WWII love letters and a green chest

There is one particular branch of my tree that I often look at longingly...wishing a leaf would sprout...

But, one never did...until now.

On Saturday I clicked on this leaf and it lead me to a public member tree created by a woman who I will call B. B's tree was sparse. Less than 15 names and even fewer birth dates. I find myself intrigued. I spend a few minutes writing down some of the information and take a few minutes more to stare at it.

It seems like a close enough match. No guarantee, but reasonable enough to send a message to B.

I start getting ready for bed (because as usual genealogy sucks me in late at night when I should be sleeping). As I set my alarm I check my email once more and I find a reply from B.

When I got home after a long day on Sunday I sat right down to email B back. In the meantime I have received another email with a few more details. Her information about the person who possibly holds the link between our trees is slim.

I send her what I know, and we go back and forth a few more times. Unable to answer a few of my questions about names, she decides to share all of the information she does have from a death certificate.

There it is. One address solidifies our connection. I hadn't seen it on any census or on any public directory listing. I knew it from an envelope that spent 66 years in a green chest from 1945 until I found it in the attic in 2011.