Houston man travels to Scarborough to solve century-old family mystery

Jan Eckhoff, originally from Norway, is searching for traces of his paternal grandmother — Mary Kathleen Smith, who was born on September 7 1893 in Old Hall, Stubbs Walden.

Mary married Norwegian sea captain Trygve Eckhoff in 1918 and moved to Norway where the couple had two children, a daughter in 1918 and a son (Jan’s father) in 1920.

At the time of her marriage, Mary lived at Woodhouse Farm in Flixton, near Scarborough.

Mary vanished from her children’s lives following a painful divorce in 1921. Now, with time and technology on his side, Mr. Eckhoff is determined to find out what became of her.

“This is a long shot, I know,” Mr Eckhoff said. “But I’ve reached a stage in life where I can finally dedicate time and resources to finding out what happened to her.”

“They divorced shortly after my father was born. Mary lost custody of both children, received no financial support, and, as far as we know, never saw her children again. It’s a sad chapter my family never spoke of.”

Despite the pain of this separation, no effort was made by Mr Eckhoff’s father or aunt to reconnect with their mother.

“That’s the obvious question: why didn’t they ever look for her?” Mr Eckhoff said. “I don’t have a good answer. But perhaps it was too difficult back then. Today, the internet has made these searches more accessible.”

Now retired and living in the US, Mr Eckhoff is hoping that local residents or historians in the Scarborough area may hold clues to Mary’s later life — or even her final resting place.

Mr Eckhoff will be visiting Scarborough and surrounding areas in late July and is hoping to speak with anyone who may have records, memories, or even family connections to Mary Kathleen Smith.

“It may be wishful thinking, but I’m hopeful someone out there knows something,” he says. “Even a small detail could help me understand what happened after she left Norway.”

Painstaking research by Mr Eckhoff has uncovered the following information: Mary’s parents were Edwin Smith; born in1864 in Sharlston and Emma Wood Smith; born April 13 1859 in Knottingley.

Mr Eckhoff said: “As far as I have been able to find out, my grandmother had two siblings:

Norman Smith; 1891 – March 16 1964 from Huddersfield and Edward McKinley Smith born September 1 1901 in Pontefract, Yorkshire who passed away in 1952.

Census data shows that in 1939, Edward McKinley Smith resided at 21 Queen Street, Scarborough.

On September 25, 1926 Edward married May Crawford born May 12 1895 in Harwood Dale and the couple had two children, Marie (Mary?) D. Smith born 1928 in Scarborough and Sheila A Smith born October 1929, also in Scarborough.

While the story of Mary Kathleen Smith may have been lost in the fog of history, Jan Eckhoff believes it’s worth recovering.

“She was erased from my family’s narrative. I want to change that,” he said.

If you have any information about Mary Kathleen Smith or her family, please contact Scarborough News at [email protected] or reach out to Jan R. Eckhoff directly at [email protected].