Dear List, My GGGrandfather made pipe lagging for steam pipes in UK woollen mills. This lagging rejoiced in the Yorkshire nickname of "monkey muck", but that's as much as I know. Does anyone know from what it would be made (I suspect shoddy) and would such a product have had anything to do with his mysterious visit to Essex County, NJ in the 1860s? So far, the old Freemason has kept the reason for his trip very close to his chest and his death over seventy five years ago has hampered my research somewhat. Now, this child must have a grave and the chances are that it had a headstone as the old man was wealthy and wouldn't have settled for a marker. The questions are these: Why was he in Bloomfield NJ? Why did he come back? Where is his son buried? Why was the whole episode a secret? Why are there no extant records? What was Bloomfield's industry in the 1860s/1870s? Would it have anything at all to do with machines that needed steam pipes or the woollen industry? I have been told he is not on the FTM list, so wonder if anyone has records of BDM in NJ during that time. I have no experience at all of US history and do not know where to start. Best regards and thanks in advance. Mike Sunny Leicester Brearey Family History Site at: http://www.brearey.freeserve.co.uk/brearey Luddite Resource Site under construction at: http://www.brearey.freeserve.co.uk/luddites Mirfield BDM at: http://www.brearey.freeserve.co.uk/mirfield The Trouble With Hotels - the ramblings of a bored hotel manager at: http://www.brearey.freeserve.co.uk/hotels Croft Hotel Site at: http://www.brearey.freeserve.co.uk/croft