CHRISTMAS has come early for a family in County Durham, who have been united with their American cousin thanks to The Northern Echo.

Jean Pedler, of Bristol, Indiana, wrote to The Northern Echo's weekly Tracer column in an attempt to find her cousins, Elizabeth, Margaret and Alan Stephenson.

Jean, whose mother Bella Slater moved to America after the Second World War, had had no contact with her North-East cousins for more than 50 years.

She had visited the North-East on four occasions trying to track down her family.

But it was only when she placed an appeal in the Tracer column as a last ditch attempt at finding them that she was given the news she had longed to hear for five decades.

A friend of the County Durham cousins saw the appeal and telephoned Elizabeth (now Dent), of Shildon.

Elizabeth, 55, said: "My friend rang and said there might be something of interest for me on page eight.

"When I saw it I burst into tears, it was so emotional, and went straight around to my daughter's to send an e-mail to Jean.

"I always thought about her but never dreamt she would find us.

"She had been to England about four times to look for us and had nearly given up, this was her last attempt.

"It has made our Christmas - I couldn't get a better present."

Mother-of-three Jean has since telephoned her cousins and is planning to meet the family, including her other two cousins Margaret Irvin, 54, of Bishop Auckland, and Alan Stephenson, 51 of Shildon, when she visits in 2004.

In an e-mail to The Northern Echo Jean wrote: "We were beginning to lose all hope of locating them, after such a long time.

"You have really made our Christmas holiday. Thank you so much."