Distant cousins from either side of the Atlantic met by complete chance after incredibly turning up to their ancestor's grave at the same time - and found they were all related.Ian Brandon, 74, and Malcolm Atkins, 73, were visiting the grave of their great, great, great, grandfather Anthony Smith only to find a couple from the US doing the same.Rand Smith, 69, and his wife Janeel had made the 3,700-mile journey from Kansas City to Raunds, Northamptonshire, to see where his forefathers originated from.But the couple were left gobsmacked when Mr Brandon and Mr Atkins arrived from London and Essex on Monday September 22 - and discovered they were family.The three men are fourth cousins and happened to visit the graveyard on the same day in what the Smiths, both opticians, claimed was a '12 billion to one chance'.Grandfather-of-two Mr Atkins of Harold Hill, East London, said he and Mr Brandon had spent seven years planning the trip to St Peter's Church – around 100 miles from their homes - after researching their family tree and discovering Anthony Smith used to own a shoe factory in the area.Family tree fanatic Mr Atkins discovered Anthony had initially married an American and had eight children before re-marrying after her death.He went on to sire another seven children with his second wife. Malcolm Atkins, Rand Smith and Ian Brandon following their chance meeting at St Peter's churchyard in Raunds, Northamptonshire The group (from left, clockwise Rand Smith,Janeel Smith, Malcolm Atkins, his wife Linda Atkins and Ian Brandon) headed to the Duke of Wellington pub , Stanwick, after becoming acquainted at the graveside. Headstone of Anthony Smith great grandfather and his first wife Mary TincklerThe retired retail worker said of the chance meeting with the Smiths: You couldn't make it up. These other guys planned their trip a while ago, too.'We met at that precise moment…I don't have a religious bone, but if we arrived half-an-hour later, we wouldn't have known they were there.'He told how they arrived at the gravestone to find the Smiths had arrived there minutes earlier.Mr Atkins added: 'I was looking at the stone and Janeel said 'do you know that person?' and I said 'that's my third great-grandfather'.'And that's when Rand said 'that's my third great grandfather'.The two sets of visitors spent time looking at various family grave stones in the churchyard before heading to a pub together 'where we found we had so much in common', Mr Atkins said.'It was amazing, it was like we all knew each other.'Mr Brandon, a retired chemical engineer and great-grandfather of two from Danbury, Essex, added: 'We basically turned up together, it was most strange.'They were there two minutes before we were. They told me it was a 12 billion to one chance.'We had so much in common. We certainly exchanged emails, it's so unusual, so we'll keep in contact.'The Smiths had arrived in the Northamptonshire market town the previous day and enjoyed a Sunday roast before heading to St Peter's the following day, where a church warden allowed them to play the organ.Mr Smith said: 'Forty years ago my grandfather travelled from the U.S. and visited the graves of our forefathers at the St Peter's Church in Raunds. The three cousins all arrived within minutes of each other at the churchyard last Monday Rand Smith and wife Janeel were following in the footsteps of his grandfather who visited the churchyard 40 years earlier to see family plots The headstone of Ann Eaton, the second wife of the cousins' great, great, great grandfather'Since that time, I have had the same desire. When my wife, Janeel, and I visited the graveyard and located the headstones, we were stunned to have several others come up and examine the same stones.'No one else was in the cemetery. To learn that they are our fourth cousins was absolutely thrilling.'We went to lunch together and it was like we had known them for years.'We feel that divine intervention put us together. What a highlight of our lives.'Mr Atkins said he was now desperate to go and visit his new-found relatives in Kansas.Raunds was once a hub of Northamptonshire's and shoemaking industry, with the first of around 20 factories in the town opening in 1826.Some specialised in heels but most produced Army, Navy or police footwear.During the First World War, nearly 50 million pairs of shoes and boots were produced for the Armed Forces and its allies in Northamptonshire. After the war, the industry went into a gradual decline and the last factory in Raunds closed in 1998.