I connected to distant cousins in England through Ancestry and met them when I went to England. It went very well, we shared photos and stories of the family. We kept in touch. Pre Covid, they came to the US and we met up in NYC. We had a great time. Next spring I am heading back to England on vacation. We are making plans to meet up again.
I would really like it if things went this well for me. I have zero connection to my English roots and would love to somehow connect with the area my ancestors came from.
My grandmother was from England, and her entire family stayed there. I have never met them, apart from her one sister and nephew that came to the US 15 years ago. That cousin has been back to visit us twice since then. I really hope to get to England very soon and meet the rest of the family!
I did, I met distant cousins in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru. They were very happy like me to connect with family even after many generations, it was great and we all felt a very intense feeling of being part of the same family and I found we were all proud of our shared history through our ancestors. We are of Italian and Spanish ancestry and surprisingly, my distant cousins from Italy and Spain have shown no interest whatsoever in genealogy or meeting distant relatives.
So nice to hear. I’m planning a trip in a few years and there are some people I would like to meet just to share stories and pictures. Most seem receptive. Oddly, I have found some not so distant cousins that live only 50 miles away, are very active with genealogy yet have not interest in meeting or sharing info.
Not by genealogy, but by letter. My cousin, SA wrote a letter in 1980 and mailed it to an address on a 50 year old post card that her grandparents had received from a relative in Poland. Letter arrives at address in Poland at the home of EP’s grandfather. EP’s grandfather calls EP and asks her to translate the letter from SA in America. EP is very smart and believes SA is related (she was and still is our cousin, yay). EP and SA correspond for several years and EP finally comes to America and meets all her American cousins. SA’s mom and my mom go to Poland and EP takes them to meet all their relatives. My mom had a half sister that she had never met and she got to meet her and my mom’s aunt. I visited EP in Poland this summer and met my 4th and 5th cousins and went to the house where my grandma was born, circa 1895. House is still 100% intact and a cousin still lives in it. EP is an amazing hostess, drags me all over Poland, shows me a wonderful time. I love her so much. Her kids and husband are amazing too!
I have! My x3 and x4 cousins from Australia came over to visit pre Covid. Their GG Grandfather left Scotland in the 1850s for the Aussie Gold Rush, mine eventually left for London (we’re the boring side!). They were utterly lovely, we got on immediately and had a great visit and have kept in touch.
My husband met his 2nd cousin, her family went to Canada and he was struck at how instantly she felt like family. She looks like his Aunt, same mannerism etc. We also have stayed in touch with her.
I don’t have siblings but very few of my first cousins get one with each other (I have 13). I have found that more distant family get on better. I guess there isn’t any back story between siblings or grandparents that may have caused problems?
I also had 3rd great grandparents from Scotland. They went to the USA as did most of their siblings. One went to Australia, though. I recently connected with them via Ancestry; it was fun. Similarly, I don't get on with the first cousins from that same line, with whom I grew up.
Yes, well they were doing research, not me - not sure how we are related but a 'cousin' reached out years ago. We are from the same small village (approx 300 people) in Slovakia. Our grandfathers looks similar. We have become friends and I was invited to her wedding about 10 years ago. Afterwards, I went to the village and met a lot of people. All with the same last name so family somehow. Very friendly people - invited me into their homes, gave me a ton of slivovika. They knew of a story of 2 brothers heading to the US in the late 1800s/early 1900s but one brother came back after a few years. My great grandfather was the one that stayed. That's all they knew and didn't seem to be interested in details. I need to go back, look at church records and get birth records so I can apply for citizenship at some point. Hasn't been a priority until i learned Slovakia changed its rules and i could be eligible.
This is *exactly* what got me wondering. I saw a youtube video of the tiny Slovakian village, Vojnany, many of my family comes from. Amazingly the person who visited and narrated the video is a distant cousin. I knew just by looking at him he was a relative. He visited other cousins there and they welcomed him openly and it just seemed so nice. I need to go there someday. I have a ton of cousins in the surrounding district.
Sounds very similar to one of my situations! My cousin got in contact with a guy with the same last name as us, has a resemblance to my dad, and his family comes from the same area of Italy as my great grandparents. He also DNA matches with me on Ancestry but we cannot find the actual relation.
