Lateley, I've really looked forward to the mail arriving. In these days of much more contact via email, there just isn't that much that arrives anymore by snail mail, except bills and junk. My recycling bin runneth over.
But in the last month or so, something exciting arrives about every other day. Once in a while there's a bonanza - like last week when I received four different items in one day.
What are these exciting pieces of mail? They are letters, cards, and photographs from my 2nd and 3rd cousins, responding to my letters or sending me something regarding the family that I can use in the family history book. I have received stories about long deceased relatives that makes them come alive, as well as precious photographs from the 1920s. I've also received partial genealogies and lists of family members from various branches of the family.
And finally, after searching for 5 years, I was able to get in touch with two women from a branch of the family that had been hiding in New Jersey. Well, they weren't really hiding, at least they didn't know they were hiding. But the family moved to New Jersey in 1895, came back to visit relatives in 1920 and again in 1950, but when the older members of the family died, the newer members knew very little about their relatives in Ohio, and contact between the branches was lost. There was a vague memory on the part of some in New Jersey of talk about the Ohio origins of the family, but that was about it, except for some photographs collecting dust in closets.
So when I was finally able to locate one great great granddaughter (and thus my third cousin) of my immigrant Irish grandparents, I was elated. She put me in touch with another cousin, and we have been exchanging emails for the past several days. I can hardly believe it.
The internet, of course, has made this possible. I was able to find the name of the cousin after finding an obituary online for her father, whose name I had in my family tree. However, he was only a name, and nothing more. When I found the obituary, with the name of his daughter and where she lived, I used Google to find her, wrote a letter, sent her my email address, and waited. She contacted me and was quite enthusiastic. Then she sent me the name of her cousin, whom she said had much more information. And for the first time, I have actually seen a picture of Mary Ann Brennan Ryan.
Besides making contact with the Ryan branch of the family, I have also been speaking with some of my father's first cousins and a third cousin from another branch of the family. Yesterday I spoke with two cousins and learned a number of interesting stories about family members. Today should bring a few more phone calls, and hopefully, a wonderful surprise in the mail.
Stay tuned.
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