To Nancy and others, The following story is most more complex (detailed) than some of the other articles I referred to previously ; however, it certainly supports the belief that "our relatives want to be found". Jim Hodges ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Missing Links, Vol. 8, No. 17, 27 April 2003 DETECTIVE WORK, SERENDIPITY, and DETERMINATION by Melissa Freeman Within the space of three years I experienced the death of my three remaining grandparents. My sister had just produced the family's one and only grandchild and I suddenly fely the need to connect to my past and my grandparents' memory in some tangible way. I began surfing the Net at lunchtime trying in vain to find Information that might assist. Coincidentally, a fellow worker hailed from the same area of England from which my father's family had emigrated some 50 years ago. He provided me with URLs for two sites which became essential in my search, http://www.genuki.org.uk/ and http://www.sunderland.com/. As luck would have it, I also had my grandparents' place of birth on a birth certificate and passport. My father, who had been 12 at the time of the family migration from Sunderland, UK to South Australia, had limited memories of his parents' families. His father had cut off connections with his family upon migration in 1951 and his mother had been adopted and had no knowledge of her biological parents. At first we thought finding my grandmother's biological family would be impossible, until I discovered a Web site which told me that adoption wasn't legal in England until 1927. My grandmother had been adopted in 1913. Once I realised this was only a foster arrangement I knew I could try to find her birth certificate. I took a punt and requested the certificate under her middle name with the assumption that her known date of birth was correct. Bingo! Four weeks later I had her birth certificate in my hands. There was no father's name, but the mother's name (my great- grandmother) was there. Luckily, her birth mother's last name was unusual. I had access to the BDM from 1837 to 1988 in our National Library so I began to trawl through it looking for all women with that name who were born between 1890 and 1895 making her between 18 and 23 when my grandmother was born. There were at least three possibilities and then I had some luck. I made the assumption that she had probably married at some point in her life and logically, already having had one child, would probably have another child within about nine months of her marriage. After 1913, all births on the BDM Register had the mother's maiden name and the father's surname. There it was, a record of a male child born to a woman with the same name and in the same location as my own grandmother. I obtained the couple's marriage certificate and it listed my great-grandmother's father's name. In the meantime, I had posted a very short query about the pub my grandmother's foster father ran in Sunderland. I mentioned no names other than that of the pub and the publican. The one and only response to my note was bizarre but true, from the niece of my grandmother's foster mother. She noted that she remembered the pub and her uncle and aunt and that she had a photograph of their adopted child (my grandmother) sitting with her mother. Did I know these people? Well, once we'd made a connection, this lovely lady took it upon herself to provide me with a wealth of information. Not only did she know details of my family on my grandmother's side but also her family had connections with my grandfather's family. She found my grandmother's baptism certificate in their local library and the father's name matched the name on the marriage certificate I had obtained. We now knew that it was the same woman and that two years after my grandmother was born, she had remarried and had at least one more child. The task was to find the family. We had some family stories that they had migrated to South Africa. Then, the second bizarre coincidence occurred. I had posted another notice on the Sunderland notice board looking for any people connected to my great-grandmother's new family. Within a week another notice appeared on the board looking for the same people. When they noticed my note they sent me an e-mail asking my connection. It was a very strange experience to e-mail cousins in Canada to tell them we existed. Luckily, they knew of my grandmother's birth and fostering and were very ready to welcome us into the family. We now all correspond over the Internet and have exchanged many photos and stories as we attempt to close the gap on a family separated for over 86 years. This was my first exploration into genealogy and it was incredibly rewarding. The resources are out there. It just takes a lot of detective work, serendipity, and determination. [This article was submitted in 1999 in connection with Megan Smolenyak's search for stories to consider for inclusion in a companion book to the PBS "Ancestors" series. Missing Links also received a copy. The e-mail address that the Australian author used in 1999 no longer works and I do not have a new one for her.] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ PERMISSION TO REPRINT articles from MISSING LINKS is granted unless stated otherwise, provided: (1) the reprint is not used for commercial purposes; and (2) the following notice appears at the end of the article: Previously published in MISSING LINKS, Vol. 8, No. 17, 27 April 2003 http://www.petuniapress.com