Family tradition had it that my great-grandfather, Joseph MASON, died as a result of a motorcycle accident on his way to work at Staveley, Derbyshire. Whenever we drove past this lane, my father would reiterate that his grandfather had died along that road.

However, the information I had was rather sketchy. We knew he was alive in 1913, as he registered the birth of his youngest son, Benjamin Mellard MASON, in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, and according to my grandfather’s wedding certificate and photographs, was deceased by June 1929. This gave a time frame of about 16 years to search.

On his marriage to Sarah Elizabeth MELLARD at Beighton, Derbyshire, the certificate shows his name was Joseph aged 21 and the date was 7 April 1896. However, the International Genealogical Index’s marriage entry was entirely wrong, giving a date of April 1895, and his forename as Richard!

This meant he was born 1874 but I was struggling to find either a birth or a death. However, the 1881 and 1891 census suggested he was born in 1864 and his birthplace as Wednesbury, Staffordshire, so I widened my search, and found his death on 2 May 1924, aged 59, which meant the marriage age was incorrect.

After finding an inquest report in the local paper The Derbyshire Times, I learned that my grandfather had given evidence at the lorry (not motorcycle) accident. There was also a picture of my great-grandfather, the only one I have, which unfortunately did not copy very well.