Yesterday I got an unexpected email inquiry from Stephane of Paris. He described his grandfather Wilhelm Gehlkopf from Elberfeld. His great grandfather Abel had a brother Schelemen and a sister Maryjem. Maryjem is my great grandmother: my mothers paternal grandfather Kiva was married to Maryjem Gielkop. I knew immediately from what Stephane shared in his email that we were related. I confirmed the relationship. It was Stephan's 2nd week researching his tree. I 've been searching for decades! He found me through an email I sent his grandfather more than a year ago, 2/2016.
I made the first connection to my mom's Gehlkopf cousins in 2011. Thankfully my mom was still alive to discover I found the Gelkop cousin she was searching for since she left France in 1950's.
Today I met Stephane and his wife Valerie via Video chat through Facebook. I am hoping to add him as a Facebook friend so I can introduce him to the other Gehlkopf family and share photos
