Several years ago, the genealogy bug bit and I joined Ancestry.com (or as my family lovingly calls it, Facebook for Dead People). It became a fun new hobby obsession. After combing through the family history I knew, I did research on the ancestors of my youngest son. He is adopted and knew nothing but the barest facts about his birthparents. There was enough information to build a family tree for him and astonishing to learn about his birth family history online.
He now knows where many of them lived, where they are buried and who fought in what war. We now have pictures from generous distant relatives who posted photos to their own family trees. What an incredible treasure it is to have this:
This is a photo of my son’s maternal ancestors. The father was an immigrant from Germany who lived in Pennsylvania and a Civil War Veteran of the Union Army. He would have no way of knowing he fought for the freedom of his 5xgreat grandson’s paternal ancestors who were slaves in Virginia.
We bought him a DNA testing kit to find out even more about his family history. Since he is biracial, the datat showed his ancestors come from Ghana to Scandinavia and everywhere in between. The testing corresponds closely with the geneological research, and even though it is not precisely scientific, it definitely gives him solid information about his roots.
Thank you Ancestry.com! And other adoptees or adoptive parents, you can do the same if you have enough identifying information about birthparents. Or if not, the DNA test (cost is $99 through Ancestry.com and no, I don’t work for them) will give your child an idea of what area(s) of the world his ancestors came from.
Knowing this information has been a life changer for my son. Filling in the blank slate for him is a true blessing for us.
My son’s 4xgreat grandmother was the mother of eight chldren herself. I believe he has her beautiful eyes.
What a fantastic story. I find lineage fascinating. One of my favorite projects is my Literary Grannies project. I love researching women authors so that women writers can connect with their literary heritage instead of only knowing about the male authors.
I know, not as significant as your son’s journey. I love how devoted you were to him to find out this information. We each live through so much of the “who am I?” narrative that every piece is precious, especially for adopted children… at least I would think.
Glad to have found you today!
Julie, I think your Literary Grannies project sounds fascinating – and significant! I have many women artists who are my grandmothers and studying their work nutured me as an artist. I will check out your project next month. Thanks for stopping by.
What a great post! I have two adopted sons and am blogging about them in 31Days as well. I had no idea you could find out so much. What a wonderful gift. I am going to have to look into that. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Robyn, glad I could share some information that might be helpful to you and your sons. Finding out some family history has been exciting and healing for my child. Thanks for your comment.
That is so cool! I had no idea that a person could pinpoint the area of the world that his/her ancestors came from. What an awesome way to help build a legacy and history for your son.
Yes, you can. I took the same test myself – my heritage is not nearly as interesting as my son’s but it was very accurate. Thanks Anita for stopping by.