Hangin' Out with the Family Tree - A Friday Find

One of the most rewarding things about doing genealogy is finding...and if you're lucky...meeting in person family you never know you had!  What a find...to find family!

This top photograph is of my great-grandmother, Margaret Jane Gordon Kelley, and my grandmother, Dora Frances Kelley.  My great-grandmother was one of ten siblings.  She married later in life and had only one daughter.

Looking at photos of her and her family, I craved to know her (and them).  They looked close and had mutual affection.  But my father and grandmother are gone...how could I learn more?

Here is a photograph with her (left), with her brother (my great-grand uncle), William Wayne Gordon, and her sister (my great-grand aunt), Mary Gordon Bush in the 1920s.  My impression of her brother was that he was quite a colorful, light-hearted farmer with a strong faith and a kind heart.

Because of Facebook and a series of random events, I was able to meet three of his grandchildren while in West Virginia.

Sylvia, William Wayne, and Joan...and they oozed of looks similar to the Gordon photos of family long gone that were in my possession.  They were funny and spry and delightful.

And the cruise director of this gathering is my newly met third cousin (William Wayne Gordon's great-granddaughter), Sondra Gordon Nasseri, and her husband, Kuzum Nasseri.  What a hoot!  We had a wonderful lunch at Lightburn's at Stonewall Jackson Resort.  The guys went cruising on the boat...while we women pored over family photos in each other's possession...while planning to get together again...swapping stories...and embracing family.

So grateful for this find!