My answer:
One surprise was when researching John Davey born in Devon around 1834.
I had travelled in England in 1990 and stayed in a bed and breakfast in Clyst Honiton near Exeter in Devon while doing that research. I began with over 50 John Davey born around 1834 in Devon. By the end of three days research, I had him down to one of seven possibilities by using 1851 and 1861 censuses using microfilms.
Little did I know then that 30 years later, I would make contact with a Davey relative through a DNA match. The match said John Dav(e)y and his parents and siblings lived in Clyst Honiton back in the 1830s.
I was doing some research on my husband’s family and came across a 2nd marriage by his great grandfather who was from Brisbane but married as a widower in Sydney. This would have come as a surprise to his 1st wife who was living in Tenterfield.
My surprise may be that we are related as I am a descendant of the Davey line from Devon. My 2xgr grandmother being Mary Davey who emigrated with her husband James Wilkins in 1857. Most of my John Davey’s came from Uffculume or Halberton!
Wow! Lots of the Daveys in Devon must be related so maybe we are too, a long way back. My Davey family were all around Exeter at Clyst Honiton and Clist St George and Heavitree area.
From Sue Maxwell: Couldn’t figure out how to leave a comment on that site Sue so I’ll leave it here on Facebook.
Sounds like you had one of the “place” moments. It’s an amazing experience when that happens. I named our bungalow style house “Gowrie” because we live at Invergowrie in NSW. Imagine my 2 surprises when I found out my pioneer scotsman McLean ancestor called his bunglow style house “Gowrie” up on Cowlong Rd Wollongbar back in 1890’s AND then I found another part of my Bounty immigrant Scottish family came from Invergowrie in Scotland in 1842 !!