Finding Family

Back to UK for more travels in Reggie, with a very important side trip to Canada to fnd a huge ‘bunch of Hansens’ that we never knew about until 2021. It turns out that we have a much bigger family than we ever imagined. Three days after flying from Sydney to England, Rodney and I went back to Heathrow, with big brother Neil for a flight to Calgary, Canada. Our second cousin Susan (my initial contact through Ancestry.com} met us at the airport along with her daughter Erin, plus grandson Ty and grandaughter Faith. It felt vaguely surreal meeting at last after 2 years of emailing and wanting to meet. Before picking up our hire car, we sat chatting over drinks for at least an hour and then dragged ourselves to our hotel for an early night.

Monday 17th April.

The next day Susan showed us around central Calgary and in the evening the three of us drove to Susan’s home for dinner with her three daughters Erin, Jen and Stacey, plus grandchildren Ty and Faith. It was a wonderful evening of endless chatter and plentiful food. Any concerns on whether we would get along with our newly-found family were instantly dispensed. It was hard to leave and return to our hotel that evening.

The three of us then did an amazing trip from Calgary to Canmore, Banff, Lake Louise, up the Icefields Parkway to Jasper, then back down part of the Icefields Parkway turning off onto the Dave Thompson Highway to Rocky Mountain House; an interesting name for a town when there was definitely more than one house. In the small town of Caroline we met up with Susan and folowed her car along the wonderfully named ‘Cowboy Trail’ to her sister’s home near Spruce View.

On Saturday 22nd April Susan, somehow, had managed to wrangle about 40 relatives to be there to meet us and enjoy a huge pot-luck lunch which lasted all afternoon and into the evening. It was fantastic. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming and we kept getting told there were many more Hansen relatives who couldn’t make it there that day!. I’m not sure we could have coped with many more!! And I’m pretty sure I never got around to chatting to everyone there! For which I do apologise.

That night we stayed in a motel in Innisfail and on Sunday Susan had us follow her car again to her mother Mabel’s home near Spruce View. Another huge lunch was laid out and with a smaller group, including a few we hadn’t met the previos day, we managed to enjoy another lovely afternoon of non-stop chatting. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone, not knowing when we will get to see them all again.

So thankyou Covid…..strange but true. If it hadn’t happened I would never have had time to start our family tree on Ancestry.com.

Thankyou Julia for all your never ending research and help with my tree.

Thankyou Great Uncle Helge for emigrating to Canada from Norway and creating a huge family for me to find.

Thankyou Susan for finding us on Ancestry. Without all your input we would never have known about our Canadian family.

Thankyou Rodney for making the contact happen. Your booked the flights, hotels, car and then guided us around Alberta.

Thankyou again Susan for planning and organising the enormous gathering of over forty Hansens …… brilliant and such a wonderful surprise. I won’t forget our first meeting at Calgary airport and all of the following day.

Thankyou Tammy and Mike for holding the paty of Hansens at your lovely home; it was very kind of you and very much appreciated.

Thankyou Mabel for holding the Sunday gathering at your cosy home and making us feel so welcome and part of your family.

Thankyou Neil for joining me on the journey. I had been both wary and excited for months and I’m so glad we went together. Although it was such a shame that Candice couldn’t travel with us as well.

Thankyou to all of Helge’s Hansen descendants who travelled to meet their ‘foreign relatives’. You were all so friendly and welcoming. We’ve always thought we were a very small family, so it has been amazing to find we have lots more than we imagined.