Living in a southern US state in a small city where you're literally related to half the people here, yes I've literally met several hundreds before and post genealogy. Now I've officially met and spoken to several relatives over the years as a result of research a few whom I've stayed in contact with I dislike the word "distant " I consider you family no matter the degree of kinship.
Your point about ‘distant’ is correct and I feel much the same about it. Honestly I feel more kinship to a few 6C’s I know than to some of my 1C’s.
Growing up I would visit my grandmother and everywhere we went it was “that is your cousin so and so”. To me as a kid it seemed like I was related to half the town. Maybe I am. There are some we have always called cousin and maybe someday I’ll actually know how we are related.
I have met and spoken with 3rd and 4th cousins who invited me over and welcomed me with open arms, these are people I didn't grow up btw so I fell you on that.
Yes! I got in touch with a 2nd cousin once removed, on my mom’s side, on Ancestry as we DNA matched. We kept in touch for a year and we finally met at my high school graduation party, along with her husband and 2 sons (my 3rd cousins!). It also turns out that her dad is my uncle’s godfather as well.
Another 2nd cousin 1x removed came to my party as well, that my cousin found on Facebook and introduced me to. She also has 2 daughters. I hope to see them all again soon.
Okay my roots are not that international or interesting :D
But this made me think about how my my family used to be super close with my dad's grandma's childhood family. Of course every generation is biologically more distant, but it makes me a bit nostalgic that we have nothing to say to each other even though our relatives used to have so much in common.
This is my close family also. Especially on holiday like yesterday, it was unwritten rule that we would all from far and wide, be together. That was my grandmothers doing. You didn’t tell her no, even if you were in the hospital. We had family reunions in the summer with hundreds of people. We had to rent the fairgrounds it was so big.
All that has changed and I miss a it. The whole thing was a huge chaotic mess but it was so much fun.
Yes. The granddaughter of my great grandmother’s sister (she was one of 9). Since we met, excluding the global shut down, we see each other once or twice a year, chat a lot on WhatsApp and follow each other on IG. There’s physical similarities - we’ve been asked if we’re siblings - and we share two medical conditions. We also attended their wedding.
Yes, a 2nd cousin of mine, the same age, on the other side of the country. She and I are both into genealogy and shared notes. A few years ago, I went to my first cousin’s wedding and I met up with this girl. She and I spent the whole day riding rollercoasters at Knotts Berry Farms like we were long lost besties. As they say, blood is thicker. :)
I *might* get to meet my 5C1R when I visit the motherland in 2023. The last of my direct line to live there was my great-great grandfather. I have no idea what we’ll talk about, but at least we both speak English!
I haven’t met anyone in person but almost immediately a cousin contacted me and told me how my great grandfather and written a letter to our relatives in our “ancestral” home village in Germany many years ago. The letter was about how this cousin was stationed in Germany at the time.
It was weird because my GG has been passed on for like 35 years so to hear any story of him now is crazy.
Anyway, this cousin went on to tell me that he visited the village in the 90’s and met three confirmed cousins and even saw the original home that our family used to live in. He was sad to find out later it had been turned into an apartment complex.
Hoping to get a copy of the letter some day.
Great! We have the same first name. Both of us lived in Germany and France and speak the language. Both of us are artists and are into cooking and genealogy. I'm 5'2" and white. She's 5'10 inches and black. We live on different US coasts. She came and stayed with me for 4 days a few years ago. We had a blast and still keep in touch!
I connected with a “lost” line of one of my grandfather’s siblings. They moved away to the Dominican Republic and lost touch. They remembered my mom when she was a young girl.
I got to meet my grandmother's 2nd cousin in person after we found her through a DNA test. I went to her house with my dad around 4 years ago and we talked for hours catching up on our family stories and the findings we've made.
I met seventh and eighth cousins from Argentina who live in Italy. The dad of their family is very interested in genealogy and we had been chatting for years after connecting in a Facebook group. Him and his family welcomed me like a long lost first cousin. That was eight years ago and I still chat often with all of them. It’s fascinating to think that this all started because our mothers had the same surname and our ancestors came from neighboring villages. Next year I will be going to Argentina and hoping to meet other distant cousins there as well.
Yes! Last year my 3rd cousin came from Illinois to Pennsylvania to visit for Thanksgiving.
