Sandy Supposes....

Surprise!

Talk Tuesday! What would your reaction be to finding out you have family you were never told about before?

         

         

         

         

         

         

         

          My mother was raised by her mother and stepfather, never meeting any of her paternal relatives. Fast forward several years and I began to delve into my genealogy. I liked playing sleuth, and the one obvious clue was that my maternal grandmother had an unusual surname. Following that clue, I discovered more tidbits, and more information lined up. I found an online marriage certificate which pointed to her first husband's name. As I posted my findings, I shared my results in an accessible online family tree.

         One woman in particular accessed that tree and it dovetailed with hers. She contacted me, and we started an e-mail correspondence. I've yet to meet her mainly because we reside an entire country apart. I have, however, met a few of her siblings who live in the same province as I do.

         These people are my Mom's paternal first cousins. Before she died, my Mom met two of those cousins. I was thrilled with the idea of new relatives, the more the merrier. My hubby was more skeptical. His exact words were, "What do you need more family for?" Um, perhaps for a kinship, and support?

         I grew up only knowing my step-grandfather's relatives. Technically, we're not blood relations. Their particular quirks and inherited illnesses are not mine. For instance, cancer has played havoc amongst my new family, and it helps to explain my Mother's own cancer.

         If anything, I have new roots, and new allies. They were not a complete surprise though because I anticipated results.

         A campsite neighbour experienced the shock of a lifetime this past Spring. He received a phone call out of the blue from his cousin who had submitted her DNA to a genealogy site. She'd been matched to a woman with an almost 100% accuracy guarantee, and at first she believed the two of them to be cousins. She was sharing this news with my friend and asking him, and his sister to submit their DNA for testing, too.

         He and his sibling thought why not, and so they did. When they received their test results, they were flagged as being a much closer relative to this other woman. They were told that she was most likely a sibling to them, and not a cousin. They were stunned. No one had ever raised this possibility, and as my neighbour told me, all the key players, his parents, aunts, and uncles were all dead.

         After further genetic testing, it was verified that he had another biological sister. The real stunner though was that she and he shared the same birth month and birth year. His "new" sister was his age!

         He contacted her and discovered that they grew up in nearby areas of Toronto also. She had been raised by her single mother, and only had known one female cousin.

         He and his "first" sister have met their surprise sibling. He now has so many questions that will never be answered. Did his father know about this other child? Did his father support her financially? Did his father visit her when she was younger? Had other family members known about her?