Batting cleanup in our recent flurry of visitors was Jeff Meiring. He is a distant cousin originally from Ohio but currently living in Washington DC with the Department of Homeland Security. How distant a cousin? He is my third cousin once removed which means that our common ancestors are my third great grandparents who were born near the beginning of the 1800s in Prussia. We have corresponded since about 1990 first by snail mail and later by email. We were both researching our family trees at the time and Jeff came across a query of mine at the county genealogical society in his county in Ohio. Over the years we have exchanged and shared loads of family information and old photographs. But we had never met face to face before Saturday.
He and his partner were here for a lecture the following day and we made arrangements to meet up in the Village for drinks and a meal. Jeff surprised me with some recently found family photos that I had never seen. They were really nice studio shots of three direct ancestors from around 1870, quite a find.
Franz Joseph Meiring and Catharine (Schoen) Meiring about 1870
I learned a lot of things about Jeff but by far the most impressive was that he has either fostered or adopted nine twelve year olds. At that age these are kids who are “unplaceable” and he took them in as a single parent. I am sure he could write a book or at least be a guest on Oprah or something. We had a great time with Jeff and his friends and we showed them a couple of places in the Village that aren’t found on most tourist guides.
Now I think our calendar is open until the beginning of December when we have another wave of visitors.
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