Tuesday, August 4, 2009

What are the odds?


Who'd have thought that two pictures could be so interesting? I found these two pictures in my Great Grandmother's album. The one on the right is my Great Great Grandfather, but I didn't know who the one on the left was. I decided they looked a bit alike and wanted to get my second cousin's good advice on the subject so I sent it to her. She thought they might be brothers who both lived and died in Wisconsin, where I was also born. Coincidentally around the same timeframe I came into possession of a letter written in the 70's by one related individual to another with the same family name as the two men in the photo. It was postmarked from a town in Colorado about 40 mile from where I now live. I decided to take a chance and look in my hometown directory for the surname and found the letter writer! I took the photo to the now nearly 90-year-old man and to my delight he was the descendant of the man on the left and my second cousin twice removed! He and I proved the two men in the photos were indeed brothers! I was also able to identify his wife and children from two other photos I had that were taken by the same photographer and the same place. It was truly remarkable that all these things came up at the same time to help me link clues together to identify these unknown pictures. What are the chances that he and I, whose common ancestor was a man who died in 1912 in Wisconsin would both end up in the same town in Colorado!

3 comments:

Robin in Short Pump said...

Connie, an amazing story! My roots are in Wisconsin too. Although I've never lived there, it's near and dear to my heart.

Maggie R said...

Isn't that amazing. I enjoyed reading about it.
My DH has been into genealogy on both sides of the family and it is certainly an interesting endeavour.
Thanks for sharing.
xoxo
((((hugs))))
Msggie

Cathy said...

That is so cool - it gives me goosebumps! Genealogy can sure be fun, eh? And you've got a new relative, to boot! Great story. Hugs, Cathy