Cousins can be found in the most unexpected places

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the annual Ontario Genealogical Society conference in Ottawa for four jam-packed brain expanding days. I joined a table of eight to ten at the banquet, where of course the conversations were all about all things genealogy.

During the roundabout conversation, the man seated next to me commented that he often has trouble keeping all of the surnames in his family tree in his head. I said I didn't really have that problem. Conversations continued all around the table. A few minutes later, my dinner companion mentioned that after the conference ended, he was heading to Massachusetts to research his Barber line.

Barber? Well, it just happens that I have that name in my family tree. By this time he was cursing himself that he had not brought his devices to the banquet. Me? Out came my iPad, on which I have not one, but two apps containing my family tree.

We leaned in to look at my screen. We share the same 6th great grandparents, Robert Barber (abt 1700-bef 1790) and Sarah Bean (abt 1704-1790) of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Only at a genealogy conference could this happen. We weren't the only ones to discover cousin connections though. Two people at an adjacent table also discovered that they are related.

Robert and Sarah are the great grandparents of Samuel A. Fisher (1758-1812) who migrated to Nova Scotia, taking their descendants into Canada. I wrote about him here.

My research into my Barber-Bean line back from Robert and Sarah needs more work. My new cousin has done some work that may help me in that task.

This is why I always carry my family tree with me. You never know, do you?

The never ending story continues.....




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