It’s One of the Rewards of Genealogy
When I started my family tree, I was rewarded many times. Cousins who had never heard of me before receiving my letter, email, or phone call shared stories, data, and photographs. Every time I saw a bulging envelope in the mailbox I was delighted.
I was never satisfied researching a single line or my pedigree. I tracked every darn cousin–including the 45+ Pacheco cousins of my Grandfather. Each time I found someone living, I collected information on both sides of their tree. It provided me with a glimpse into how the different families from Kauai, Oakland, and Monterey County intertwined.
What I didn’t realize was this was going to provide me with a way to give back to those cousins who so generously gave me their time and memories. I was able to put them back in contact with their own family.
My Grandma Shellabarger was alive when I started the tree. She was in her early 80s. In the course of research, I found Adelia (Hughes) Cosma, who married a Pacheco cousin and Eva (Ventura) Nunes who was the sister of my Great Aunt Minnie (Ventura) Nunes. Both of them had been close to my Grandma in the 1930s and 1940s, then lost contact after my Grandparents divorced. I also found her nephew Ted who the family had lost contact with sometime in the 1970s.
My Grandma who was not happy about the tree at all was thrilled to hear that her friends, Dee and Eva, and her nephew, Ted, were still around. I got permission to give each other phone and mailing information. Ted phoned my Grandmother regularly. Dee visited her on occasion. She and Eva wrote letters. I believe that it made my Grandma happy to reunite with these folks from her past. The 40-50 years in between didn’t seem to matter.
Over the years, I been able to reconnect a few cousins with lost family. Recently, I was able to do this for my cousin, Betty. One of her grandmother’s cousins in Hawaii, Teresa, contacted me after seeing one of my blog posts that mentioned her line. Before Thanksgiving, I was able to send off some photos to Betty that Teresa had sent me and tell her about her new cousin. She didn’t have any contact with Hawaii anymore. Betty hadn’t been feeling well lately, so I thought this might cheer her up.
I gave Teresa her number and they were able to have a nice phone conversation a couple of weeks ago. Today, I received a very nice letter from Betty. She was so delighted! She wanted to thank for putting her cousin in contact with her. And, she was very eager to see what genealogy tidbits might be fleshed out.
When I started my tree, I didn’t realize I would have the opportunity to put people who hadn’t seen each other in decades back in contact. I didn’t know that I’d be meeting new cousins and then putting them in contact with other cousins and rebuilding connections that were lost through migration, friction, drifting away, and time. As a genealogist, you sometimes feel you are the one always taking. I have often wonder why people who are strangers would give so freely of themselves to me just to satisfy my little historical obsession.
But, it’s a pleasant reward. An extra added bonus. It makes me happy to be able to do this for people who’ve done so much for me.
Do You Need Help with Your Portuguese Hawaiian Roots?
I haven’t posted this in awhile, so I thought I’d announce it again. I have an extensive database on Portuguese people who came to the island of Kauai.
If you are stuck with your Portuguese research on Kauai, I might be able to help. I will do a look up for free. If I find your people, there is a fee for the copying of documents and compiling of information.
The fee varies depending on how much information I have on the family. In some cases I only have one or two records on a family. In other cases, I have been able to go from the original immigrant to current generations.
Also, I will do look ups in Portuguese Hawaiian Memories, the Azorean Passport book, ship immigration indexes, and the census for all islands for a fee.
If you are interested in these services, please email me at: islandroutesATgmaildotcom
Bored Vicar or Political Commentary?
Earlier this week I had come across a page of notes and drawings in the middle of the death register books forfor Ogeu les bains, France. The time period was the 1773-1773.
Tonight, I was working in the baptismal records for 1761 and came across this page:
These drawings and the ones on the page 10 years later are by the same person, Jospeh Lapenne of Ogeu (aka Ogeu les bains). The entry above it is a typical baptismal entry. Catherine and Raymond Lapenne were the godparents–perhaps relatives of our Monsieur Lapenne.
There are math calculations on the page, the drawings, the reference to 1806, what looks like “Jesus Crist” on the right hand side.
Was he doodling out of boredom? Do these drawings represent the LaPenne family in some way? Was he making some sort of political statement?
I don’t supposed I’ll ever know. Just another one of those interesting things we find while doing research.