Our Goal - bringing cousins together

LostCousins is about bringing people together, not just people who share an interest in family history, but people with a shared interest in the same families, people who share the same DNA.

There was a time when the only people who were interested in genealogy were those who came from 'noble' families. The sequencing of the human genome and advances in DNA testing have underlined the fact that we all of us, no matter how humble our origins, inherit many of our characteristics from our parents and grandparents, as they did from their own parents and grandparents.

Keeping in touch - the LostCousins newsletter

It's crucially important that we keep in touch with members on a regular basis, because if you forget all about LostCousins you might not tell us when you change your email address. That might not sound so serious at first, but remember that if we can't contact you, neither can your cousins.

That's why the free LostCousins newsletter is so important - it not only keeps members up to date with what's happening in the world family history, it also makes it less likely that you'll forget to update your My Details when you change your email address. Of course, lots of genealogy websites have newsletters, but most people agree that there's something special about the LostCousins newsletter, as these quotes (all received the same weekend) demonstrate:

"I love to receive your newsletters and it is the only one I subscribe to that I actually read the whole way through as it is always so interesting."

"Thank you for your regular informative newsletters which I always look forward to and find very useful."

"I never cease to wonder how you find time to produce such excellent Newsletters and I make use of many of your tips."

Who is behind LostCousins?

Peter Calver came up with the LostCousins concept in 2003, and still runs the LostCousins website single-handedly, even though there are now over 90,000 registered members (however it would never have got off the ground if he hadn't had a friend who ran a web design company).

In 1978 he founded one of the first companies to publish software for home computers, and this grew to become one of the UK's leading developers of sports simulations - and the world's leading developer of cricket games. One of Peter's most prized possessions is a cricket bat signed for him by Brian Lara - and his proudest moment was when he shook hands with Sir Stanley Matthews for the first time.

After selling the software development business Peter studied at the Open University Business School, gaining an MBA in 1999. His speciality is coming up with innovative ideas, but he's so committed to LostCousins that he probably won't do anything about them!

Peter has been interviewed on radio or TV many times over the past 30 years, and occasionally gives short talks on family history.