Genealogy Gold

Why I Love My Distant Cousins

I love my distant cousins. I didn’t know most of them until I started researching my family tree. Over the years, I have corresponded with and met many cousins, having connected via DNA matches, shared ancestors on family trees, or simply being introduced by another relative who said, “You must speak with so-and-so. They know lots about our family history”.

Take, for example, my second cousin once removed – Michael. He is a cousin on my Foster line (my paternal grandmother’s paternal line). Like me, Michael was born in Liverpool, England. Michael’s grandfather, William John Foster (1899-1965) and my great-grandfather Robert Foster (1892-1958), were brothers.

Michael shared with me copies of two Foster family wedding photos from 1920 and 1921, including the names of many of the people in the pictures. That is a big win! These photos show my grandmother Frances as a 7-year-old girl, and her sister Cecilia as a 3-year-old, as well as their parents – my great-grandparents, Robert and Frances Foster (nee Hornby), my 2 x great grandparents, Albert Edward and Cecilia Foster (nee Thomas) and other aunts, uncles and cousins.

1920 Wedding of Albert Henry Foster and Alice Hughes, Liverpool, England

1921 Wedding of William John Foster and Marion Agnes Shepherd, Liverpool, England

Frances Foster (my Nana) and her Aunt Minnie - 1915, Liverpool, England

Michael also shared photos of a handwritten family tree created by Minnie Foster in the 1960s – she was Robert and William’s youngest sister. Minnie and my grandmother, Frances, were extremely close. Whilst Minnie was Frances’s aunt, they were born only months apart in 1914, so they grew up more like cousins. As a child, I remember my Nana and my dad speaking about Aunty Minnie.

I knew the Foster family was originally from Portsmouth, and my 3 x great-grandfather, Robert John Foster (1845 – 1888), was a ship’s joiner. As well as the usual names, dates and places, Aunt Minnie included many fascinating snippets in her family tree:

• Albert (my 2 x great-grandfather) was brought up in Glasgow from 6 months of age, as their father had contract work there before they moved to Liverpool. I had wondered why I could never find the family on the 1871 England and Wales census! Another amazing fact — Albert met Cecilia, my 2 x great-grandmother, when he was wearing a kilt! (Why can’t I read that sentence without hearing imaginary bagpipes?!)

• Cecilia was in service at the home of the organist of St George’s Hall. She earned £5 a year as a kitchen maid and had half a day off once a month.

• Albert Henry, another of Albert and Cecilia’s sons, died suddenly in the street in June 1934, aged 37, due to being wounded and gassed at the Battle of Loos in 1915.

• Our branch of the family is noted on the tree as moving to Australia, and my dad’s brother, Rodney, as moving to South Africa in the 1960s.

July 1938 Wedding of Stanley Lucas (my Grandad) and Frances Foster (my Nana) with Albert Edward and Cecilia Foster (Nana’s grandparents), Liverpool, England

Some people like to concentrate only on their direct ancestors; however, including our ancestors’ siblings and children can link us up with family members who may be able to fill in some blanks. They may be able to answer those burning questions.

If you go digging, you too could find some genealogy gold: photos, family stories, family trees, heirlooms, not to mention new cousins who may become friends.

I love digging for gold! I hope you do too.

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Postscript - I visited the UK twice last year (2025) and met up with many second and third cousins for lunches/dinners and day trips. My sister and I were even invited to stay with a lovely second cousin in Wales, who drove us around sightseeing and catching up with other relatives. All our new relatives were so generous and caring.

A highlight of the second trip I took, this time with my husband, was meeting a cousin who lives in New Zealand, who just happened to be visiting Cornwall at the same time as us. Two cousins, from “the Anipodes”, enjoying a pub lunch in the south of England — being a Sunday, it was roasts all round!

Before my travels, I had discovered that I have distant cousins living here in Perth as well. I have caught up with them a few times. My family just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

In Anglesey, we visited an older cousin (she’s actually my Nana’s cousin) who shared with me some wonderful photographs from her parents’ album. It was so good to be able to walk past St George’s Hall in Liverpool and know that our family had a link with it, as tenuous as it may be, with our 2 x great-grandmother working for the Hall’s organist.

St George’s Hall, Liverpool - the photo above was taken in the early 1950s, and the photo below was taken in May 2025

[Note: This article was also published in the Liverpool Family Historian – Liverpool and South West Lancashire Family History Society – December 2025]