St. David's Island historian Ronnie Chameau recently got a surprise when the visitors she was helping to reconnect with their family history turned out to be her own relatives.

Virginia Harwood DeFelice, of Baltimore, Maryland, always knew she had a great uncle buried in Bermuda, but didn't know much more about her family's past.

"I was born in Niagara Falls, Canada," said Mrs DeFelice. "My mother always said she had an uncle buried in Bermuda. She didn't know why or where in Bermuda."

It was always thought that Mrs DeFelice's grandfather, Frank Lamb, was from England. It was only when she started using www.familysearch.org, that she learned otherwise.

Frank Lamb was 25 years old when he left Bermuda. He went to work for a farmer, Charles Van Kirk, and ended up eloping with the farmer's daughter.

"Her name was Laura," said Mrs DeFelice. "She was tall, blonde and blue-eyed. And it was all over the front page of the local newspaper, because a farmhand had eloped with the farmer's daughter. Her parents said they had no idea he was interested in her. Apparently, she didn't see her parents for over a year after the marriage."

Luckily, when the first child came along, the Van Kirks relented and the family rift was repaired. The Lambs went on to have eight children. Four died in infancy or childhood.

"Three years ago, I was online, and Frank Lamb came up as being born in Bermuda," said Mrs DeFelice. "I kept researching after that, but didn't get much further. That is why we are here."

Mrs DeFelice was not unfamiliar with the Island. She first came to Bermuda 44 years ago on her honeymoon. Since then, she has been back several times, never knowing that she had family connections here. This month she returned with her daughter, Kara DeFelice Oliver of Virginia, to learn more about her family.

"We thought we'd only spend a few days but my mother convinced me to stay longer. I am glad we did. We still haven't had enough time to figure everything out," said Mrs Oliver.

Paging through Bermuda records they didn't find much about Mr Lamb. It is thought he was born between 1862 and 1865, however birth registrationsat the Registry Office don't begin in earnest until 1866. (You can look for earlier records in the Bermuda Archives).

Looking through church registries, the name Frank Lamb does not appear. But Mrs DeFelice did know that he had a brother called John Benjamin, and a mother called Hannah.

"My mother had been contacting everyone she could get her hands on to try to get information," said Mrs Oliver. "She contacted Jean Foggo Simon, a Bermudian historian living in the United States, who was helpful. She also talked to St. David's Islander St Clair 'Brinky' Tucker.

"Brinky was nice to set us up with different people, including one who went out of her way to open Carter House when it was closed, and was showing us pictures. That was Ronnie Chameau.

"My mom and her were chatting and suddenly realised they had both mentioned someone named Hannah. From there they realised they were related."

"Hannah was my great great grandmother and also Virginia's great great grandmother," said Mrs Chameau. "I was so surprised."

Mrs. Oliver said after they'd both mentioned the name Hannah, there was a long pause.

"They both stopped, and were staring at each other," she said. "That was something. Ronnie then took us to meet Gary Lamb who owns the Black Horse Tavern in St. David's. We set up a meeting to meet at the Black Horse to chat with him. So we found out that we were also related. It is a very small world. My mother went from being the tourist to the 'cuz'."

Mrs Chameau said it wasn't unusual for men during that time period to leave and not come back.

"A lot of them got off of St. David's. A lot went abroad and never came back. They would just get on ships and leave," she said.

The three new cousins now hope to keep in contact with each other.