re: Genealogy & Ancestry

Yes. I was adopted. Never really questioned my adoption and viewed the parents that raised me as my parents. In later years, my daughter wanted to know my medical history. I started the process with using Ancestry.com. For years, I'd get 3rd/4th cousin type hits. Then one day, I got a hit for a "half sibling". Turned out I had 2 sisters and a brother on the Dad side. One of the half-sisters shared some information and often prefaced that "he was a good man" type stuff. Then, got a hit of a first cousin. On the Mom side. He was a retired engineer and all over this genealogy stuff. He'd found his mother and father, both living, and suspected his father was my mom's brother.

I had to go to court (virtually) to have my reason records opened in the State of Florida and get my original birth certification (the one I had was with my adoptive parents named). The original had a fake name for the mother and no father listed.

Turned out dad got her pregnant while in the Air Force in NY. Her parents shipped her to a friend's house in Central Florida where she later gave birth to me (in Miami of all places?) and lived for 2 years. Guess the "shame of it all".

Long story short, I had a sister and brother on the mom side. Of the 5 half siblings, only the sister on the mom side wanted to get in touch. The State of Florida arraigned a call for me and we talked. Turned out she lived near my daughter in Oregon. We have since gone out to visit as families several times.

The brother on the Dad side follows me on Facebook and eventually we talked about a Zoom call with the other sisters. One of them freaked out basically about doing that and we've never been back in touch since (I guess imagine being in our 60's and hearing all this shite!)

Anyway, I'm more of the analytic type, and from that angle, the "journey" was interesting and I'm glad I know my roots. On the mom side, Grandfather was Syrian. Came over at age 12 and was put in a home. Later at age 14 enlisted in the Army and lost his arm in WWI. (Too bad my parents were both from New York and I wasn't a true Southerner, but I was born in Miami, so that counts, right??). On the Dad side, it was Polish. Not the mix I had envisioned.

I was glad I did it. Know the heritage now. Have at least 1 real sister we now stay in touch with. I also experienced how much of a shock this can be to people at advanced ages. My cousin's parents, both living, don't want to really hear from him. And that's pretty sad to me.

One could assume me appearing on the scene, for people in their 60's even, shattered the image they had of their father after all these years. I could see that. I also can't see once you know that, you wouldn't want to know your own flesh and blood if the person wasn't some kind of cokehead or something. The brother on the mom side could care less as well, but as my sister noted, he's kind of an odd duck anyway. So that's 1 out 5 that connected. I wasn't really looking for that anyway, more the "what's the background" aspect of it.

On the positive side, she did say in front of my wife how happy she was and "now she finally has a brother she can talk to". We do Zoom call occasionally and have gone out to visit several times.

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I see a lot of people getting some small percent of African dna on their results …

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What’s the rule on this? Octaroon, Quadraroon?

The Mormon Church in Salt Lake City has the greatest genealogy mapping in the world. Anyone can access the records.

That is based on all the ones who have taken tests. I guess it’s possible all the ones who are part black haven’t taken tests.

I did my dad’s side of the family back to the late 1500s. Found English, Scotch, French, Dutch, and Choctaw bloodlines. Settled in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Mississippi.
Ancestry.com

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Nole Man

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Thanks for sharing. In my own biological family search I had some similar experience with close bio family wanting nothing to do with the person searching. It’s sad, but unfortunately very common that parents will not want to talk to the child that finds them. My bio mom is this way and wants nothing to do with me after I found her. But Im fortunate in that my bio dad and his family are all in on connecting and inviting me into their family. He didn’t know that I was born (had a summer vacation fling with my mom when they were young and she never told him).

In genealogy you learn that before you contact a potential close DNA match, always screenshot everything because they could very likely delete everything they have online and disappear. I had this happen with a second cousin when I discovered that his great grandfather was my grandfather through an extramarital affair in 1960. His family made him delete all of his info and DNA service profiles to try to keep this a secret. He was apparently a well respected person in their community with a high school named after him and the family name still holding some meaning.

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She was born in the early 1930s, when her dad was in his 40s.

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and she had you in her 40s

No wonder you should have been culled

There is usually documentation to back up most things on there. I’ve never seen anything like that.

Remarkable post.

Having a CDIB card (Native) is a license to print money here.

I'm talking Free Shite University. Free med care, free health insurance, and

all kinds of grants and settlement payments. If you are a member of the right

tribe----royalty mineral payments---oil, gas, and coal.

If you think that you have any blanket blood that is on the Dawes roll----

Creek, Osage, Seminole, Choctaw, and Cherokee and can prove it by

birth certificates---Do it and get signed up. My clan has been here since

1870 and we miss out on all the free since we ain't wagon burner.