Amazing how many of these stories there actually are @juliamulcahy. How many of them come to see "the light of day?" For obvious reasons ... 🤷♂️
In my family, one "came to light" about 3 years ago. Via the remarkable new "powers" associated with DNA technology. The "Reader's Digest" version?
One of my children contacted me (they had been the one to 1st submit to the DNA test, asking us [their Mom and Dad] to also do it, as it may contain beneficial health info ...) asking me if I knew such-and-such a name? "No, why?" The person had a very high level of DNA correlation, obviously a "close" relative ...
So ... 🙄🧐 I contacted this person for more info. Which they provided. Going back to a city here in the "Midwest" (always makes me smile ...) in the year 1948!?
Wow ... Well, there was only one person still living who might have any idea. My own mother ... When presented with the ... "details" ... she at first said she knew nothing ... When I mentioned 1948? She paused and said she would get back to me ...
Turns out her older sister had confided in her "baby sister" (9 years difference in age) at the time, 1948, about why she was crying in her room. She was pregnant. Out of wedlock, after the end of her 1st marriage. Someone she "met" somewhere ...
Rather than terminate her pregnancy, she ended up in the care of an Aunt, who helped through the "showing" part of her pregnancy and then gave her baby up for adoption ...
Back to #2, this person was so thankful to know now, even in their mid-70s, the truth about their origins. They had a remarkably successful career as an ER doctor and now retired. They have an ongoing weekly "Zoom" with his half-siblings, the children of my Aunt, who we have always known about - the children of my Aunt's 2nd marriage ...
Okay, that was a little longer than I had planned, but as "abbreviated" as I could manage, without missing important details.
So glad to read you now have a similar relationship with your sister. While not wise enough to know fully the depth of these "blood relations," it is unmistakably clear they "run deep" ...
Thanks for sharing! 👋
To cut a long story short, Mom wanted to meet her biological father when she learned about this in her teens, she never did, but through a DNA test my nephew went for, we found a connection, but on my granny's side. This young lady's aunt knew my mom's biological half-sister & sent me a photo. The man had passed away & Mom told me to not try & contact that family.
Mom passed away in Jan, but I still wonder. In those days things like that was swept under the carpet!Hi @roleerob, wonderful story & one which touched a chord. I wasn't going to mention it as it's also a long story, but my granny fell pregnant with my mom (early 1930s), the man's family were well-to-do & wanted no wedding so the man I always believed to be my grandfather, married my gran.
Yes, sadly, much in our brief lives (I can say that now, being ... "older" ... 🙄😉) that could be handled better, just ... isn't ... And we live with the consequences, if we even know them.
Thank you for sharing your story. I think perhaps it will help others in providing a bit of encouragement to pursue the truth. There is something about knowing the truth which I believe to be very, very important, no matter what that might be ...
Why? I think forgiveness is at the heart of it. But ... That would be too long to expand upon here ...
Thanks again for sharing. Have a wonderful day! 🙂👍
How lovely to see you @roleerob and thank you for your comment. It really is hard to condense stories like this, isn't it? Haha!
There's also a lot more to mine but I tried to concentrate on how it came to light and my own experiences. My eldest brother has always been interested in genealogy but as far as I know, has never looked for his father. But then again, he could have. 💛