Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Another Search Angel Success Story

Wow! It's been a long time since I last posted. My excuses are many. Too busy. No new research happening. No new discoveries. No new tools that excite me. Most of all, no ideas or inspiration for new posts. Finally, today, I received an incredible email. I have to share the story.


Back in June of 2020, a man in his early 70s posted on the DNA Detectives Facebook group asking for help in finding his father. The man that posted was adopted and had found his mother several years ago. Now he wanted to find his father. Given the pandemic, working from home, work being very busy, and a lot of family distractions going on, I couldn't devote a lot of time to this project. I was up front to him about this but told him I would do everything I could to help. I was making a little progress but not as much and not as fast I wanted. I suggested he post another query asking for additional assistance.

The additional search angel provided additional insight and we bounced ideas off of each other on this quite difficult case. He really did not have any good DNA matches and even worse yDNA matches. However, due to perseverance on my part and the part of the other search angel, along with persistence and hard work on the part of the adoptee, he was able to narrow down who he believed his father was. It was still questionable. We could not be sure we had found the right man to be his father. Still, he figured he didn't have anything to lose. He sent a postal letter to someone he thought could be his half-sister in August 2020. After receiving no response after a few weeks, he sent her an email. After still not receiving a response, a couple of months later, he sent one more letter. Finally, in May 2021, she sent him an email. She was having a hard time believing it, but thought it could be possible that he was her brother. They exchanged several emails and arranged a meeting in September 2021. They got along very well. When he left, he left her a DNA test. He told her he'd like her to take the test but if she chose not to, that would be okay. She ended up taking the test and the results came in yesterday. They shared 1868 centimorgans. They are half-siblings!

What a wonderful result! He found his family! I mentioned before that I'd like to do more of this. This is the third person that I've helped find parents for. I don't use Facebook much at all any more so finding people who need help is virtually impossible. If you need help finding your birth parents, please let me know! I can't make any guarantees that I can find them but I guarantee that I'll do everything I can. If you hear about someone that needs help, please pass along my information. I'd love to help them. With my own genealogy being stuck at brick walls for a while, I'd enjoy doing some meaningful research.

Here's hoping everyone is having a good year and are making it through the pandemic okay physically, mentally and emotionally. It's been tough on everyone. Hang in there! Here's to hoping for inspiration for more posts in the near future!

--Matt

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