Success Stories (How I Found Family) - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Achille Berti- Vivaroli Bologna Italy

mechevia — 2013-04-07 21:50:16Z

My mothers grandfgather imigrated to Peru in 1860. He was a military and departed during the Garibaldi revolution. He had some relatives by the following names: Aldo, Giulia, Cesaro and Anna. Maybe some of the names referes to his partents. They had a chocolate factory or so.
Any help to lacate any of my relatives in Italy will be apreciated. His mother last name was Vivaroli.
Grazie!!

Re: Found something out

cyndi308 — 2012-12-17 22:15:08Z

This is a tough one. No, you don't have to be a part of it. You can choose to opt out. But maybe pass along what you have first. Or at least to the man's "legitimate" children, if any (they might want to know they have half-siblings out there). Or other relatives who might want to be in contact. Good luck and I hope you can work something out that helps them find out about their family but leaves you and your mother in peace.

Cyndi

Found something out

CathySiegel69 — 2012-12-17 15:15:51Z

I was contacted by someone looking for their long lost father. They believe they found him on my tree. Then I found out that someone in my family conceived two children outside his marriage. Out of respect for his wife who may never have known about the children it was kept a secret. His wife is my aunt and am no blood relation to this man. Both this man and my aunt are now deceased.

Now this person looking for their father has created a tree on ancestry of their own saying my aunt is her step mother and here are these two children of his. Not sure what to do but I honestly don’t want her connected to my tree at all. We are of no relation what so ever. Its actually upsetting my mother. While I admire the courage it takes to go finding your parent. I don’t feel I should have to be part of this.

write up your research as a narrative

rmwilliamsjr85705 — 2012-12-04 02:39:14Z

i wrote up my research looking for my ggfather WFS as if i was talking to my now dead mom.

i tried to anticipate every question and looked carefully at each fact.

i had an obit that talked about a mahlon saunders and his son richard l saunders.

i had found a george mahlon and his son richard lee but had never made a connection with living descendants.

it turned out that there was a charles mahlon living near my ggmother and her 2nd husband. i followed that clue from 1AM sunday morning and finally made connections with a 2nd cousin i never knew this afternoon.

what a nice feeling.
something only a genealogist could understand.
my kids just yawned when i told them.

so onward. confusing the dead and to irritate the living.

Re: Would just like to say thank you to Ancestry.com

care_bear_lexi — 2012-11-13 02:20:33Z

Wow, that is great news! I too am hoping to be able to finally have some family info..

Would just like to say thank you to Ancestry.com

medic8023 — 2012-11-13 01:14:29Z

Your site is good for finding your lineage, but for me, it may have saved my life.. After an incident in April, I went to the ER for a broken rib. When they asked about history on my Paternal side, I didn't know(my Mom left my biological father when I was 6 months old). So I started doing a search. I found a pic of him, and it was like looking in the mirror. I then reached out to the person that posted it, and found out I have a younger half brother. We began to talk, and I found out that my father had died in his 50s(I am 47) of a massive heart attack.

Fast forward to last week. I started having some chest tightness.. I went to the ER, and was able to finally tell them my entire family history. Well long story short, after a heart cath, I found out I have some very minor issues with my heart that can be taken care of with medication. So we caught it early.. Had I not known this history, I probably would have went home from the ER that night after all my tests came up negative...

So thank you,
John Hodges, EMT-Paramedic

THANK YOU ancestry.com... for finding my sister.

anadalv71 — 2012-11-07 16:08:12Z

sorry if this is cross-posted, i just found this thread...

