I recently came across a tree on ancestry.com that had a distant relative on it; my tree also had this person. Sure I did Google searches to find out more info for this possibly living relative, but I contacted the person who owned this tree and she gave me the phone number of the person who is a second cousin once removed. Well I waited for the right moment to contact this woman in her early seventies while my mom is here for Mother’s Day weekend. We called together both excited and nervous about opening this door.
She picked up, I asked if she was the person I was calling for, she was. I won’t divulge her name but she is a living descendant of the Sullivan family of which my mom and I are also from. She was cautious with info, having me present her siblings’ names before truly opening up. She is a very sweet woman and seemed thrilled with what I knew and the memories I conjured up for her. The one connection we both shared the most info on was her grandpa.
Her grandpa was the captain of the fire department in Binghamton NY for decades. There are many heroic stories about his rescues and dedication to his work that I have found. This granddaughter told me he was the first paid firefighter in the town. She recalled him living with her family in his later life and his being the only person in the house with a radio. She and her siblings used to sneak in his room to listen and upon hearing his footsteps would retreat under his bed where he found them every time.
I have sparked something in her now and she’s reached out to her other 2 living siblings to look through photos and other memories,
Today was a great chat with a sweet person but really opened up a new path to my family research. I look forward to what we can share together. I think we made each other’s Mother’s Day!