学进去

   I never knew much about my mother's father, John leon La Walla. He moved to the city of Melbourne, Australia, in the 1920s, married, and started to raise a family, but died in World War Two. All we had was one framed photo of him dressed in his army uniform.

For some reason, my grandfather had not kept in touch with any of his relatives, although my mother did recall some family names. It wasn't till 1963 that she finally saw her father's grave, in the Albury War Cemetery in New South Wales. I fiercely wanted to know more about this man. Who were his parents？Who were his brothers and sisters？Were any of them still alive and, if so, where were they now？Did they ever wonder what become of our John Leon？

With the advent（到来）of the Internet, I started searching in earnest in the late 1990s. From my grandfather's records in the army, I learned he'd listed his birthplace as Hertfordshire England." I think his surname must have been a false name," my father said. This made me upset but I put it aside, concentrating instead on my father's line. I joined a genealogy（系谱学）website and was soon discovering some of my ancestors from distant relatives. I wrote, “I just wish I could find out about my mother's father now," and told them of my search.

In late 2012, I heard from a very distant relation on my father's side called Julie, from New Zealand. As a genealogist herself, she'd taken pity on me and spent several weeks on research. It was a bombshell when she said she may have found my grandfather's family.

She'd searched English census（人口普查） records and found the surname Waller. The dates and first names matched right down to a brother who'd died on the Western Front. Julie had overcome the false name, traced a whole tree and put me in touch with current﹣day relatives.

"Consider it an early Christmas present," she said. "Julie had done all this very careful research for a stranger. I will be ever grateful."