ancestry

[llywela]

As mentioned a while back, my Mum has been doing a lot of family tree research recently, with the aid of ancestry.com. A lot. She's gone back on both sides in all kinds of directions, learning as much as possible. Some fascinating stuff has come up - fascinating to us, that is. Probably not so much to anyone not part of the family. And she's started having random contacts through the website from other people researching on the same names, which always freak her out - she usually waits for me to be there before she replies to them, for moral support!

In the last couple of weeks we've had an especially interesting contact - more than just a request for sharing information, but a proper contact, from a lady in Canada. It turns out that her 95 year old father Harry is a first cousin of my Dad's late father and his siblings. His family emigrated to Canada when he was three years old. My Granddad was the oldest of eleven children, although only three are still living: the three sisters, Ivy, Margie and Marion. This Canadian Harry is their first cousin - which is actually a pretty close relationship to have uncovered so randomly via family tree research! There has been a lot of exchanging of family gossip and photos in the last couple of weeks - our branch of the family is rooted in the Gospel Halls over here, and it turns out so is theirs over there. So the connection to the Gospel Halls must go back further again, if we were all raised in that particular kind of chapel.

Interesting stuff!

Comments

[em-red.livejournal.com]

It's amazing where your family tree can lead you to. I love looking through mine and reading about all my relatives.

[agentxpndble.livejournal.com]

That's really cool! Are you going to actually meet them or have you been passing stuff through the mail? Receiving photos is the absolute ultimate in family research... My favorite moments have been seeing my ancestors for the first time.

[llywela13.livejournal.com]

I doubt there will be any meeting involved. We've only been in contact for a week or so, and it's all been squeeing over the connection and swapping photos of family gatherings. There are less of them than there are of us - Henry Sr, who moved to Canada, only had three children. His sister Edith, that my lot are descended from, had 11!

But yeah, I love seeing old photos and tracing the family back. Finding the Norwegian several-greats-grandfather and his Irish wife was the best moment so far - family legend come to life on the pages of the census!