A couple of years ago, whiling away
time on Ancestry looking for clues in a yet unsolved DNA puzzle, I came across
a tree which included my great grandmother’s half-brother and his wife. I was
intrigued, this couple had no children of their own, and I had done a bit of
research about them as I built out my tree.
I messaged the tree owner to offer
any further information I had to them – and hoped that maybe they knew
something I didn’t. They messaged back five months later. They were in the
middle of moving interstate and building a new home. Turned out that they were
connected to my ½ great uncle by marriage, through his wife’s family.
Lydia (Lily) Barrett’s mother and the
2xgreatgrandmother of my new contact’s husband were sisters. He knew Lily and
George as a child they were 1st cousins twice removed, but she was
always called Aunt Lil. But the best part – he had photo albums from his mother
– and Lily. They would have a look and send copies.
We corresponded over the next few
days and I emailed my 3rd cousin, Jackie, to let her know what I had
stumbled across. Our great grandparents were siblings, and George (Lily’s
husband) was their only half-brother. Jackie’s great grandparents had emigrated
from England to Seattle in 1907 and George had travelled with them. Time went
on, other things became more important, but from time to time I would think “I
really should message her again.”
Then along came COVID-19. At almost
the same time as I was tidying up my messages on Ancestry, Jackie was tidying
up her emails and we both came across the messages again. Jackie emailed to see
if I had ever heard any more. I hadn’t, so added this task to my COVID-19
lockdown to do list.
A few nights later I sent off a quick
message – checking in that they were okay and #stayingsafe and then enquiring
about the photo albums. Once more we messaged back and forth but then instead
of just on Ancestry an email arrived.
With photos from just one album.
Some were unlabelled – one was
incorrectly labelled. We have a photo of George as a toddler with his two full
siblings, found in an album which belonged to Jackie’s great grandmother.
Jackie also had one from a wedding of one of her great grandmother’s sister
where George had been best man.
But here were several of George and
Lily’s wedding, some of George as a young man and Lily as a child and as a
young woman. There are some that neither Doug nor we can identify (yet), there
is one of Lily on the wharf at Southampton next to the Mauretania before it sailed
back to New York in 1920. George and Lily had returned to England after the war
to visit with her parents, her only brother had been killed in France – the passenger
lists for their travel in both directions and George’s passport application can
be found on Ancestry. They stayed for 5 months and missed the 1920 US Census,
so I no longer need to keep searching for them there !
The photo which had been labelled
incorrectly was of Jackie’s great grandparents and her grandfather as a child. One
she had never seen. It seems that her great grandmother was Matron of Honour at
George and Lily’s marriage and a photo of the bridal party includes all three
of them again. In that photo there is a glimpse into the character of the young
boy who would be Jackie’s grandfather – looking for his opportunity to run away
and play with his cousins. Another group photo was taken with all the guests on
the front steps of a house. There was a further photo taken before the wedding
meal, inside the house, of George and Lily. Jackie and I (separately) wondered
if it was her great grandparent’s home. Lily had given their address as her
destination on her immigration forms a few months earlier.
It was ! You can imagine our happy
dances ! Luck was certainly favouring us:
Stumbling across the tree connection
in the first place,
Getting a reply to my message,
Discovering such a tenuous
connection to our tree,
Learning there were photos,
Catching a glimpse of the inside of
Albert & Sarah’s home,
The power of technology to bring us
the photos, and zoom to confirm our hope.
On the right-hand wall of the room where
George and Lily stood by the table, set for their wedding meal, hangs a
photograph we had seen before. It was also in the photo album Jackie has from
her great grandmother. Several other photos hung on the walls and arranged on
the architraves above the doors look familiar too. But, that framed one on the right-hand
wall was the clearest when enlarged.
Henry James – Jackie and my 4 x great
grandfather. Albert’s maternal grandfather. No DNA relation to George. Henry and his unmarried daughter Elizabeth/Lizzie/Bessie had taken in our great
grandparents as children when their mother died in 1879 and cared for them at
least until their father remarried in 1886.
How lucky did we both feel !! We are
still buzzing around, smiling like idiots (on opposite sides of the Pacific) now
– four days later.
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