THE transatlantic traffic of ancestor hunters is usually all one-way, as Americans come to delve for their roots in the "old country."

But when, at the age of 86, Accringtonian Jim Waddington boarded a plane for the first time in his life and flew across the pond in the other direction on a solo search for his origins, it was more than his birthplace in the United States that he discovered.

For he found, too, that he was a celebrity -- worthy of having a date in the calendar officially dedicated in his name, of being the star of a TV chat show, of being made an honorary citizen of the city where he was born and receiving a citation from the state.

Yet if his quest ended in such a wonderful welcome, that wasn't how it started. On landing at Boston eight years ago, poor old Jim spent three hours wandering around Logan Airport, looking in vain for transport to the city of Lawrence 25 miles away.

For though it was where he was born in 1904, Jim could hardly remember the way -- as he was only a nine-months-old baby when he was last there. But help arrived in the form of a State Trooper -- Sergeant Peter Quinn -- who, seeing that he looked lost, stopped him to make inquiries and, on hearing the story of how he had come to find his birthplace, triggered off what was to become the trip of a lifetime.

A widower for 31 years, Jim, of Timber Street, Accrington, died three years later still treasuring the memory of his tremendous reception in the New England state of Massachusetts and the red-carpet treatment he received in Lawrence.

His son, Bob, of Clayton Avenue, Rawtenstall -- who retired four years ago after 14 years as proprietor of the famous temperance bar in the town's St Mary's Way that is the last in Britain -- explained how and why his father's adventure came about.

"When times were hard at the turn of the century, my father's mother's sister had emigrated to Lawrence and Dad's mother and father decided to follow her. His mother got work there in what was the biggest worsted mill in the world at that time and his father carried on his trade as a house painter and decorator, but though he got plenty of work, he could not get paid for it." said 66-year-old Bob.

"And as they were struggling, they decided to come back some nine months after Dad had been born over there."

Back home in Accrington, Jim found that when he reached the age of 12 and became eligible to begin work on the old "half-time" system, he needed his birth certificate to be able to get a job and his mother had to apply to the authorities in Lawrence for a copy. And that document and a couple of picture postcards of the town, one showing the giant New Wood Mill where his mother had worked, were the only links he had with his birthplace.

Jim went on to become an engineer at Howard and Bullough in Accrington, working on munitions and plane-making during the war. He later kept a sweets shop in Queen's Square, Rawtenstall, and the Bird in Hand pub in Church Street, Haslingden, before moving back to Accrington. Having decided at 65 that retirement was not to his liking, he worked in the town hall's computer room until he was 81.

"All those years, he kept saying how he would like to go back to Lawrence and see where he was born and at the age of 86, he decided he would -- on his own and although he had never flown before," Bob explained.

His good fortune when he got to America and found himself lost was to be taken under Sergeant Quinn's wing. For he made calls to Lawrence, arranged to have him met and fixed up with accommodation, put him on the right bus -- and tipped off the local Press about the return of the city's long-lost son.

"After that, absolutely everything was taken care off for the whole two weeks he was over there," said Bob. "He was put up in a hotel, fed and watered, even bought clothes and looked after tremendously -- and it did not cost him a penny."

"As a result of the stories written about him, a reader found out from a 1904 directory of Lawrence that it was at 198 Prospect Street that his parents had lived and where he had been born. He was able to get pictures of the house itself and ended up getting a baptismal certificate from the church where he was christened. He also saw the font in which he was baptised although it had been moved to another church at Methuen nearby."

During his stay, he met the Mayor of Lawrence, Kevin Sullivan, who proclaimed July 2, 1990, to be Jim Waddington Day, made Jim an honorary citizen of the city and appeared with him on a chat show on state TV.

Jim was also taken by limousine to the state capitol in Boston. There he met the governor, former presidential candidate Michael Dukakis, and House of Representatives speaker George Keverian who presented him with a citation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his "enduring allegiance to the City of Lawrence."

And, all in all, Jim's remarkable adventure proves this column's experience of how fascinating things can turn up when looking back.

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