Success Stories

Catherine REID Bidgood My journey started when I was a wee child! My father always longed to go to his mother country 'Scotland' and I recall promising my dad that if he did not make the journey, I would make it for him when I 'Got Bigger' My Dad is deceased now but in April, 2003, my fiance (now husband) Robert & I went to Wales to visit Rob's mom and while we were there we drove up to Scotland to see if I could find my 'presumably' only living relative Nisbit. As I approached Scotland, all I could do was cry as I gazed at her beauty! I rang the doorbell of Nisbit's home and alas, the man I had never met before immediately became my family! We sat, had tea, cried and chatted about who was alive, who passed away, what each succeeded in, in their lives and then Nisbit took out the family bible. In it, was all the names of my grandparents and their children, where they were born etc. I immediately decided to start my search for the rest of my family. After many long hours of searching and hoping, I finished a 500 page book on the family history, made many copies of it and passed them out to my family members. I have since made numerous visits to many parts of Canada, including cemeteries and have met so many wonderful strangers that 'instantly' became 'MY FAMILY'. I remember when I was doing my research, it felt as though my grandparents whom I had never met, came home to visit me in the wee hours of the morning and I understood why each child was named a certain name...it was as though I was back in time with them! The feeling of doing this research is tiring but so very nostalgic that who ever you are...you MUST continue with your search! The closeness you will find in records, cemeteries and pictures is unexplainable...To me, it was as though the years stood still and waited for my entry into this very large family! Genes reunited played a very important part in my plight to find my family, as did other search engines and it is with the utmost respect I say 'Thank You' to them. The wife of a cousin of mine living in the United States started to do Glenn's family tree and knew we landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia on one of our crossings and through the telephone directory, she found one of my new found cousins who directed her to me and my book...we chat all the time and in the next two weeks, we will meet for the first time... I am so excited! Without family, we have nothing and as I wrote in the introduction of my book: 'It is not the material things that be pocess that dictates who we are...for they are but mere pocessions, it is what we do in this life that dictates from where we came, and 'who' we really are'! To all who may take the time to read this....'Enjoy your journey and take some time to sit in the quite of your loved one's resting place...You too can find many answers there! Now, I must go and work on my scrapbook of pictures...it will be book II! PPS: The Reid's I am talking about: GGG Grandfather came from Ireland while the next two generations came from Coatbridge, Old Monkland, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. My Great Grandfather came to Maryland, USA, went back to Scotland and then returned to Pictou, Nova Scotia while other members of his family went to Australia. Could YOU be related to me too? :) My dad's birthday is tomorrow...'Happy Birthday Da... :)