family trees

[GrahamSimons]

While I've tried to get the direct lines sorted out, investigating cousins and so on is fascinating and there have been so many stories that I have unearthed. My tactics could be summarised as, "follow up anything that looks interesting." We've recently been able to meet my 4th cousin from USA, and I've been in contact with a PhD student in Bogota who is researching a 2nd cousin once removed's work in South America. I've also followed up a 2nd cousin 4 times removed, and I'm 90% sure that the seafood restaurant where we ate in Singapore was on the site of his godown there.

[Brie]

Following branches often helps in establishing you have the correct family and can sometimes help with brick walls.

However, the main reason I follow branches is that I get completely sidetracked. It's like reading a novel, I want to know what happens. So when a brother/sister/cousin emigrates to Canada/New Zealand/South Africa etc I want to find out if it worked out for them - and thank you to those indefatigable rootschatters in Canada and elsewhere who have helped me so much over the years.

Also you get to learn so much about trades etc - I knew quite a bit about farming, milling, hosiery and rail workers but for example sugarbakers and the 19th century immigration of Hanoverian workers was a completely new subject.

And then the day I found a second cousin of Granny's had designed a hall which I'd often visited along with other buildings in the area.

And many more surprises, distractions, stories.

Brie