Meeting our "new" relative for the first time

[CarolBurns]

PS will have a look at that post

Carol

[AussieDale]

Hi Carol,

Great to hear about your new rellies.  I too seem to be in "New Rellie" mode.  My dad passed away in February, and I caught up with my 1st cousin whom I had not seen for about 43 yrs, had  he has done quite a lot of research too, so has been passing it over.  Still more to come.  A man at the funeral also commented on how much I looked like my dad's sister who died in 1945, 3 years before I was born.

Then come Easter Monday I am getting a visit from my maternal grandfathers side of the family with more records, photos, certificates etc.  Can't wait. My grandfather and his brother were "estranged" for about 60 years, so here we are a couple of generations later trying to piece the puzzle together.   Beginning to think I'm related to half of Australia.  I only really got started about August 2005, and to date I have 526 names on my family tree, not to mention my "cousins" from the net, with about 1500 names (combined)on their trees, each from different branches.  Not bad for a beginner who still does not know what she is doing half the time. LOL.

It seems the more you know, the more there is to know.

Still hitting a brick wall with my English (Mary's) mother and daughter.  Have found Marriage and deaths but no maiden name for the mother, and no birth for the daughter.  All the contacts I have made for them have no maiden name either. Oh well, I keep trying.  Cheers for now Dale.

[CarolBurns]

Brilliant Dale and Good Luck on Easter Monday. I hope you have a fantastic day and get so much info you don't know where to start lol

It is fun though. I have to admit when I started that we had about 50 people from both mine and hubby's side - now I have 2800 + and still finding people. Once you get started there is no end to it.

I have always loved a challenge and tend to get bored once I have finished something but this family research is a never ending challenge

Anyway hope you find your Mum's side soon. Have you tried posting in the boards for the areas she may have come from?

Carol

[AussieDale]

Hi Carol,
Thanks for your message.  Have got back to 1825 for my other "brick wall" in  New South Wales. Found someone on the IGI with all the info that I did not have.  Still trying to figure out if  we might have a "convict" or not.  We used to tease my grandfather about having a convict, but his lips were firmly closed.  Does that suggest any thing to my over imaginative fertile mind??  You bet it does.

On the NSW BDM's I'v found 8 Robert Stapletons (deaths) (2 without parents names listed, and none of the other parents  don't appear to have been born in Australia either.  My uncle (now deceased) said they came from up Lancashire/Yorkshire way which is not much of a help is it.  Also Roberts's birth is not listed in the BDM's, so he may not have been registered or something.  Does not help that my research skills and computer skills are still a bit limited either, but practice makes perfect.  The other problem is that some of them moved to Queensland and our BDM's aren't on line.  I only printed out these "deaths" for NSW today,  will have a fiddle with those names over the next few days.  Would be great to have that as a nice suprise for Easter Monday wouldn't it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  There does not appear to be too many Stapletons in Australia between 1788 and 1825 (when Robert was born)  Most seem to be "convicts".  You never know your luck, someone might see this and solve the problem.  Here hoping.  Cheers for now Dale

[tony h]

Hi Carol,
Going back to Wexford next week, do you think i should buy my 17 year old son his first pair of long trousers to avoid any more embarassing encounters

cheers
Tony

[CarolBurns]

I think it may be a good idea to buy him some.

Enjoy yourself and don't forget " Photos and info are a researcher's best friend"

Carol

[tony h]

Hi Carol
 thanks for the tip, will certainly be getting photos and info while i'm there to make sure we record the living and their memories now rather than searching in the dark a few years down the line

Cheers
Tony

[whoosh]

Hi,
Read your post.
Keep plugging away.
Have been searching for info on my gg grandfather Humphrey Jones since 1975.
Late last year with help from rootschat members, he was located on teh 1861 Census and also a couple of possibles on the 1841/1851 Census.
I have never given up hope of finding this branch of my family.
So just keep plugging away, you never know when or what you will find.
Other brick walls I have had for 30 years have also opened over the last couple of years.
Bye for now,
Darren M Flowers
Wyrallah NSW
Australia

[CarolBurns]

Thanks for the encouragement Darren

It's amazing what this brilliant site can do with the great people who are on here.

In the last two weeks I have managed to break down the biggest brick wall I had - hubby's Grandfather's brothers and sisters had evaded me for so long(9 years) I was beginning to think they had all been abducted by aliens! Then two weeks ago I found one person (Grandson of one of the brothers) who is a 2nd cousin of hubby's. He had been searching for 15 years with no luck. Then I found 3 x 3rd cousins from another branch of the family. Then the 2nd cousin told all his Brothers and sisters as well as his cousins (so there was another brother's family) and they came to find me on the site I originally found the first one. Now we have a branch of nearly 100 people to add! Then a 1st cousin I found about three years ago asked if it was a woman I had found as he remembers meeting one of his Uncles in the 50's. As it wasn't the person I had found we went looking for this other brother's family (there were 11 of them altogether) and found the woman's son! So now qwe have some more to add

I decided long ago never to give up on the brick walls EVER. I usually concentrate on them for a month or so and if I get nothing then I leave it alone and go off onto another brick wall (one of many lol) and do the same with that. Eventually I find something helpful, however small.

Hubby now sits waiting everyday for me to tell him that I have found someone else. His family - we only knew about his parents and his brothers and sisters when we started - has now grown so big he is wondering if he did the right thing by letting me look for them lol

Anyway thanks again and Good Luck with all your brick walls

I always say that with the right tools and the right help you can always find a way through them.

Carol