Ordinary Genealogy Miracle

Remember I said that genealogy is full of miracles? Well this week I felt like I was a part of one.

Sometime in January I was contacted via email by a man who said he had seen my post on Rootsweb about John Wilmot & Sarah Milton. He had purchased an old photo album off of ebay and it had photos of Wilmot's and Milton's. He sent me a list of names in the photobook and they weren't exactly my direct line Wilmot's or Milton's, but I could see how they tied in to my family tree. He scanned in and emailed me all the photos. The photos are very interesting. I love the old photographs. But for me personally the photos are not at all relevant to who I'm looking for. I almost didn't keep them, but i use ifamily for Mac, and I have never tried to add photos to the program and I wanted to see how easy it is, so I kept all the photos on my computer.

This past week I was contacted by a woman who was interested in the Alexander McIntosh & Isabella Graham family also of Pittsburgh Township. I had some information on this couple because two of their daughters had married Milton brothers. I did a look up for her of the Milton Cemetery Transcriptions and searched for family names in the Index of the book Lilacs and Limestones. After I sent the last email to her I remembered the pictures I received about a month ago and thought to check them for her family names. Of the 25 photos sent, over 1/2 were members of the Alexander McIntosh & Isabella Graham's family, so I forwarded those pictures as well.

It was very special for me to read of her joy at receiving the pictures. Since starting genealogy almost two years ago I have had a lot of people help me. People who seemed to be in just the right place at the right time so that the required information gets to the right place. Some were friends and some were strangers. I'm not sure there is a way to repay someone in that situation because the information is priceless and they aren't interested in a monetary payment. I have wanted to be able to help someone in that way, but up until a few months ago I'm not sure that I was confident enough to be able to say to someone try this or try that. After this week, I feel like I have been a part of someone else's success and I'm glad the pictures are with someone who has a family tie to them all together.