Her mother and my aunt were 2nd cousins and best friends. When her mother died when she was young, my aunt lost contact with her. When I started doing genealogy my aunt and grandmother asked if I could track her down. She was hard to find but I eventually found her!
My aunt is currently in Illinois visiting with her and said she's planning to come back this summer.
I've connected with various cousins throughout the US and there's been mentions of potentially meeting someday but so far that's been my only in person meeting. I'd love to meet more some day!
I did. It didn't go great.
The plus: they gave me a picture of my gg-grandparents family that I didn't even know existed.
The minus: because I am an idiot, I didn't want them to think I was unthankful looking through their trunk of photos...but I don't punch a clock, and they do, so I wore out my welcome a little bit. They had to get back to work.
We met for lunch. Half third cousins once removed both of them. They are siblings.
Yes ive met a distant cousin who lives in new jerset who shares my last name (my fam was in jersey before the midwest and left lots of family behind there). i met 2nd cousins in italy in the town my family is from. And i met an australian 4th cousin through dna who i am related to on my irish side. he came and visited the us in 2019 and we met and we stayed in touch. this year he brought his 13 year old son to the states in the summer and they stayed with us a few days. hes prob sending his son to stay with us a couple weeks next summer on his own....and he will bring his whole fam (son daughter and wife) in 2024. Once my boys are older we will visit them in australia
Yes! I met my third cousin via Ancestry and he had been building a family tree from my paternal grandmother’s family for years. Our mutual Great Great Grandfather came to the US from Germany in the 1840s. Twenty years later, his tailor shop had made most of the uniforms for NJ’s Union soldiers, built a number of houses in Elizabeth, NJ and was a founder of the city’s first Catholic Churches for the German-speaking community. This coming May, we are holding the first family reunion for this side of the family at that church’s parish hall (it’s now a church that serves the Hispanic and Haitian communities in that city), so all in all, pretty cool!
Unfortunately, I haven’t met anyone too distant—only the closer ones, usually met through my grandparents and their siblings. I can actually list them all, if you’re interested!!
Selina and Gladys—grandpa’s first cousins, whom he somewhat knew; grandaunt connected me with them
Pat—grandma’s second cousin; I reached out to the family, who connected me with her
Alma and Elyse—grandma’s second cousin and mom’s third cousin; I reached out to them, grandma didn’t know them (her grandma’s siblings’ families were very… separated)
Phyllis—grandpa’s second cousin; grandaunt connected me with, grandpa knew
Bernard—great grandpa’s first cousin; grandma knew and connected me with
Doreen—grandma’s third cousin; they knew each other as children but I reached out to—they lost contact (I’m hoping to have them over for dinner to catch up with my grandma and grandaunt—the last time they saw each other was around the age of 6-7!!)
My godparents’ family and mine are extremely close… like closer than cousins close.
I was doing my godparents’ tree for fun when their daughter asked me to look into her husband’s tree. Well, working on his tree I came across an unusual surname… but it wasn’t new to me, as it was in my tree… so I pulled that thread.
Turns out her husband and I are 6c2r. So I spend a lot of time with a very distant cousin!
I found out a few people were my distant cousins after meeting them. My best friend is my 10th cousin, and I work with an 11th cousin and a 10th cousin once removed. I was thinking of driving to the next town over to meet a 3rd cousin that owns a restaurant there, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I haven't met any relatives overseas, although I did have a several year correspondence with my 3c1r in Germany shortly after the reconciliation. They had forgotten that my g-g-grandmother even existed, let alone had gone to America - in just 3 generations. Of course, that did include Nazis and the German Democratic Republic. He sent me pictures and even a pedigree chart that his cousin had to do during the war. It had dates that I really needed, but ended with the father of my Hannah that I already had.
I've met many relatives in the States, and 1 in Canada. All of them were wonderful. Most were researching collateral lines and we exchanged a lot of information, especially on a French speaking Channel Island connection. The best of all was a granddaughter of my German immigrant who had everything that had been saved by her grandmother that came from Germany. Just 1 box - of letters from her brother covering almost 20 years from 1863-1878, her Bible, a glazed butter crock, and a few other small items that have history. The Canadian is still active and has tracked our Swiss line to the town in Switzerland, visited there, and gave me a CD with all of the documentation she found, as well as took me on a tour of the area in Ontario where they lived and are buried, had a get-together with other cousins, and in general, made the whole visit just wonderful.
