Asking For A Friend

I spend a lot of time working on genealogy and DNA, and organizing my genealogy and photos, so that gives me time to think about things. I know I probably should stay with the task at hand, but that’s just how I roll… Squirrel.

So this morning, I thought, why not start a new series called; Asking For A Friend and if you feel so inclined, I hope you’ll reply. So if you see this on any of my social media; Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter (note that I’m a drive-by Tweeter, meaning I go there occasionally), LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Threads (FamilyHistHound). Wow, I realized why I don’t have any time after writing that list. You can also just check me out here.

So here is what I hope to be the start of a fun list of questions each week. I’ll be posting to my social media pages and on my blog, so I hope you will comment and share your experiences.

What is the Oddest Way You Found Family History Info?

I thought of this question this morning and then had to ponder as to what might have been my oddest way. I have to say through Canada Post. You might wonder how I can say that.. it’s all about a chain of events that all started with some letters.

When I realized that William (Willie) Beaton had a sister, and her name was Mrs. W.L. Davis, I eventually learned that she was Annie Batten. (Don’t you hate that women didn’t have their own names back in the day?)

I learned that Annie had lived in Gananoque, Ontario, so I wondered how I might find out more about her. I was a baby genealogist then, so I decided I’d look online and write to everyone in Gananoque that had the name Davis and ask them if Mrs. W.L. Davis, aka Annie Batten, was related to them in some way. There weren’t many letters to write; I think it was just around thirty. So I sent them off.

I must tell you, getting mail in the form of letters is much better than the usual bills and advertisements. So I was excited when I got about five replies. A couple were to tell me that they weren’t related, which was very thoughtful, and the others were grandsons of Annie. Two that stood out to me were Paul and Roger.

Paul and I chatted on the phone, and he told me that his grandmother was, in fact, Annie Davis but didn’t know the details of her childhood. I told him I wasn’t even sure that we were related; it was just a hunch I had. But Paul was super helpful; in fact, he was the one person I visited in Gananoque in 2012.

He gave me copies of what photos he had and took me to the local cemetery.

The photo gave only one clue before I got home, and that was a handwritten note (why didn’t I get a copy of that) that said, “Bill, my brother, and Veronica, taken on my wedding day” At the time, the clue didn’t make sense. If Annie was writing this about her brother Bill who was Veronica?

Finally, I had a lightbulb moment. I kept looking at the photo and thinking, but why would they have a photo of my grandfather’s sister Veronica. Because the woman in the photo looked just like her. Until I realized the photo had been sent by my grandmother Mary and she was speaking about her brother Bill Jr. (William Beaton’s son and her sister-in-law Veronica). So it was all about the context of who was writing on the back.

Once I got home, I looked closer at the photos I had of my aunt and compared them, and it all made sense. So I knew I was on the right track, and Paul was family.

The other person I chatted with over the phone was brothers Roger and Ronald. I don’t recall which one of them said it, but he speculated as to whether their grandmother Annie was a British homechild. So this has been something I’ve researched quite a bit about, and I always keep it in the back of my mind. I’ve done a lot of searching, and so far, I can’t find that connection, but it still may happen.

After meeting Paul and talking to his brothers, I learned about their niece Margaret, and they put me in touch with her. Over the 11-plus years I’ve known her, she’s helped me by DNA testing at not one but two sites, Ancestry and FTDNA. She’s given me what information she has and many photos and she’s become a good friend.

The Beaton/Batten Mystery isn’t solved, but I’m so much closer to knowing the answer (in fact, I think I do know the answer, but that’s for another blog).

I know this is one of the oddest ways that I’ve found out family history info, and it all started with thirty random letters.

I think I have a few other odd ways, but what’s the oddest way you can tell me about?