I have been doing the same thing, google searching names. About 2 1/2
months ago, I actually sent an e-mail to someone with a last name that I
was looking for. She turned out to be a GG daughter of my maternal GMs
cousin. I have since been in contact with several others in the family.


After several e-mails between all of us, we finally figured out how we
all fit into one family tree.

The most amazing thing was that they knew of cousins who had come to
Israel, both before and after WW2. Those who came after the war were
apparantly the only survivors of the shoa, family that even my GM must
not have known about.

Last week I travelled to the north of Israel to meet my second cousin
once removed, probably the last living family member born in my GM
shtetl of Soly (next to Smorgon, Oshmiany Uezd). Unfortunately, her
older sister passed away a year ago, so I will never meet her. I also
met some of both sister's children. I hope that this will open up a new
family relationship, and that we will stay in contact for a long time to
come.

With this success, I started to search for closer relatives that the
family lost contact with over the years.

As I wrote to my new found third cousins, the major drawback of finding
family is that you are now burdened by having to stay in contact. I
wish all my problems were so sweet.

So, Dave, there's no need to challenge. It works. Those who try may or
may not succeed. Those who don't try are guaranteed failure.

Nachum Tuchman
Tekoa, Israel

Several of you have written about using Google and other search engines to
find potential family members. I have done that, too, with much success.
But let me tell you about another technique with search engines.

I have my family trees on my personal web site in plain HTML format. (If
you want to see one of them, click on
http://home.earthlink.net/~anschwartz/personal/genealogy/freund/freund.htm
). This site has been picked up by Google and altavista (and possibly
others.) About once a month, I get a family member writing me to either say
hello and to express their pleasure at finding themselves via one of the
search engines, or to provide additional information about new births or to
offer corrections.

I have also had family members contact me with information about HUGE gaps
in my data; in one case, this led to an additional 50 names.

So, remember that this powerful tool, the Internet, can be a two-way street.

.... Andy Schwartz, researching ADASKIN (Belarus) and FREUND (Bohemia)