“When you start about family, about lineage and ancestry, you are talking about every person on earth.” – Alex Haley

What happens when you think you found a distant relative? You email them of course! And then you learn about a whole side of the family you had no idea existed.

Today I am inspired to write about family and heritage My family tree is rich with immigrants and untold stories dating back to the 1700s and 1800s. The young girl in the photo is Mathilda Kemper. She travelled with her mother and 7 other siblings from Germany to Brasil. I have no idea what the rest of her life looked liked, but what’s impressive is that I looked just like her when I was younger. The resemblance is eary.

My aunt sent me a message this morning about the author Mollie Moon and claimed that she was the niece of my dad’s mother’s father. I quickly jumped on google and found Miss Moon’s website with an email address to contact her. After composing an email with an introduction and how we might be related, I sent it off, eagerly awaiting a response.

Not too much later, Miss Moon responded that her grandfather was indeed the brother of my great- grandfather! How remarkable is this, I thought! As i finished reading her email and all the amazong new information about my family, the smile on my face never waivered.

This a perfect example at how small the world is and that family can be anywhere. I am over the moon about meeting Mollie Moon and discovering more about my extended family. My family tree on Ancestry.com grows larger by the day.