A family history mystery

Last week there was this mystery person adding data to our family tree on Familysearch.org

So I thought I would just email this person to see if I'd get a response.
I wondered….who is this person and where did she get all the info to share?

Familysearch.org is free to all, but the majority are still from our church.
So I wondered….could this person making all these entries also be LDS like we are?

I had never found anyone who is Mormon in our family tree, except of course my parents and
siblings and then on from there. But no one else. Although I've often figured that as fast as this church
is growing, there must be someone somewhere who is LDS that we are related to.

I am still in awe how this unfolded.

The best way to explain is to share excerpts from emails over 2 days of time.

First is the one I put out there for the mystery person adding to our family tree.

(Keep in mind as your read below, that these are only small excerpts from our emails. 
And I will call her M until I get permission to share her name. I'm blue. She's red.)

Hi M..
I hope I have your name right. I noticed that you recently put lots of info on Family 
search about the Rozier and Wiley family. I was excited to see this. I love working on 
family history.
How are you related to them? Could you and I possibly be related? 
Jill Rozier Shelley


Hi Jill!Yes, I have been attaching census records to people in our family line. I appreciate you 
reaching out to us.
I am 40 and live in California. Are you LDS?M


If I understand correctly I think your Dad and I are related through our great grandparents. I 
think my Great Grandfather is the brother of your Dad's Great Grandmother. 
I live in California also. Very central California, in Clovis. Where are you?
And yes I am LDS, are you?
 My parents joined the church in 1955, when I was just a year old.

You live in Clovis???? NO WAY! Me too!!!
And my parents will be coming into town this weekend. We HAVE to get together!
M



Absolutely incredible!It would be very fun to get together!
What ward are you in?
Jill

Perhaps we are meant to work on this line together?!
My 16 year old daughter has gone to a place called Family Camp the past 2 summers with 
friends. She has become really good friends with Alex Rozier. She texted him tonight to see 
if he knew you and he said you are his aunt! She was ecstatic! She said "Mom! I actually had 
family at family camp and didn't even know it!"...

This is pretty amazing.  I have this GIANT stack of papers all about the Roziers that my Dad gave me 
about a year ago and this week I literally started praying about where to begin or how to start going 
through them because it is so intimidating.  Then you email me, and my parents who never get to visit 
just happen to be driving down (from Washington) and will be here Sunday afternoon. 

Can you PLEASE come over for dessert on Monday evening? 


So that's where it all left off. Familysearch.com is a world wide website. M could have lived 
anywhere, but she is in the SAME town as me….and for her daughter to know my nephew 
Alex….and for her daughter to be at Family Camp of all places the past 2 summers (which is 
predominantly Rozier)!

Den and I are going to their home tonight to meet them….family we didn't know we had in this same 
town, just a few miles away. How bizarre is this all.  If they are comfortable with pictures, hopefully I 
will come back with some. 







11 comments:

Karen Mortensen said...

How wonderful. Can't wait to see what happens.

McKenna Heasley said...

This is an incredible story! What a testimony of family history work! I can't wait to hear how tonight goes. :)

Grandma Honey said...

Thank you Karen Mortensen and McKenna for reading all that. I am VERY excited about tonight. :)

Scrapally said...

I wish I could read the WHOLE interchange! That is so exciting! I too look forward to the follow up story!! :)

Fisher Family Fun said...

I have found a few relatives on Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.com. It's pretty amazing, huh?
Do you know what Ward she is in?

Grandma Honey said...

She is in Shepherd Ward, Rhonda. And a good friend just pointed out to me that I had the Family Search address wrong. It's suppose to be Familysearch.org.

Whitney Jay said...

I can't wait to hear how the meet up went, this is so crazy!

grandmapeg said...

Wow! What a small world. I will look forward to reading about your meeting with her.

Richard said...

Shepherd Ward is our old Ward...why are you keeping us in suspense? And where is my comment from yesterday?

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful story! I love when she said, "I'd been praying about what to do with this." You're an answer to her prayers. How wonderful for you both! Can't wait to hear the rest.
Peggy in Iowa

Grandma Honey said...

That's the part I loved too, Peggy.

Sorry, Richard, not trying to keep you in suspense. I'm working on it. Just waiting to get some of my facts right first.

I didn't realize that was your old ward. How long have you been gone now? We are guessing 10 years.

Look what happened last night

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