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An Overwhelming Experience!
After 5 years of searching I still had not found my missing link - the birth certificate of my Gt. Grandfather, born around 1858-1859 according to his marriage and death certificates. Having exhausted both time and money searching for the wrong information and certificates, I sought the help of the Genes community members. Within minutes of posting my request several members were on the thread asking questions and giving information to help me with my search.
The details of his Marriage Certificate lead to several different lines of research, and included the names of the witnesses to the marriage – this was one of the questions the Genes Reunited member helpers asked me. From here it was all go as they traced the families associated with the witnesses. Each name, place of birth, line of work, and a final clue of where they lived was investigated by helpers who put comments on my thread and discussed it together bringing me onto the thread where necessary to clarify their findings. It was interesting to see how the member helpers work with each other by discussing the situation on the thread and coming up with the answers together.
The member helpers asked me the right questions and my replies enabled them to find my relative's birth place and his family. A suggestion was made that I check a birth, which seemed most likely because the address of one of the marriage witnesses was the same as that of my Gt. Grandmother before marriage – and it proved that it was likely the correct birth. Bravo – what a day was made that day!!! Dates were completely different to what we had thought. This begged the question – did they lie about their ages for some reason? But that of course is another story!
This completed the births, marriages and deaths of that part of my family tree. It is with much gratitude that I thank those member helpers of Genes who give freely of themselves and their time. Their experience is shared without question to other members who they do not know, and who they will probably never meet. The Genes Community is a family in itself and friendships are forged from help given and received. Genes is lucky to have such member helpers, as without them many members would not be able to complete their family trees.
Thanks again Genes Helpers for all you have done to help me. There are too many of you to name, but you know who you are.
Sappho
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