A Jen Too Many

Squeeeee!!!!

Guess who called me last night?!

(No, nobody that dramatic. Sorry. Didn't mean to get your hopes up.)

My mother in law's cousin!! (Trust me, it's far more exciting than it sounds.)

My mil was an only child. On her mother's side, she was the only grandchild. On her father's side, she wasn't the only grandchild (obviously), but she didn't have a huge number of cousins. Many, many aunts and uncles, but very few cousins. Not a wildly prolific family in that generation.

For a number of reasons, not the least of which was his early death, contact with her father's family (this would be my husband's maternal grandfather - try not to get confused here) was limited. Not that anyone wanted it that way, it just worked out like that.

Unfortunately (1), it left us knowing very little about that side of the family, which is a shame, because they were immigrants and what history I have been able to learn is absolutely fascinating. (I've been researching them on Ancestry.com, which has been helpful in finding them in the census records and such.) Unfortunately (2), it has proved remarkably difficult to find out more than a little about them. I get tantalizing snapshots every 10 years, but there are so many things that happened in between censuses. What happened to J.'s wife? Why does he suddenly have only one child and is living with his parents? Did his wife and first child die? I don't know. I can't find any death records. I can't even find a marriage record, to tell me his wife's name. I only know she existed because, on his WWI draft registration papers, he stated that he had a wife and two children.

Then, last week, I found a reference that gave us a name. A cousin! Someone who might be able to answer some of the questions we have about the family! Someone I was actually able to track down online and find an address I could use to write to her!

So, last week I carefully wrote a very tactful letter, enclosed a copy of a picture we had of her mother, and gave this cousin our contact information. And yesterday? She called!!!! She called us and I had a lovely conversation with her!

She is 86 years old, an absolutely delightful, sweet lady. Unfortunately (3), she seems to know as little about the family as we do. She didn't even realize her grandfather had been a widower before he married her grandmother.

Never mind. She is family and she is excited to hear from us. Her children are excited to hear from us. We are excited to hear from her! I can't wait to get to know them all better.

And that is why I was jumping up and down and squealing with delight yesterday afternoon, instead of making dinner.