Well I was wondering where the name Gardner kept popping up from - it's not a name of anyone that i've heard of in the family.
I had a look at the family tree and worked out that there were some Gardner's on the Holmes side of the family but none of them were direct relatives of Jessie Elizabeth Gardner Ward (nee Holmes)
Having spoken to Dad, he tells me that the story goes something like:
There was a man once called Walter Gardner, he was a Jockey and he is meant to have died losing weight for a race. Apparently they used to sit in horse manure and the exothermic reaction (or something) overheated him and he died suddenly.
There is meant to be a legacy of a large amount of money left somewhere in the family, but no one to our knowledge has ever found it. Perhaps it's hidden under the floorboards of a house, or in a bank under a different name? Anyway, Jessie Holmes was given the Gardner in her name to entitle her to a share of this legacy if it was ever found.
How interesting - It's stories like this I had been excited about finding.
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