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I began my family research when we moved to England, and I decided to look up the birthplace of my great-grandmother Ethel Marie Newby. Growing up she always told me that she was born in Cumberland County, and there was a town of Newby in Cumberland County, but as I did my research I found that she was actually born in Blaydon-on-Tyne, Durham County. I was able to visit her birthplace and actually get a copy of her birth certificate. I also was able to visit the gravesite of her grandfather Ralph Foster Newby in Blaydon. I went around the corner in the same building and was able to actually view the ledger that they kept the cemetary records in. It was really neat because the books are huge, and they copy off the certificates from the book, and as the books wear out, someone hand copies the records into a new book. Anyway, the record keeper gave me the grave site number, but told me that I would never find it on my own, and the caretaker took care of three different cemetaries, and she had no idea when he would be at the one in Blaydon. The hand of God was with me, though, as we drove to the cemetary, and the caretaker was there, and he walked us straight to the grave, which had no headstone. It was the thrill of a lifetime that started me on my way to researching the family history. I hope anyone reading this enjoys it as much as I do.
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