BUT...

i am so overwhelmed right now that i had to share this...

in dec '08 i posted on the message board looking for my youngest sister, knowing there was a one in a million chance that she or anyone who knew her would ever see this. see, i am the oldest of 8 siblings. only 5 of us ever got a chance to meet and know each other. the rest were missing due to most of us having different mothers and a "traveling" father.

when i was 20, i met my father again for the first time, along with 5 of my siblings. and 10 years to the day i met him, he passed away unexpectedly. during the time i knew him, he tried many times to reunite all of his children so that some day we could at least meet and know his mother who is still alive and well in another state. he died before that could happen. as the oldest child, i promised him that someday i would find my brothers and sisters so that at least we will know and have each other, even if we all did not get to know or have him in our lives.

dec '08 i made this post:

http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.sinkfield/13/mb.ashx

2 days ago, my baby sister who is now 16 happened to google her father's name out of curiousity... and now thru ancestry.com she has discovered she has an entire family of brothers and sisters who has always known and loved her.

our other sister, stephanie, found my brother (who has our father's name from searching on myspace last year right after she lost her own mother. she wanted to find the father she never knew and just let him know. that she found his name in her mother's belongings and just needed to connect somehow.

we are now planning a family reunion this summer for the first time ever.

now there is one more sibling left we have to find... here's hoping that one day he googles... and ends up on this wonderful site ancestry.com

THANK YOU ancestry.com for bringing together my relations...

Re: THANK YOU ancestry.com... for finding my sister.

brotha106 — 2012-11-07 15:36:20Z

Hi, my name is Christian Hawkins currently I am in 12th grade working on a senior project that is collaborated with a former classmate Rolinda Davis-Jones.Our project is about discovering families and re-connecting through research. While going through most success stories we ran across yours and it had a uniqueness that we can both relate to. I am asking can we do an interview over the phone video chat anything. if you are willing can u please contact me my cell phone number 267-978-1770 email brotha106@gmail.com

A Success Story

RayVick51 — 2012-10-03 20:17:29Z

Ancestry just confirmed that my mother-in-law's suspected 1/2 brother is "close family - 1st cousin". We are SOOO happy!

Family traditions and a slew of old and new facts led us to that conclusion in August after the family wondered about it for many decades. But dna nailed it.

She never knew her dad. Now at age 86 she has a newly-found 1/2 brother. And a lot of the thanks goes to Ancestry.

THANKS ANCESTRY!

Ray Vick

Re: Found out a family secret

maryhitt — 2012-09-29 17:24:45Z

I found out the same thing! As with you, both of my parents are deceased. Therecwere no children of this other marriage. Now I wonder if my mother even knew about this other marriage. It was many years before hers.

Uniting Two Cousins

10191986 — 2012-09-29 08:36:47Z

This is the power of Family Tree Research folks, i connected two cousins whom had never met before but we're at the same very place.... I hope Sherian Phelen Chastain and Monica Guilen Ulatan don't mind me sharing there messages here.
Sherian Phelen Chastain -
"I had fun showing them to Monica today. That was too weird, we set up our booth at her Antique shop 2 weeks ago not knowing she was my cousin. Then today while working my day at the shop I was talking to Monica about facebook and your name came up and then she said jimmy dale - I couldn't believe it - we were related. See what your work has done....good job!"

Monica Ulatan Guilen
"Hi Chris,
This is amazing! But the truly amazing part of this is what happened after I received the email from Facebook alerting me to your friend request. First of all, let me give you a little background. I own an antique shop and I rent part of my store out to other dealers and sell their merchandise. A week ago I rented a small space out to a mother and daughter team. I had never met them until they came into the store asking to rent a space. They are required to work 2 days per month at the store. They decided to work their first day today (Friday). After I sent you the email this morning asking whether we might be related, I went off to work at the store. While I was sitting at the store this afternoon, chatting to my new dealer, I received your email telling me that yes, we are related. When I glanced down to see who the email was from, I saw that it was from you. I looked up and told the dealer that a strange thing had happened this morning, that I had received a Facebook friend request from a guy named Chris, who had a grandfather named Jimmy Dean, and a Great grandfather named Alva, and I had a cousin named Jimmy Dean and an uncle named Alva. She said "was it from Chris Bergstrom"? ( I hadn't mentioned your last name) I said "yes", and she said "then I'm your cousin!! Her name is Sherian Chastain, and her daughter is Dacia. Her mother is Daisy, your grandfather's sister. Can you believe it!!!

