Last night I received an email from someone on Ancestry. Not a relative but someone who’s involved with the Find a grave website. Someone in Brazil (a Brit) was taking photos of graves in the English cemetery in Pernambuco Brazil with the objective of linking the deceased with known remaining family in the UK. The details on the grave were very specific to my partners family and matched with someone in his tree very closely related (great grandmothers sister). To our surprise that whole side of the family including his great grandmother had spent decades travelling backwards and forwards between the UK and Brazil. One of his great Aunts married a Brazilian chap, his great grand mother actually died of yellow fever along with a daughter (who was the origin of the whole investigation) hence the graves.
We believe the great grandfather was a mill manager who was sourcing cotton from Brazil (Brazil provided much of our cotton supply at this point).
The point is that looking at census returns etc we would never have suspected any of this. I don’t have access to international ancestry at the moment so not sure where they all ended up in old age or whatever but it’s so interesting. Just wish it was my tree 😂 Dp is directly related to the inventor of the Spinning mule and distantly to the Marquis of Anglesey whereas my descendants are exotic farm workers.