So I've been doing research on my family history/lineage/genealogy. I've developed a pretty good sense of my dad's side of the tree. But I still want to know more.

Recently I traced down a distant relative, possibly the oldest living person in my family tree. He is an 85 year old man living in Florida. He's my great grandaunt's son. Never met him, I live a thousand miles away. I'd like to send him a letter and just ask what he can tell me. I know a good deal about his mom and dad already, but I am lacking information on his uncles for instance. And in general I just want to know what things were like. My great grandfather didn't talk about his family much. I know more about our family's history than my own dad does. I know they moved around quite a bit, and his grandmother died young leading to his grandfather remarrying and moving away. I want to know the context, I want to know the stories.

I was thinking I'd also send a diagram of the tree to show our relationship, and maybe send an old newsclipping I found. It's a picture of him working in his father's store, from a bit of a distance though. I thought he might appreciate it.

I tend to overthink these things and want to make sure I'm not committing some social taboo, though.