A FAMILY from Jump have reconnected with their long-lost American relatives after a New Mexico news channel reported on their quest.
Billy Halliday, 22, of Preston Avenue, decided almost a year ago that he wanted to find some of his father’s family members who they had not been in contact with since the 90s.
He told the Chronicle: “It all started because my grandad told me that we had some relatives that had moved out to America but he hadn’t heard anything from then since the 90s.
“For the best part of a year I was trying to find out who they were but I started to hit a brick wall which is why I posted on Facebook.
“It was picked up almost immediately by some Americans and a news channel ran the story - straight away hundreds of people were messaging saying they knew who our family members were.”
Following the story being published on New Mexico news outlet KOAT, Billy and his family were able to find their long-lost relatives and he found, to his surprise, that it’s not just America where they currently live.
“The family members that are still alive in America are my grandad’s cousins and that’s because his auntie and uncle moved over to the States a while back,” he added.
“It isn’t just New Mexico where our relatives are from, they’re scattered all across the country and we even found that we have family members in Australia too.
“I was supposed to travel out to America before this but because of Covid the flight was cancelled - we’re going to try and organise a FaceTime with everyone but it’s all about getting the right time because of all the different time zones.”
