More help from strangers on our family history quest

Christmas trees are alive with globes and tinsel, people are racing to scratch off their To Do lists, but hopefully there are many of you who are just watching, enjoying and thinking about this glorious season and smiling at it all.... I certainly am.

But, my addiction to Genealogy lingers.....One never knows where help will come from and I am always surprised and feel blessed that these few want to help so many... This week, I received an email from an unlikely place -- Hawaii... from a reverend. After learning my great Aunt Maria (Mary) was born in Kapaa, Hawaii..Reverend Shirley B. from Kauai was willing to step up with some research sites. I was delighted with my findings and may soon know some more answers.

Now, my great Aunt Maria was actually the SECOND Maria that great grandmother Rita Silvan birthed. The first Maria was stillborn between 1912 and 1913. And Aunt Maria Silvan was born in 1914. So, between church archives, museum archives and Hawaiian archives, I hope to soon put my hands on the FIRST Maria's birth and death certificate. I believe my great grandmother Rita wanted a child named, Maria, so hence, the second child born in Hawaii bore that name. I have been told that all Catholic families usually have a MARY in the family....and her heart must have been set on it.

My second surprise was Tandrea K. on ancestry.com. I hope to connect with her again soon to discuss her mother, Roberta (Bobby) H. Tandrea's grandmother was my great Aunt Juanita Silvan. I cannot stop smiling as I recount all the lovely new family members in my midst, far away and never met, but with the closeness of the unquenchable internet, connections are made and so sweet!

So, I will ponder my next steps and continue plugging through the many miles of notes and information as I sift, sift, read, enjoy and write it all down. OH, also --- be sure to get the DVD titled, GOLDEN DOOR. It is a pure and real movie about immigrants and their trials and tribulations. It has been very helpful with my narrative in MANUELA'S PETALS...
Merry Christmas!