When I was first assigned William’s case- thanks to DNA, half of the mystery was already solved. Luckily there were close enough matches that showed that his biological father was a prominent major league baseball player and coach. However, the maternal side was considerably more challenging.
William had obtained his “Non-Identifying” information from his New York adoption agency and was informed that his father was 36 and mother was 23. He was also given a name- which- if correct- could be a vital clue in his search. As a Genetic Genealogist I follow the DNA- regardless of what a client has been told. In this case, the surname was, indeed, correct. I was able to build a tree to confirm a couple as his Great Grandparents. Unfortunately, the paper trail went dry and although I knew his grandfather was one of two brothers- there was no firm evidence as to where they went after the 1940 Census.
Sometimes we have to wait for closer matches to be able to refine our search. Sure enough, after a few weeks a new, very high maternal match showed up in his list of relatives on Ancestry DNA.
With a few more hours of detective work, I was able to confirm that his biological mother was the daughter of one of the brothers. Unfortunately, William’s mother was deceased but I discovered living half siblings. Upon contacting a half-sister she was understandably surprised to learn that her beloved mother had had another child before her marriage. It was clear that she was in shock and needed time to process this revelation.
William understood his sister’s reticence and explained that his true desire was know the location of his mother’s final resting place. William spends his leisure time refurbishing the graves of fallen heroes as well as family members.
I’m happy to say that William’s patience paid off and he recently met with his new half-sister for dinner. We hope that this is the first of many dinners with newly found family.