Page 190 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

It was time to take a ride back in time. to a large white two-story house that had seen better
Fortunately, we had a trusty driver and guide, Denis days. It didn’t feel right, but we had traveled this far
O’Connor, who would help us in the quest. At first, the and Mitchell had encouraged us to knock on doors,
weather cooperated, but about the time we crossed that folks in the area were used to greeting genealogy
the river out of Derry-Londonderry, it began to rain. We buffs. So we knocked on the front door. No reply. The
knew the address of the farm was 58 Coshquin Road, storm was howling now, and we were getting soaked,
which should easy to find following GPS maps. It didn’t so I made one last attempt. Nothing. We turned and
take long to locate the road which began right beyond headed back down the driveway when the front door
the bridge. It was a narrow, almost one lane affair with opened. An old man dressed in pajamas and a robe
thick trees flanking both sides. poked his head out and yelled over the wind and rain,
The rain turned into a torrent, as we peered intently “Hello. Can I help you?”
to find an opening in the wall of trees. Finally, we spot- We explained our mission and asked if this was the
ted a gated marked 31 Coshquin Road sign. Surely the old James farm, explaining that GPS indicated the
next open driveway would be our destination. About a farm was here or nearby. He laughed and told us a tour
quarter mile later, Mary and I piled out of the car into bus following GPS mistakenly turned into his driveway,
the downpour. got stuck and had to be towed out. “No,” he added.
Umbrellas high we made our way up the driveway “This wasn’t the James farm at any time.”

190 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018