If I had received your email on any other day but today, she would not have been right there beside me, and I would never have had occasion to mention you. The stars must have been perfectly aligned to make this happen. I still can't believe how bazaar it was. We spent the rest of the day catching up and comparing stories. I had a great time.

I remember almost all of your great Aunts and Uncles. I even remember making mud pies with Ina Lou (Georgia's daughter). Please tell everyone there Hi for me, perhaps they will remember me. "

Re: *FOUND***

robertvcato — 2012-09-21 01:29:40Z

Thank you. I am beside myself!!

Re: *FOUND***

shortysrus69 — 2012-09-21 00:28:29Z

that is WONDERFUL to hear!!

*FOUND***

robertvcato — 2012-09-20 20:24:42Z

By the graces from above, I spent a few hours on this site knowing very little information. One post on a random blog and ONE week later I have found my mother after 36 years of searching and a bonus of 2 sisters.

search for 1/2 sister

buxman1 — 2012-08-01 22:53:42Z

Searching for Ann
Her maiden name was Anna Belle Woodman

From no last name to over 100 names in less than 24 hours....

GenealogicalGenie — 2012-07-19 17:25:28Z

I have been working on my family tree since 2005. I had asked my father about his mother's family and he told me to ask a cousin of his whom seemed to know a lot more about this part of the family than he did. This cousin and I are particularly close and she lent me the copy of a tree that a cousin whom I never knew, made for one of my great aunts as a 90th birthday present; this great aunt married a first cousin so she never had any children. Her nieces and nephews were like children and their children were like grandchildren to her.

The cousin who made this tree, had been working on it since 1994 and on it was a cousin of my great grandfather but it only had her first name, her husband's and their son's first name but no last name. All I was told about them was that they were a part of the family who left Russia and went to England to escape the war.

I am a subscriber to certain list-servs and an email came through one from a woman in England looking for assistance in Philadelphia. Since I live close to Philadelphia, I wrote back and said I would help her if she in turn could try to help me...

Within an hour, I got an email with an archive from a Jewish Newspaper in London with a section that people put in personal ads looking for lost or missing family members; the fifth to last ad was from the brother of the cousin who
who had no last name, looking for her and her family.

The ad included the last name of the husband, which brought me back to Ancestry.com. I did a search on that last name, found a tree with a particular permuation of it, which included the cousin with the missing last name. I contacted the owner of the tree explaining the family relationship and within a day, this discovery also led me to finding the family in South Africa as well.

In less than 24 hours, not only did I have a last name for that cousin of my great grandfather, but I was able to add over 100 names to my tree!

Found out a family secret

EpesD — 2012-07-09 15:30:09Z

I wanted to find out more about my family, but I never dreamed I'd find out a long hidden secret. In researching my father's family, I came across his name connected with a woman (other than my mother!) I did some digging and found out my dad was married at 17 and divorced 13 years later. Then he married my mom. Believe me, this has raised a lot of questions among my siblings! The search for answers has been a challenge since both my parents are deceased, but it has also been exciting.

my unknown family found us on this site

queensnowbunny — 2012-05-31 16:20:22Z

55/56 yrs ago, I met an aunt when my dad took us to NJ to see his family before he had to report in to his next army base. Only time I ever saw her but never forgot her. After all my parents died, I went in seach of my mothers family who we had lost contact with when my dad remarried. Instead of finding my mothers family, a relative on my dad's side, whom I had never met, found me and I discovered that my aunt has been looking for us for years. Thru my cousin on Ancestry, I have found and have visited my sweet Aunt after all these years. Thank you Ancestry for making this possible! God bless :)

