The Strangest Things Can Happen

Do you believe in Coincidence?  I sometimes think that we are guided by a greater and unfathomable power when strange things happen.

I had exhausted one line of my Family tree.  As far as I could get back in time and pretty sure I had covered all the Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  Well, my beloved was on nights at the time so there was just me, the dogs and my computer.  One night I had been looking through Census records again, trying different sites and was getting pretty fed up with the whole thing.  Anyway, I belong to that Site where schoolfriends get together, you know the one.  So, being bored out of my skull I decided to go on there to see if anyone new had joined, anyone whose name struck a bell as being in my class.   Nothing.  Oh well, might as well logg off I decided.

Then out of the blue a thought came into my head.  Having always been interested in history, even modern history I decided to see who was on my old school list at the earliest date, if you see what I mean. In other words, the oldest member.    I found someone who had left the school in 1929!!!!  I took the liberty of sending this lady a short e-mail asking if she could tell me anything about the school in those times.

A couple of weeks went by and I heard nothing and forgot all about it.  One morning I logged on to find a e-mail from someone I did not know but it mentioned the site. I opened it to find a nice letter saying that the person I had written to was her Grandmother who did not have a computer herself but was delighted that someone had written to her.  The Grandmother had asked if I would like to telephone her sometime for a chat.  I made a note of the number and for a few days did nothing.  Then suddenly she came into my mind again.  I gave her a ring and she was able to tell me lots about the old school and the surrounding area.

After about twenty minutes it came time for our Goodbyes.  Before I rang off she asked me the name of the street I lived in at that time because, she said, she had relatives who lived in the same street.  I told her we knew practically everyone who lived there and we might know them so could she give me the name.  She said R......   .  I said "Not Ethel R....... She said "yes, she was my Mother's Aunt."  There was a stunned silence from me and then I said "She was my Mother's Aunt as well."!!!!!!!!!!!!  Stunned silence from her end.  Then she came out with family names which I could confirm.

Through her I found five more children of my Great-Grandparents that I knew nothing about, plus all their children and Grandchildren and found cousins in New Zealand as well as in this Country.

Coincidence?  Just what gave me the idea to look up the oldest member and what were the chances of her being related to me???  Mind boggling.  I think maybe some greater power had a hand in it, maybe the ancestors themselves who did not want to be left out of the Family Tree.