« on: Friday 31 March 06 23:49 BST (UK) »
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
Thomas, Williams,Owen (s),Griffith (s), Jones - Anglesey<br />Burns, Wallace - Northumberland, Ireland, Scotland<br />Horsburgh, Sandilands, Blackhall, Rankine, Rankin, Hilson, Nielson - Scotland <br />Turnbull, Mills, Burgoyne, Burgon - Northumberland, <br />Davidson - Scotland, India, Burma<br /> Lopez - India, Burma<br/>
