Contacting Cousins

It’s now been six years since my mother passed away in the summer of 2012. Since I am older than my siblings, at the time I thought I was then the oldest living Russell since none of the other branches of my Russell ancestors that I knew of had any male children still living who were older. It was that fact that started me on my journey of using tools like ancestry.com and various forms of social media to try and document my ancestry. In the process I have discovered many more relatives, including living ones, of whom I knew nothing. Now, after the sixth anniversary of my mother’s passing and in anticipation of the twelfth anniversary of my father’s passing next month, I’d like to document a summary of what I have found and who I have connected to.

Siblings and First Cousins

My siblings and I have always been well connected. For many years we had a “round robin” letter that went between the five of us and my mother. It was always exciting to receive this fat envelope once or twice a year and be able to read about the happenings in their lives, then remove your own last letter, write a new one recounting what had happened since the last time you wrote, and forward the letter on. When email and then social media (Facebook) each came into vogue that replaced the paper letters and even my mother got her own email account in order to keep up with all that we were sharing.

It was the advent of social media that prompted us getting in touch with all our first cousins and add them to our list of “friends”. While not all my many cousins are using this form of communications, and while several of them are no longer living, the rest of us are all connected. Since our families were all close growing up, we are just continuing that tradition – albeit via technology instead of by the face-to-face meetings that we had during the year back then. I have nine first cousins or first cousins-once-removed (children of my cousins) on my FB friend list, but most of them are on my mother’s side. On my father’s side I only have one living first cousin, but I am in touch with her as well as her daughter (my first cousin, once removed).

Second Cousins

My grandpa Russell was the oldest of six children, but two of his brothers did not have any descendants, leaving only three branches of that family tree to connect to. My great-aunt Loretta only had one child, my father’s cousin Shirley [Meo], and I was able to get in contact (via phone) with both her and later with her husband Bill who called me after Shirley passed away last year. My great-aunt Pauline had a slightly larger family and I was also able to make contact with my cousin Dennis [Scott] as a representative of that branch of the family. I had only met my great-uncle Bill once in my life when I was about ten or so. After researching his family, I was able to contact my cousin Jane [Young] via both phone and email. More recently, I connected via FB my cousin Marianne [Lawlor]. So that makes me 3-for-3 for this part of my search.

In the process of my investigation I also discovered that my grandpa Russell had three step-sisters that I knew nothing about (my great-grandfather remarried a woman who had daughters from a prior marriage). After much research, I was able to contact my [step-]cousin Lauren [Munger] who very much appreciated the contact as her grandparents, parents, and only sibling had all passed away and she was feeling very isolated as the only person alive in her part of the family tree. My wife and I were also able to visit her and her family (near Boston) during a trip back to New England.

On my paternal grandmother’s side, Nana Rogers only had one sister and my great-aunt Irene only had one daughter. I was able to [re-]connect with my cousin Steve [Rezendez] via FB.

Thus, I now have contact with representatives of every branch of the family at the second cousin level!

Third Cousins

Continuing up the Russell line, my great-grandfather Louis was the oldest of ten children. But five of them did not marry or had no children. That left four other branches to investigate.

I have contact via FB of two of my cousins from my great-great-aunt Martha – Pam Otomo and Pat Bradley. When Pam’s older brother passed away recently, she contacted me to ask if I had a cell-phone number for Pat as Pat was on vacation. That shows how having connections can be important.

I had originally thought that my great-great-aunt Charlotte had died young, but a suggested relative via DNA showed that to be incorrect. Thus, I have now connected with my cousin Sande as a representative of this branch of the family.

My connections with cousins through my great-great-uncle George were the first that I made when my cousin George contacted me shortly after I began my research. My wife and I were actually able to meet face-to-face with George and his wife Sallie when they were in PA a few years later. In addition to them, I am also in contact (via FB) with his son Tom, his brother Jim, and several others in this branch of the family. Note that because my great-great-uncle George was several years younger than my great-grandfather, George is actually a second cousin of my father, i.e. my second cousin once removed, and he is older than me.

For the last branch of this family through my great-great-uncle James, I have also made a number of connections (17 of them!). I have also had the privilege of meeting in person several of my cousins in CT and recently additional ones in FL. This branch is now well represented in my list of FB connections. There is a 20-year difference in age between my great-grandfather and his younger brother James, so most of my cousins in this branch are actually second cousins of my father, i.e. second cousins once removed of me rather than third cousins, even though they are younger than me.

Perfect record here – 4 for 4!

Fourth Cousins

My great-great-grandfather, Walter, was the youngest of nine children. There are no living relatives on three of the branches, and two others I have not yet been successful at tracing. So that leaves three to document.

From my great*3-aunt Eliza, I have managed to contact my cousin Kim [Iezzi]. She maintains a detailed family tree of this branch in ancestry.com so that I do not feel the need to duplicate all my connections here.

From my great*3-aunt Rebecca, I have contacted my cousin Judy [Weir] who also maintains a family tree in ancestry.com. I also have made connections with four other family members in this branch of the family.

Finally, from my great*3-uncle Theodore, I was able to make email contact with my cousin Raymond [Abruzzi], but I have not been able to completely document this branch of the family.

However, once again a perfect record, 3 for 3! But some ongoing research is still needed for two other branches.

Others

I have concentrated my research efforts on my Russell ancestors. However, because of doing a DNA profile, I have gotten matches in a number of other areas. Most of these are on my mother’s side, but one recent one was on the Russell side of my ancestry. As a result, I was able to make a connection to a 4^th cousin in my Nana Rogers Jewish line to my cousin Valerie [McNeal] in CA. Since she lived only a few miles from my sister, I was able to connect the two of them and they have now met in person.