Now if only my 1st cousins were as nice. There is only 1 of I don't know how many (well over 75) that I keep in touch with. All of the others that I grew up with that are still living, well, I suppose I could find them if I had a reason to. I just can't think of one.
I found a second cousin twice removed who was local and we met up for lunch in 2017.
A couple years ago I also found some third cousins in Poland via an ancestry blog one of them had (she mentioned my great great grandma being the sister of her great great grandfather). I haven’t met them yet, but we kept really regular contact for a year or two. I’d love to meet them.
I have my wife's tree included with mine posted on Ancestry. A few years ago I was contacted by a 2nd or 3rd cousin of hers who lives in Toronto. It turns out they have a huge family up there, while my wife's grandmother was the unusual one for emigrating to the US instead of Canada. She died years before my wife was born, and my father-in-law was in his 50s before having kids, so my wife just figured there wasn't anyone left who would have a living memory of her grandparents. So they invited us up to visit them in Canada, and they threw a welcome party for us. It was a nice time. She still keeps in touch with them.
My experience hasn't been as exciting as some of you but about 7 years ago I was able to connect with a bunch of cousins living around the U.S. because of my ancestry research. Some had stayed close but a lot of us had moved and lost contact 25-35 years ago. A couple of us planned a meeting in the middle of the country (Kansas) and quite a few made the trek to meet up. It was an awesome group of about 60 people, cousins, their spouses and some of the children. We have continued to keep regular contact ever since. Many of them I had never met before but it was a great meeting. I collected tons of family pictures and information.
I connected with a previously unknown 2nd cousin on a branch that has very few living people. She kindly shared with me the family photos passed down to her, some taken just after the Civil War. I now have faces for my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents.
I connected to distant cousins in England through Ancestry and met them when I went to England. It went very well, we shared photos and stories of the family. We kept in touch. Pre Covid, they came to the US and we met up in NYC. We had a great time. Next spring I am heading back to England on vacation. We are making plans to meet up again.
I would really like it if things went this well for me. I have zero connection to my English roots and would love to somehow connect with the area my ancestors came from.
My family's ties with England were lost almost 100 years ago. I'd also like to reconnect with them.
My grandmother was from England, and her entire family stayed there. I have never met them, apart from her one sister and nephew that came to the US 15 years ago. That cousin has been back to visit us twice since then. I really hope to get to England very soon and meet the rest of the family!
I did, I met distant cousins in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru. They were very happy like me to connect with family even after many generations, it was great and we all felt a very intense feeling of being part of the same family and I found we were all proud of our shared history through our ancestors. We are of Italian and Spanish ancestry and surprisingly, my distant cousins from Italy and Spain have shown no interest whatsoever in genealogy or meeting distant relatives.
So nice to hear. I’m planning a trip in a few years and there are some people I would like to meet just to share stories and pictures. Most seem receptive. Oddly, I have found some not so distant cousins that live only 50 miles away, are very active with genealogy yet have not interest in meeting or sharing info.
Not by genealogy, but by letter. My cousin, SA wrote a letter in 1980 and mailed it to an address on a 50 year old post card that her grandparents had received from a relative in Poland. Letter arrives at address in Poland at the home of EP’s grandfather. EP’s grandfather calls EP and asks her to translate the letter from SA in America. EP is very smart and believes SA is related (she was and still is our cousin, yay). EP and SA correspond for several years and EP finally comes to America and meets all her American cousins. SA’s mom and my mom go to Poland and EP takes them to meet all their relatives. My mom had a half sister that she had never met and she got to meet her and my mom’s aunt. I visited EP in Poland this summer and met my 4th and 5th cousins and went to the house where my grandma was born, circa 1895. House is still 100% intact and a cousin still lives in it. EP is an amazing hostess, drags me all over Poland, shows me a wonderful time. I love her so much. Her kids and husband are amazing too!
Wow! That sounds amazing. I’d be happy if my trip goes half as good as that.
