The Beall Family

About 4 months ago we got a call from one of Mike's long lost cousins. Apparently, Dave, who tracked us down, was planning a trip to the Seattle with one of his brothers (Jim) to visit an uncle who they had never met (or if they had it may have been once or twice in their youth). Dave knew his cousin Bob (Mike's dad), who had lost touch with the rest of the Beall family almost 40 years earlier, was out in California somewhere. So Dave decided to see if he could find him before the trip in hopes that he and Jim could visit on their way down to L.A. (from Seattle) to visit another cousin. Dave went through a pretty long list of leads that he got from internet people finder sites and on a search for Bob was given a list of possible relations. He saw a "Michael Paul" and based on the age listed for him, and knowing Bob's father's name was Paul, decided to pursue these this person. After many dead ends and bad phone numbers (Mike's has moved around alot and had quite a few phone numbers) Dave was ready to give up but on the last phone number he had left to try, he got a break and reached us!

After much anticipation, Jim and Dave arrived on Friday evening and we got to spend most of Saturday with them. Jim lives in Michigan, where most of the family has lived for a few generations. He flew down to Florida, where Dave now lives, and the two of them flew out to Seattle and visited their Uncle John for a few days before driving to the Bay Area for a visit. It was really exciting for Mike because he has never really known about his family, he loved hearing old stories and seeing pictures of extended family. We had a really great time sitting around the table talking, eating cookies and chinese food, and getting to know each other. Dave and Jim are great guys and we hope we can see them and their families again before too long.
Here is a great picture of Mike's family (a couple of generations back) that Dave copied for us. In the top row, beginning on the left, is Louis (not married at the time) who is Dave and Jim's father and Mike's great-uncle, next is Paul, Mike's grandfather, then Charles, Mike's great-grandfather, then Bill (William) and George, two of Mike's other great-uncles. In the bottom left is Bea (Beatrice), Paul's wife and Mike's grandmother, then, in the bottom middle is Bill's wife, and finally, George's wife. We can't remember their names at the moment but we add them later.