Researching Family Roots

While searching through messages on Rootsweb.com for information on my dad's family, Wilde, I came across a message I had posted, except the author's name was not mine. My great grandfather only had one son, my grandfather, and a daughter, who had no children. And even my grandfather only had two children, my father and his sister, and she had no children. The poster had said the same thing I had: particulars of the death certificate in detail concerning my great grandfather and that the poster was the great grand-daughter of John William Wilde. I reread the message. Yep, it was mine, but who in the world was the poster?

I looked back to see if she was responding to my message, but she wasn't. No way was she also a great grand-daughter of my Wilde. So I emailed her and voila! My grandfather had a couple of other sisters and Caroline descended from one of these! She was as shocked to find out I had posted a message with our great grandfather's death certificate information the day before as I was! So though I thought I was on a Wilde goose chase, it turned out instead I was able to share Wilde photos (who had an uncanny resemblance to my father) and swap great stories about the Wildes, including how my grandfather brewed German beer in his bathtub during Prohibition and my father as a child would drink the leftover suds. After Prohibition, her father as a child would drink beer during school recess at home, but fell asleep in class every afternoon until the teacher sent a note home asking his mother not to give him beer at lunchtime! We had more connections than we could ever imagine. That's those Wilde Germans for you!