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Archiver > ISLE-OF-WIGHT > 1998-07 > 0899531218


From: Cathy Pinner <>
Subject: Ventnor Mystery
Date: Sat, 04 Jul 1998 13:46:58 +0800


Hi,

I've just joined this list. My great uncle William Melville HARRIS, a
Congregational minister, retired to "The Wilderness", Ventnor, IOW around
1920 and lived there until his death in 1939. His first wife Jane died in
1930.
His second wife, Jessie, kept the house though seems to have mostly lived
in Bournemouth, DOR.

What cemeteries exist in Ventnor?

Sometime in the 1950s Will's niece Ethel Mary STAGG, according to the
family story, disappeared from the house and was never seen again. I'm
told that after Jessie's death in 1961 there was a world-wide search to
fulfil legal requirements so the estate could be wound up. She would have
been 45-50 years old. It is possible that Ethel used the surname HARRIS as
she was brought up in her uncle's family.

What would "world-wide search" mean?

Any ideas on how to check the disappearance story?
My only thought is local newspapers but I don't have access to them here in
Western Australia.

Thanks for any help.
Cathy Pinner

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