Have you ever found a distant cousin?!

caprice

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Ok, this is sooo weird. I work in a real estate office (for the last 3 years). We have representatives that come and go all year long from different title companies. Well, I became friends with Stacy immediately. She was 7 months pregnant with her daughter, Brooke, at the time. Her and I talked and cut up all the time when she was here. She was also very sympathic when my grandmother died, and sent flowers and card to me when it happened. I always thought she was an awesome person and never really questioned the "bond" I guess we shared.

Today, she came by to drop some fliers into boxes for our agents, and I started asking her about her cruise documentation with her last name and middle name in regards if we needed our middle on it. Well, anyway, she started telling me that when she changed her last name from "Knesek" to her new last name....I stopped dead in my tracks! "That's my mother's maiden name!!"

A couple of phone calls later to my grandfather, aunt and my mother. My grandfather thinks that my great, great, great grandfather (Frank) is brothers with her great, great, great grandfather!! We aren't totally sure yet, but we are both now going to pull our papers from generations back to see if we are cousins. She did confirm though that Martin & Teresa Knesek (who came from Czechoslovakia in the 1800's) are very familiar to her!!


This is awesome! Has anyone ever found a cousin just by doing every day things? What a blessing!!


I'll keep you all updated as to if (for certain) if we are indeed related and how!! This is exciting!
 

icklemiss21

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Not a cousin... but I moved to Canada two years ago.

I work for a construction company and a customer called in to ask for a quote, so talking to him he notices the English/Irish in my accent as asks where I am from so I tell him and he says he came from the same little town in Ireland but he left nearly 50 years ago. So I ask his name etc (and I know this sounds dumb but I didn't actually know my grandma's maiden name) so talking to my uncle I mentioned him and he said - thats my mum's maiden name - he might be related somewhere.

Turned out he was my grandma's brother, they had a big fight and he moved to England, never to be heard from again - he is living 20 minutes away from me, he has no family left so we had him over for Christmas and filled him in on many years of history... then when my grandma called to say happy christmas he agreed to speak to her.

They are both too ill to travel to see each other but now they write and he has talked to some of his other brothers and sisters and nephews/neices and their kids - he seems 20 years younger now after finding his family again... he just needed that little push to contact them (ok so I set up the phone call - but it all worked out well in the end)
 
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caprice

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Oh wow, how perfect! You made that difference in their lives! Good for you! Atleast they are writing each other now and hold no more grudges! This is very neat!! Miracles in the tiniest places!
 

katielv

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You guys are so lucky. My grandpa and his sister are not talking. They had a fight 10 years ago and just lost tough. They are the only living siblings. My grandpa's side of the family has moved to Canada in 1920's and I have not been able to located them for the past 8 years. My grandpa's sister is the only person who has the letter from them that they wrote in 1930's and 1940's but since we have way of contacting her we can't reunite the family. So you guys are very fortunate to find your relatives. I'm so happy for you.
 

okeefecl

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Well, I found a long-lost branch of the family tree, but not quite doing daily things. I was on a genealogy forum for my Dad's family when I ran across a post from a woman looking for Dad. Dad's father died in WWII a few months before he was born, and his mother didn't let him have much to do with his father's family. This woman was the daughter of Dad's grandfather's brother. We now have many more cousins than I ever thought.
 

coolcat

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Oh Candie...that´s so sweet....


No cousins,or others relatives...
my grandfathers passed away a few years ago, and, my parents was uniques childs in their own homes....
no uncles not cousins.....JUST my Lovely Family of TCS!!!
..
 

bigorangemenace

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Well.... I have no cousins actually...... not full ones anyway. When I was about....thirteen, this woman contacted my mom and it turned out that they were half sisters! So my half-aunts name is Dawn. My grandfather was in the war (whichever oen happened in his time) and lets just say he.... got around... (before he married my grandmother) so basically I could have a number of half-aunts and half-uncles, including vietnamize (sp), korean, chinese, w/e relatives and half cousins.

My half-aunt dawn is a stripper and a drug user though, havent seen her or spoken to her in like... three/four years. She had three children but put them all up for adoption so I have never met my half-cousins before.

My uncle isntg married and has no kids, but I have enough second cousins to substitute for that (my great grand parents had six children.
)

We went to a family reunion just last sunday. My great uncle gary is the coolest by far and my uncle Darrel would be cool too except he is married to this witch of a woman (literally is and looks like a witch) Bleh. Dont like her at all. My grandfathers side of teh family... we dont have anything to do with themn. Its funny because they shun us because they dont like grandma, though my mom and uncle are the only legitimate children he had (and they are a very old fashioned sort of family) but eh. Dont like them anyways.
 

captiva

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Yes, this happened to me, too! Isn't it fun? I worked and was good friends with a girl and we hung around as couples in our younger days. When I was researching my family tree I discovered that my gr.gr. gr grandmother had their last name. It's an unusual name, so I contacted her to tease her about being cousins. She put in touch with her husbands brother and come to find out, I am related to her husband
It is a small world
 

gemlady

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I didn't know it at the time, but a couple of my elementary teachers were distant cousins and one was married to a distant cousin!

The rest I found perusing the genealogy boards.
 

zoe'n'misskitty

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I once met one of my distant cousins who lives in Wales. She visited my dad a few years ago, after he met up with her while he and my step-mom were visiting the UK. She was really cool...and quite a good jazz pianist. She and my step-mom did a concert at a local coffee shop.

My great-grandmother's parents emmigrated to the US from there shortly before she was born. Her uncle (maybe great-uncle?) was my Welsh cousin's great-grandfather, or something like that...distant relationship, but still related!
I thout it was cool that my dad had tracked down some family overseas.
I'm sure have relatives in Germany, as well...one of my other great-grandmothers was the daughter of German immigrants...but no one has traced that side of the family.
 

yayi

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Cool stories. Wish I had one to share.
Although being from the Philippines, a previous colonized country, I probably have a very, very distant relative in China or Spain.
 
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