EPISODE 6 AND THEN I GOT ANOTHER CALL
And then I got another call from the Adoption Registry in Ontario. They had found my son!!! The process had been sped up because I had a heart condition and it was a health issue for him to have a checkup. Of course I gave permission for them to give him my contact information. And contact me he did. By phone. In a Scottish brogue!! Turns out his adoptive family, like mine, was also gone and he had begun looking. They moved to Scotland, home of his adoptive mother, when he was a toddler. What a joy to hear his voice!! But weird to hear Mel Gibson of Braveheart. Very surreal. Soon I got my first letter from him with pictures. I still have it, even though a lot was lost in my travels, his mementos are still with me.
Thought I’d break it up a little and post something of what’s happening in the present.
I “met” a lady online in a Yahoo group who needed information on her family. She had moved and left all her family history documents in storage and had to start over compiling her genealogy. I contacted her and we emailed back and forth and we got her started again. By the information she gave me, there was quite a bit in her memorybank already, but no dates and “maybe” placenames. At least it was somewhere to start. Let this be a lesson to all of us: back up your research!!! I use ancestry.com and download a gedcom from there to Rootsmagic and from there I can make a wall chart. My sister is doing a scrapbook. I have also printed out information for the other blog. You can also use Google docs (which I did) or any one of a number of online storage areas. Windows Live has one and there are several others. Use a thumb drive or cd or put your work on another computer (laptop) or an external drive. For me, best is printed or, if traveling by plane, thumbdrives are compact and can be used to print when you get to your destination.
Oh yes, a not-so-happy event turned out well and – coincidence – she and I had lived in the same three Canadian provinces in the same order and she now lives in the same province as me, is within a couple of years the same age as me, and lives about 3 hours away. See what I mean about my adventures in genealogy?
I “met” a lady online in a Yahoo group who needed information on her family. She had moved and left all her family history documents in storage and had to start over compiling her genealogy. I contacted her and we emailed back and forth and we got her started again. By the information she gave me, there was quite a bit in her memorybank already, but no dates and “maybe” placenames. At least it was somewhere to start. Let this be a lesson to all of us: back up your research!!! I use ancestry.com and download a gedcom from there to Rootsmagic and from there I can make a wall chart. My sister is doing a scrapbook. I have also printed out information for the other blog. You can also use Google docs (which I did) or any one of a number of online storage areas. Windows Live has one and there are several others. Use a thumb drive or cd or put your work on another computer (laptop) or an external drive. For me, best is printed or, if traveling by plane, thumbdrives are compact and can be used to print when you get to your destination.
Oh yes, a not-so-happy event turned out well and – coincidence – she and I had lived in the same three Canadian provinces in the same order and she now lives in the same province as me, is within a couple of years the same age as me, and lives about 3 hours away. See what I mean about my adventures in genealogy?
So…Bill went home and life went on for me. We communicated by phone and eventually by internet. Then another phone call. He had managed to find, through “channels” – a reliable source, the name of our father. I put out a search, then, when I didn’t get anythng for awhile, lost interest…….until I got a hit!! a woman left me a message on one of the boards saying, “We need to talk.” A little later, I got another message saying she wasn’t part of the family I was looking for.
Then it happened. Another woman got in touch with me saying she belonged to that family and was pretty sure I was the sister she had been looking for for a few years….and she was instant messaging and had email she was willing to share with me. I learned much about my background from her and even got pictures and names of other siblings. When she saw a picture of me, and I saw some of the pics she sent, there was no doubt but that I belonged in that family. What a thrill!
Then it happened. Another woman got in touch with me saying she belonged to that family and was pretty sure I was the sister she had been looking for for a few years….and she was instant messaging and had email she was willing to share with me. I learned much about my background from her and even got pictures and names of other siblings. When she saw a picture of me, and I saw some of the pics she sent, there was no doubt but that I belonged in that family. What a thrill!
Episode 4 BILL’S VISIT AND AFTERMATH
I never really got over the urge to stare at him – that would come later. The week he was with us wasn’t filled with sightseeing or touristy stuff. We mostly stuck around the “yard” (forest) and talked about ourselves. He told me about his wife and two daughters and about being adopted and his life up until then. I did the same, except instead of two daughters, I had a son whom I had not seen for a long time, since he was given up for adoption after a few months for reasons of health. More about that later. My husband and I had no children, as I was unable to have any more. (Since this is a genealogy blog, I will keep information about myself to what pertains to my bloodline. I will say, however, that my own adoption was to a good family, albeit lonely, as they were in their 40′s when they adopted me as a baby. They had a son who was married before I was taken into the home. I was spoiled and disciplined when I was young and later rebelled and ran away. I mention this because you will see later how this all makes sense.)
Okay, back to the story – Bill had brought some papers with him – copies for me of the information the Children’s Aid had given him. There wasn’t much about our father, but it was fascinating to learn about his mother and his adoptive life. Imagine growing up in the same town! Turns out, there were others who grew up in the same town too!
When Bill left, we hugged awkwardly and had a little cry and I was left with much to think about.
Okay, back to the story – Bill had brought some papers with him – copies for me of the information the Children’s Aid had given him. There wasn’t much about our father, but it was fascinating to learn about his mother and his adoptive life. Imagine growing up in the same town! Turns out, there were others who grew up in the same town too!
When Bill left, we hugged awkwardly and had a little cry and I was left with much to think about.
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