Cousin Connections Using Ancestry.Com

Bob and Linda Match

I’ve made several cousin connections using ancestry.com. With many of them we will simply exchange an email here and there on ancestry.com and compare some notes. I find that most people go to ancestry.com mainly to have a DNA test, an aren’t that interested in building a family tree, making connections, or sharing information.

Occasionally, you hit the jackpot like I did with Linda. Linda, who was researching her Piromallo grandmother came across my tree and sent me a message. I always suspected that my grandmother’s aunt had come to the US in 1905, but I could never really make a firm connection.

Over the course of the next 18 months, we would message back and forth with some known or new information and share storied and photos. I invited Linda to our Family Facebook group as well as some of her immediate family. While I had a lot of information from Italy, from both my own research and from a local research specialist, Linda did not.

Recently, Linda hired a researcher also, that turned up a lot of information that started to prove the theory. I was 100% certain, however, Linda still had some doubts. Earlier this year she did her first DNA test and BINGO 3rd cousins once removed. In the last few days Linda has been sending some photos. Her Great Grandmother and my Grandmother were 1st cousins, so this is very exciting to see.

For more on the Piromallo Family check these posts.

Piromallo Family History

Nicola Piromallo

Count Giacomo Piromallo

1st Cousins

Maria Luisa Piromallo

Maria Pergamo

I am still working on verifying the photo below, but I am now leaning towards that these are the 2 cousins above with their grandmother. Update: I think we confirmed based on photos.

My Great Grand Aunt ( My great grandfather's sister ) Maria Piromallo

Update Research Cousins Meet

After 18 months of comparing notes and collaborating on email and phone. Bob and Linda meet for first time. Linda came over with her first cousin Gene. What was truly amazing to learn was that Gene and I lived only about 3 blocks from each other in Flushing NY for 4 years. Gene and Linda’s grandmother had a two family home there. Their grandmother was my dad’s second cousin.

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