Wow, Laura, what a great story! I'm sure that both ladies thank you for your all of your hard work in tracing the cousin connection!
Rosemarie [email protected] Researching Sao Jorge, Terceira, Graciosa, Faial and Pico, Azores, Isola delle Femmine, Sant' Elia, Sicily On Wed, Feb 24, 2016 at 7:55 PM, Laura Flanagan <[email protected]> wrote: > I wanted to take a moment and share with all of you, my Portuguese > genealogy family, a heartwarming beautiful story that I was blessed to be > involved in over the past few days. As many of you know, I am adopted, and > I have been searching for my biological father for many years now. 5 years > ago, my husband bought me the Ancestry dna test. I then tested with FTDna > and with 23andme, hoping to find dna cousins who would share their lineage > with me. I learned to read Portuguese, and began researching on the > Azorean gov't website to build a large tree with all the genealogy of my > Portuguese cousins, looking for common ancestors between them. I have > created a Master DNA tree which now contains over 10,000 people, and I have > indeed found common ancestors. I am waiting the results of a dna test for > a woman I believe is my aunt or 2nd cousin. Expected date of discovery: > March 21st! Along this journey, I have been richly blessed me with so many > new friends and Portuguese cousins. I have learned much about my > ancestors, the Island of Sao Miguel, from which they came, and the > struggles my ancestors endured, making my life possible. > > About 3 years ago, I was working off a list of all of the men who bore my > biological father's name, Robert Moniz, and lived in the Fall River area at > the time of my birth. One man in particular had a son, Cory, that I > located on Facebook. I messaged him there, with my story, and he agreed to > take the Ancestry DNA test for me. As it turns out, we are only 5th to 8th > cousins. Not close enough to provide any clues, but I added his family > lines to my DNA Cousin Tree anyhow, thinking sometime in the future, it may > be helpful. I also added his mother's lines, even though she was French > Canadian. That was about 2 years ago. My search continues and I have not > really looked at this family in quite some time. > > Saturday morning I received a benign message from a 70 year old woman on > Ancestry. Her husband had purchased the test kit for her as a Christmas > gift. She had received her results and was showing a 3rd to 4th cousin > match to Cory and was reaching out to me because I am the administrator of > his dna profile. She was given up for adoption in 1945 in NY, and has been > searching for her biological family for 50 years. Her husband had bought > her the Ancestry DNA test kit for Christmas. She wondered if I had some > small piece of information that could help her learn something about her > family. Due to her age, she suspected her parents would have passed away > by now. The only thing she knew about her birth parents is that she had > been told her mom was 17 when she was born, and she believed her father may > have been a married man. I responded and explained that the test she was > matching did not belong to me, but if she would share her dna results with > me, I would take a look, as I did have quite a bit of information on Cory's > family. > > Then the whirlwind began. It was readily apparent to me that this adoptee > was related to Cory through his mother. I could see this due to the common > matches they shared. I started to identify common ancestors between her > dna matches. And I just couldn't stop. I traced the lines down and then > found yet another common ancestor between unrelated 3rd cousins, and again > started to trace that line down and bang.... I found a marriage between the > two lines.... 5 dna cousins connecting to the wife and 6 unrelated dna > cousins connecting to the husband. I had identified this adoptees > grandparents! I nearly fell off my chair. This couple had 14 > children...... which one was her parent? Upon closer examination it was > clear it could only be one of two girls. I went onto Facebook and found > the children of these two woman and sent them a message with this adoption > story. Yesterday, one of the children called me letting me know that the > woman we are looking for is indeed her aunt, a daughter of the grandparents > I had identified. She is 90 years, alive and well, and had been searching > for the past 50 years for her daughter. She had even hired 2 private > investigators, all without success. > > We quickly identified her birth father, and learned it is suspected he > descends from Amerigo Vespucci.... he is a Vespucci from Brooklyn! How > amazing is that?!?!? > > Late yesterday Betty Belle, 90, and Jeannie, 70, a mother and daughter > separated in 1945 by adoption, spoke on the telephone for the first time in > their lives! They cried, they laughed and they planned to talk again > today. Jeannie was able to tell the woman who gave her life how much she > loved her, and how long she has wanted to know her. I cried my eyes out > and could not believe that my search for my Portuguese father had > inadvertently led to this. I have no words - in fact I do not think there > is an English word that could do justice to this. Maybe there is a > Portuguese word? > > I felt compelled to share this story with you all, who have been so > gracious to me, and helpful, as I continue with my journey. I will > continue to search for my father, but even if I never do find him, I will > be a happy woman. God is good and He has a plan for everything; the good, > the bad and the ugly. It all works the way it is meant to. > > Please know that dna works... it really does! This reunion was made > possible with only 11 3rd-4th cousins.... and perhaps a few stars lining up > just right! Just incredible! > > -- > For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail > (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the > right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my > membership." > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Azores Genealogy" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores. > -- For options, such as changing to List, Digest, Abridged, or No Mail (vacation) mode, log into your Google account and visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Azores. Click in the blue area on the right that says "Join this group" and it will take you to "Edit my membership." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Azores Genealogy" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/azores.
