Tuesday, February 13, 2007

YORK Research Log

Last Wednesday I received an e-mail from a lady who said she was the daughter of Howard Paul YORK (1943 - 1990) and had seen information about him on my Ancestry family tree. I e-mailed her back with my phone number and explained that Howard was the younger half-brother of my paternal grandmother, but that they had never met; until a couple of years ago, my grandmother did not know she had had younger half brothers. Sadly, both died young, as did her "full" brother.

On Friday, Howard's daughter and I were finally able to connect via telephone. I had a lot to share with her about the family, information I pieced together over the years regarding this fractured family. It was fractured by several generations of divorce as well as the placing of my grandmother and her brother into an orphanage by their father when they were very little. Howard's daughter knew very little about the family history, as her parents had divorced when she was young, and he had known little about his father, Howard, Sr., who had also died young. Howard, Sr. was her grandfather and my great-grandfather, making her my dad's half-first cousin. However, she and I are closer than age than she and my dad, since her father was young enough to be my grandmother's son.

After a half hour of conversation, we hung up with the promise of exchanging photos and more information.

No comments: