I said in Part I that I found out a little bit about my New Brunswick cousins via Facebook....I never did send messages to any of them...like..."Hey, it's me your long lost cousin!" I really didn't know how much if anything they knew about me, and whether or not I'd be taken for some crazy person wanting to be friends. So, I let the questions remain. I had a harder time trying to pinpoint my cousins in Washington state...I had heard no more from the sister of the 3rd wife...so I figured that they weren't interested.
Still a lot of questions remained. It's amazing how many more questions come up when you start getting answers! Most of those answers came this summer.....so I'll fast forward a bit. Idle time....wee hours of the morning...I was googling again for something to do. Everyone was in bed, John had gone off to start his new job in Dubai, and there I was alone at the dining room table contemplating some cinnamon buns from the second-hand Bread Store....
I tried my father's name and Google in its infinite wisdom (or I made a typo)...changed the spelling from "McMullin" to "McMullen" and returned items for that spelling instead. I didn't notice the difference. It was late and I probably was trying to lick some cinnamon bun icing from my fingers. About halfway down the first page I saw this post on an adoption query board.
OMG! That's me....a sibling! Not the piece of family history I was expecting! I read the entry again and again....I couldn't believe it! It wasn't like having another sister was outside the realm of possibility (considering there was some talk) but to actually see it written out like that was mind-blowing. Right about that same time, Rob came up the basement stairs and I showed him the post. He seems impressed but he says that I'm probably not going to respond. "Oh, yes I am!" says I....tomorrow after I sleep on it and come up with the right things to say. He laughed and said..."See, I knew you wouldn't." And he disappeared back down the stairs with a late night snack in hand.
I had way too much adrenaline to have a serious shot at sleep. So, I gave up trying to find the right thing to say....I managed to compose some sort of email and sent it off to "jsmith".....then I headed off to bed feeling like it was Christmas Eve, and I was a five years old again.
Unfortunately, I woke up a few hours later to find that my email had come back as undeliverable. And now, I was faced with trying to find another way to contact someone named "jsmith". Luckily, I had packed my detective hat this trip. I reasoned that the best way to narrow down a "jsmith" would be through the unusual name of her mother which was Hulda. With any luck, someone might have done some genealogical work and her name (with some connections) would come up if I Googled it. The hunch paid off and right away I found Hulda Penney, and the name of her husband, and the names of her children and their birth dates. All of the dates made sense. Hulda Penney had married Howard Goodwin. They had 5 children...Jill and Judy born August of 1960, and 3 more born starting later in the 60's.
I used Facebook to search for the names of the other children, narrowing it down by geography and age....then I cross referenced the friends lists looking to see if they had each other as friends. When I figured out who was who on Facebook, I then checked the friends lists for Jill or Judy Smiths. I found "Jill Smith" on all of them. And out went the messages on Facebook.....and I was sure they would think I was some nut. Once I had a name I was able to poke around some more and eventually, I came up with a better email address because Jill had posted to the adoption query board again, several months later. Not one to leave any bases uncovered I sent an email to that address, too. Less than 24 hours later, I got a reply from Jill on Facebook....and the day after that....Patty and I were on our way to meet her!
Part 3.....coming eventually....
Still a lot of questions remained. It's amazing how many more questions come up when you start getting answers! Most of those answers came this summer.....so I'll fast forward a bit. Idle time....wee hours of the morning...I was googling again for something to do. Everyone was in bed, John had gone off to start his new job in Dubai, and there I was alone at the dining room table contemplating some cinnamon buns from the second-hand Bread Store....
I tried my father's name and Google in its infinite wisdom (or I made a typo)...changed the spelling from "McMullin" to "McMullen" and returned items for that spelling instead. I didn't notice the difference. It was late and I probably was trying to lick some cinnamon bun icing from my fingers. About halfway down the first page I saw this post on an adoption query board.
**Penney - (McMullen) Looking for my biological family. I was
born summer 1960, (twin girls). My mother worked in Halifax 1959, her name was
Hulda Penney. My biological father was married with a family, so my mother moved
to rural Nova Scotia after discovering that she was pregnant. My mother passed
away in 2005. I know that my biological father had roots in New Brunswick
(Possibly Perth). His father was associated with a news paper there. I believe
my fathers name may be " Jim McMullen", however; I am not sure. I am interested
in finding siblings or any info on the family.**
OMG! That's me....a sibling! Not the piece of family history I was expecting! I read the entry again and again....I couldn't believe it! It wasn't like having another sister was outside the realm of possibility (considering there was some talk) but to actually see it written out like that was mind-blowing. Right about that same time, Rob came up the basement stairs and I showed him the post. He seems impressed but he says that I'm probably not going to respond. "Oh, yes I am!" says I....tomorrow after I sleep on it and come up with the right things to say. He laughed and said..."See, I knew you wouldn't." And he disappeared back down the stairs with a late night snack in hand.
I had way too much adrenaline to have a serious shot at sleep. So, I gave up trying to find the right thing to say....I managed to compose some sort of email and sent it off to "jsmith".....then I headed off to bed feeling like it was Christmas Eve, and I was a five years old again.
Unfortunately, I woke up a few hours later to find that my email had come back as undeliverable. And now, I was faced with trying to find another way to contact someone named "jsmith". Luckily, I had packed my detective hat this trip. I reasoned that the best way to narrow down a "jsmith" would be through the unusual name of her mother which was Hulda. With any luck, someone might have done some genealogical work and her name (with some connections) would come up if I Googled it. The hunch paid off and right away I found Hulda Penney, and the name of her husband, and the names of her children and their birth dates. All of the dates made sense. Hulda Penney had married Howard Goodwin. They had 5 children...Jill and Judy born August of 1960, and 3 more born starting later in the 60's.
I used Facebook to search for the names of the other children, narrowing it down by geography and age....then I cross referenced the friends lists looking to see if they had each other as friends. When I figured out who was who on Facebook, I then checked the friends lists for Jill or Judy Smiths. I found "Jill Smith" on all of them. And out went the messages on Facebook.....and I was sure they would think I was some nut. Once I had a name I was able to poke around some more and eventually, I came up with a better email address because Jill had posted to the adoption query board again, several months later. Not one to leave any bases uncovered I sent an email to that address, too. Less than 24 hours later, I got a reply from Jill on Facebook....and the day after that....Patty and I were on our way to meet her!
Part 3.....coming eventually....
1 comment:
I will always find this whole story to be forever fascinating! Amazing! And now I'll know who to turn to if I ever need any serious detective work done. : )
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