Brian Laurance, Brian Laurance and Ray Laurance

Brian Laurance, Brian Laurance and LynnD Laurance

Where would be we be without Google? A couple of years ago I  learned that Google Images would find your matching pictures even if they had been pixilated. A test was required to prove the theory and so a beaut picture of Isabel and I on a balcony verandah in the south of France was the bait followed by a click of the ‘search’ button.

The result was 16 pages of images of couples and families, old and young, big and small,  sitting on verandahs, in parks, downtown, in the lounge room and even a picture of a horse before proceeding to the knackery. Nothing like the original search engine image of Brian and Isabel, but couched within that plethora of images was a simple black and white picture of Brian Laurance, financial controller of an American Construction company.

Brian the finance guru lived with his wife LynnD and their 2 daughters in Tacoma near Seattle in Washington State. This Brian was the second Laurance I had communicated with over the last couple of years, the other being a native of Auckland NZ and all having the common problem of trying vainly to impart the spelling of the family name over the telephone; whether for theatre tickets, a restaurant booking or setting up a new account.

The US component of the family hailed from Flemmish weaver stock, persecuted as protestants and ending up in the Netherlands before emmigrating to the land of the free. The Kiwi branch turned out to be very much closer with his great, great grandfather being the brother of my great, great grandfather, all one time weavers who had settled in Ireland. One cannot imagine European weavers persecuted for their protestant religion choosing to move to Ireland. But I choose to leave the past right there!

In 2009 we travelled to NZ aboard the Diamond Princess which had us disembark in Auckland and a chance to catch up with the Brian Laurances from across the ditch. We spent a very pleasant few days with Brian and his wife Janice, his Mum June and Dad Ray and their families, chewing over respective family histories and coming away with the original log my great great grandfather Thomas Clarke Laurance kept while a young lieutenant on a sailing ship working his passage from Cork to Quebec.

Three years later in 2012 we travelled to the north west US city of Seattle and had dinner with Brian and LynnD Laurance at a popular mariner near their home in nearby Tacoma. A really pleasant after work gathering with the setting sun and boats gently bobbing in the calm harbour waters and a chance to compare family histories. With further travelling planned in coming years Google may turn up more Brian Laurances