well that text was just waaaaay wrong - trying again

 

 

It feels like I've found treasure.  Wish I'd done it years ago.  This is sooo cool.  .    I send for my paternal grandmothers death certificate and it came today.  I had the date on an old telegram.     Her parents names on it and I've found her birth on the BDM in NSW plus her marriage to my grandfather in Sydney.   I've sent for them thru the internet.      She and her sister were put in an orphanage after their parents died.  I hope the NSW stuff will have her parents ages so I can do some more research. 

Something really weird.  My Great great grandfathers name was Robert James and thats the names of my 2 sons.  

 Yoda

 

Cool journey you're on and weird but nice with the names.

That should be great grandfather.  Not gg.   She wanted to see me before she died  but the polio epidemic stopped children travelling, too late then.  I'm finding you now Grandma .   

I have a weird story too Yoda. My nana had a daughter out of wedlock waaaaay back and she kept her.  She came back to NZ from NSW where she had gone to give birth and a little later married my grandfather.  He was not my aunties father.  Aunty grew up and named 2 of her sons Ivan and Ross.  After my grandmothers death dad found his sisters birth cert.  He hid it and bought it home.  My aunties father was Ivan Ross.  She never knew until dad gave her the full birth cert when her sons were already grown and married.

Oh Karey - your story has made me go all tingly.  Adoption stories usually bring a tear to my eye. 

 

About 6 years ago a friend of mine had a workmate in his 30's who decided to find his birth mother. He was adopted in the UK and they emigrated to NZ and he grew up in Timaru.

When he went back to find her, his mother made up a photo album for him to give his birth mother.   (tear in eye)

He was born in England but  traced his mothers birth to a village in Ireland, phoned NZ, my friend told him to go across and start with the local priest.  He did and before he told the priest what he was there for, old priest said "I know who you are, I know your mother!!!"    He said come back this afternoon and in the meantime I'll go and visit your mother and break the news to her.  As they walked outside onto the street together the priest said quietly.  "Go back inside, I see your mother walking up the street"     

     

I thought it was amazing that the same priest was still in village but maybe my friend who is Irish knew that was a good possibility.   

Anyone doing or done family geneology ?  Searches etc.  Any tips?  

 

My family (both sides) have done extensive family trees - it takes a LOT of patience and checking, double checking and triple checking to get it right.

 

On the Irish side we've gone back as far as Clonmacnois which is where the family name came from (they changed their name to mean "Followers of St Ciaran" [also spelt Kieran depending on whose version of history you read] which then got mis-interpretted and mis-spelled over time to become the current version) - we have no way of knowing what they were called before that.

I've been to Clonmacnois and it's quite cool knowing that my family had its roots there.

 

On the other side it's a bit tricker...... the culture in the middle east was a little more nomadic.