What are the chances?

[MaxD]

Have other RCs been surprised by what their researches turn up?
A work colleague, knowing my interest in researching my own family history, asked me to solve a puzzle relating to her great uncle who had been killed in the very early days of the Great War.  As so often happens, while looking into his history, I uncovered other areas of interest that my colleague was unaware of so I continued to expand my researches into his ancestry.  While checking out the 1911 census for one of his aunts, I thought the address at which I found her looked familiar.  It was in a street in Battersea, 7 doors away from where my uncle was brought up and lived until his early death at the age of 18. The aunt, who lived in Berkshire, was visiting one of her sons who was the caretaker of the school in the street and I like to think, I have no evidence, that my uncle went to that school and, if he had, would have known the caretaker.  There was thus a connection between my colleague’s family in the early years of the 20th century long before we became colleagues at work in Hampshire. 
maxD

[jaybelnz]

This is one of my favourite stories.  I was researching my great grandfather and his family and parents in New Cumnock, Ayrshire, a mining family who lived in Connel Park, New Cumnock in a miners row cottage, 1881 census.

After his marriage he also lived in Connel Park Miners Rows, and my grandmother was born there.

I had other connected relatives from my grandfathers families also living in Connel Park, so I was searching online for more info and photographs of New Cumnock.  I found online, that someone had produced a number of photo CD's of people and places around this mining Village, and other topics!

To cut a long story short, (yeah right) I decided to buy a CD from this person! I found it fantastic, with a lot of my family names, places etc!  I wrote back to tell him how pleased I was to find a photo of the Row that my great grandfather was living in with his parents in the 1881 census!

Turned out that he had lived in that very same row cottage, Number 10, when he was a child in the 1950s.   He sent me a drawing of the floor plan of the house, with measurements, and a great description of the interior.  The houses have long since been demolished, but the memories for him are still very strong.  He has done several other CD's too!  Loves his history! And very knowledgeable too.

We have become good friends over the years, and he and his wife have hosted me twice when I have visited, introducing me to many others in my families who are descendents and relatives of my great grandparents! We eventually fairly recently found that we were actually distantly related as well, as had been inevitable, in such a small place with big families way back, But that's the long story LOL! 


Jeanne 

[MaxD]

Wow!

maxD

[coombs]

A lifelong family friend asking me to help with her family tree and finding out we are related.

[PabloC]

Having been researching my own family history since 2007, I set about helping a work colleague start hers off a couple of years ago.

Needless to say she quickly got the hang of things and was off on her own steam...

One day about a year ago or so she came over to me to show me a copy of the 1911 Census relating to her Great grandmother. The address jumped out at me straight away...as it was the very same house my own Great great grandparents were residing at twenty years previously in 1891...

[pinefamily]

Not long after my wife and I got married, I decided to have a go at my in-laws' ancestries. They were both quite interested, until I discovered they were 4th cousins!

[Whipby]

Two instances for me ...

When delving into the ancestry of a work colleague, at her request, I discovered that one of her ancestors had married one of my ancestors.

I discovered that I'm related to one of my neighbours - we share the same something x great grandfather who lived in a small town/village about 60 miles away from where we live now.  I found out totally by accident when investigating my nana's maiden name, which turned out to be the maiden name of my neighbour.  When chatting to her about it we discovered that we had been living cheek by jowl all of our lives, without ever meeting or knowing the first thing about each other!