It started as a typical Saturday. I wandered downstairs a little later than during the week, grabbed a coffee and read the news. When Diane came down, I went and dressed and then prepared for my call with the cousins. The call followed the usual storyline of news, reminiscences, banter and general good humour. They are a nice bunch.
Last week, Jane had given me a bunch of old letters and papers written by my mum and dad back in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. I set about scanning these and filing them in my genealogy folders. As I filed each letter, I read it, and where no date was included, tried to work out from the content or the handwriting when it was likely to have been written. (Are you with me so far?)
One letter, written when Dad was about 7 years old, asked his aunt and uncle "Have you seen John Rickerby?" This was a name I had never heard before and I thought no more of it. I was trying to use other context from the letter to determine its date. I needed Dad's sister's birth date. I fired up a browser and logged in to Ancestry. My Home page was displayed. There was a band of recent DNA matches near the top. The first entry was a Laura Rickerby, who is apparently a distant cousin. I was gobsmacked. Rarely has my gob been so smacked! What are the chances of me finding a reference in a 1930s letter to a name I had never previously known and the first website I look at after that claims someone with the same family name is in fact a cousin?
I immediately wrote a message to Laura and now wait with eager anticipation for a reply.
The rest of the day has been spent doing some chores in the garden and cleaning up after Jasper in Ellie's bedroom. I also managed to finish my latest book and have downloaded a new one.
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