When Judy Corday's sister asked her to go to the Bermuda archives to help with family history research, her first response was, 'Why would I want to look up the names of a bunch of dead people?'

Mrs. Corday runs a guest house with her husband Albert, in Paget.

In spite of her reluctance, all it took was seeing her great-grandmother's name in the record books, and Mrs. Corday was hooked. She soon became a genealogy junkie. She bought a $70 search ticket at the Registry General's office that allowed her to search their birth, marriage and death records for an entire year. It sounded expensive, but considering that it costs $15 per hour, and Mrs. Corday was spending entire days there, it actually worked out in her favour.

"Every moment I had, I would go," she said. "Sometimes I would get there when they opened at nine and I would be there when they closed at five. They would say, 'Mrs. Corday, it's time to go home'. I hadn't eaten. I hadn't had anything to drink. I hadn't gone to the bathroom."

After a year, she became a grandmother and couldn't spend as much time at the archives. Instead, she went to the Bermuda Library on the weekends to read books like 'Early Bermuda Wills 1629-1835' by C. F. E. Hollis, 'Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century- Genealogical Notes from Bermuda' by Julia E. Mercer and Patricia Marirea Mudd's 'Portuguese Bermudians 1849-1949'.

If these books were available for sale, she'd buy two copies, because they go out of print, quickly.

"I thumb through them so much, I know they are going to fall apart," she said.

Eventually, Mrs. Corday found the Internet site, www.rootsweb.com . She saw that many of the people looking for information were people living abroad.

"These people need help," she said. "They are in another country. They don't have access to these books about Bermuda genealogy. The books are not online."

Genealogy often works on a good karma system. A genealogist helps one person, and then later, someone else helps them in a similar way.

Sometimes Mrs. Corday just looks up a name in one of her reference books, other times she does more legwork.

"I thought by helping them, someone would help me," said Mrs. Corday. "This is what has happened. I have found a lady in England who is helping me with my Wilson family tree."

Recently, she helped an American woman reconnect with her long-lost Bermuda cousin, only to find out that the cousin, Ingrid Simmons, was an old friend she'd lost touch with.

It started when Mrs. Corday read a message posted by Debra J. Richardson on the Bermuda message board on Rootsweb.

It read, "I am seeking the descendants of an Anne Soares, last known to be living in Bermuda in 1959. She would be my great aunt. I only know that though her two sisters (my grandmother Dagmar Constance Christiansen Taiet, and Mrs. Eric Nordin) emigrated to Minnesota from H?land, Akershus, Norway in 1907. A third sister, Anne, for some reason, emigrated to Bermuda.

"She married a gentleman by the name of Soares. The sisters were in contact with each other up until the death of my grandmother in 1959, but after that point communication between families ceased. I know not where to begin trying to locate family in Bermuda, but welcome all help and queries."

To help the lady, Mrs. Corday resorted to an age old genealogist's technique ? she asked around.

"I was at the computer when my mother-in-law, Rose Corday came into the room," said Mrs. Corday. "She is 86 years old, but still sharp as a tack. She said, 'anything interesting?'"

Mrs. Corday asked her mother-in-law if she knew Anne Soares. The older woman said she remembered that Anne married a George who was raised by her aunt in Southampton.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Corday's mother-in-law didn't know anything more, so Mrs. Corday began calling different people she knew with the surname Soares. (Another time-worn genealogy technique.) She was sent on a meandering trail of people who just barely remembered Anne Soares or who thought they knew someone who would remember.

One day, Mrs. Corday decided to call the mother of two old school friends with the surname Soares.

"I asked her if she remembered Anne Soares and she said 'oh yeah, there was an Anne married to a George. They had a daughter and they lived on Store Hill in a big white house. The big white house is still there.'"

Mrs. Soares said she didn't have any more information, and suggested Mrs. Corday call another Soares that she knew, but after a few days she called back and said she remembered that the daughter married Kenny Simmons.

"That still didn't ring a bell," said Mrs. Corday. "There was a Kenny in the telephone book. I called the number and left a message. Then, my husband, Albert, and I were waiting and waiting and thinking about it.

"Then my husband came in and said, Judy, Kenny Simmons, Spanish Point. Ingrid? I said 'oh my heavens. I forgot about Ingrid'. The name Ingrid should have given me a thought of Norway. Then I was even more excited about it all."

It turned out that Ingrid Simmons, the daughter of Anne and George Soares, was an old friend of Mrs. Corday. When Mrs. Corday was little, Mrs. Simmons (then Soares) and her mother would babysit. Mrs. Simmons is just a few years older than Mrs. Corday who is 67 years old.

"Ingrid would sing songs to us," said Mrs. Corday with a laugh. "And her mother made the best vanilla cakes with strawberry jam in the middle.

After contacting Mrs. Simmons, Mrs. Corday e-mailed Mrs. Richardson with the news. "Success. Ingrid just called, she is the cousin you are looking for. She took your e-mail address and will get in touch with you. Ingrid sounded very pleased to hear that you were trying to contact her. Sure hope you reach one another."

She helped to reunite Miss Richardson with her cousin, but now she is also reunited with Mrs. Simmons. When met up with the two of them, they were reminiscing about old times, and Mrs. Corday was passing on her genealogy addiction.

"It was fascinating how everyone Judy knew had a little piece of the puzzle," said Mrs. Simmons.

The Rootsweb message boards are open to anyone, and many other Bermudian genealogists noticed the story.

"Now, sometimes I see people in town who ask me if I was ever reunited with my cousin," said Mrs. Simmons with a laugh.

Mrs. Simmons and Miss Richardson haven't yet met in person, but they have exchanged e-mails.

Miss Richardson told , via e-mail, how excited she was when she received the e-mail saying her cousin had been found.

"When Judy sent me those first e-mails, indicating she'd found Ingrid, I was so excited I leapt up from my computer chair and launched into a frenzied rendition of the Beach Boys song, 'Kokomo'!

"And that, trust me, would have been quite a picture considering that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. We've not met in person, and are only just getting to know each other through e-mail. But it's been fun and we do hope to meet someday. I never dreamed I'd connect with any relative of my grandmother's sister, since I had so little to go on: only a name 'somewhere in Bermuda'."

Mrs. Simmons' mother, Anne Taiet and Miss Richardson's grandmother, Constance, were sisters. Constance and another sister emigrated to Milaca, Minnesota from Norway, and Anne emigrated to Canada where she went to work as a domestic. Anne's employers, the Morgans, owned a house in Bermuda, and she came to the Island with them. On one of the visits to Bermuda she went to a dance with a friend and met George Soares. They fell in love and got married.

"I had not been aware of the details of all this," said Miss Richardson. "I only had a vague family story which stated my grandmother had a sister in Bermuda by the name of Anne Soares. When I posted that query on Rootsweb, I doubted I ever would connect with any descendant of Anne's."

Mrs. Simmons said she has already found things in common with her cousin in America.

"I have this strange sense of humour and she has the same strange sense of humour," said Mrs. Simmons. "I thought that is really strange, and then she said she was born in December. She is born December 16 and I am born December 10. So we are both Sagittarius so maybe that is why we are both weird."

Miss Richardson said she is very grateful to Mrs. Corday for her help.

"Were it not for Judy Corday who read my posting and kindly put us together, we still might not know each other," she said.