GREETINGS, HALLMAN's, Warm New Year's Greetings to all of you Hallman's!!! Hope this year is your best! Here's how I met two cousins this past year: I had returned from visiting with my parents in Texas. My mother and I stayed up late and talked till late, late. I asked her so many questions and she had tears in her eyes as she told me that she only had a vague memory of her mother, as she died, when Mom was 8 years old. (AGNES LOUISE HALLMAN) So we talked and when I began asking far back, she just looked at me and said, "I really wish I knew who my grandparents were. Some were in Newfoundland, and I never met them. I never knew my mother's parents, other than twice I met my grandmother." I came home and began to search. I didn't hardly know what the word "genealogy" meant. But, I sat down at my computer, and began the search. About 6 weeks into my search, a lady from Alaska emailed me and told me about a few sites that were available and that might help me with my mother's father's side of the family, the TILLEY's. (That was before I learned about the Hallman list!) So we corresponded back and forth, as it is still possible that she and I are related. Then one day she sent me an email and gave me the email address of a guy that she said was a TILLEY, and had posted several deaths, marriages, etc., on one of the Newfoundland sites. At this point in time, I didn't have anything on anyone. Not one lead! I told him who I was, who my grandfather was, and as a second thought, told him who my grandfather's brother was. He emailed me back and said that our grandfathers were brothers! I was elated. I didn't know that I even had a cousin out in Massachusettts, even though I knew I had some cousins SOMEWHERE! His aunt and I had already been emailing each other and she told me about him and I never gave it a second thought, until we met in the email box! What was so great about that incident is that he sent me all of his research on the TILLEY's all the way back to 1750, in Newfoundland, same town, same Methodist church, generation after generation. He also sent me my grandfather's mother's side of the family, the WOODLAND's, and that information went all the way back to 1675 England. I have met two ladies that I feel are related, but we are lacking one more connection to actually prove it. You know, we get older, and some of us, some how through the years get "disconnected" from our family, and those we knew or had heard of when we were children. Isn't it wonderful to begin the process of coming back to our roots, in this way!? And then, again, my cousin Barb, about that same time emailed me and told me that she had been contacted by a lady that was living in Canada, who said she was my great grandmother's (WOODLAND) neice. My great grandmother's brother's daughter. I wrote her and didn't hear back from her until I received a Christmas Card and a letter from her last month. She is so excited that she is related. I am in awe, still, as have not been able to find any living relatives of that side of my family! So, I just want to say that this list is really special to me. I stay in touch and stay on the list even though, as of yet, haven't found any connections with my HALLMAN's. You all are terrific, as is Faith, our list hostess. I hope you all find your cousins and missing relatives this year! God Bless... Linda