Tracing your Family Tree from Niagara to....Japan?

Jacquie met Cathy Kerr some time ago through her job, and when we were brainstorming who we would seek out to be guests, she thought of her immediately!  Jacquie asked Cathy if she would be willing to share her story with us.  Like most people when first asked, Cathy wasn't sure about being on a talk show.  She told Jacquie she'd have to think about it.  I called her a few days later, introduced myself and said "Jacquie told me to call you and talk you into it".  : )

Cathy is an amateur genealogist and had been using the Internet to try and trace some of her relatives, one in particular...



Her great-great aunt Martha Cartmell.  After doing some research, Cathy discovered that great-great Aunt Martha, who was a teacher, founded Toyo Eiwa Jogakuin, an all girls school in Tokyo, in 1884.

Having been in contact with the school Cathy and her husband were amazed and delighted to be invited there, all expenses paid, to help celebrate the 125th anniversary of the founding of the school!  What a trip, and Cathy shared some of her pictures with us. 

We loved hearing all about Cathy's adventure.  I guess the lesson here is that you just never know what you might find out once you start looking into your ancestry.