Found on the Internet: Meet My Cousins Bruce and Betty

It all started with an after dinner conversation on New Year's Day, at my parent’s house, about my father’s half-brothers and sisters.

My father was one of three boys born to the Rev. William Poe and his second wife, Janie.

Rev. Poe also had seven children with his first wife, Laura.

“What ever happened to them, Daddy?” I asked.

They had moved to New York from his hometown of Eustis, Fl., he said, in the 1930s and 1940s in search of a better life for colored people. A few decades later, some of their children moved to destinations such as Sacramento, Calif., and Denver, Colo.

One of them, Sonny, because an Air Force captain and settled in Denver where he raised two boys and a girl.

“Look here,” my Dad said, “here he is in ‘Who’s Who In Black America.’”

The listing described Charles “Sonny” Poe’s success as a pilot and military man. It also mentioned that he had three children: Bruce, Grant and Hillary.

Hum, I thought. Why not jump on Mom’s computer and see if I can find one of them on Facebook.

I searched for Bruce Poe, the oldest, first.

Bingo.

I found a Bruce Poe, who appeared African-American, living in South Carolina. Rev. Poe was born in South Carolina.

I had found my cousin! I e-mailed him right away.

“Nah,” he said. “No relatives in Denver.”

I blew it off. After all, it really was a shot in the dark.

A few days later I searched for the middle child, Grant Poe. No luck. Then, something (God, in my book) possessed me to try LinkedIn. In a minute, I found an entry for “Bruce Poe, Triage Engineer, Greater Denver Area.”

On January 4, 2011 5:17 AM, Janita Poe wrote:

“Are you the son of Capt. Charles Poe of Denver? My father's half brother was Charles Poe. My dad is Dr. Booker Poe, a pediatrician, 75, still living/working in Atlanta. (I live here now, too).
Hope to keep in touch if I've found the right person.
Peace and Happy New Year!” 

          To: Janita Poe

          Date: January 5, 2011

         “I am the son of Capt Charles W. Poe Jr. (deceased)
            I guess this makes us cousins”

At first, we were guarded but after a few e-mails back and forth, I felt like I was talking to family. Soon, we had pulled others into the correspondence and were sending jpegs of family members and even a distressing news clip about our great aunt’s grandson who was killed in a Minnesota grocery store shooting.

After a month of chit chat, Bruce and his wife Betty said they had been thinking about a road trip. Maybe, they could stop through Atlanta after attending a nephew’s graduation in Hampton, Vir.

“Yes!” I practically shouted online. “We’d love for you to come.”

The official arrival time for dinner was 5 p.m. Wed., May 25, 2011, at my parents’ home.

They were using a GPS, so we were just waiting.

At 4:45 p.m. my Mom noticed a vehicle driving up and down the street, appearing to look for a house.

By 5:50 p.m. my dad had pushed on his slippers and headed down the driveway, then out onto the street, to find the nephew he had never met and guide him to our house.

At 5:55 p.m., they entered the front door and six Poes hugged and met for the very time.

A new chapter in the Poe family story had begun.

Editor's Note:

Want to find your family on the Internet? Though I'm not an expert and it wasn't my route, two great places to start are Ancestry.com and GeneologyToday.com.

Two other great sites for family members are the ever-popular Facebook.com  and, as I discovered in my search, LinkedIn.com, a great site for finding someone if you know their profession and where they live.

Finally, for other African-Americans and people of African descent reading this column, one of the best resources for finding family members is National Georgraphic's Genographic Project for African Americans.

Good luck!