"Okay Mum. What are the other two secret family messages?" I asked with my curiosity peaked.
Florence reached for a book on the floor beside her chair - her filing system - and took out a scrap of paper.
"Well, the first one is: 'James Simmons, father of William Simmons, came to Australia about the time of the First Fleet.' This time there's no reference to the Royal Navy but there is 'the time of the First Fleet' again.
"Now we have two names and one of them is that of my great-grandfather, the one whose name appears on the marriage certificate I showed you, who was married to Agnes Reid - or the mysterious Granny Fitz - in Melbourne some 70 years after the First Fleet.
"But since William was married in Australia in 1856 his father, James Simmons, could hardly have come here at the time of the First Fleet."
"And the third message?" I asked impatiently.
"This one is like three brief clues which don't make any sense. It's 'James Simmons. Mary Ann. Soldier Guard.'
"Now we have a third name: Mary Ann. I have no idea who - or what - she could be.
"You see how cleverly linked they are. Yet the messages simply don't match up even though we know for certain that William Simmons did exist and he was our ancestor."
So the big question is, was Charlotte - or someone before her - making all this up just for fun? Or do we have a genuine mystery here?
