How would you respond to this email?

[Kathryn]

I received an email last night that I don't know how to respond to. Years ago, I was really into genealogy and I have lots of information/requests for information out there on the Internet. I assume this guy came across an old post. Now, at first glance, I was extremely excited because I was never able to find out much on my paternal grandfather's family for a lot of reasons. Nobody in the family knows anything, even those that were born there, I don't read/speak Ukrainian, they were from a small village, and I didn't have money to pay a Ukrainian researcher/translator. To see that this guy's family was from the same small village was exciting. But, then I'm thinking that since he's not saying "hey, we're related!'" he's probably looking for money. I looked up his email address on Facebook. He seems to be a "real" person. So, how do I figure out what he wants from this and what exactly he's offering to do? Email is below.

 

Title line was "hello from Ukraine"

 

My grandparents are from ______, _____ region, Ukraine. I can find out some information for you about your distant relatives, if you are still interested about this information. Looking forward for your respond,

 

His Name, Ukraine

Edited December 13, 2012 by Kathryn

[lmrich]

He did not ask for money. I guess you could email back and see what he wants. I still think there are nice people out there who may be helpful.

[Parrothead]

How about a simple:

 

"Thank you for responding. Any information you care to pass along about the ZZZ family in the ___ region of Ukraine would be most helpful."

 

If he responds back wanting a fee, simply say:

 

"Unfortunately at this time I'm not in the position to pay for information. I'll keep you in mind if that every changes. Thank you."

[Catwoman]

How about a simple:

 

"Thank you for responding. Any information you care to pass along about the ZZZ family in the ___ region of Ukraine would be most helpful."

 

If he responds back wanting a fee, simply say:

 

"Unfortunately at this time I'm not in the position to pay for information. I'll keep you in mind if that every changes. Thank you."

 

:iagree:

 

I think that's the perfect response. He may be researching his family, too. (But definitely don't give him any information about yourself, like your full name or even remotely where you live, just in case!)

[Kathryn]

How about a simple:

 

"Thank you for responding. Any information you care to pass along about the ZZZ family in the ___ region of Ukraine would be most helpful."

 

If he responds back wanting a fee, simply say:

 

"Unfortunately at this time I'm not in the position to pay for information. I'll keep you in mind if that every changes. Thank you."

 

Thank you! This is perfect.

[Catwoman]

Let us know what happens!

 

Not that we're nosy or anything. :D

[Nestof3]

This is actually fairly typical in ancestry forums and such. I emailed a person based on an old post. I wouldn't give info about yourself, but you can at least see if he has info for you.

[Kathryn]

Let us know what happens!

 

Not that we're nosy or anything. :D

 

I will! I emailed him back the above, while adding in some details about the family (which have nothing to do with me personally, I assure you!).

 

This is actually fairly typical in ancestry forums and such. I emailed a person based on an old post. I wouldn't give info about yourself, but you can at least see if he has info for you.

 

While I very typically ran across people with whom I shared ancestors and shared information, or even offered information on non-relatives that I'd come across to others, I've never had a situation like this. This guy doesn't seem to be saying that he's any relation to me or that he already knows something in particular about my family, just that he CAN find information for me. That's what made me think that perhaps it was a request to have me hire him to find information.

 

I think I found the post he must have seen. It was from 12 years ago. It didn't have as much information as posts from earlier years when I had a different email address, so he shouldn't have much information on me. Boy, I wish I knew back in the 1990s that the internet was going to keep things forever!

[blakereese]

I hope you find out something interesting. I know it is hard to trust situations like this, but it might be someone who just wants to help.

 

Let us know! :)

[BigMamaBird]

This is actually fairly typical in ancestry forums and such. I emailed a person based on an old post. I wouldn't give info about yourself, but you can at least see if he has info for you.

 

:iagree:

I had a woman contact me out of the blue, years after posting a question on a board. She sent me all sorts of great stuff on my family that I didn't know! Of course, she was in my state and it was fairly easy to verify she was a real person, so I felt pretty safe exchanging emails.

[Kathryn]

Updating, though this belongs on the Chat board since they've been separated.

 

I never heard back from that guy. However, on November 4, I received a friend request on Facebook from a woman with the same last name and middle name (I'm not sure what you call it, it wasn't a patronymic because the whole family carried the same name, it didn't change according to who your father was. But, since the last name was so common in that area, each family carried an additional identifying name) as my family. I was extrememly wary of this though, because the page was started hours before I was contacted, and nothing at all has happened with it at all besides some information and a picture put up when it was started. I found an email from the woman in my "Other" inbox on Facebook a couple of weeks later. It was in Ukrainian and a couple people from here graciously responded to my translation request. In it she said that she was from the same village and that if I was interested, she would help me. Life got busy recently and I forgot about it and didn't respond to the friend request or PM.

 

Today, I received an email from a man with the same last name. The email address comes up in a google search and is from the same area, so I guess it wasn't just made up. I'm still trying to figure out what it says since it's in Ukrainian as well. I tried one of those free translator things and it's awfully garbled, but it appears he claims to know some specifics about my family.

 

So, that's my update. Oh! You might have seen my mystery photograph post a while ago in which I discovered that my grandfather appears to have sailed to America in late 1935. I found him at seminary on the 1940 Census and he listed his 1935 whereabouts as Danzig - Free City which was close to Gdynia, where the ship he sailed on started its voyage. Nobody is listed at his father's address in the 1940 Census though, which is odd because it doens't seem that he'd be traveling to Europe while there was a war going on there. Hmm, I just looked at the records I've found of his travels and it appears he went every three years. He entered NY first in 1912, then married and had children. He took them back to Europe and then entered NY in 1923, 1926, 1929, and 1932 that I have record of. Then there is the picture from 1935. So, 1940 wouldn't fit that pattern.