I have the Polish version of this Irish tale! A little over a year ago I received an email from someone in Poland who was surfing the net and found me and my research of the Pilarczyk family. We exchanged a couple of emails and I was able to send him a copy of his great-grandfather's baptismal record! He knew of relatives that emigrated to New York and asked my help in finding descendants. I was able to get the name and address of a relative from a death certificate. He wrote to them - in perfect English as he lectures around the world in his field of biometrics - but never received a response. I just happen to be working on a letter to this gentleman as we speak. I'm including an outline of the family history (the full history is up to about 30 pages) and a picture of me with his Polish relative and family so he can see we look pretty normal despite our interest in genealogy! I'm also begging him to pass the letter along to anyone in the family who might be interested. I'm hoping he has the holiday spirit and responds. Light a candle for me! Good luck to all of you! Cynthia > From: "Dave Witthans" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [IL-CHICAGO] You can't pick your > relatives > > > Good thinking Ellen. There is also the possibility > that there are skeletons in the closet that they > want to keep hidden. > > If Ellen's sugar idea doesn't work, then maybe the > implied use of a private eye to dig into their lives > might loosen them up? > > How about detecting which church they go to? > > Send their addresses to your Aunt? > > Get Mollie Kennedy, the Irish Queen of Springfield, > to help? ( [email protected] ) > > Best Wishes, Dave Witthans > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Ellen Plourde > To: [email protected] > Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 6:42 AM > Subject: Re: [IL-CHICAGO] You can't pick your > relatives > > > Pauline, > > I have a similar story. However, what I did > after being hung up on and dismissed was write a > lovely letter about myself, and my family(picture of > kids, also). I also included one or two PHOTOCOPIES > of items I had found in research pertaining to a > 'common ancestor'...and a photocopy of a photo of > "our" ggf. > > I wouldn't say they opened their arms afterwards > and we're having Sunday dinners, but they did > respond. They are private people and not really > interested in reminiscing. The funny thing is that > I'm in my 30's and they're in their 70's and 80's. > What a role reversal! They all still live in Chicago > and the suburbs, as do I - - I would guess it would > not be more than 1/2 hour of transportation time for > us all to get together. > > Anyway, it might be worth a shot, to reach out > again, but NOT in a pushy way that indicates to them > that you want something.....that's an instant > turn-off, you don't want to come across as a > genealogy tele-marketer! > > Good luck! > > Ellen > > Treehouse <[email protected]> wrote: > > Why, OH, Why couldn't I be related to one of you > guys?????????????? > > I just found two women in Chicago who are first > cousins to my father. The > first one was polite enough but not interested at > all and the second one > hung up on me. > > My grandfather and all his siblings (one of which > is their mother) all went > to the US in the early 1900's. My grandfather went > back to Ireland and got > married and had children (including my father). > > I have been doing my family tree for about 9 years > and I have not found any > trace of the US relatives. It probably didn't help > that until about 2 months > ago I thought that they were all in NY. > > I have things a little backwards from you all. I > was born in Ireland and > have lots, if not most of the Irish information > (including the Holy Grail- > the townlands) and I am looking for the US > information. Most people are in > the US and looking for where their Irish ancestors > are from in Ireland. It > is tons easier to find US information than it is > Irish information. > > Not only were they not interested in helping me > but weren't even interested > in me sending them things like copies of the 1911 > and 1901 Census of Ireland > with their mother (and father) on it. I found > their father in a ship list > from the same area in Ireland going to America > with another of my > grandfathers siblings. > > Needless to say I was very disappointed. My Aunt, > who still lives in > Ireland, was wanting me to find some of her > cousins in the US. What will I > tell her? 70 million people in the US are > decendant from the Irish, with a > great many of them looking eastward for any > information and here we are > looking westward for them with the information at > the ready and what do I > get. HUNG UP ON! > > Why, oh Why couldn't I be related to one of > you??????????????????????????? > > Thanks for listening. > Pauline > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com