Keith Brown
Keith with his wife Chantal (left) and his distant cousin Jacci (right)
After contacting a relative online a decade ago, a Canadian man interested in family history has so far managed to locate dozens of distant relatives in Limavady.
Keith Brown was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, and knew little about his grandmother's origins other than that she was originally from County Londonderry.
“She never talked about being back home or why she came to Canada,” he told BBC News NI.
“But when I started my research ten years ago, I found out that she actually came from Ballyscullion, just outside Limavady. That's where it all started.”
Keith came across the Limavady Area Ancestry group on Facebook and uploaded the documents he had about his grandmother Margaret.
“It took a while for people to like me,” he said.
“But when they realized I was a relative, I started getting messages.”
New connections
Jacci Payne from Limavady is one of more than 150 contacts Keith has made thanks to the help of the Facebook group.
The two distant cousins have kept in touch ever since.
“I really didn’t expect to make contact with anyone,” Jacci said.
“I commented on one of his posts and upon closer inspection it turned out that we are related.
“We stay in touch at least once a week, if not more often. And he always comes back with new contacts he's made, and it's just amazing.”
Family handout
Keith's grandmother Margaret came from Ballyscullion
Fiona Pegrum offered Keith her help, drawing on her experience as a trained genealogist.
After moving to Limavady from England ten years ago, she saw the need for a place to share stories about the area's local heritage and co-founded the Limavady Area Ancestry site.
“For me, it's the love of actually bringing people together, and when people like Keith come to visit, I can ask them, 'Would you like to meet your relatives?' rather than just handing them a piece of paper that says, 'Here's your family tree.'
“The group makes it much easier to share information, post photos and then just watch those connections form.
“This is exactly how we should share our heritage, otherwise a large part of our history would be lost.”
Fiona Pegrum
Fiona will speak at a Coleraine Historical Society conference in May
Keith described the entire process as “incredible.”
“A lot of people do research because they want to know about the past, but I want to know who I'm related to, still out there,” he said.
“Two thirds of the people I have met I would not have met without Limavady Area Ancestry.
“My biggest goal is to find a photo of my grandma taken in Limavady before she moved to Canada. Fiona has been a tremendous help throughout the process.”
Although they are still searching for this possible photo, the two discovered together that Keith's grandmother had another half-sibling who died before she moved to Canada at the age of 18.
“I had sent him an entry about one of his ancestors that I thought he would know about. When I sent him the entry and he didn't get back to me right away, I could clearly sense his shock,” said Fiona.
This led Keith’s relatives to learn about an aunt they had never known – one of Keith’s great aunts.
“It was so shocking, no one in my family knew about it,” he said.
“My grandma had a big family when she moved [to Canada]two of whom are still alive.
“My aunt, who is in her late 80s, actually cried when she found out.”