All I can say is WOW!
And the biggest thankyou to everyone who has contributed to helping solve the mystery of who Alma was and wasn't!
This has been an amazing journey since March this year when my father died.
Amongst his personal effects we found some very basic hand written notes that he'd been given by his sister many years ago.
In the notes I found for the first time, the name of my Great Grandfather......James Ralph Matthews and his wife Lillian (nee Tiffen).
I grew up only knowing my father's 2 siblings and their kids (my 9 cousins) and his parents, my Nan and Pop.
I knew of no one else. And no one talked about anyone else.
After my father died, my first hint of other family was a 1909 school photograph of Ridgley School, Tasmania, with 3 Matthews children, Walter Clem my grandfather being one of them and his sisters Violet and Nellie.
In my search to find more about James Ralph and Lillian, I came upon a search for the same couple that had been in cyberspace for 20 years!
Through this I met my new cousin Mandy, Granddaughter of Violet, who was looking for her Great Grandparents parents all those years ago.
I felt like I'd gained another sister.
We then found that we matched via DNA to 2 other cousins. And connecting with them was like finding another 2 sisters. They are the Grandaughters of Amy Ellen.
And while we were trying to figure out how these 2 new cousins were connected to our family, we found another 2, which were twins. They were searching for their paternal birth family.
So while we all connected privately and tried to figure out how we all fitted together, and the search for 'Alma' was taking place, we had worked out how the twins fitted into our family.
They were descended from another of James and Lillian's children.
So tonight we are all a bit overjoyed and very much overwhelmed at the legacy that James and Lillian have left us.....
And very grateful to you all,
Thank you to everyone on behalf of us all,
Peg
