While cleaning out the attic of our parents house in 2002, my sister, brother and I found a large  trunk. Inside were several old photo albums and hundreds of old photographs. A few had names  written on the back, and my father was able to identify a few more, but the majority had no names  and we had no idea who the faces in the photos were.

Needless to say, that was how I began my obsession with genealogy. And the more I  found, the more addicted I became. Using the census records, I was able to put my father's  paternal family together and in late 2003, I happened to  find reference to a book  titled "Thirlmere across bridges to the chapel" by Margaret Armstrong, a historian living in  Keswick who had been given the diary of my g-g-grandfather Basil Ranaldson Lawson who had been a  minister in Wythburn from around 1849-1892. The book was out of print, but I was able to find a  copy and also found that the author was still alive. When I wrote Margaret to thank her for  bringing my g-g-grandfather to life and for portraying him as she had, she sent me letters she had  received from a granddaughter of Basil's and those letters became invaluable as I dug deeper into  the Lawson and Ranaldson genealogy.

I still have not been able to put names to all the faces in the photos we found, but when I  started this genealogy quest, I never dreamed of the "lost cousins" I would meet. In 2007, I met  a "Lawson cousin" who lives in Australia. In 2008, I met another more distant cousin who is  related through my Andrew Ranaldson family. In 2009, I met 3 Peel cousins who are related through  my g-grandfather John's brother Louis. They helped me identify several photos and shared a lot of  information about the Peel family that I did not know.  And in 2010, I met 2 "Lawson cousins" at  the airport in Manchester, England where we rented a car and drove up to Keswick to meet Margaret  Armstrong, the author of the book about our g-g-grandfather Rev. Basil. We attended a dedication  to his church at Wythburn and spent 4 days with Margaret, before travelling on to Scotland in  search of our Ranaldson roots.

This site is a work in progress so if you find anything you'd like to add or correct, please  contact me. I am always looking for help or advice.