The first attempt at making a connection through facebook drew a blank! I suppose it was a bit too much to ask really, especially as there appeared to be three profiles for the same person, no way of telling if the only one allowing mail messages was a current one.
A different tack was required I thought. Still on facebook I put a name in, still the profile wouldn't allow messaging, undeterred I went for the "more info" link which took me to google information linking the name to a primary school in Manchester. The story was dated 2006 (5 years ago) so it would be difficult to tell if the person was still associated with the same school. Anyway, I then accessed the school website and found that the person in question was still there - now as head teacher. Using the "contact us" option I sent a message asking if there was any link to our Dorothy. And the wait began.......
Not long though, as within fifteen minutes my mobile rang - "Is that Richard?", "Yes" I replied, "Richard Nichols?", "yes" I said again. Helen was on the other end of the telephone, one of the grand-daughters of Dorothy no less! The feeling was so difficult to describe, I couldn't sit still and finished up wandering out into the street with my mobile, still talking and not really believing it was all happening.
It turns out that Helens son has been helping his grandmother (Dorothys daughter) in trying to track down the rest of the family only last weekend! Further to this, Dorothy, her daughter and some of the girls had actually travelled down to Market Harborough in the 1980's to try to see if they could find any of the Essex family! As they didn't really know where to look, or what to look for, the task was an impossible one at the time. Now, with the aid of the internet and computers a lot of the leg-work was able to be done from the comfort of my living room.
Helen asked if she could give her mother my number, this was readily agreed and the next call was Dorothys daughter. This was all so surreal, a whole family I had no idea even existed a week or so ago, and now I was in conversation with two of them and facebook friends also!
One line of conversation really intrigued me though, it was that Harry (Pop) had sent Dorothy a message congratulation her on her marriage! How odd that he'd never ever mentioned it to anyone in our family, it could have been so much easier and sooner to make contact! So strange! But there again, they always say "There's nowt as queer as folk!"
A different tack was required I thought. Still on facebook I put a name in, still the profile wouldn't allow messaging, undeterred I went for the "more info" link which took me to google information linking the name to a primary school in Manchester. The story was dated 2006 (5 years ago) so it would be difficult to tell if the person was still associated with the same school. Anyway, I then accessed the school website and found that the person in question was still there - now as head teacher. Using the "contact us" option I sent a message asking if there was any link to our Dorothy. And the wait began.......
Not long though, as within fifteen minutes my mobile rang - "Is that Richard?", "Yes" I replied, "Richard Nichols?", "yes" I said again. Helen was on the other end of the telephone, one of the grand-daughters of Dorothy no less! The feeling was so difficult to describe, I couldn't sit still and finished up wandering out into the street with my mobile, still talking and not really believing it was all happening.
It turns out that Helens son has been helping his grandmother (Dorothys daughter) in trying to track down the rest of the family only last weekend! Further to this, Dorothy, her daughter and some of the girls had actually travelled down to Market Harborough in the 1980's to try to see if they could find any of the Essex family! As they didn't really know where to look, or what to look for, the task was an impossible one at the time. Now, with the aid of the internet and computers a lot of the leg-work was able to be done from the comfort of my living room.
Helen asked if she could give her mother my number, this was readily agreed and the next call was Dorothys daughter. This was all so surreal, a whole family I had no idea even existed a week or so ago, and now I was in conversation with two of them and facebook friends also!
One line of conversation really intrigued me though, it was that Harry (Pop) had sent Dorothy a message congratulation her on her marriage! How odd that he'd never ever mentioned it to anyone in our family, it could have been so much easier and sooner to make contact! So strange! But there again, they always say "There's nowt as queer as folk!"
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