i found a connection to my husband from almost 100 years ago

elisasicerrilli — 2011-09-27 01:25:18Z

To whom it may concern,

My name is Elisa Santagati Kadel. I have a 4 year old son and in an effort to introduce him to his own genealogy I began researching my husband's family on Ancestry.com. My husband's stepmother is Italian and her maiden name is DiDio and I am half Italian. As I was doing the research I decided to look up my own family's history as well. As I went through the sight I came upon the Ellis Island passenger Manifest for the ship "The S.S. Berlin" sheet for my Great-Grandfather, Santo Santagati, my father's grandfather. As I went down the list looking for the name Santo Santagati,I noticed that the name directly below it was Giuseppe DiDio. Quite a bit curious, I called my stepmother-in-law and asked her if she knew a Giuseppe DiDio and as it turned out, he was her Great Grandfather. So my Great Grandfather and my stepmother in law's great grandfather came over to America on the SAME boat and were checked in to Ellis Island, consecutively. This also means that more than likely, since they were in line for , what I'm sure was a LONG time, they more than likely had a conversation or at the very least said hello to each other. Oh how i wish i could know what they said but who would have known that almost a century later Santo's great granddaughter would meet and marry Giuseppe's great granddaughter's stepson, especially considering that my husband grew up in Idaho and I grew up in South Carolina. Thank you Ancestry.com for making your sight without which my husband would never have known this fact in our family histories.

Sincerely,

Elisa S. Kadel

Re:Getting Started Researching and Building a Tree

fhsleuth — 2011-05-25 05:50:12Z

Recommend listing women by their maiden name only, if known. If not known, then temporarily use the husband's surname in quote marks to place her with the appropriate family connection. This will help avoid confusion should one accumulate the names of several women with the same given name, but no known maiden name, and the need to determine which husband each should be connected with arises.

In a search inquiry, the maiden name may provide results about the woman prior to her marriage. Using the married name may provide results after marriage, but may also provide results of other persons whose maiden name or married name is similar to or matches hers.

Choosing to use her maiden and married names together in the surname field may skew the search results and one could miss out on applicable hits that do not contain both surnames.

I hope this information is helpful to you in getting started. Once your tree begins to branch out a bit, you will be interested in collecting the census records and vital records for your ancestors. Another good site is www.familysearch.org where one can find digital images of vital records or older courthouse register pages for births, marriages, and deaths. Generally, actual death certificates may be found from c.1908 to c.1953 for some states, but each state is different.

Genealogy can seem overwhelming in the beginning; but if one takes small steps at first, one grows more confident and can move into other areas of research. The Ancestry.com (ACOM) card catalog can be very helpful in finding new databases to search. Here is the link: http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/alldblist.aspx

Documenting or sourcing events before placing those in one's tree will save a lot of work later if one can then link those documents to one's tree. Save all vital records directly to your hard drive for permanence.

The Learning Center tab in the above toolbar may be helpful. Reading these Message Boards can be an invaluable source of information. Mary Beth has offered to provide one on one assistance. Don't hesitate to ask questions as someone will usually see your request and volunteer additional assistance.
Best wishes on your success.

Re: new to this

mbmjlm — 2011-05-13 20:47:58Z

This particular message thread is for people to tell how they found their family, not for getting advice on
learning to research.

However, since you asked.

First and foremost, get some type of genealogy program for your computer. There are some that are free and some that cost a few bucks. Do some online searching to find the best one for you. I have used Familytreemaker since the beginning of my research about 13 years ago. Some of these can be downloaded. After you get a program installed on your own computer, start with yourself and what you know. Then add your grandparents, great grandparents and so on as far back as you are sure of the information. If you are a
young person and your parents were born after 1930, you
will not find them in the census since the census as of
now stops at 1930. Sometime next year the 1940 census
will be available. Because of a federal law, the census
must be held for 72 years before being released. If you
know your grandparents names and they were in the US before
1930 you should be able to find them in the census records.
After you get a couple of generations on your own program
then start looking for other things. My e mail address is
mbmjlm22@aol.com should you wish to contact me for further
information. One note of caution, if you wish to make use
of the Ancestry member tree, start the same way. But do
not, I repeat, do not use any hints there by selecting them
by checking the box and incorporating them into your tree. This way will lead to JUNKOLOGY. Most trees created that way were created the same way by just selecting hints and incorporating them into their trees and so on and so forth until they have a big mess. It is perfectly alright to look at the various hints from the various trees for leads. You may want to make contact via the ancestry message system. I do that frequently. Most of the time though you will find that the person you contacted just selected the hints from another persons tree and does not have any real information for you. Just take it easy and do not hurry. Genealogy research takes time and patience.

new to this

DavidRondeau13 — 2011-05-13 16:27:53Z

Hi, i am new to ancestory.com, and was wondering how to do the research of my family tree. I would like to grow my tree, but don't know how to do the research, so I can make sure it is accurate. What is an easy way to do that?

success stories

dawsontroy52 — 2011-04-29 20:17:08Z

How long did it take to find loved ones. dawsontroy52@yahoo.com

Re: Thank you roots web...

