My dad once told me; “I like it better when you find people who are alive”. This was in reference to all the cemeteries I’ve walked and the many ancestors I’ve found. So he’s happy this week because I’m going to meet a cousin this Saturday. In fact it’s his cousin. Cousin Peter, is my 2nd cousin once removed, which means we have a 2x great grandparents in common. First I need to tell you that one of my other cousins; Stephanie, that I found in 2006 and who got hooked on genealogy after meeting me…. did I mention this is contagious, had taken the Clark genealogy by the horns and it was she that had made the initial contact with Peter. I actually made my contact with Peter in 2013.
(Back; Noah Clark, Jessie Clark. Forward; Fanny Pullen, Charles John Pullen Cardwll provide by cousin; Stephanie Lett)
Meeting a cousin can be rewarding, often they are able to fill in the gaps, provide photos of ancestors and at the very least provide clues that can further your research. Not to mention that if you meet them the ways I have, they are usually interested in genealogy. I’ve met cousins in several ways; through sites like; Ancestry.com , Genes Reunited , also through an on-line query I posted on a genealogy society page. In fact that’s how I met the cousin who got the genealogy bug. I’d posted a query about my Great Aunt Jessie, mentioning everyone that was listed in her obituary and about a month later when my cousin did a Google search for her dad’s name, she found my post. Until then she was completely unaware that her grandmother had any siblings. I even met a cousin when I contacted the Brighton and Hove Albion Football team asking for a photo of my great-uncle, Noah Clark their founder.
So I’m off to Banff, Alberta, one of the vacation destination spots in Alberta. Banff is located in the Canadian Rockies, with elevations of 4,600 to 5,350 ft, making it the second highest elevation in Alberta (according to Wikipedia). The Banff area has incredible hiking trails and that’s why my cousin is going to be there, he’s from Brighton, England and is on a Canadian hiking holiday. He has one evening free so we will meet for dinner. One of the things that will surely come up will be DNA testing and I’ll be taking along two kits; one for Ancestry DNA and one for Family Tree DNA. I’m taking them along because last year I’d ask Peter to do a DNA sample and he’d politely refused. But in a recent email, prior to him leaving England, he apologies for his refusal and asked what he could do. Peter is the last of the Clark male line, that I’ve found, so I think I’ll be encouraging him to do the test through Family Tree DNA so I can do a Y-DNA test at a later date.
I’ll keep you posted on the visit and the DNA test in an upcoming blog..