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2024 Week 26: Family Gathering #52Ancestorsin52Weeks

 Although I have never participated in any grand family reunion, through my genealogical research I have met a couple of people that I would never otherwise have met. Back in 2018 I contacted one of my DNA matches who lived in Australia. I had reason to believe she was connected to me on my maternal side, and comparing our trees I found the connection was my 3 x great grandparents John Anderson and Ann Russell. As I had taken this line back further, I contacted the lady, Robyn, to share the information I had. Robyn, in turn, provided me with a lot of information about her line of descent from this pair and added that she planned to visit Scotland in the coming year.

Forward on to 2019 and Robyn and her husband did indeed come over from Australia to Scotland! We met up with them for a walk and  lunch in Glasgow. We had a lovely afternoon, talking about our families and life in general. Their visit to Scotland was only part of their trip as they were visiting Ireland and England too, having ancestors from those parts as well. 

August 2019 at Glasgow Cathedral

We have kept in touch since then and are friends on social media.

Then, early in 2023 I was contacted by an American, Rick,  who believed we were related through a different maternal line of mine - my "Young" line. Although I wasn't a DNA match to him, I did match his cousin and he was intrigued to find out  how his ancestor, a Lillis Young, might fit in to my tree, as he knew very little about her. He also had a number of other research questions and puzzles that I was able to help him with. His cousin then also employed one of Ancestry's  Pro genealogists to try and get more complete answers. Unfortunately they did not manage to find definitive documentary proof of who Lillis' parents were, but their DNA analysis pointed to her grandparents being a Gavin Young and Sarah Balfour of Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire - the Parish which is associated with my 'Young' line.

Rick decided he would come over to Scotland and visit Cambusnethan and other ancestral places in the summer of 2023. Initially Martin, my husband, and I had intended meeting him on the Saturday morning and taking him round Cambusnethan, including a visit to the graveyard where some of his ancestors  and mine!) are buried. He was so happy when we located the graves he was looking for! We spent quite a bit of time there before heading for lunch, but as he was a really nice and interesting guy, we suggested we meet up again the next day and drive him wherever his roots took him.

At Cambusnethan Cemetery

So on the Sunday morning we picked him up in Glasgow and drove to Bonnybridge, Stirling, Lake of Menteith, Doune and a few other places. He seemed to thoroughly enjoy visiting the haunts of his Scottish ancestors.  We enjoyed his company and were happy to help. 

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