This last couple of weeks has been very exciting for us. First, I found an obituary for 101 year old Angela Beattie Hughes who died on December 29, 2001. Angela is the daughter of John Beattie, who is the son of my Great Great grandfather. The obituary gave the names of her daughters and the names of four of her grand-children. Armed with the names and the fact that the funeral took place in Garden City, NY, I was quickly able to google some potential addresses for at least a few of the people named.

So I went on a letter writing campaign in hopes that they might be interested in learning more about their heritage. The first person I heard from was Angela’s daughter, Regina Hughes Haffey. I missed her original phone call, but she did leave a message and a phone number. I called her back a few hours later and had the most wonderful conversation with her for over an hour. She is about my Moms age and is sharp as a tack! In fact, it was a little strange. It was like talking to my Mom about the Beatties, but with a different set of names and stories. There were several parallels to be easily drawn.

Not only was Regina interested in discussing the Beattie’s with me, she and several family members had just started discussing their family history themselves. I quickly offered all my information to them. That would at least get one branch of their tree started. Regina had clarified some research which I had guessed at and told me some things which I just did not know.

We both agreed of the need to get together and share stories and information. So sometime soon, we hope to take a trip to Long Island and have a mini family reunion.

Next I heard from Regina’s daughter, Patricia Clemency. She sent me an email in response to an email I sent her. When Googling her name, I found many public references to a Pat or Patricia Clemency affiliated with the Make-A-Wish Foundation of New York. I took a chance and emailed her. Low and behold, I found the right person. As it turns out, Regina is the CEO of the New York Chapter of the Make-A-Wiah foundation. She had just talked to her Mom about my letter. In fact, she was one of the children interested in getting into genealogy! We’ve had several email exchanges back and forth since we first met just a few nights ago. Again… a super nice person who seems to fit perfectly into the family tree. Since she expressed an interest in the family genealogy, I decided to give her a preliminary treat (in advance of aneventual “reunion”). I sent her a digitized copy of my prized possession; a picture of our great, great great grandparents; Mary Crilly and Francis Dillon. Unfortunately for Patricia, I think I have peaked her interest in Genealogy. Next stop for her… Genealogist’s Anonymous.