Sad_Mushroom — 2011-02-27 08:05:58Z

Hiya,
Maybe I should do that,,,drop the Rootsweb a note.
A few years ago I noticed a post on Rootsweb from a man 36yo that was adopted.
I was 36yo at the time and just gone though a divorce and thought I could help him.
I did the searching and showed him where to look.
Within 2 weeks he rang me and told me he left a message on an answering machine for who he thought was his mother..
By 5pm that might I had his MOTHER phoning me offering me money!! (he had paid private detectives and so had she over the years and NOTHING)
She had left his dad, remarried, had 2 other children but always told them about the son she adopted out...His 1/2 siblings always knew about him and had been looking for him for years...
Was fantastic to see it all work out...For years I received emails, cards etc from them.
I am now 45yo so it's been almost 10yrs,,,but since then have done a few others but nothing more memorable...

Kellie

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TsGromu — 2010-11-12 06:59:35Z

Thank you very much. I hope there are more success stories.

Sorry to be late in thanking you. I have been swamped and just got back to the messages.

Wishing good things for you.

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tulrose — 2010-10-28 00:02:50Z

Congratulations, how wonderful for you.

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TsGromu — 2010-10-27 22:01:26Z

Thank you so very much. It was a very happy day.

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TeresaMayE — 2010-10-27 20:16:19Z

That is so cool! Congratulations!!

Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TsGromu — 2010-10-11 21:40:52Z

Thanks to ancestry.com and family trees, I reconnected with my sister. I lost her 27 years ago and searched for her for years. I had given up after so many brick walls.

Two days ago I was working on my family tree and there was a leaf next to my father's name. This appeared as very odd to me. Having a very inquisitive personality, I clicked on the leaf, which took me to the hint, which led led me to the family tree. Contacted the owner and it was my sister. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was so excited and moved until all I could do was laugh and cry all at once. I was so excited that I couldn't sleep that night. She and I are in constant contact catching up with our lives. Through her, I was able to find our two brothers.

This happening was like getting a lifetime of Christmas presents all at once. It is such a wonderful feeling.

Thank you ancestry.com for making it possible for me to locate my siblings.

This site has been very helpful over the years. Again, thank you.

Re: The rumors were true

tulrose — 2010-08-14 00:51:37Z

How lovely for you.

The rumors were true

RedPanda79 — 2010-08-13 19:47:34Z

My fathers always told me growing up that we had family in Canada, England and Australia. I thought it was just something he was misinformed about since there could not have been many black English and Australians at that time in those countries.

After a year of research I found out he was correct. His grandfather was Canadian, his great grandfather and mother were English/Australian.

With the help of several messageboard users the documents as proof were uncovered. They also helped to uncover some questions about the whereabouts of a woman after her husband died (still looking for information about him).

In addition to that I was contacted by a member who shared photos. When she first sent the photos I thought she had the wrong person because the photos were of white people. I told her she was mistaken. In her next email she explained that an ancestor once him and his wife moved from Canada to the US changed his race and age.

I am thankful for this site to help me reconnect to my past. I wish my parents were alive to share in my joy in building our family tree.

69 year old man who finds his mother on ancestry.com

ericisback — 2010-06-01 20:09:43Z

This is a pretty cool article about a 69 year old man who finds his mother on ancestry.com:

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12127781491/

Re: help ...newbie

JoMac53 — 2010-01-21 04:41:09Z

Hi Sandi,
This is the wrong message board to post questions for help, it's for telling others of successes.

Try posting your questions on the Collins surname board http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.collins/mb.ashx or the Headley board at http://boards.ancestry.com/surnames.headley/mb.ashx

There are also state and county boards, which sometimes gets you more help than the surname boards.

