Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Finding Internet Cousins

What is an INTERNET COUSIN? Someone somewhere in the world that you discover while surfing on the Internet that shares the same ancestor that you do. Usually it's not on your direct line but a descendent of a sibling of one of your great grandparents or further back. You may find a new cousin while using a SEARCH ENGINE to find info. on an ancestor or at other family history sites we'll discuss soon. Hopefully, the new cousin will have a current email address so you can contact him or her and start exchanging information about your common ancestor. I've had great success with AOL email addresses-people keep them forever.

Internet cousins have sent me photos, information and histories of shared ancestors that I didn't have. In turn, I've been able to send them via email or snail mail materials they wanted. In the year 2000, I was able to travel to Nauvoo, Illinois and meet an Internet cousin who was an experienced researcher through AOL's genealogy groups. (My real cousin Marion who is on AOL got me interested in this activity and gave me an email address of someone to contact named Luella.) Turns out Luella and I both worked in a family history center for our church, except she lived in Virginia and I lived in Utah. We decided to meet in Kansas City, Mo. and toured historic Mormon sites together in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa where our common ancestors lived. What a thrill that was! She is a dear friend now, only one of many Internet cousins I have discovered online. You may have unmet family members out there waiting to contact you.

4 comments:

  1. My historian sister-in-law found some new relatives that very way!

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  2. This is news to me..I had never heard of this Lin....

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  3. To find those long lost relatives would be a wonderful thing. You are inspiring me to search for my paternal grandfather. Thanks for leading the way, Lin.

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  4. It's interesting that Mormons have long held an interest in geneology. Our cousin is a Mormon and he located long lost relatives in Japan for all of us here in Hawaii.

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