I think they probably had a GPS and when entering the word "Topsham" the town of "Topsfield" came up first. (That's the way my NUVI works.) Someone clicked "Go" and away they went. I think it might have been an eyesight problem on the part of the person reading the GPS.

It's always easy to second guess what should have been done, however, if I had been one of the family members when on the second call for directions I would have told them to stay where they were and gone to lead them back.