Are you related to me?

Here is the reply I gave to a person who thought her line of  Noe's from California might be related to the families outlined on this website.

 

Hello Daisy,

Thank you for writing to me. I find it really great that we can communicate with each other freely and practically free of charge.

You and I, are we related ?  It's possible but how can we prove or disprove it?

You see, when here in Belgium, a mere hundred years ago, someone moved more than 50 miles away from the rest of the family, in many cases soon all contact was lost.  Perhaps they were poor.  Many couldn't read or write.  Why bother to keep in touch ?

Less than 15 miles from where I was born there were Noe's and we knew for sure they were not related.  Then my brother-in-law looked into it all and discovered how all the Noe's living in the area were related.

But those who left for another country no doubt to adopt another language... they really disappeared because nothing was heard from them ever again.  No children were born here, no death certificates issued and no official ever had to take care of an inheritance, so they were never mentioned in writing and that was that.

Please allow me to refer you to the Questions page on this website: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~noemeetjesland/questions.htm
There I'm sure you will see so many of my questions are similar to yours.

So how are we going to find out if we are related?  Here is how I suggest you proceed: you visit http://www.rootsweb.com.  They really are marvelous you know.  They have lots of databases and plenty of suggestions for you.  You can subscribe to their weekly magazine, or rather their e-zine. It's free and it keeps reminding you.  (It also keeps reminding you never to give up).

You can subscribe to some of their lists. There is a California list.  They also have surname lists. You might want to check out http://rsl.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/rslsql.cgi.

And they have mailing lists. You might want to check out http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/n/noe.html
May I suggest you subscribe to this mailing list and then resubmit there the questions you asked me here.

And if you have an idea, try and follow it up.

I really hope you will soon know a lot more about your Noe's.

I wish you success and I hope to hear from you again soon.

Best regards,