How would you like a picture of your KNIBB grandfather aged 5yrs 8 months in 1857? That's what one of my correspondents is now being asked. And this thanks to Richard KNIBBS. Let me explain. Richard received a telephone call from someone who was trying to trace a descendant of a young Richard KNIBB from Fenny Compton, having found the picture of him which had been offered for sale in a Gainsborough shop following a house clearance. The details of the subject and his exact age were written on the back. The finder decided to try and trace a descendant and started by ringing locals in the vicinity and having drawn a blank [although he did indeed speak to a descendant who was elderly and not interested] wrote to a local paper. Someone [not a relation] replied having traced Richard KNIBB at Fenny Compton on the 1881 census. Both he and his brother Daniel were bachelor farmers at the time so it appeared that there were no direct descendants who would be interested in the picture. It was that this stage in the saga that Richard KNIBBS received a call from the finder and, not having any connection, Richard gave him my details for which I was duly grateful. Nothing happened for some days so I rang the finder myself. On hearing the story, I was able to confirm straightaway that both brothers married soon after 1881 and that indeed Richard was a father six times over before he died in 1929. Not only that but I had corresponded with one descendant in Canada and met another who lives in England. I don't yet know the final outcome but quite a yarn, eh? bfn Alan