Long-lost cousins reunited in Lancaster thanks to online family history research

When 68-year-old Gail Pointon decided on some ad hoc research of her family history on the Ancestry UK website, she had no idea it would connect her with unknown cousins living just around the corner from her home in Lancaster.

Gail’s research and a subsequent DNA test put her on the road to meeting her cousins Pen and Jackie.

They picked the Lancaster House Hotel as their meeting point before discovering that all three cousins live in north Lancashire.

Gail had never met Pen, and she had last seen Jackie more than 60 years ago at a wedding anniversary event for their grandparents.

Originally from the Midlands, they had completely lost touch.

Unbeknown to them all, they live within a 10-mile radius of each other, Jackie and Pen in Lancaster and Gail and her sister Ellen in Heysham.

Gail and Ellen’s disabled sister Lynda, who also lives in Heysham, was unable to come to the reunion.

Gail said: “I decided to start tracing my family roots out of curiosity rather than a specific search, but I’m so thrilled that it’s resulted in meeting Pen and being reunited with Jackie.

"We’re now working together on tracing other family members and we hope to be back at the hotel again for perhaps an even bigger get together! Jackie’s brother is coming to meet us in May.”

Lisa Ng from Lancaster House Hotel added: “We got talking to Gail and her reunited family members at hotel reception about how she had started her ancestral research and what a coincidence it was that she had found unknown relatives so close to home.

"Guest stories like these are wonderful to discover on our own doorstep, so we were glad to play host to the cousins.”

The Lancaster House Hotel is run by English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues, a family owned and run group of hotels with three very distinct properties, two of which are situated in the Lake District, Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa on Windermere and The Wild Boar Inn, Grill & Smokehouse at Crook.