I had lived all of my childhood knowing only half of my heredity.  Sure I knew about the nationalities that I was (or at least we thought we did).  Then one day when I was in my 40's I received an e-mail from my father that would add a whole new chapter in my life.  While I was growing up we were always told that our heredity was half Norwegian (my mother is a full blooded Norwegian) a quarter French, and a quarter Italian.

My Father was adopted by Leonard and Mildred Brierley at a very young age.  They had died when I was a young child so I never knew my adoptive Grand Parents.  I had once asked my father if he knew anything about his biological parents, while I don't remember the exact words or the tone of voice I knew that it was fruitless to pursue this any further.

I was always curious but had no idea what I could do to find out about my ancestors so I let go and went on with the business of living.

Then on February 9th I received an e-mail from my mother it was short and to the point, "Be sure to read your Dad’s latest e-mail….you have a grandmother in Rhode Island who is still living. Hopefully, your Dad will send more info about her.Love, Ma."  The news floored me.  Of course through the course of deleting spam I must have deleted the e-mail because it was no where to be found.  It didn't take long for me to ask for it to be sent again.  The contents of this e-mail can be read on the Discovery page.

I live in Minnesota which seems like a different universe when you know there is a wealth of information in South Carolina.  Dad promised to send the information....however I know I share his genes and we both tend to procrastinate and I wanted to find this information now so I turned to the internet.

The internet is a wonderful tool if someone has done the work for you already.  Since I had no idea how to find out this information I was just hoping   God would allow me to find out some information.  To Ancestory.com I went.  Not being a person of great means I could not afford to pay the fee of $90/quarter so I signed up for the free account.  Through the Grace of God I was able to find my Grandmother and Grandfather (Louis Galmiche and Esther Latondress).  I Was ecstatic.  I was able to find out all kinds of information thanks in a huge part by the works of two people, Paul Joseph Suprenant and Thomas Wright.  These two who I have never met or conversed with opened up a whole new side of my life. 

The excitement was grand.  My father then went to visit his mother.  I could hardly wait to heart the results.  The next e-mail I received (Meeting page) documented this meeting.  I found out from a follow up phone call that I had no Italian in me.  Reading through  the genealogy I found more, my ancestors were French Canadian, Acadian, and French.  My mind is still swimming from all this information but now I have a thirst for more knowledge.  The genealogy I found was on my Grandmothers side, I still have a quest to learn the Galmiche side!

I felt the need to send my "new" Grandmother a letter to introduce myself since I know that the odds of me and my family getting the chance to meet her face to face are slim to none.

This is of course an ongoing  work that will keep evolving and is dedicated so that my descendants will know information about Grandpa Lou, Grandma Melba and beyond!

Bruce Brierley