Good luck.
Jo

help ...newbie

Tompkins2010 — 2010-01-20 23:30:42Z

Hello to everyone. I am new and need help finding my mother-in-laws' Grandmother. She thinks her name was Sufonia(Sufronia) Lucinda Collins. My Mother-in-law's older brother said they called her Grandma Fronie and she died around 1948-1952. We also know "Fronie" had a daughter named Roxie May Headley. Any kind of suggestions would be helpful. When I try to search for her I get overwhelmed with thousands of choices, and don't know where to go next. Thank you!!
Sandi

Re: Thank you roots web...

jmyoung365 — 2009-07-08 07:00:10Z

What a wonderful story. Why not drop a note to the RootsWeb Review Editor so that your story can be shared (if the editor so chooses) with everyone at RootsWeb? The newsletter has many subscribers who would be inspired by your story.

EDITOR-RWR@rootsweb.com

Joan

Thank you roots web...

micadw — 2009-07-08 06:31:07Z

I have looked for my bio dad for years. Ever since I was 16. I found him six months after he died. But the story does not end there. I also found two half sisters that I have come to charish, and a step mom who loves me to pieces. They are sharing thier memories of him with me. I no that my life has played out as it should have. No more wondering if I will get a card in the mailbox or perhaps that stranger passing by could be my father.
Thank you.

Some of the nicest people

bayyore — 2009-02-19 13:50:09Z

are on these boards! I wanted to thank two of the nicest people for going locally where they live to look up things for me. Without them, it would have taken me a few very long trips that I can ill afford right now. Thank you Tom and Witz!

New to Ancestry.com question

demysaid — 2009-01-13 19:03:45Z

Hello,
Glad to be on Ancestry. I'm wondering how accurate are some of the very long lineage's. On a few lines of my family, there is information (little green leaf pops up) from other ancestry trees going all the way back to 1000 a.d. in Wales. Once I started these long lines, each generation leads to another one very quickly. I guess people have done a lot of leg work?

Thanks,
Demian

Re: New to Ancestry.com question

mbmjlm — 2008-12-30 18:36:34Z

Do not believe those lovely, long lineage lines unless you have done the research yourself. This is just the reason there are so many so-called trees out there with absolutely unbelievable data reaching back to royalty and sometimes all the way back to Adam and Eve. Unless you can prove your ancestry back that far, please do not merge or attach those trees to anything of yours. Those trees were more than likely created just that way, by attaching or merging another's tree, and another's, and another's, etc, etc. If you are new to genealogy, be wary and be smart. You will be glad you did. It takes years of research along with as much documentation as you can find and then you will probably never reach the end of the road.

Illegitimacy Success. My great, great gran.

ben1uiihemrt9pmua8t59t4bfslp98bi — 2008-11-28 11:07:50Z

Hi

This is my very own success story on finding the father of an illegitimate child.

My great, great grandmother was born Mary Ann Walder on the 31st December 1863 in Warninglid, in mid Sussex. She was registered under her mums maiden name, who was also Mary Ann Walder. Obviously there was no fathers name on the birth cert. The birth was registered on the 28th January 1864.

In July 1864, Mary had suddenly moved to London as she married a Kent born Servant called Thomas Roberts on the 25th July 1864 in Stoke Newington, London. He was a widower. On the 6th November 1864, the baby was baptised as "Mary Ann Kate, Daughter of Thomas & Mary Ann Roberts". If he admitted paternity in the baptism, I then needed to find his whereabouts in 1861 census to see if he was living near Mary in Sussex at all. I couldnt find him on the 1861 in London.

I eventually found him in the 1861 census living a few miles down the road from Mary in Brighton. He was aged 47, a Servant, born Kent, with wife Esther, and their daughter Ann aged 9. Could they have met in Sussex, Esther died, and they went on to meet in London?

If he was a servant and footman, he probably knew of Mary Ann through work, etc.

