50% response rate

I mentioned Sunday that I was mailing out two letters Monday morning. It's Wednesday, and so far I have a 50% response rate. I probably should give the second letter a couple more days, especially since that is the one that was going to Texas. The response came from someone who lives five minutes away. I could have knocked on his door, or picked up the phone, but both would have been somewhat stalkerish, and the individual was born in 1925, so I wrote a letter, and he called me tonight.

He was very friendly. Most importantly, to me, he confirmed my suspicions that Tillie was the sister of Selig (Dudelsack) Feinstein. I was already pretty confident of this, due to Tillie's death certificate (her father was listed as 'Duderzock'), but while my cousin didn't recollect anything about Tillie's parents, he did remember one of Selig's daughters, Pearl. He couldn't remember how they were related, but I know that, so there is no longer any doubt. I'll mail him a family tree he can pass on to his daughter.

He apologized for his fading recollections, but did tell me a few things about his uncles and aunts, and provided the addresses of two younger cousins. While I don't know much that is really new information, it was exciting to talk to a grandnephew of Selig. There aren't many of his generation left on my side of the tree.