Finding distant rellies

[deeiluka]

I'll do that. We both have a common ancestor from a little town in Northamptonshire. 

......dee

[tn17]

I had great success with "other" - I used BDM records, war records (which note birth of children), death notices in the paper and electoral rolls to find all 4 surviving grandchildren of my GG-grandfather (the fifth and final is my grandfather, deceased). I've got more information (and photos) out of it than I know what to do with out of it and put some long lost cousins in touch after decades.

[KathMc]

tn17,

good job. I love that kind of hunt. I got an obit about 8 months ago for my grandfather's only cousin who had children. (Sadly, my branch of this family was very small). the obit was from over 10 years ago, but through it, I got the names of her children and with a bit of G**gling, I found all three. It was amazing. One I was even able to find an email address for and got an immediate response. When their mother died and they cleaned out her house, they found decorateive marriage certificates that they chose to frame and pictures galore, and they are the most wonderful, generous people, sharing everything with me.

Kath

[MarieC]

It's great to read the range of things that have helped Rootschatters with their research!  Hopefully this will be useful to all of us - "old" and new R'chatters!! 

MarieC

[tn17]

tn17,

good job. I love that kind of hunt. I got an obit about 8 months ago for my grandfather's only cousin who had children. (Sadly, my branch of this family was very small). the obit was from over 10 years ago, but through it, I got the names of her children and with a bit of G**gling, I found all three. It was amazing. One I was even able to find an email address for and got an immediate response. When their mother died and they cleaned out her house, they found decorateive marriage certificates that they chose to frame and pictures galore, and they are the most wonderful, generous people, sharing everything with me.

Kath

Thanks Kath - I really enjoyed that hunt. Maybe I should have been a PI!

I was pretty nervous before contacting them, but my experience mirrors yours. They are the nicest people I could hope to meet and all have welcomed my questions and interest. I've learnt so many things that you don't get from Certs, and got so much out of contacting them. I'm hoping to go on a big road trip to visit a couple next year, but we'll have to see.

Your Mc doesn't stand for McMahon, does it? If so, do you know where in Ireland my McMahon's are from? Because I don't!!   

[KathMc]

My Mc is McClusky, and as we find out in our research, Irish research is not the easiest. I am coming to the realization that my gg grandfather was not born in Sligo, as we always thought. that is where his wife was from, and I think somehow it became where he was from also. I wish I could be sure though. 

Let us know how the visit goes. I did that this summer with another distant rellie I found on Ancestry. I was very nervous but we had a wonderful visit. She was lovely, great with the kids, and had some incredible documents.

good luck with your McMahon's.

Kath

[tn17]

Kath,

Yes I'm really hoping I can visit, but it's two full days drive away! One of the women remembers my mother as a baby and has a range of 19th century photos and letters, so I'm dying to meet and have a chat in person.

I know what you mean about your 'Sligo' couple - it's so easy for one partner to surreptitiously 'adopt' the other's place of birth, isn't it? I'm one for storing alot of information in my head (I know, I know) and it's hard to stop it all getting muddled.

Good luck working out where your McClusky's are from. Just think of how satisfying it will be when you nut it all out. I *think* my McMahon's might be Monaghan, but I don't think I'll ever be 100% sure

[deeiluka]

Just reporting about my visit on Wednesday from the distant cousins that Rootschat put me in touch with.

Kindred spirits! We had a wonderful couple of hours talking family, and swapping information. I was able to introduce them to a book about the English village from which our common family originated, and I've been very kindly lent a family history book about their family. I discovered that one of the visitors was a friend of another good friend of mine. We'll be in touch some more.     

it was specially good as I had had a devastating night and morning beforehand, ending with me having to have my beloved Sophie dog euthanased, and having such great visitors just took my mind off things for a while.

THanks again, Rootschat!   

.....dee

[tn17]

Dee - I'm really sorry to hear about Sophie... 

I'm glad that the visit went so well though. Funny how one of their visitors was a friend of a friend - in my experience that kind of thing happens more than you'd expect. It's a small world after all.