>We landed in Lockeport, Nova Scotia, after a journey by minivan and ferry, to let Husband continue his research on the family history. Lockeport was a conscious choice: the family members in question were Lockes and their direct descendants, the Danes.

The first night, tired and hungry, we settled into a local diner, sampled the local cuisine, and introduced ourselves and our mission. Husband mentioned he would be looking for local cemeteries, among other things, with the aim of getting photographs of his Locke ancestors. “My mother was a Locke,” replied the waitress. She gave him directions to a couple of cemeteries that were so far off the beaten path that he wouldn’t have found them himself and added the name of a woman down the street who might have more stories to tell him.

And that was just the first night!

The next day (Monday) he went to Yarmouth and dug through the archives of the historical society. While he worked, one of the archivists said, “Oh, you might beinterested in this.” This was a booklet, copied in a lovely and legible hand, titled The Dane Book, copied by Eunice Brown, 1788. Oh, my goodness, what a gem! The historical folk allowed him to photocopy the whole thing and photograph the cover. I’ll share a few of the letters copied into the collection later; they’re treasures.

Tuesday we had a touristy morning, exploring the nearby town of Shelburne and walking along the historic Dock St. Small place, loads of history. Great food, too. Coffee from Beandocks, lunch at the Sea Dog, all was well.

Tuesday afternoon Husband went to the town offices of Lockeport to ask about continuing his research. While he was there, the woman working turned to a man who had just come in and said, “Oh, Councilman, I think you can help this man better than I can.” Sure enough, this man not only had the key to the archives, he knew where the pioneer cemetery with the Locke family plot was located. Instead of giving directions, he said, “Give me a lift home and I’ll take you there.”

To make a long story short, he was right. The cemetery was very secluded, and Husband was thrilled to see and photograph the family stones. When Husband called him the next day to make an appointment to see the archives; Councilman said, “How about now?” Wow!

Husband has found so much through hard work, and now he’s having a little bit of good luck to help him along. In My Humble Opinion, he’s earned it. The research part of this trip has gone very, very well.