Saturday, November 28, 2009

E-Mail from Siberia

A few days ago, I received a mail from a gentleman in Siberia. He told me that he had the same name as my ancestors in Estonia, and his family came from Estonia, too. Now, there are obviously relatives of mine who speak Russian and English.
He sent me a photo of his greatgrandfather J. He and my greatgrandfather V must have been brothers. Their second name is very rare, and there is only one family of this name in Russia.
Two of these brothers, V and A, had a forge in the Wall Street (ha!) in Tallinn, Estonia. Their mother Anna (picture) must be the ancestor we have in common. She lived from 1833 until 1903. Her family probably came from Lithuania. She was née Filipov.
If it is true that our ancestors J and V were brothers, then Evgenij is my nephew of which degree? 4th?
This shows how closely related mankind really is, doesn't it?

How far do your most distant relatives live?

And this is how far I got with my bauhaus quilt in the meantime.

6 comments:

Judy said...

My most distant relatives, that I know of, are in Sweden. We communicate via email on a regular basis, and we have visited one another's homelands. I feel a huge connection to them and to the area in which they live, which is where my maternal grandmother grew up. Isn't it wonderful that you have had contact with this part of your family!

xo

GerryART said...

The most distant relatives that I know of live in Norway. And like Judy, we do the email corresponding.
Through my genealogy website I have had contact with numerous distant cousins.
The common progenitor of the most recent cousin and me was born ca 1650 in Hedmark, Norway.
Genealogy is exciting ! ! ! !

Pat said...

wonderful post. what a thrill to get that email!

my paternal ancestors are of the house of Valois in France accordining to the genelogical work of my uncle - but i only know those in my nearest generations in the US. how amazing it would be to 'find' a relative has you have...

Carol H said...

My grndma was born in Warsaw Poland she followed her husband to the US in 1909 on a ship called "Patricia" that departed Hamburg Germany, she traveled alone with a child which she lost on that journey. I've always thought how brave she was and those who took that journey, I'm not sure I would have been so courageous, but I am glad she was! She died when I was 12, I just turned 61 and she remains vivid in my memories.

Rayna said...

Wow! How amazing is that? I know there are distant relatives out there somewhere - but where?

Deborah said...

On my mother's side, we have traced an ancestor who arrived in America in the 1600s who was the son of someone originally from Germany. Supposedly he was disinherited because he married an English lady, whatever that means. There was a saying in the family that there was a castle in Europe (yeah, right, doesn't everybody say that) but I did come across a library book a few years ago that indicated there is an actual place, Questenburg? I think it is spelled. (The American name became Quesenberry.) Apparently the German ancestors became monks so there are no descendants except for those in America.