Getting In Touch With Lost Relatives
Getting in touch with long lost relatives may help you break down a brick wall, gain more of an insight about one of your deceased ancestors or help create a family bond. The reason why I have chosen to write about 'lost cousins' this week is because I have managed to get in touch with my second cousin twice removed who lives over 4,500 miles away!
I found her while looking to find out what happened to my 3x great uncle (2x Great Grandfather's brother), Edward James Shire. He was born on the 12 March 1901 in Upottery, Devon, England, the 5th Child of Robert William and Alice Ellen Shire. On the 25 March 1918 (98 years ago to the day tomorrow) he enlisted for the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. One and a half years later, Edward married Edna Sampson on the 9 October 1919 in Plymouth, Devon. Very shortly after on the 16 July 1920, Edward and Edna visited Bermuda and 3 days later they moved to New Brunswick, Canada. A couple of months later they had a son; who is still living so I won't mention his name. They went on to have more children in New Brunswick and Alberta, before finally settling in British Columbia.
Over than the names of his children, I didn't know much else due to rules regarding Canadian records; although their 1921 census has already been released which certainly helped me! I tried googling, like I did in the linked article, and found a connection. I then looked to see if any of the people mentioned on the obituary were on Facebook and I found the family living on Vancouver Island, part of British Columbia. I then messaged one of the people I found (the Granddaughter of Edward and Edna) and she replied confirming the connection. I sent her some of the information I had to her in the form of a booklet I recently did on the family for a project as well as sending her a photo of Edward's parents Robert & Alice.
We are both happy with the connection and are now 'friends' on Facebook and will hopefully soon be able to share a bit more family information!
This goes to show why adding 'lost cousins' can help you gain an understanding of relatives from even a centuries ago to present day! If you think you are related to me you can contact me through the contact page of the website or comment below!
Published: 24 March 2016
I found her while looking to find out what happened to my 3x great uncle (2x Great Grandfather's brother), Edward James Shire. He was born on the 12 March 1901 in Upottery, Devon, England, the 5th Child of Robert William and Alice Ellen Shire. On the 25 March 1918 (98 years ago to the day tomorrow) he enlisted for the Plymouth Division of the Royal Marine Light Infantry. One and a half years later, Edward married Edna Sampson on the 9 October 1919 in Plymouth, Devon. Very shortly after on the 16 July 1920, Edward and Edna visited Bermuda and 3 days later they moved to New Brunswick, Canada. A couple of months later they had a son; who is still living so I won't mention his name. They went on to have more children in New Brunswick and Alberta, before finally settling in British Columbia.
Over than the names of his children, I didn't know much else due to rules regarding Canadian records; although their 1921 census has already been released which certainly helped me! I tried googling, like I did in the linked article, and found a connection. I then looked to see if any of the people mentioned on the obituary were on Facebook and I found the family living on Vancouver Island, part of British Columbia. I then messaged one of the people I found (the Granddaughter of Edward and Edna) and she replied confirming the connection. I sent her some of the information I had to her in the form of a booklet I recently did on the family for a project as well as sending her a photo of Edward's parents Robert & Alice.
We are both happy with the connection and are now 'friends' on Facebook and will hopefully soon be able to share a bit more family information!
This goes to show why adding 'lost cousins' can help you gain an understanding of relatives from even a centuries ago to present day! If you think you are related to me you can contact me through the contact page of the website or comment below!
Published: 24 March 2016
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*Note - No copyright infringement was intended. If there is a breach in copyright contact me through the 'Contact' section so it can be removed. All photos are Copyright © 2016 Harry Clarke. All Rights Reserved. The photo on the 'Home' page for this article is courtesy of Lady & the Rose.