched strncture, with a lofty square tower. And in Thetford you will see the remains of a Cluniac priory and other religions odifices." My fellow traveler appeared to be quite an antiquarian himself. He said Thetford was a very ancient town, even for England, and told me so innch about the place that 1 decided to make the town my headqtiarters and from it for a time prosecate my archaeological researeb.es, though it is only about 95 miles out from Londen. As there are in Norfolk county alone no fewer than 700 parishes, I had before me an excellent hnnting ground. I very soon discovered that I had landed in what must have been the original rookery or hatchery of the Johnsons in England. The ground was full of the "croppings" of Jolnisons of both high and low degree; also there were "Johnstones," "Jonsons," a:id even "Johnssons." I did not devote much time to the esamination of the large cemeteries in Thetford, but flt once set to work at "prospecting" tiie old dilapidated churchyarda of the neighboring pariahes, man of them so overgrown with weeds and brainbles as to be in what we would cali a "shocking condition." However, the people explained that they were now almost disused and many of them wholly deserted on account of the shifting of the population', so many peopleleaving the farms and going into the large rnanufacturing towns. As you can imagine, p.11 this suited my purpose well. After "prospecting" about a week I found a Sir Archibald Johnson in an old parish churchyard, who had "departed this ïife" in 1798. The tombstone was about 6 feet in height and of portionate width. The inscription was in a good state of preservation, which I considered a fortúnate circumstance. The date was about what I required for a great-great-grandf ather. By the side of the tomb of Sir Archibald was that of bis "beloved wife," Eleanor, who had closed her eyes npon things mundane two years earlier than her lord. I surveyed this new and unexpected "find" with great satisfaction. Instantly I decided to extend my original plan and take back with me a great-greatgrandmother as well as a great-greatgrandfather. A sense of justice and the "eternal fitness of things" told me that to carry away Sir Archibald and leave Lady Eleanor behind would be simply outrageous. As they had not been sexarated in life, they should not be in death. I knew my father well enough to feel sure that he would be delighted with Lady Eleanor; that he wonld receive her with the greatest enthusiasm. The next day, while wandering aimlessly in another old churchyard, I chanced upon an earl, one Reginald Johnstone. He was hidden away in a thicket of briars. "Why not go in for an earl while I am about it?" I asked myself. This earl for a moment sorely tempted me, but it soon occurred to me that he was rather too ancient for my use, the date on his tombstone being 1630. Af ter due reflection 1 arrived at the conclusión that a good, well matched pair, though of lower rank, would be preferable in the game I was about to play to a lone earl. Besides all this, there was a fitness of the names of the pair I had at first f ound that seemed almost providential. My father's name when given in full is James Archibald Johnson, and I have a sister Eleanor. Thoughts of these curious coincidences made me resolve to cling to my first find. Indeed I began to feel a sort of affection for the old couple. My sister would be in raptures ghen I took home to her the remains of Lady Eleanor, her great-great-grandmother. (CONTINUBDIS TBBSDAY'S PAPER.)