on 02-08-2014 03:38 PM
Just for the heck of it I googled my deceased dad's name, and it brought up Ancestry.com where to my amazement
someone had posted that they were looking for his family - they had details of his wife and kids (us), where we used to
live, dates, and were spot on , the poster said she was a niece of my mother. I had no idea I had a cousin with her
name, say XX, and I messaged back that I am one of the kids, and would love more info.
XX lives in the UK where my mum's family came from, and the post was 12 months ago, and I haven't heard back
yet. She has a user name which I clicked on for other posts and they're all related to this question where others had replied and given her a fair bit of info about me.
Is there any way I can find out more about her without registering or setting up a family tree which I'm not ready to do? Would
Ancestry.com have an email address for her? My mother had a very common Irish surname so searching isn't bringing up anything and this person hasn't given a surname. .
on 02-08-2014 04:03 PM
Unfortunately, Ancestry wants your money and will not allow you to get in touch until you pay up. I am in similar position when I found daughter of my mother's cousin who was trying to get more info about her father, but I was not able to get in touch. Unfortunately, I only know her 1st name (+ her maiden name) and that she was born in Illinois. I have no idea of her married name, or where she is now.
I have also joined another genealogy site - My Heritage
which is bit more generous with the info you get for free. There they send you suggestions about relatives, and give full name. I found one distant cousin, I had no idea I had, and as her name was very unusual, I as able to find her on facebook. 🙂 If you have an idea where your relatives live then facebook could help.
on 02-08-2014 04:20 PM
When you are contacted on Ancestry a message is also sent to the email adress you have attached to your account.........so your message should have gone through.
I am a member of ancestry................I am happy to try an make contact for you...............you can message me here if you chose.
on 02-08-2014 04:31 PM
How did you message her, unless you are a paid up member of ancestry you can't message people thru their system. Also happy to help you as I am a paid up member.
on 02-08-2014 06:06 PM
Thanks flashie and rose, on the thread it says my message was sent but not as yet read. So maybe they allow you one free message?
The trouble is I don't know the surname of this niece she just calls herself Jean and has an online ID.
It's fascinating as I can't find anything on my mother's side (just random googling ) as she had a very common Irish
name but I've found a lot about my father whose name was more unusual - well when I say a lot, a lot more than I knew. He was Viennese (I knew that but hardly anything else) but now I've found names of a lot of his relatives and antecedents incl his grandfather who was born in ukraine to my astonishment.
.
Also about his wife and her relatives. It's tempting to start a tree on them though they'd mostly all be dead by now but I'd love to see some old photos as I never knew any of them except dad. .
It's not cheap to join though is it. 😞
on 02-08-2014 06:14 PM
Oh wow, I've just this minute had an email reply from this Jean - I've gone all goosebumpy as I lost all touch with my
mother's family when she died in 1990. Turns out she is the daughter of one of mum's brothers (mum had 9 brothers, being Irish, lol) but hadn't kept in touch with all of them, but Jean (my cousin) says she started a family search about a year ago. She's living
in France.
I just can't believe, I've gone from having no family to having a cousin even though I've never met her.
I've got very mixed feelings.
Isn't the internet amazing?
02-08-2014 06:55 PM - edited 02-08-2014 06:56 PM
Yes Bright ton it is amazing. Fantastic you have made this connection, gives you goosebumps doesn't it.
You don't have to belong to Ancestry to start a tree. There is a very good program from "Legacy" that you can use for your tree. If you do decide to join Ancestry do it through the UK site as it is way cheaper, for some reason they jack the Aussie subs up.
Please make sure if you do go down the route of tracing your family that you find sources to confirm the info, a lot of people do not confirm and take other peoples word for it, do your own research but by all means look at what others have, they may have some good (or bad) info, they may have hints for you. There are a couple groups on FB that you can join, lots of helpful people and very knowledgable around,
We can give you places to reseach that don't cost money.
on 02-08-2014 07:17 PM
Yes,lol, I've still got goosebumps - from just idly googling my dad's name I'm suddenly finding out all this info when I was regretting all these years that I knew very little of my parents' families and had no family. Even if they're dead it's still a connection . Can I just ask -....
this new cousin Jean in her message to me said we could continue to correspond by email - well I can't find any way of doing that, do I have to join Ancestry first? They've sent me an offer of a 14 day free trial so maybe I should do that, join and find out her email
address, then see if I want to continue. further.? .
on 02-08-2014 07:31 PM
How did she reply to you, thru Ancestry? Did she not give her email address. I think you will still be able to reply to her since she sent you the message, ask her to send her email and in your reply give her yours. I normally after intital contact share my email with anyone I make contact with.
on 02-08-2014 07:33 PM
Bright ton, if you take up the 14 day trial you will have to give your CC number and if you do not cancel before the 14 days are up they will charge your credit card for a sub, very crafty. If you feel confident that you'll remember to cancel say on day 13 go for it but don't get caught like a friend of mine who ended up with a 12 month sub before she knew it.