Made a contact!

I have not been doing much with Genealogy this year. I am on the Modoc District Fair Board, and have been appointed Treasurer. Even though I only spend a couple hours of week in the office and go to a monthly board meeting it really takes a lot out of me physically because of my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. If I ever thought that maybe I could get off of disability and get a full time job this is totally showing me it is not possible. I have also joined the American Legion. Meetings are once a month, and I come home and have to retire to my bed. I love being involved and being able to give back, but it really exacts a price on my health.

But this week I decided to hop onto ancestry.com and check my dna matches. Good news! I found that a 2nd cousin on my Newman side had tested since I last checked my matches. I messaged him and ancestry messaging system actually worked properly, I he contacted me back. We have been emailing back and forth updating each other with what we have found, and updating the information our our current generations. This gentleman is a grandson of my grandfather's (Frederick Newman) brother (Eric Newman). Fred and Eric were both born in London in the late 1800's. Something happened to their family because on the 1901 census mom was living with her sister and brother-in-law, Fred was living with his maternal grandparents. I have found someone by the same name as the dad living elsewhere but I am not sure it is the right person. I have also found someone with the name Eric Newman living elsewhere, but again not sure it is the right person. I do know that at some point Eric was sent to Canada, that mom emigrated to America and got remarried the day she stepped off the ship in Philadelphia, and that Fred came to America a few years later. Eric eventually also came to America and joined him mother and brother. Both brothers fought in WWI and became naturalized citizens. They both married and had families.

As a result of the depression my grandfather Fred lost his job. He was able to get a job from his former boss's son, but it meant moving cross country to California. Fred came first, and then my grandmother, aunt, uncle and father (who was only 6 months old at the time) traveled cross country via Greyhound Bus. The story is my dad made the trip in a laundry basket.

Eric and family stayed on the east coast. This means the families did not see much of each other, although I have vague memories of Uncle Eric and his wife Nan coming to California a couple of times to visit. And when I was and adult and had moved to Massachusetts for a couple of years I did visit Uncle Eric at his home on Cape Cod.

Jennifer, Linda, Eric, John (1984)

I guess the point of all of this is to keep looking, we just might suddenly find a relative that is also interested in genealogy and is also looking to make connections with family!