Help needed

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=210 BGCOLOR="#99CC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0408dfc3.jpg"> <div> <IMG SRC="3adbead0.jpg" border=0 width="190" height="173" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <div> Any help is always very welcome. Sometimes, it is the tiniest piece of information that is of the greatest help. It is rather like doing a giant jigsaw puzzle, when a small piece of a church steeple links a giant piece of sky to the land below.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="3afbee90.jpg" border=0 width="190" height="233" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> </td> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfe1esnpes.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Drax, Dracas, Dracass & Drakes</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax, Dracas, Dracass Drakes"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Research"><U>Research</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id60.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="British racial origins"><U>British racial origins</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id53.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="DNA"><U>DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id59.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My DNA"><U>My DNA</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id57.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="YDNA Project"><U>Y-DNA Project</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id68.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Basques"><U>Basques</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="When where"><U>When & where</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id58.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Old maps"><U>Old maps</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Births"><U>Births</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Marriages"><U>Marriages</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Deaths"><U>Deaths</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="In Loving Memory"><U>In Loving Memory</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Relationships"><U>Relationships</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Trees"><U>Trees</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id64.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Drax"><U>Drax</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id56.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Darfield"><U>Darfield</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id50.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ellerton, Charborough Olantigh"><U>Ellerton, Charborough & Olantigh</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id61.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dracas(s)"><U>Dracas(s)</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id43.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tealby"><U>Tealby</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Bayons Manor"><U>Bayons Manor</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Morton Grange"><U>Morton Grange</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id46.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Thurlby Hall"><U>Thurlby Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id48.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ludford"><U>Ludford</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stainton Hall"><U>Stainton Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id45.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gunthorpe Hall"><U>Gunthorpe Hall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id18.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photos"><U>Photos</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mum"><U>Mum</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rick"><U>Rick</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jeremy"><U>Jeremy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id49.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ian"><U>Ian</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id54.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark"><U>Mark</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Martyr"><U>Martyr</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id69.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Waterman"><U>Waterman</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id32.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sailors life"><U>Sailor's life</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id65.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Worth Matravers"><U>Worth Matravers</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id66.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Woolbridge"><U>Woolbridge</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="W. Yorks Yeomanry"><U>W. Yorks Yeomanry</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id62.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="A Gordon Highlander"><U>A Gordon Highlander</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reunion"><U>Reunion</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mailbag"><U>Mailbag</U></A>   |   <B>Help needed</B>   |   <A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Missing"><U>Missing</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id63.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Wooden Bowl"><U>The Wooden Bowl</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact me"><U>Contact me</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id52.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The future?"><U>The future?</U></A></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=340 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0418dfc3.jpg"> <div> <I>Help needed</I></div> <bR> <div> I have been working all branches of my family history since 1970, but only during spare time and holidays. In September 1999, I retired due to ill health and eventually started extensive work on this project; it has become almost a full-time job! I have managed to purchase quite a few birth, marriage and death certificates to resolve major issues, however, the costs prevent me paying for all the certificates that I would like; currently almost 3,000 at £7 each!</div> <bR> <div> For these reasons I would really appreciate scanned copies, photocopies, or exact transcripts of any certificates or family documents that you may hold for these surnames. Family trees are always welcome. I have a lot of family contacts around the world, many of whom send me everything they find that might help. I am always pleased to receive any information that might prove useful, no matter how small.</div> <bR> <div> If you find a gravestone, anywhere with a Drax, Dracas(s) or Drakes surname on it, please record all of the inscription, take a photo if you can, note the location & graveyard details, and please send me a copy. Memorial stones frequently have information that is not found elsewhere; this is particularly the case where a relative died abroad or at sea and was remembered on his parents' or sibling's gravestone.</div> <bR> <div> I have put several distant relatives in touch with each other, as a result of requests, but treat all information as CONFIDENTIAL. I always ask before I pass contact details to another family member.</div> <bR> <div> I offer family members a tree of their ancestors with the siblings of each generation, but do not normally show other descendants, as this may involve information about living people; also, it easily becomes too much to take in.</div> <bR> <div> I suspect that there cannot be many of these surnames on gravestones in the UK that I couldn't place in a family tree. </div> <bR> <div> Whilst I do not make any charge for this, I would appreciate any additional information, especially copies of birth, marriage & death certificates.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>How these records can help</B></div> <bR> <div> In 2002, I was approached by a fellow Drakes-researcher on behalf of the Australian Government and asked if I knew of any close relatives for 19 year old Flight Sergeant Stewart Ian Drakes (RAAF), who had died in the Battle of New Guinea in 1943. The remains of the crew of four had recently been recovered from the sea floor by divers. See 'Ian' for the full story.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>