A woman, Helen Roberts, in Swansea, UK has met long-lost relatives for the first time in her life after a 121-year-old postcard was finally delivered to an address earlier this month.
The postcard arrived at the Swansea Building Society which used to be Roberts’ grandfather’s childhood home and she still lives in the area, as per Sky News.
Her grandfather was a brother of Ewart — the sender of the postcard — and the recipient, Lydia.
It is understood that the sender was staying at their grandparents’ house when he sent the postcard to his sister.
“Dear L I could not, it was not possible to get the pair of these. I am so sorry, but I hope you are enjoying yourself at home. I have got now about 10/- [shillings] as pocket money not including the train fare so I am doing alright. Remember me to Miss Gilbert and John. With love to all from Ewart,” the 121-year-old postcard reads.
Interestingly, Roberts had been tracing her family tree online when she received a message soon after the postcard was first shared on the internet.
“It was from a lady who’d seen the article on social media, and she put the name and address of the person the postcard was sent to into Ancestry and then traced her [to] my family tree,” Roberts stated as quoted by Sky News.
“As soon as I saw the address and the name I recognised it straight away as being my grandfather’s family home as a child and Lydia being his sister.”
The family has since reunited with Roberts and her sister Margaret Spooner meeting on Wednesday with Ewart’s grandson, Nick Davies and great-granddaughter of Lydia, Faith Reynolds.
“It was great on Wednesday, meeting two members of my extended family who I’d never heard of before, let alone met,” Roberts added.
Roberts also revealed that this has enabled her to “close a few loose ends” and learn more about her grandfather’s siblings adding that they have exchanged emails enabling them to keep in touch and learn more about their families.
Surprisingly, another family member surfaced in Canada who contacted Davies after the whole debacle was first shared online.
“The whole thing has been mind-blowing. Not just the postcard turning up, but how it connected the family and how much it’s gone viral globally. It’s astonishing,” Roberts concluded.
