For over 30 years he tried to find her. He did have some information from his adoptive father and a record of her name. Ann Walker. The record contained her birthday and place. He could never find any vital record containing that name with the assistance of genealogists or organizations that searched for birth parents.

William finally in desperation went to a small town in North Dakota to do further research where he was born. There were several boys born on that date in that place but none of them with that surname. In fact, he couldn’t find anyone in that little town with that surname. For over 30 years he searched in various places but the brick wall was pretty solid. Since he knew his birth mother’s birthday, every year on that day he would think of her and say. “Happy Birthday, Mom” out loud.

In 2011 he and his family moved to a new location in the northwest United States. He met a woman genealogy researcher at their church who took an interest in his story and she suggested DNA testing. William agreed. They tested with all the companies. They came up with 23 potential matches for his father in CA during that time period.  His researcher began to go through them all.

In 2008 my brother and I attended the funeral of our aunt. His mother died three years too soon for them to be reunited.  She was my father’s only sister, she had five kids whom we adore and we enjoyed seeing them all so much at the time of her death. I took a lot of photos of the cousins and wrote a long blog post about the three-day event. In it I included her obituary and lot fun stories about her and a lot of photos.

I also included her burial place including a photo of the headstone she was to share with her deceased husband. The minute the researcher saw the photos and read her obituary she knew she had found not only his mother but also his five fulled-blooded siblings. Although his birth parents didn’t marry when she was expecting. They did stay together and married later and had 5 more children. William never dreamed he’d ever find his mother and his father but he did! William looks so much like his mother and siblings. Because they had a surname from the DNA testing she was able to connect all eight dots!

I have never known such joy in this work as at that time. We all fully embraced him and he was so happy to have found his entire long-lost family when he was in his late 60s. The next summer Jim and I traveled north to meet him and his wife. We had a glorious reunion with the entire family. Seeing all of them together and having my blog piece be one of the things that sealed the deal for him is something I will never forget. What a humbling experience!

One of my favorite things is that William is so much like my father, my aunt and my grandmother that seeing him was like being with them again too. My dad died 40 years ago and my beloved grandmother ten years before that, so that was a very special time for me.

If this story inspires you and you want to know more about DNA you can go straight to The Family History Guide and find DNA in the Dropdown Menu for FamilySearch, Ancestry and My Heritage.

If you are really new to DNA you can watch a video on the basics of DNA Goal 1: Choice 2. There is a lot more there too. You can also go to Memories on the FS Dropdown menu and learn about writing your own life story online. You just never know what the consequences can bring. It just doesn’t get any better than this. Do you have a special DNA story? If so, please share it with us.

The picture above is William and me the weekend we met in person in 1914.  For three days we were with all siblings and their spouses. I was overwhelmed just watching them love each other like they had been together forever.  I have often felt great happiness in putting together families of ancestors and deceased relatives on pedigree charts.  But being a small part of reuniting a living family, and seeing their joy was something I’ll never forget.