A letter from Latvia!!

I just got a very nice letter from Latvia from a relative on my father's paternal side of the family. Her name is Karina and she is my father's cousin. It included a photo of their mutual grandmother. It was very detailed in her description of what her mother was like. In essence, it looks as if her grandmother had a very significant and positive role in her upbringing.

I plan to write her back quickly with more questions and will include a few photos of our own and also a basic family tree that shows how we are related and to whom I am referring when I have more questions.

This is GREAT news!!

On a slightly less positive note, we got information back from the Latvian government as a result of our query through their embassy. While I haven't viewed the information myself (my dad ordered it and had it sent to his home, of course), we were seeking a birth date from one individual (his grandmother on his mother's side) and hoping for a next-of-kin information on another individual. We got a birth month and year but not a location (a very necessary point to find more ancestors in that line) for the grandmother and nothing -pretty much- other than a death date on the other individual. I have not concluded, however, we are at a "dead end" with either individual, because the census records for the 1800s have yet to be posted online and there may be leads for the grandmother.

Overall, not much there...so far.