Hello readers,
It has been about 14 months since my last post. Events about that time brought my focus on blogging to a screeching halt. A few weeks earlier I had submitted DNA samples to Living DNA & Ancestry DNA. The results came in about early July.
The results shows regional results similar to what I would have expected. Heavily based in the British Isles and northwestern Europe, with a scattering of northern Europe. Ancestry DNA results included surnames related to my DNA results. Other than a few common surnames, none matched what I already had recorded in 30 years of research. Investigation led to the only logical conclusion - the DNA results were wrong!
JUST KIDDING!
In talking to two of my cousins, I learned what I suspected, I had indeed been adopted. Mom and Pop just never got around to telling me! My folks learned that a young woman was planning to give her baby up for adoption. Lawyers were secured and arrangements were made. On 8 April 1951, the day after my birth, I was turned over to my new family.
I was born in a Jefferson County, IN farmhouse that no longer stands. I was delivered by my maternal grandmother.
I was extremely lucky in drawing my adoptive parents! Both were quite supportive and did a good job of raising me. I grew up an only child. Mom passed in 2000 and Pop in 2007.
Forward to 2020. After learning I was adopted, I was contacted by a paternal cousin who helped narrow down candidates for my birth father. Cousins on the maternal side whom I was able to correspond with, fleshed out my story. I was not an only child, I was one of six! A younger sister had died a few years earlier. A sister and three brothers were still living. It seems that several cousins new about me from their parents. No one knew what had become of me
A meeting with my older sister was arranged in October and I was invited to meet two of my brothers in January. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet my other brother [also adopted] until February at our sister's funeral service.
So, here I am, now the oldest of four brothers. It is really weird getting used to new family members. The upside, everyone has welcomed me into the fold and my "adopted" cousins won't give me up.
And, as my better half pointed out, "This is God's way of telling you that you're not done with your genealogy research."
My "new " DNA results: 45% British Isles & NW Europe, 35% Scotland, 15% Ireland, 5% Norway. Maybe that 35% explains why I like bagpipe music!
