My Best Genealogy Friend
Roughyedbach
A couple of years ago whilst researching my Brain family ancestors I was surprised to find a particular photograph on the Sun Green website. http://www.sungreen.co.uk. The site hosts a collection of old photos and pictures of places and people of the Forest of Dean. The photo in question was a small black and white image taken around the early 1950's and was of an old man, a young woman and some puppies, but what was strange about this particular photo was that it was mine, (or so I thought)!
I had been given the photograph, along with some others, by an elderly Aunt who was only able to tell me that the gentleman in the photo was her uncle Elam. I had been busily researching 'Uncle Elam' for a while when the same photo appeared on the website and although I had begun to establish where he fitted into my family tree, what I really wanted to know was more information about his wife Catherine or Kate, who is part of my direct family line.
I posted a response to the photo online and was almost immediately contacted by Yvonne, who had originally posted the photograph. She knew both Elam and Kate very well and had spent many hours in their company when she had been a young woman working for the Forest of Dean Forestry Commission.
Yvonne is blessed with both a fantastic memory and the most beautiful gift for writing and it was not long before we were exchanging emails on a regular basis. Oh, the stories she has recounted about this lovely old couple! I'm sure that they will stay with me forever, as they really have brought the past to life and helped fill in so many other gaps in my tree.
Yvonne and I met up last year and spent a lovely afternoon together. She had been almost a surrogate grandaughter to Kate and Elam and it was lovely to meet her and forge a lasting friendship which I'm sure both Kate and Elam would be really pleased about. In fact I often think that those two old Foresters somehow orchestrated our meeting
and brought my long gone family back to meet me!
by Roughyedbach
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Roughyedbach has been a Family Tree Circles member since May 2012.
Comments
SilverVixen on 2012-08-27 05:31:24What a delightful story
Rosemarie44 on 2012-08-27 06:14:43Amazing. Our genealogy research does indeed, create a 'Family Tree Circle'.
emilymorris on 2012-09-02 16:40:29This is such a heartwarming story and shows how families can come full circle.
Ledeux on 2012-09-02 18:04:56How lovely! A photo comes to life and families are linked.
Pattismudge aka Ledeux
kfgenet on 2012-09-02 19:05:03Very interesting to me especially as I have many BRAIN FAMILY relations in UK. However, I live a long way away in New Zealand and have not met any of them.
robin_molly on 2012-09-03 01:05:36Oh wow - that is so intesting. My mother's family hail from the Forest of Dean also, which means that so much of my research is centred in the forest. I have been fortunate enough to make contact with one or two relatives and I agree - it brings your family very much to life.
dianeadamsvicknair on 2012-09-05 12:45:28How fantastic to stumble on such a genealogical treasure. I've been working on my family heritage for more than 17 years. While I have uncovered much information there is still so much more I'd love to find out. Uncovering something like this, a photo or letter or document, about an ancestor would be so exciting. Thank you FamilyTreeCircles for sharing. I'm once again inspired to push on and dig more!
Sukie57 on 2012-09-07 21:13:46I was doing some research into the line of my family from Hampshire, England when I stumbled across a cousin who I never knew about, after seeing we were researching the same people, we've e-mailed each other quite a few times now & it turns out that a person I was looking for in the graveyard at Bentworth, Hampshire was in fact an Uncle; I found this out after getting information from the church records officer, whom I'd spoken to when my friend & I were trying to find the grave from the few facts I'd been given, & failed to find it!! It turned out his wife was at that point still alive but in Hospital, when I relayed information to my cousin about Aunt now having died, it turned out that she was her mum's godmother!! What a small world!!
Sukie57 on 2012-09-07 21:13:58I was doing some research into the line of my family from Hampshire, England when I stumbled across a cousin who I never knew about, after seeing we were researching the same people, we've e-mailed each other quite a few times now & it turns out that a person I was looking for in the graveyard at Bentworth, Hampshire was in fact an Uncle; I found this out after getting information from the church records officer, whom I'd spoken to when my friend & I were trying to find the grave from the few facts I'd been given, & failed to find it!! It turned out his wife was at that point still alive but in Hospital, when I relayed information to my cousin about Aunt now having died, it turned out that she was her mum's godmother!! What a small world!!