Irish Roots! and Letters from Afar!

One never really knows what surprises a day will bring and Monday, September 30, 2008 was one of those kind of days for me. My phone rang around 7:30pm. I looked at the number and it was a call from Estevan, SK. and I did not know the name. A pleasant voice on the other end asked if I was Kathy McFadden and went on to explain that she had an e-mail to forward to me. The Re in the e-mail was: Looking for Kathy McFadden at Weyburn. Just to preface this -- It was a strange chain of events that brought us together...... In July I sent an on line condolence because a friend of Dad's died. So did the caller from Estevan send a condolence to the same people. She put her e-mail address in her condolence and I did not. -- She asked if she could forward the e-mail to me and presently I received it. The e-mail from a cousin in Capetown, South Africa, that I was completely unaware of, went on to say that we shared family members. His last name is Mitchell...my mother's mum was a Mitchell. He has a lot of family history that I was delighted to receive including the original ship manifests detailing when my great gran's family came from Ireland. My great grandmother, her husband and infant son (2 months old) sailed from Liverpool in May of 1870 and docked in Quebec. Sometime prior to 1877 they returned to Ireland and then in July of 1883 they returned to Canada. The return voyage in 1883 on the SS Parisian only took 7 days. According to the manifest great grandmother came alone with 7 children because great grandfather had sailed to New York in 1882. The Capetown cousin has a passion for our history and has done a great deal of work to capture our story. I am unsure how he connected with the obituary that brought us together, however, I am sure overtime I will find out. They say when one door closes another opens.....so it would seem that the death of Dad's friend in Edmonton opened new doors for us...new roads to travel....endless opportunity. With Thanksgiving less than 2 weeks away I am grateful for my loving, caring family, friends, and the gift from a stranger.