I had a great surprise on the March 28th program. One of our participants, Owen Oliver, turns out to be my cousin. Owen is a dedicated student of Geneology and once we learned we were both from around Windsor, Nova Scotia, we started to compare notes with who we knew. It wasn't long before Owen suspected we were related.
During the program I searched and searched for the Redden book, which was compiled some years ago by a family member tracing our history. Finally, yesterday I found the book, scanned a number of pages and sent to Owen. He just got back to me with the following news:
Marie,
I am so grateful for the information you sent me. Your second great grandmother Jane King is my fourth great grandmother, so we are cousins. I hope you're half as pleased as I am. Remember we were friends before we knew we were related. I still can't believe how small this world can be. The information you send helped me make the conection. Thank You, Thank You.
Your sister-in-law, Mary Ann Fader Redden is also a cousin of mine through the Caldwells and of course David Young's sister is married to my cousin as well. I think we are also related by marriage through the Brown family but haven't made the connection yet.
Indeed, it is a very small world!
I am tickled pink to find out Owen and I are related. I hit it off right away with Owen and his wife Jackie, well before we discovered our relationship. In fact the whole group of March 28th were exceptional, so much so that Karen made Certificates for them as they named their group 'Focus on Magic', and magical they were. We are looking forward to getting to know them all better as, one by one, they find themselves returning to Mexico to start their new lives; I have no doubts they'll all be here sooner than later. One of the great rewards of our job at Focus is the wonderful people we meet, many of whom become close friends.
What could be better?