“Talk to Pat,” my dad said.

I had been looking at the family of my ancestors, Oswell and Anne Moore Eve, and found some conflicting information about Oswell’s religion. A granddaughter of Oswell and Anne claimed that Oswell was a Quaker and this was published far and wide. My research of Quaker documents told a different story. Anne was disfellowshipped for marrying someone of another faith but years later, the death of a child of an Oswell and Anne Eve was recorded in the Quaker Records. My conclusion was that Anne was the Quaker, not Oswell, but I didn’t feel I had quite enough to be comfortable with that conclusion. That’s when my dad suggested I contact Pat.

My dad and Pat are distant cousins on two different but intertwining lines. They were brought together when a group of cousins formed an organization to restore a family cemetery that had been vandalized over the years. The cemetery was started by one of our common ancestors when his infant daughter died in 1808, not far from the family’s home outside Augusta, Georgia. Over the years, more than 100 people were buried there.

I introduced myself to Pat in an email, explaining my question and the research that led to the question. We hit it off right away. She responded with a wealth of information that she was gracious enough to share with me. She had spent lots of hours and years doing research in Salt Lake City, Philadelphia, and other places to fill in information about the Eve family.

Her answer led to more questions that we combined efforts to answer. Several emails later, we decided to talk on the phone. We spent several hours talking about our shared ancestry. That opened so many new doors for me, some I hadn’t even thought about yet.

One of the things she told me about was a map done by Joshua Fisher in 1776 that listed Oswell Eve among the Masters of Vessels for the Delaware River. I found a digital image of it on the Library of Congress website and had it printed for my home.

Pat continues to be an invaluable resource when researching our shared family history. It shows me the importance of sharing information in family history work and helping those that are just starting out.