Genealogy Research Journal #3, Entry #2
One of the best ways to learn about your family is to talk to people who are the farthest removed from your line. The more distant the cousin, the more likely they will tell you the juicy tidbits you want to know. The more closely related they are, the less likely they will be to give you more than names!
I learned a lot from my distant cousin, Elsie. Elsie and I are related many times over through various marriages. Because she lived in the same neighborhood as my Pacheco’s when she was a child and the first years of her marriage, she had unique, first hand information about the Pacheco and de Braga clan. Many of them were daily visitors to her house. Her children went to the same schools. They went to the same church and participated in many of the same neighborhood activities.
Elsie was friends with good friends with Ida, wife of Jose A. Pacheco. Elsie was also a cousin of the Cosma family. In her opinion, Ida was a Cosma, but she had no idea who she belonged to. There weren’t that many candidates, if you want to know the truth.
Without my asking, Elsie tracked down one of Ida and Jose’s daughters. According to the daughter, Ida was a Camara, but NOT a Cosma.
Say what????
If you remember, I had worked out in a previous genealogy research journal how the Camara and Cosma families were related. If true, this meant that Ida Drew and Ida Pacheco were two different people. It also meant there were more than one Camara family in my extended family tree.