[VickiesPath]

I have been having one of the coolest things ever happening to me I just have to tell you guys about it. I have a very unusual maiden name. And never in my entire life had I ever met or even heard of anyone with the same name.

We always knew that my grandfather came to the United States from Nova Scotia "as an orphan" or so he said and found someone to teach him a trade and thus began our family in Oklahoma. I have always dreamed of going to Nova Scotia someday to try to find my relatives.

Because of the internet and because my sister-in-law talked me into creating a page on Facebook, a guy with my same last name found me. There is now a fully registered legal geneological society in Canada for our family and we will be having our very first family reunion in August and hubby and I are going!!!

We bought our tickets already and everything. We are making a week trip out of it and renting an SUV and all.

What's funny is, I'm also meeting all kinds of people over in England who have my name, too, because my ancestor who landed there was English and hubby is Scottish so we will be wearing kilts!!! I probably meet four or five new relatives on Facebook every day, no joke!!!

The entire thing is just unreal. It's so much fun. For the longest time I had no idea how I would possibly start looking for anyone and here it just dropped in my lap. How cool is that!!!

[Ascension]

I too have found almost innumerable family members through Facebook. I don't know most of them personally from face to face meetings and they live all over the place but they are family and its neat that we have met each other.

The world keeps getting smaller.

[VickiesPath]

Here is a part of this exciting phenomena that is not so exciting or wonderful in any way. I have known for a long time that bipolar illness runs in my father's family. As I meet more and more of my relatives, I am becoming reaquainted with those from my father's immediate family, i.e. one of his seven brothers and sisters because now there are two more generations out there. We do know that my grandfather's wife was where the line of mental illness in my family originated. And I am now learning just how far it has gone. Only last summer, the son of one of my cousins who I have never even met but who happens to live here in Phoenix, committed suicide. This boy was only 19 years old. I have corresponded with his mother and she seems to be very much in the dark about the whys and wherefores. His father (my cousin) has shut down. I have met other cousins and second cousins who are taking medications and doing well. This disease is insidious. I have offered her my support in any way she might need.

[lonegael]

It's scary sometimes, when you start looking. In our family there is odd stuff all over the place, and for years my husband's family, maternal and paternal, has always claimed that it is all of us inmarrieds that are dirtying the line. Now we are more aware of the family (thanks to a maternal second cousin) and a scary patern of homicide and suicide, schizophrenia, and "pathologically shy" people starts to emerge. I only deeply regret that I learned all of this, including my own diagnosis, after I myself started to have kids.

[VickiesPath]

Originally Posted by lonegael

It's scary sometimes, when you start looking. In our family there is odd stuff all over the place, and for years my husband's family, maternal and paternal, has always claimed that it is all of us inmarrieds that are dirtying the line. Now we are more aware of the family (thanks to a maternal second cousin) and a scary patern of homicide and suicide, schizophrenia, and "pathologically shy" people starts to emerge. I only deeply regret that I learned all of this, including my own diagnosis, after I myself started to have kids.

Your post is very interesting, lonegael, but my personal opinion is that in certain mental illness homicide and suicide are not such different impulses, and "pathologically shy" people could possibly be a type of autism. Have you uncovered any solid scientific evidence that inmarrying causes these issues? I'm not saying they do or they don't. I simply believe in seeking solid evidence before pointing fingers. I did read recently that depression, bipolar, schizophrenia, Tourettes syndrome, and something that I can't remember are all related and are now being referred to as a mood "cluster" disorder. The impression I got was that they have confirmed that the three major neurotransmitters seratonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine are involved with each illness, only not necessarily in the same way.

[lonegael]

Yeah, I heard something of the same about the neurotransimitters. The pathologically shy people were, in my opinion, probably autistic, or negative symtptom schizophrenic. The personality disorder behavior is also pretty high on te Finnish side of the family. I don't think it was deliberate inbreeding, the gene pool up in some areas is more of a gene puddle (and muddy at that) and even if you do your best, it's only recently that people have had the mobility to marry outside of their home parrish or there abouts. My in laws were very into eugenics and considered themselves to be the highest glory of human qualities; that is why all the rest of this is somehow us inmarrieds' fault. Sigh. I fel like i am stranded in the 1930's with these guys some times.

[lonegael]

Oh, yeah, I had missed that part. I didn't say I thought it was inbreeding. As I said, the population situation in some of these olderpartsof Finland are kind of wacky historicaly, and it could be congenital cabin fever for all I know:-)