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« on: Wednesday 26 October 05 14:43 BST (UK) »
I have been researching my other half's family history since last Christmas and have ensured that all the information I find out has been copied for him, his sister and their half sister. This information is derived from census returns, archives, record offices, certificates and from conversations with these three people.
We have now been contacted by a very angry daughter of the half sister who cannot bring herself to speak to us because her mother has been so upset by the family history we have presented to her. Apparently her mother, who is 80, cannot sleep she is so distressed by things we had put in the folders of documentation we sent her which are 'just hearsay and cannot be verified now'.
We are horrified that we have upset her. Not for anything would we have done so. We asked if they wanted the information and the answer was yes.
Never would we have sent it if we'd known this would be the outcome.
The only things that could possibly have upset her are comments in conversations I had with the sister. Obviously there must be something in the transcriptions of these conversation that has caused offence. Now I'm devastated - it's all my fault! I'm the one who did the research, put the information together and sent it to her. I should have been more careful. It looks like I've caused a family rift when all I really wanted to do was bring everyone together and ensure that all sides of the family had access to the history. I feel so dreadful that I've caused this.
What's worse if that we passed the folders over 5 months ago, and were totally unaware of any problem until now and we have not been told exactly what has upset her.
Hopefully no-one else has been as stupid as I obviously have, but if anyone has any experience of such a situation or ideas of how we can smooth things over, I'd be very grateful.
Many thanks
Fiona