In 1958, former farm labourer Henry Tupper passed away in a hospital in Toronto. At least one of his many descendants believes that this was the end of the journey of the orphan Harry Tuppen.
But in 1943, Henry Victor Tuppen a semi-retired piano cabinetmaker living with the family of his daughter and police detective son-in-law was buried in Los Angeles. His records suggest that he was that same Harry Tuppen.
Clearly both men lived, worked, and raised families in North America; but they cannot both have been Harry Tuppen (of the mariner Tuppens of Portsmouth). Which one of them was the "true" Tuppen? (Or perhaps neither of them were!).
Paul presented this intriguing puzzle from the annals of the Tuppen ONS and asked for the assistance of the group in reaching a conclusion. He gave us access to his extensive collection of records and the benefit of his research experience (while cleverly concealing his own considered opinion).
At the end of two hours that flew past, we had each formed an opinion (of varying levels of conviction) as to which man was the real Harry. It was fascinating to hear which aspects of the evidence were more persuasive for different people and why.
And the conclusion? While most groupies leant toward the case for the piano maker, there were varying degrees of (un)certainty. But we were unanimous in the opinion that Paul should continue to investigate (along the lines we had suggested) and return with a progress report when he has added to the story.