Dear Cousin in the human-family tree,

This all started with a quest to heal my Great Grandmother's heartache - a great grandmother I never met, but whose pain was a palpable force of intergenerational trauma inherited by her descendents.

On loss and brokenness:

My Great Grandmother, Charlotte Ellen Richards was part of the British Home Children story. After being orphaned, she then lost her younger brother - not through death, but through a forced emigration program that made them strangers to each other. She tried for so many years to find her brother. She wrote letters, put ads in newspapers, but sadly she died in 1931, having never found him.

Her daughter (my Nanna) tried. My mother tried. And from my 20's, I also started looking for him - libraries, computers, family trees, DNA... I am in my mid-50's now and my Nanna and Mother have both passed.

Yesterday, (8.4.26) after all these years, I finally found the accurate and official records for Thomas Henry Ireland! and it led me here. Yesterday, I found that someone has added picture of his final resting place. I can't tell you how that feels, but many of you I'm sure already know. Not only that - but someone has been kind enough - thoughtful enough to post a clipping of his obituary and even left a small picture of a horse for him, a love heart.

I wish I could tell Mum and Nanna, and Charlotte!

Thomas Henry Ireland b1886, d1978. It seems he never married and never had any family in his life spanning nearly a century across Canada and USA, finally coming to rest in Puyallup, WA. His obituary says he was a professional horse trainer and that his only surviving relative is Mary Vasaly (who it seems has also passed away) so there are still pieces of the puzzle to put back together - but...

Thanks to this wonderful site and community of caring people, I am nearly close to being able to have that conversation with my Great Grandmother - to tell her that all these years later, we've found her brother.

These families were never healed from losing their family members. The heartache and the 'never knowing' carried on through generations. It is so good to know that he survived, that he lived, and that seemingly there were people who cared about him.

The type of closure that comes with hearing what has happened to our loved ones and ancestors is invaluable. The Ancestry community and Find A Grave helps us to piece together so many broken fragments of our past. Every day, the people here make this type of healing and closure possible with your efforts and thoughtful contributions to this beautiful human endeavour.

Giving back:

I live in Queensland, Australia, and disclaimer - it's a truly vast state!

I am however very very happy to help others in taking photographs of places that I can access reasonably in my corner of the Earth - whether it be their last resting places or other places special to them.

I truly understand how much a photograph or story can mean to someone far away who might be unable to sit at the side of a grave and commune with their grandparent or ancestor - to thank them for the sacrifices they made or just to connect with that thread of their roots somehow.

Sending love to all, and especially to those who still seek answers and healing to things that feel like impossible dead ends and permanently closed doors.

May you all find those threads of connection you're seeking on your journey back home to peace. xxx

Lesley Mannering.

Areas I could help with:

SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND

GOLD COAST & GOLD COAST HINTERLAND

NORTHERN RIVERS & NORTHERN NSW

SCENIC RIM, REDLANDS CITY & METROPOLITAN BRISBANE

(Try me - I might just know someone going on a road trip!) :-)