Have you ever thought about messaging an unknown distant relative on FamilySearch or other family history sites? Reaching out to unknown family members is a great way to develop relationships with extended family and add information to your family tree. 

Back in the 1990s before online research, I connected with Geoff Sadler, who was researching the Sadler family in County Suffolk, England which is part of my own family tree. We became great friends and e-mail correspondents in the early days of the world wide web! I had access to the British microfilmed census records in the Family History Library and he, living in England, had better access to parish records. What ensued was a ten-year correspondence where we shared information about the Sadler family. Geoff eventually wrote a history of his Sadler family and shared a copy with me. With this information, we were able to give many of our Sadler relatives temple blessings. In 2014, we made a trip to England, and a highlight was finally meeting Geoff and his wife in person. 

I found a branch of my family through messaging a stranger on Ancestry.com. One of my childhood memories was receiving letters from my father’s Uncle Jack in England. Dad’s parents were immigrants and Uncle Jack was the only one of his English relatives I remember Dad hearing from regularly. Jack passed away in 1967 when I was quite young, and none of Dad’s other English relatives knew what happened to Uncle Jack’s family.  

My father passed away in 2001, and In 2011 I was going through his family history notes and found a half-sheet of paper with a hastily sketched pedigree chart and a very old newspaper article highlighting a young boy, John Sansom, winning a grammar school award. The pedigree chart showed the names of John’s wife and parents. His grandfather was my Uncle Jack! I had just started building a family tree on Ancestry.com and I decided to try and see if I could find a connection to Uncle Jack’s family and the young boy, John. After setting up my tree, I noticed that someone else had John’s mother on their tree. I messaged them, describing my relationship, and I explained that our family hadn’t known anything about the Sansoms for almost 40 years and would like to contact them. Almost immediately, I received a reply: “Your relative, Annie, is John Sansom’s mother. Her son, John, is married to my mother’s sister. When your message was mentioned, he knew about Frosts in America. He’s not on email but I’ll pass your message to his daughter who I’m sure will be in touch.”

The following weeks were thrilling for our family. We emailed with John’s daughter and shared information about our respective families. After more than 40 years, our families were reconnected! John, his children and I frequently corresponded in the following ten years. John has passed away now, but I am so grateful that we were able to reconnect with him and his children. Best of all, we were also able to travel to Wales and meet all of them and spend some time sharing our Frost family heritage. 

In his conference talk, “Family History and Temple Work: Sealing and Healing,” Elder Dale Renlund counseled that one of the blessings of family history work was an “increased love and appreciation for ancestors and living relatives, so we no longer feel alone.” I am grateful for the love and friendship I have received from distant family members after reaching out to find them!

Photo: 2 branches of the Frost family reconnected after 40 years

-Marianne Bates, Consultant, Granite FamilySearch Center