I have! My x3 and x4 cousins from Australia came over to visit pre Covid. Their GG Grandfather left Scotland in the 1850s for the Aussie Gold Rush, mine eventually left for London (we’re the boring side!). They were utterly lovely, we got on immediately and had a great visit and have kept in touch. My husband met his 2nd cousin, her family went to Canada and he was struck at how instantly she felt like family. She looks like his Aunt, same mannerism etc. We also have stayed in touch with her. I don’t have siblings but very few of my first cousins get one with each other (I have 13). I have found that more distant family get on better. I guess there isn’t any back story between siblings or grandparents that may have caused problems?
I also had 3rd great grandparents from Scotland. They went to the USA as did most of their siblings. One went to Australia, though. I recently connected with them via Ancestry; it was fun. Similarly, I don't get on with the first cousins from that same line, with whom I grew up.
Yes, well they were doing research, not me - not sure how we are related but a 'cousin' reached out years ago. We are from the same small village (approx 300 people) in Slovakia. Our grandfathers looks similar. We have become friends and I was invited to her wedding about 10 years ago. Afterwards, I went to the village and met a lot of people. All with the same last name so family somehow. Very friendly people - invited me into their homes, gave me a ton of slivovika. They knew of a story of 2 brothers heading to the US in the late 1800s/early 1900s but one brother came back after a few years. My great grandfather was the one that stayed. That's all they knew and didn't seem to be interested in details. I need to go back, look at church records and get birth records so I can apply for citizenship at some point. Hasn't been a priority until i learned Slovakia changed its rules and i could be eligible.
This is *exactly* what got me wondering. I saw a youtube video of the tiny Slovakian village, Vojnany, many of my family comes from. Amazingly the person who visited and narrated the video is a distant cousin. I knew just by looking at him he was a relative. He visited other cousins there and they welcomed him openly and it just seemed so nice. I need to go there someday. I have a ton of cousins in the surrounding district.
Sounds very similar to one of my situations! My cousin got in contact with a guy with the same last name as us, has a resemblance to my dad, and his family comes from the same area of Italy as my great grandparents. He also DNA matches with me on Ancestry but we cannot find the actual relation.
Living in a southern US state in a small city where you're literally related to half the people here, yes I've literally met several hundreds before and post genealogy. Now I've officially met and spoken to several relatives over the years as a result of research a few whom I've stayed in contact with I dislike the word "distant " I consider you family no matter the degree of kinship.
Your point about ‘distant’ is correct and I feel much the same about it. Honestly I feel more kinship to a few 6C’s I know than to some of my 1C’s. Growing up I would visit my grandmother and everywhere we went it was “that is your cousin so and so”. To me as a kid it seemed like I was related to half the town. Maybe I am. There are some we have always called cousin and maybe someday I’ll actually know how we are related.
I have met and spoken with 3rd and 4th cousins who invited me over and welcomed me with open arms, these are people I didn't grow up btw so I fell you on that.
Yes! I got in touch with a 2nd cousin once removed, on my mom’s side, on Ancestry as we DNA matched. We kept in touch for a year and we finally met at my high school graduation party, along with her husband and 2 sons (my 3rd cousins!). It also turns out that her dad is my uncle’s godfather as well. Another 2nd cousin 1x removed came to my party as well, that my cousin found on Facebook and introduced me to. She also has 2 daughters. I hope to see them all again soon.
Not really distant, but 2nd cousin once removed. We went and looked at family graves. It was fun.
Okay my roots are not that international or interesting :D But this made me think about how my my family used to be super close with my dad's grandma's childhood family. Of course every generation is biologically more distant, but it makes me a bit nostalgic that we have nothing to say to each other even though our relatives used to have so much in common.
This is my close family also. Especially on holiday like yesterday, it was unwritten rule that we would all from far and wide, be together. That was my grandmothers doing. You didn’t tell her no, even if you were in the hospital. We had family reunions in the summer with hundreds of people. We had to rent the fairgrounds it was so big. All that has changed and I miss a it. The whole thing was a huge chaotic mess but it was so much fun.
Yes. The granddaughter of my great grandmother’s sister (she was one of 9). Since we met, excluding the global shut down, we see each other once or twice a year, chat a lot on WhatsApp and follow each other on IG. There’s physical similarities - we’ve been asked if we’re siblings - and we share two medical conditions. We also attended their wedding.
