Categories: uncategorized
Date: 22 June 2007 22:10:52
I have to say this is rather a nice box. I think I might have a bit of the lid next.
A couple of weeks ago, my sisters took my uncle out for a meal. He's the last uncle (reminiscent of "The Last Melon" in the film "Ice Age", although they treated him rather more carefully than the dodos did the melon). Being a bit of a "family-minded" family, we were delighted to discover that he's been researching his family tree. He gave us a copy of all the work he's done so far. He's traced it back quite a long way so far, although the printout was a bit pale so we have a good idea of the names and dates but no trace of the lines which show how they're all connected. It's quite exciting, and it prompted me to register with Genes Reunited in the hope of maybe filling in Dad's side of the tree.
Mind you, I did think my uncle might have tried a little harder to cover up the fact that there was a significant, and easily researchable, part of his family tree not yet completed. You're right - he'd forgotten to put US on!
But here's the exciting bit. I did my little bit of my immediate family tree. And Genes Reunited tells you whether anyone else of the same name appears on someone else's tree. My mum appeared on my uncle's, of course, but to my amazement two other people had someone of the same name. Coincidence. So I typed in my uncle's name. The same two people had someone of my uncle's name on there. So then I typed in one of my mum's sisters. Yes, yet again. How exciting. A quick exchange of emails later and I discover that yes, these two people are indeed distant relatives. One is the great-great-great-great-great grandson of my great-great-great-great-grandfather (OK, you genealogy experts - what relationship is that?) and the other is the husband of, incredibly, my fifth cousin. I am getting quite excited about the prospect of seeing their family trees, and especially excited to see that my fifth cousin lives in the town of my birth.
It had felt quite depressing that my Dad was last of his family, and only my uncle survives of mum's siblings. Finding unknown relations is rather a treat.