I found the death cert of an Esther Roberts in the Dec Quarter 1863 in Brighton. This was at the same time Mary gave birth to her baby girl. This means that Thomas was still married well into his next wifes pregnancy.

I recieved the death cert of Esther. She died on the 14th November 1863 at 19 Viaduct Terrace, Brighton, aged 42, wife of Thomas a Domestic Servant. The Cause of death was very eye catching. It said "Phthisis, years, certified". Phthisis is lung TB, a horrible wasting disease. Mary Ann Walder was 7 months pregnant.

The length of her illness would have given Thomas time to have an affair if he was stressed out about his sick wife. Also, her infection would have been passed on if he was in constant contact with her. Everything just fell into place after that. Esther was really ill and he began his affair with Mary Ann Walder. The illegitimate birth is explained because the fathers wife had only just recently died.

They moved away to London in the early months of 1864 just after the birth, obviously to escape a scandal. They wanted to also escape the heartbreak they left behind so it was a perfect opportunity to make a fresh start after the whole affair issue. Goes to show that a bit of detective work pays dividends.

Ben

Passport Application Database

GordonGrening — 2007-12-29 10:40:11Z

What a great addition to Ancestry.com. I typed in my family name and there was an application for the first wife of one of uncles. She had always been a mystery since they were only married for one year. All I knew was that he had a first wife but not her name. Finding her application and best of all a picture of her was a great surprise. Thank you so much for putting this database on-line.

Great Grandmother

gigiduclos24 — 2007-01-25 21:50:19Z

I found my Grandfather's step-mother. She was only known as Anna, thanks to Ancestry.com I found her full name! He was so shocked that all this time no one knew her name.

Re: Sisters Reunited After 76 years!

whbsbb — 2006-10-09 06:31:57Z

Gosh, what an amazing story. Thanks!

Sisters Reunited After 76 years!

2006-05-29 16:18:54Z

On March 4, 2006 we reunited these two sisters for the first time.

The woman in Snow Hill is me and the man in Kinston is Kenneth Carlyle. Mary Agnes is my half great aunt, my father Henry Grey Fields of Walstonburg, NC's half aunt although they are the same age and she was a sister or half sister to the following now all deceased except for Mary Agnes and Queenie Mae Sutton Mumm:

half sisters and brothers:

Lucille Sutton of Kinston

Sybil Rouse of Caswell Center, Kinston, daughter of Alma and Winfield Rouse

offspring of Fenner Fields of Walstonburg and Appie Clyde Lang of Farmville:

Louise Fields (m. Jamel Bynum) of Walstonburg
Ila Fields (m. Carl McKeel) of Walstonburg
Roland G. Fields (m. Olga Paris) of Walstonburg and ran a store in Walstonburg with
Seth "Grey" Fields (m. Sarah Sawrey) of Walstonburg (my grandfather)
Robert Lang Fields of Walstonburg, later West Virgina
Fenner Fields of Walstonburg, later Virgina
Albert Fields of Walstonburg, later Virgina
3 infants

full sisters and brother:
(offspring of Alma Sutton and Fenner Fields)

Appie "Clyde" Fields
John "Johnny" Ivey Fields
Alma Virginia "Virginia" Fields

You can read the story online at:

http://www.kinston.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTem...

Its on page 1 Section B! Email me if you want the photo from the paper or the photo's from the March 4th reunion in Kinston.

The pic they published of Mary Agnes and Mae with Crystal Syner's daughter was misidentified as Mary Agnes' granddaughter instead of her greatgrandaugher

Not perfect, but a good story. They used a lot of the info I sent them!

Enjoy!

Debbie Fields Murphy
Snow Hill, NC

Re: Looking to interview female genealogists

epochron1 — 2006-01-30 17:00:22Z

I have a story which is very exciting to me. In the embryonic stage of genealogy I sent for naturalization papers of my Grandfather and discovered that he had left a daughter behind. Those that came over were very private about lives lived in Sicily. It is something that was discovered and having no previous knowledge of an Aunt Grazia Vinci I proceeded to try and locate any remaining members of that family with only the aid of a photograph of 4 young girls, circa 1930's.
Two of those girls are still alive, they are cousins I never knew, and I am now corresponding with their son's and planning to visit them in the Spring. One of the son's originally responded saying that his mother was moved to tears upon receiving the letter of query. I had sent the photo to various families in the small village town of Sortino, Syracusa that they originated from. Elizabeth

Re: Thank you to Ancestry.com for helping find my family.