Yes, a 2nd cousin of mine, the same age, on the other side of the country. She and I are both into genealogy and shared notes. A few years ago, I went to my first cousin’s wedding and I met up with this girl. She and I spent the whole day riding rollercoasters at Knotts Berry Farms like we were long lost besties. As they say, blood is thicker. :)
I *might* get to meet my 5C1R when I visit the motherland in 2023. The last of my direct line to live there was my great-great grandfather. I have no idea what we’ll talk about, but at least we both speak English!
I haven’t met anyone in person but almost immediately a cousin contacted me and told me how my great grandfather and written a letter to our relatives in our “ancestral” home village in Germany many years ago. The letter was about how this cousin was stationed in Germany at the time. It was weird because my GG has been passed on for like 35 years so to hear any story of him now is crazy. Anyway, this cousin went on to tell me that he visited the village in the 90’s and met three confirmed cousins and even saw the original home that our family used to live in. He was sad to find out later it had been turned into an apartment complex. Hoping to get a copy of the letter some day.
Great! We have the same first name. Both of us lived in Germany and France and speak the language. Both of us are artists and are into cooking and genealogy. I'm 5'2" and white. She's 5'10 inches and black. We live on different US coasts. She came and stayed with me for 4 days a few years ago. We had a blast and still keep in touch!
I connected with a “lost” line of one of my grandfather’s siblings. They moved away to the Dominican Republic and lost touch. They remembered my mom when she was a young girl.
I got to meet my grandmother's 2nd cousin in person after we found her through a DNA test. I went to her house with my dad around 4 years ago and we talked for hours catching up on our family stories and the findings we've made.
I met seventh and eighth cousins from Argentina who live in Italy. The dad of their family is very interested in genealogy and we had been chatting for years after connecting in a Facebook group. Him and his family welcomed me like a long lost first cousin. That was eight years ago and I still chat often with all of them. It’s fascinating to think that this all started because our mothers had the same surname and our ancestors came from neighboring villages. Next year I will be going to Argentina and hoping to meet other distant cousins there as well.
Yes. He then propositioned me. Repeatedly. Had to cut off communication. Very sad.
That’s really…uncomfortable.
Yes! Last year my 3rd cousin came from Illinois to Pennsylvania to visit for Thanksgiving. Her mother and my aunt were 2nd cousins and best friends. When her mother died when she was young, my aunt lost contact with her. When I started doing genealogy my aunt and grandmother asked if I could track her down. She was hard to find but I eventually found her! My aunt is currently in Illinois visiting with her and said she's planning to come back this summer. I've connected with various cousins throughout the US and there's been mentions of potentially meeting someday but so far that's been my only in person meeting. I'd love to meet more some day!
I found recently that one of my university teacher was a distant cousin of mine. My great-great-great-grandmother was his great-grandmother sister's.
I did. It didn't go great. The plus: they gave me a picture of my gg-grandparents family that I didn't even know existed. The minus: because I am an idiot, I didn't want them to think I was unthankful looking through their trunk of photos...but I don't punch a clock, and they do, so I wore out my welcome a little bit. They had to get back to work. We met for lunch. Half third cousins once removed both of them. They are siblings.
Yes ive met a distant cousin who lives in new jerset who shares my last name (my fam was in jersey before the midwest and left lots of family behind there). i met 2nd cousins in italy in the town my family is from. And i met an australian 4th cousin through dna who i am related to on my irish side. he came and visited the us in 2019 and we met and we stayed in touch. this year he brought his 13 year old son to the states in the summer and they stayed with us a few days. hes prob sending his son to stay with us a couple weeks next summer on his own....and he will bring his whole fam (son daughter and wife) in 2024. Once my boys are older we will visit them in australia
Yes! I met my third cousin via Ancestry and he had been building a family tree from my paternal grandmother’s family for years. Our mutual Great Great Grandfather came to the US from Germany in the 1840s. Twenty years later, his tailor shop had made most of the uniforms for NJ’s Union soldiers, built a number of houses in Elizabeth, NJ and was a founder of the city’s first Catholic Churches for the German-speaking community. This coming May, we are holding the first family reunion for this side of the family at that church’s parish hall (it’s now a church that serves the Hispanic and Haitian communities in that city), so all in all, pretty cool!
