Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Chasing Amy...

At the suggestion of a few friends, I joined Facebook a couple of months ago. It's been mildly interesting...didn't reconnect with anyone from the past, but I've been able to keep up with my current friends.
But I have to say that Facebook has proven it's value in the last two weeks. Two weeks ago, I was just idly searching through members to see if there were any members with the last name "Thee". It's an updated ritual from the phone book searches that my late father used to do when he traveled around the country on business.
To my surprise, I ran across an "Amy La Rae Thee" from Texas...and...after a few messages back and forth, I was able to confirm that we are, in fact, related. My grandfather and his brother emigrated to the Unite States from Europe in the early 1900's. My grandfather stayed in the Philadelphia area, fathering two children (William, my father and Betty, my aunt), and running a successful chain of beauty shops.
His brother, however, moved to Texas in the 1920's and had a very successful career as a surveyor, plotting out a lot of West Texas. He fathered a number of children who, in turn, have had children of their own and so on. So...throughout Texas, there a number of "Thee's"...and we're all related. Amy's great-grandfather was my grandfather's brother.
Amy Thee looks to be a fine person, with a great family and lots of friends. I was glad to learn that. No, I'll probably never meet Amy or any of my other relatives out there (although you never know), but it's a great comfort to know that you've got family out there.
It's particularly comforting to me because I don't exactly have a lot of family that I'm close to...essentially, it's my Mom and my cousin, Bill. It's nice to know that we are not alone.

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