Laura,
Thank you. This is a moving story and your efforts to help another person is
a blessing .
I think there is a Portuguese word to express this desire " Saudade "which I am
told is hard to translate but has the meaning of the feeling of longing for
something or someone who you love and which is lost. The longing one has for a
loved one, family, home and country. We have our Portuguese music which
expresses this longing "Fado" George Medeiros
Sent from my iPad
On 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!
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