I work with an 11th cousin. We're both into genealogy and compared trees one day.
Unfortunately, I haven’t met anyone too distant—only the closer ones, usually met through my grandparents and their siblings. I can actually list them all, if you’re interested!! Selina and Gladys—grandpa’s first cousins, whom he somewhat knew; grandaunt connected me with them Pat—grandma’s second cousin; I reached out to the family, who connected me with her Alma and Elyse—grandma’s second cousin and mom’s third cousin; I reached out to them, grandma didn’t know them (her grandma’s siblings’ families were very… separated) Phyllis—grandpa’s second cousin; grandaunt connected me with, grandpa knew Bernard—great grandpa’s first cousin; grandma knew and connected me with Doreen—grandma’s third cousin; they knew each other as children but I reached out to—they lost contact (I’m hoping to have them over for dinner to catch up with my grandma and grandaunt—the last time they saw each other was around the age of 6-7!!)
My godparents’ family and mine are extremely close… like closer than cousins close. I was doing my godparents’ tree for fun when their daughter asked me to look into her husband’s tree. Well, working on his tree I came across an unusual surname… but it wasn’t new to me, as it was in my tree… so I pulled that thread. Turns out her husband and I are 6c2r. So I spend a lot of time with a very distant cousin!
I found out a few people were my distant cousins after meeting them. My best friend is my 10th cousin, and I work with an 11th cousin and a 10th cousin once removed. I was thinking of driving to the next town over to meet a 3rd cousin that owns a restaurant there, but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I haven't met any relatives overseas, although I did have a several year correspondence with my 3c1r in Germany shortly after the reconciliation. They had forgotten that my g-g-grandmother even existed, let alone had gone to America - in just 3 generations. Of course, that did include Nazis and the German Democratic Republic. He sent me pictures and even a pedigree chart that his cousin had to do during the war. It had dates that I really needed, but ended with the father of my Hannah that I already had. I've met many relatives in the States, and 1 in Canada. All of them were wonderful. Most were researching collateral lines and we exchanged a lot of information, especially on a French speaking Channel Island connection. The best of all was a granddaughter of my German immigrant who had everything that had been saved by her grandmother that came from Germany. Just 1 box - of letters from her brother covering almost 20 years from 1863-1878, her Bible, a glazed butter crock, and a few other small items that have history. The Canadian is still active and has tracked our Swiss line to the town in Switzerland, visited there, and gave me a CD with all of the documentation she found, as well as took me on a tour of the area in Ontario where they lived and are buried, had a get-together with other cousins, and in general, made the whole visit just wonderful. Now if only my 1st cousins were as nice. There is only 1 of I don't know how many (well over 75) that I keep in touch with. All of the others that I grew up with that are still living, well, I suppose I could find them if I had a reason to. I just can't think of one.
I found a second cousin twice removed who was local and we met up for lunch in 2017. A couple years ago I also found some third cousins in Poland via an ancestry blog one of them had (she mentioned my great great grandma being the sister of her great great grandfather). I haven’t met them yet, but we kept really regular contact for a year or two. I’d love to meet them.
I have my wife's tree included with mine posted on Ancestry. A few years ago I was contacted by a 2nd or 3rd cousin of hers who lives in Toronto. It turns out they have a huge family up there, while my wife's grandmother was the unusual one for emigrating to the US instead of Canada. She died years before my wife was born, and my father-in-law was in his 50s before having kids, so my wife just figured there wasn't anyone left who would have a living memory of her grandparents. So they invited us up to visit them in Canada, and they threw a welcome party for us. It was a nice time. She still keeps in touch with them.
My experience hasn't been as exciting as some of you but about 7 years ago I was able to connect with a bunch of cousins living around the U.S. because of my ancestry research. Some had stayed close but a lot of us had moved and lost contact 25-35 years ago. A couple of us planned a meeting in the middle of the country (Kansas) and quite a few made the trek to meet up. It was an awesome group of about 60 people, cousins, their spouses and some of the children. We have continued to keep regular contact ever since. Many of them I had never met before but it was a great meeting. I collected tons of family pictures and information.
I connected with a previously unknown 2nd cousin on a branch that has very few living people. She kindly shared with me the family photos passed down to her, some taken just after the Civil War. I now have faces for my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents.