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Wales (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Wales => Anglesey => Topic started by: CarolBurns on Saturday 01 April 06 00:57 BST (UK)
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Today we met my Dad's 2nd cousin for the first time - Thanks to Rootschat!!
I received an email about 6 weeks ago from a lady asking for details on my Great Great Grandfather William Thomas b 1841 and his family. She was writing mainly on behalf of her husband who was the great grandson of William.
Her husband, Michael's father was an only child so he had no 1st cousins and also thought there was no other family out there until his wife emailed me.
Photos were sorted out as well as census reports and certificates and sent in advance so they had plenty of info to start them off.
As it so happened they had arranged to visit Blackpool with her brother this weekend and as we live in Blackpool it seemed the perfect place to arrange a "Family reunion".
My Dad was so excited they decided to travel across last night instead of today - he said so he could rest! My Mum said so he had more energy for talking!
We sat waiting patiently (if there is such a thing when first meeting family!) until they arrived. Would we run out of things to say? Would we bore them? Would they bore us? Would we get on? All these questions were flying through our heads. We sat at the window trying to guess which couple were our relatives. They managed to sneak up on us though - they were driven here and sneaked in at the side of the building. lol
Fantastic people with no airs and graces about them and so friendly it felt as though we had known them all our lives. So many stories of members of the family we knew about but had lost all hope of finding again as well as those we didn't know about. And the photos!!!! So many that I was in researcher's heaven and still am! Certificates were included. My poor hubby was sat at the scanner for over an hour scanning them all (bless his big woolen socks!)
After 3 hours they had to go as they had a dinner to attend but they had to be dragged away as they had 10 minutes to get back to their hotel and get changed (never managed it though).
My dad is still talking about the similarities between them. He's 71 and I know this has made his day as well as mine
The strange thing is, they live on the same road that my Dad drives along to visit his sisters in North Wales. He virtually passes their home! So if you guess that their journey will be slightly longer each time they go from now on, you would be right.
So if you get the chance to meet your new relatives - go for it! It is a brilliant experience and different with each person
We are now looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when we go through to Anglesey and hopefully we can meet the rest of the family
Carol
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That sounds like a lovely experience Carol. Encouraging too - I've recently been given the telephone number of a 'new' relative who I didn't know about, by a distant cousins' niece. I've been trying to pluck up courage to make the call, not sure what to expect. Your story makes me think I'd better get on with it.
Best wishes,
Fiona
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Oh do contact them Fiona
You have a 50% chance of meeting them and that meeting could be the start of a brilliant relationship.
As it was, our new rellies got in touch with me through Rootschat after contacting one of our mutual cousins also on here. They only live 1.5 hours away so the journey isn't too bad and it is on the way when visiting other family as well.
The information I got was fantastic and much needed at the time. There were 6 siblings altogether and two died before the age of 18 so out of four I have got details and found family of three - just one to find now and that is going to be a lot easier now as the new rellie had info on that member as well
So get on the phone nd enjoy the experience of meeting them
Good Luck
Carol
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Well done on finding them and fantastic story, was there any family resemblance? I met with rellies last year in Ireland and was astonished :o It was like walking into a Hall of Mirrors :)
Tony
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Yes Tony there was. It was strange as both my dad and myself were sat there all day saying that we were sure we had seen his face before. When he left and I was putting the scanned photos from the main PC to my Family Tree laptop I saw why we had been thinking that all day. He is the double of my Gran's brother!
Another cousin, Rita on hubby's side, came to visit for the first time with her brother and his wife. His wife walked in after Rita but before her husband. She just stood there with her mouth open wide and didn't speak. When we looked to Rita to find out what was wrong she was doing the same thing. The reason? Hubby, Peter James Burns was the spitting double of his 1st cousin, also called Peter james Burns, Rita's brother. The only difference was that my Peter was 40 and his cousin was 60 but his wife and sister both said they could have been twins if they had been the same age. Alike in every way - mannerisms as well as personality. I found them through putting a photo and letter in a newspaper. I knew the photo was of hubby's family as the eldest boy was the double of hubby when he was about the same age. It turnedout that the boy in the photo was the father of Rita and Peter!. I also found a photo of hubby's Grandad and he is the double of him as well. - Amazing
No worries about whether we had the right family there!
Carol
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Hi Carol,
My father died nearly 30 years ago and on a trip to Ireland last year for a "bit of a do" on my mother's side, i decided to look up my dad's brother. We arranged to meet in a Dublin hotel and got there early. When my uncle walked in, it was my Dad! i just watched him for a while in astonishment before i introduced myself. Over lunch i couldn't believe the mannerisms i possess that my uncle and therefore my Dad have in common.
At my Mother's brothers do the following day the most common phrase was "bejasus, sure I'm looking at myself!"
We'd all hid in the pub opposite the venue where the 65th do was to take place, and at 7.30 the whole pub who had seemed vaguely familiar got up to go across the street to the the "do". I'd been sitting amongst rellies for past hour
Cheers
Tony
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You should see me when I go to Anglesey and we go shopping or I am searching around the island - I am terrible
Always looking at everyone just in case. Definitely get strange looks but I don't care.
I'm even worse with guests if they have the same name as one of my families. They have to answer 20 questions before I leave them alone. lol
Carol
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Hi Carol
Love Angelesy, go to Treaddur Bay most years for a week. Following is a post from another thread i did a while ago but not clever enuf to create link so cut and paste instead ???
50 General / The Lighter Side / Re: Family Likenesses on: Thursday 23 March 06 22:41 GMT (UK)
Went to Wexford, Ireland (my mum's home town) last year and was walking down the high street with my 16 yr old son, when a women started giving us both looks and angling across the street towards us. Finally she stopped directly in front of me and and said "is that your son". I said yes and she said in that case you must be Tony H because the last time i saw you, you were the spitting image of your son. She turned out to be my cousin Mary who i had not seen for nearly 40 years
Tony
best wishes
Tony
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Oh your poor son - he thought either the woman was crazy and thought he had been kidnapped and she would probably set about you if you had said no OR she was one of those strange people who talk to anyone
We may not notice the likenesses as much as others. Hubby and eldest son are very alike and you wouldn't know how many times I have phoned here and started talking to son thinking it was hubby - good thing it is never too saucy lol - It can be 5 mins before he asks if I want hubby lol
The best is when hubby answers and I ask him if his dad is there. The answer is always "No, He's dead" then I know which one I am talkng to
Carol
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PS will have a look at that post
Carol
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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 :)
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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
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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