IN A series of bizarre examples of serendipity, Bridport teacher Joan Bolton has traced her Peterborough family thanks to a neighbour.

She started her search in January 2001 after receiving a letter from an American cousin, Richard Klapper, asking for her help to trace their family tree - the Mould family of Peterborough.

She contacted the Peterborough Evening Telegraph to appeal for information on an elusive great aunt, Rose Mould but this produced no new leads.

But when Mrs Bolton went to visit a friend in South Street and mentioned the research she was astounded to learn the woman had lived in Peakirk in the 1950s.

The second coincidence came when the Boltons took a detour on their holiday to the Cotswolds to Sheila Rose, another cousin from the Prentice line – traced using an old family address book.

Joan learned that Sheila had a god-daugher Pauline Evans living in West Bay and that Pauline’s brother, Patrick, was married to another Prentice cousin. A third surprise came late in December 2004 when the Boltons’ new next door neighbours proved to be Pauline's daughter, Katherine.

Still looking for another cousin who had disappeared in 1939, Mrs Bolton contacted Margaret Milree at the Coach House Museum in Gundry Lane.

Mrs Bolton said: “This mystery was solved when Margaret Googled the name Devereux Frederick Jessop and discovered a reference to him on the website of a church in Wimbledon.”

This was all published last October in America by Trafford.

Mrs Bolton added: “We only got as far back as the 1700’s but being able to reminisce with surviving family members has been the most rewarding experience and in this respect Bridport has certainly played its part.”