For the numerous years I have been doing genealogy, I have found many, many family names. I have met, but only when very young, paternal family members associated with my research. My parents divorced when I was seven, and after that, I never had any further contact with the paternal side of the family.
However, 13 years ago, I was contacted via ‘Friend Reunited’, a now-defunct website, by a second cousin on my Dad’s side. Samantha was my cousin Cheryl’s daughter, and she was searching for members of the Bulford family to include in her parents’ anniversary gift of genealogy. Through Sam, I was united with Cheryl, my first cousin, and from there, I met more first cousins I had never met before.
This was SO exciting! There was Diane, my Aunt Sylvia’s daughter, Cheryl, Aunt Florence’s daughter, Joanna, Uncle Roy’s daughter and David and Jonathan, his sons.
All familiar names, but people I had never met or even thought I would ever meet. We all contacted each other via the internet in great excitement, and exchanged the information we had all collected, and they sent me photos I had never seen, of my Dad and his family.
After numerous emails, we decided to meet in the UK when I went over for my annual holiday. As this was the paternal side of my family, we met in Cornwall, where my father and my cousins’ mothers and fathers were all born. I met, once again after 68 years, my Uncle Roy, at his apartment, where he lived with his wife, Aunt Evelyn, 90,
Uncle Roy, at that time, was 94 and the last surviving member of the 11 children born to my father’s family. He died in 2022, when he was 106 years old.
Uncle Roy and Aunt Evelyn
Uncle Roy’s sons, David and Jonathan, were there with their sister Joanna, plus Diane and Cheryl, nieces of my Dad, and suddenly, just like that, I had met five cousins!
From the left: Marian, Cheryl, Joanna and Diane
My handsome Cuz Jonathan
I had brought photos and they had some too, which we all pored over. I learned so much about the family in that short visit, to add to my family tree. First though, lunch and what better way to celebrate our ‘Cornishness’ than with a Cornish Pasty? Made by Joanna, it was delicious
A homemade local treat, the Cornish Pasty, made by Joanna
I showed David and Jonathan a treasured photo of me, aged three, which was taken by Dad on a beach in Newquay, one of the last visits to Dad’s family before the divorce.
I wondered aloud where it could have been taken.
Marian, aged three, Towan Beach, Newquay, Cornwall, England.
David took me by the hand to the balcony of Uncle Roy’s apartment and opened the door. He pointed to the beautiful beach in view, and said, ‘This is Towan Beach where your photo was taken,’ and there before me, as in my photo, was the beach and the houses on the cliff behind me, still prominent today. Then I did cry. (1)
My other handsome cuz David
Towan Beach today
The next day, we all had a family reunion Sunday lunch with wives and children, in the local pub. We reminisced, we took photos and promised to keep in touch, which we have done so every year for the last 13 years. Every year I visit the UK, we have our Bulford reunion, usually in the West Country at a local pub, and each year I find out more about my Dad’s family.
Photos, war records, marriages, deaths, and some researched information I had that my cousins did not know about were all shared via the internet.
PLUS a recently found USA Bulford branch too, which is the basis for this story.
(1) Source
Genealogy Ensemble 