Yesterday I got an unexpected email inquiry from Stephane of Paris. He described his grandfather Wilhelm Gehlkopf from Elberfeld. His great grandfather Abel had a brother Schelemen and a sister Maryjem. Maryjem is my great grandmother: my mothers paternal grandfather Kiva was married to Maryjem Gielkop. I knew immediately from what Stephane shared in his email that we were related. I confirmed the relationship. It was Stephan's 2nd week researching his tree. I 've been searching for decades! He found me through an email I sent his grandfather more than a year ago, 2/2016.
I made the first connection to my mom's Gehlkopf cousins in 2011. Thankfully my mom was still alive to discover I found the Gelkop cousin she was searching for since she left France in 1950's.
Today I met Stephane and his wife Valerie via Video chat through Facebook. I am hoping to add him as a Facebook friend so I can introduce him to the other Gehlkopf family and share photos
Cela a aussi été pour moi une grande découverte !
ReplyDeleteJ'ai prévenu ma proche famille et principalement mon père qui aura 86 ans cette année et 11 ans seulement quand ses parents (mes grands parents) furent déportés.
Merci Beverly for the "connection"