2005-09-26 02:26:41Z

Julie,
what other surnames besides Cains are you looking
for i have some of those in my Parsley line. I am wondering if you have any Parsley's in your line also
that might have married a Cain. Cause there is some
Parsley's in Oregon that i know.
Betty

Re: Thank you to Ancestry.com for helping find my family.

2005-09-26 02:23:07Z

Julie, i am so happy you found your dad's family,
Ancestry.com is a good helpful site for people
to go to fine help. I know that i have had wonderful
help from this site and from their sister site rootsweb.com also.
There are alot of good people on these sites that will
help you out even though they do not know you, and
i am proud to see that other people appreciate them
also cause i wish i had done what you do and thank
them for helping me fine my Parsley hertiage and Nuttall family just wish some of the Moore's and Phillips would come out of the woodworks. I know
they has to be some of them out there.

Betty

Re: Success!!

Oliviaclare1 — 2005-09-24 15:34:14Z

Wonderful report, Robert. Congratulations!

Re: Many happy returns

Oliviaclare1 — 2005-09-24 15:34:14Z

I agree. It is a great site and I am very grateful for all the successes I have had.

I found my family with the help of Ancestry.com

2005-09-24 04:14:28Z

I'd like to say thank you to Ancestry.com for helping me to find my family.

My father died when I was 2 and I never met my father's side of the family. After he died, we lost contact with that side of my family and eventually the years passed without contact. I tried looking for them through the years, but without luck. Then I came here before I graduated from college and posted a plea for help in finding my family. Various generous people tried helping me, but little came of it. I eventually went on with life and forgot about that post.

One day this year I got a call from my uncle (my father's younger brother). His son (my cousin) had found that post and showed it to him. He'd done a search to find my phone number and tracked me down. He said, "We've been looking for you."

I couldn't believe how things connected in order for us to find each other. If this had not been here, I know I couldn't have done it myself.

We had a big family reunion on the 4th of July weekend and I got a chance to meet my grandfather, aunts and uncles and many cousins. There are still more relatives I have yet to meet, but I can't wait.

Thank you again for being such a big part in my search.

Julie Kennedy
Oregon

Success Stories (How I Found Family) - Family History & Genealogy Message Board

Achille Berti- Vivaroli Bologna Italy

Re: Found something out

Found something out

write up your research as a narrative

Re: Would just like to say thank you to Ancestry.com

Would just like to say thank you to Ancestry.com

THANK YOU ancestry.com... for finding my sister.

Re: THANK YOU ancestry.com... for finding my sister.

A Success Story

Re: Found out a family secret

Uniting Two Cousins

Re: *****FOUND*******

Re: *****FOUND*******

*****FOUND*******

search for 1/2 sister

From no last name to over 100 names in less than 24 hours....

Found out a family secret

my unknown family found us on this site

i found a connection to my husband from almost 100 years ago

Re:Getting Started Researching and Building a Tree

Re: new to this

new to this

success stories

Re: Thank you roots web...

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Reconnected with my sister !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: The rumors were true

The rumors were true

69 year old man who finds his mother on ancestry.com

Re: help ...newbie

help ...newbie

Re: Thank you roots web...

Thank you roots web...

Some of the nicest people

New to Ancestry.com question

Re: New to Ancestry.com question

Illegitimacy Success. My great, great gran.

Passport Application Database

Great Grandmother

Re: Sisters Reunited After 76 years!

Sisters Reunited After 76 years!

Re: Looking to interview female genealogists

Re: Thank you to Ancestry.com for helping find my family.

Re: Thank you to Ancestry.com for helping find my family.

Re: Success!!

Re: Many happy returns

I found my family with the help of Ancestry.com

Re: *FOUND***

Re: *FOUND***

*FOUND***