Cousins

Our daughter-in-law, Donna, has been working on finding family links from before her marriage to our son, Jeff. The vehicle for recording all this is ancestry.com. She’s been successful in discovering people we didn’t know existed and, because of the searches others do, we have had long-lost relatives contact us. Many of these new-found relatives are from a maternal line dating to my paternal grandfather. So, without current searches or curiosity among us all, we never would have connected since the name “Hirsch” disappeared in my grandfather’s generation except for my father’s direct line (and I am his only son).

I now have a whole new set of second cousins and second cousins, once removed on both my maternal and paternal side. Most of these people we really did not know they existed. So, it’s been a blessing to find each other, share stories, talk on the phone.

Just today I have been corresponding with the great granddaughter of a sister to my paternal grandfather (so, she’s a second cousin, once removed). Her father was a Maurice Jr. as I am. I’m guessing that her grandfather was also Maurice like my father was. And there are other men named Maurice sprinkled around the family, directly related or married to those directly related. There also seems to be a thread of writers/poets.

Right now, Jeff and Donna are in NYC where they will meet with my second cousin and her daughter from another sister to my paternal grandfather. And we’ve had the grandson on my great aunt, Tillie, contact us through his searches. Tillie was a sister to my dad’s mother.

It’s important to me to not only make these connections and tie together a far-flung family, but also to hear the stories. To compare ones we know together. To find out new stories. Who were the good people and who the rascals? How did we lose track of one another starting with my dad’s parents’ generation?

I am looking for you and want to hear your stories, fables, tales.