Another New Relative

A few years ago, Larry received an email through one of the sites where we had our DNA evaluated. It was from a DNA relative—one he had no idea about. She had been adopted and was looking for her birth mother. Both Larry and his brother, Casey, had received emails from her.

She indicated they were related on his father’s side as second cousins. She only knew her mother’s age at the time she was born and that she was from California. (The “new” cousin was from another state.)

This one was easy to figure out even though we had no idea that this particular cousin had ever had another child. We were out-of-state ourselves at the time Her daughter was born, so we were unaware of her whereabouts.

Larry passed the email on to his cousin, and we were able to connect her to her first child.

We also communicated with the daughter and invited her to come to California for a visit and to meet the other family members. This has yet to happen, but we are hopeful.

Last week, it happened again. Larry and Casey received emails from another DNA relative. This time, it was a first cousin! She was born in another state where we were fairly certain NONE of the relatives had ever visited. She was looking for her birth father, whom she had never met. She had just gotten her DNA results and was shocked to find out she was over half European. Her mother was Native American, and she had always believed she was, too.

We spent a couple of days trying to figure out who her father could possibly be.

There were four brothers in Larry’s dad’s family. His dad was immediately eliminated because they are first cousins. This left three others.

We went through all the scenarios before Larry dredged up a memory from his childhood that put everything in perspective. We are now over 90% certain we have the right one. Since this uncle had no other children and has been dead for many years, we can’t confirm this 100%, but we are quite sure we have the right person.

The only way to be completely sure would be for Larry’s cousins to take DNA tests with the same site to eliminate their fathers. (We are confident of the outcome.)

We shared our theory with Larry’s brother and our daughter, and they agreed completely.

Since then, we have been in touch with his “new” cousin, sharing photos and other family information. She is understandably shocked with the results, but she is also happy to finally clarify her parentage.

We have welcomed her to the family and invited her to come here to meet her other relatives. We are excited to get to know her.

We love the show, Finding Your Roots. As Dr. Gates always says, “DNA don’t lie.”

This is the side of the family with “boring” farmers. Who would have guessed?

Have you ever had this kind of surprise?