With Daphne's parents no longer alive our problem was to now identify the numerous photographs we had found, and to tie those we identified into any of the documents, or place them within the family tree that we were putting together. Fortunately there were still many relatives of Daphne's parents alive, brothers, sisters and cousins, who although now well into their 80's should be able to provide us with most of the information we needed.
We made plans, and we went visiting family that Daphne knew well, and whom I had met many years before in 1986 when Daphne and I were first married. And in so doing we found a virtual treasure trove of new information and photographs. We also tracked down a cousin, Agnes Lottering (nee Rorke), who had written a book about her life, and that of her mother who had married Benjamin William Rorke, a brother of Daphne's maternal grandfather.
When we met Agnes we not only persuaded her to give us a copy of the book, but we found that she had already carried out a great deal of research into the Rorke family - she was convinced that they originated in Ireland but had not been able to make the final connection.
With time running out for us - we left for England within a few days - we began to consolidate the information we now had, and to draw lines back in time from Daphne' parents.
Agnes's book "Winnefred & Agnes" provided us with a wealth of information about the Rorke family in northern Natal around the latter part of the 19th century. It also described in glowing detail the historical context that the family lived in after the Zulu wars of 1879.
Within the box of papers and photographs we had found two handwritten pieces of paper, we had no idea whose handwriting it was, but when read in conjunction with Agnes's book one of them revealed critical information about Daphne's Rorke ancestors.
