Networking

It seems that if you want to get anywhere in the world today, networking is crutial. Remember the saying it's not what you know but who you know? Well, it's no different in the world of genealogy. Networking in genealogy is critical if you are going to be able to push past your "brick walls". My GGG Grandparents on my Grandpa Down's side were Jacob Joshua Stauffer and Rachel Mahala Sackett of Pike County, Illinois. Before today, I had never met anyone related to me through their line. Rachel Mahala Sackett was born in 1841 and died in 1881, when her son Charles John Stauffer was only 9 years old. Charles John was my GG Grandfather. Perhaps it was because she died so young, or perhaps it was because she died in poverty, but I have struggled to find information on her. It seemed as though no one else knew she existed....until today. I knew that there was a woman out there who was related through this line, but after several attempts at e-mailing her, I gave up. Finally, I decided to track down everyone with her last name in the Pendleton, Oregon area in hopes of finding someone who knew her. It worked! Today I found her, and her new last name, and I can't wait to exchange information with her!