Do you believe in serendipity? I’m not sure I ever gave it that much thought, but now my answer is a resounding YES!
As I’ve pursued my love of genealogy and the research process, I’ve had several instances of genealogy serendipity.
The first came when I looked through some framed photos of my dad’s family, specifically his great-grandparents, Frederick Stabley and Emma Welty. You can read about them in a previous blog post. When I took the picture out of the frame to scan, I found hidden photos of my grandparent’s wedding. Yay!!
Second, in the next two years, it is my goal to be certified through the Board for Certification of Genealogists. One of the required submissions is called a Kinship Determination Project (KDP for short) where you tell the story of 3 generations and link them together. This past month I decided who I would write about. That in and of itself is not earth-shattering news.
But, my city has a free local paper that is delivered weekly in the mail. In it, the president of the local historical society writes about people, places, and things of the past. Wouldn’t you know the subject of the article she recently wrote about involved the family of my KDP? I’m not a big believer in signs, but I think this is saying…you’re headed in the right direction.
And last, my husband’s family has been in this area for over 100 years. His mom was born just down the street. Across from that house lives one of my husband’s many cousins. Over the winter she had a pipe burst which soaked everything in the basement. One of the boxes was filled with photo albums and old documents. She brought it to us and I started to go through it to see what could be salvaged.
There were many candid pictures, but my husband was delighted with a picture of his great-grandmother whom he had never seen.
Another was a beautiful picture of his grandmother from 1908 when she was a junior at North Yarmouth Academy.
The documents included Bible-like pages with vital information about his 2nd great-grandfather and family. This is amazing! Most of this I already knew, but it’s wonderful to get confirmation of names and dates.
As genealogists, we often go looking for our ancestors and their stories, but sometimes it falls in our lap. That’s genealogy serendipity!
You too, may be able to find treasures like these. Let me know how I can help with your journey to the past!
Genealogy tip: You never know where you will find information about your family. Make sure to research all family members (living and deceased) to see who has those wonderful documents and pictures!