Amongst Muriel`s papers was a roughly drawn family tree connecting Marrs with Lees, Johnsons and Richardsons, and there were also letters between Ettie, Harry and Sallie regarding a lawsuit designed to test the validity of the Will drawn up by a Miss Richardson, daughter of a Hull solicitor. Ettie said that she had allowed a Walter Johnson to remove a page from a family bible which she held, because he wished to establish his blood connection with Miss Richardson. The letters were written in February 1921. We were sufficiently intrigued by these, and by the belief some members of the family were known to have held, that Amy Johnson (the aviatrix) had benefited from money which they thought might reasonably have come to the Marrs, to go to the National Newspaper at Hendon to discover reports on the case. Many months later we received Ada`s press cutting book which contained full details!
Muriel`s tree indicated that the first Henry Marr had a sister Hannah, married to John Lee of Gardham in 1795. This led to the discovery that Mary Johnson had been living with her granddaughter Esther Lee 4 years before her death in 1845.
Walter Johnson claimed that the executors (her parson and solicitor) of Miss Richardson`s Will had exerted undue influence and thus secured the bulk of her £80,000 estate. She had lived in Hull as a miser, but was apt to give virtual strangers valuable presents. The executors briefed the redoubtable Marshall Hall to defend themselves, but judgment was given to Walter Johnson. The evidence quoted in newspapers contained no facts regarding alleged relationships, and clearly no-one contested Johnson`s right to the money as the nearest of kin. As for any connection to Amy Johnson, Derek Marr lived, as a boy, near to Amy, had known her well enough to pull her pigtails, and his family had never suggested any relationship to either the Johnsons in the case or to Amy`s parents, so the rumours remain unproved.
Geoffrey`s daughter Cherry now had Ettie`s Bible and he tells me that the page removed was not restored.
