I made an exciting discovery in my search for members of my family tree. In the late 1970s my aunt wrote in a letter information about my father’s family. She told me about my paternal grandparents and their siblings. At that time, my aunt still corresponded with a cousin back in Ireland. She told me what she remembered about her aunts and uncles. She said three of my grandmother’s siblings had remained in Ireland and her two youngest sisters had emigrated to Canada. She mentioned that one of the sisters had 3 children and other had none. At the time I received the letter there was no internet and I never thought I could access databases to locate family members. I envisioned myself making a trip to Ireland or Canada in search of ancestor records and maybe living relatives. I did not ask any follow-up questions about the married name of the sister or where they lived in Canada. When I recently started doing genealogy research I was amazed by all the information I could find online. But because my great aunts names were common I could not be sure of the records. I thought I might never find out what happened to them. After I had been researching for a while I decided to have a DNA test because I though it might make it easier to identify ancestors. I did have several cousins confirmed through DNA that I already knew belonged on my tree. I have used the DNA matches with various surnames to try to find answers when the records are not clear or not available. During a recent search for DNA matches and surnames a new name popped up on my match list. Ancestry was saying our DNA match was extremely high and this person could be my first or second cousin. I contacted him through Ancestry and as I read his answer I became very excited. It turns out he is the grandson of one of the sisters who emigrated to Canada. Through him I now know who my great-aunt married and the names of her children. I am in touch with her descendants and to me this is just fabulous.

‘Wild Irish Rose-Royal Canal’ by Peter Mooney on Flickr

Stream of Consciousness Saturday, #SOCS, is hosted by Linda G Hill. The ” prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “fab.” Use it as a word or find a word beginning with “fab.”