Thankful Thursday - Collaboration

Today I'm feeling very thankful for the many resources that allow me to collaborate with other genealogists.  I've had the amazing opportunity, in the last couple of weeks, to connect with distant relations, either of myself or my husband, that have been extremely generous and helpful in furthering my research.  I hope I've been helpful to them, as well.

One amazing woman, who I found on Jewishgen.org, compared notes with me - she'd kept up with the family, and had much more information than I did - and it turned out that she had a tape from 1985 from a wonderful 95-year-old aunt, who talked about her immigration experience, life in Romania, and all of her siblings and their descendants, as well as both humorous and  heart-wrenching stories from her life.  I don't have permission to post it, so you'll just have to feel jealous and take my word for it.  She asked me if I knew of any services out there to get it transferred to CD, and it turned out I had a cousin that had the equipment.  She sent me the tape, we transferred it, and I had the completely enjoyable experience of transcribing it. 

Said newly found relative also sent me pictures in the mail, one of which is of the family, right before they were separated forever from a daughter who stayed behind in Romania with her husband, the parents and the rest of the siblings emigrating to America.  I cried as I found that picture in the package - tracing the sad faces of people that now had faces to names. 

Another relative I found on Ancestry.com, related by marriage, didn't have very much information to share, but I was able to send her everything I had for her niece, who she's been doing the research for.  It so happens that she's traveling to Salt Lake for a genealogy research trip and we're doing lunch! 

I've found family on Rootsweb boards, Geni.com (haven't used a lot yet, but I've had people nth cousins, thrice removed contact me), along with just reconnecting with family that I haven't talked to for a while. 

There's nothing like feeling like you're the only descendant from a somewhat obscure couple and finding a cousin that is as passionate and loves family history as much as you do.  I'm so thankful that technology has advanced to the point that, at the click of a mouse, I can connect to people and share and be shared with.  It has me singing Kip Dynamite's famous love song, "I Love Technology."