Making connections

1922. My grandfather, Crawford Brown, is the boy on the left. The family drove that car to Nebraska from Missouri shortly after.

So far, for me, genealogy has been a fairly solitary pursuit. That’s kind of how I like things. I like to go at my own pace and I tend to stick to myself.

That’s not necessarily a good idea, as I discovered this week. On Sunday, I was contacted through this blog by my mother’s first cousin, Jerry Brown, who, along with his sister, Judy, has done extensive genealogical research. We corresponded a little, and then he introduced me via email to a whole bunch of Brown cousins, including some who live in the area I’m hoping to visit on a research trip, and they’ve been reaching out to me. (You can read a couple of the comments I received from them in the comments on this post.)

It’s been wonderful–what a friendly and loving family. They shared reminiscences of my grandparents (their aunt and uncle) and also shared some amazing family photos, including the wonderful photo above, which was sent to me by John Laflen.

The Browns have been so wonderful, it makes me want to reach out to other parts of my family, too.

If you’re reading this and you’re one of my Brown cousins, thank you! I look forward to meeting you in person. If you happen to be related to another part of my family, please feel free to leave a comment. I’m so glad that Jerry Brown did.