Adoption: I am a War Babe, Part 26

 Well, it has been a very long time since I posted here.  I ended up joining a group on Facebook and posting a portion of my story with the link to this blog and was asked to continue the story!  So here goes.

First, I was trying to find my half brother's birth father.  He had been kept by our birth mother but she refused to let him know who his birth father was.  He said he had grown up feeling "not a part of" since my youngest brother was the son of my birth mother and her husband where as this brother was not the bio son of her husband.  

As I said in part 25 I was working with the same search angel as I did to find my birth father and she was able to locate who we thought was his birth father.  He had already passed however.  We tried to reach out to other family members and did connect somewhat with a couple of them.  My brother however, sort of dropped the ball and just decided to not keep looking or contacting anyone.  I did not force the issue, but we are almost 100% sure that we found his birth father, who was another GI.  He is only two years younger than me.  

Fast forward to looking for my ex-husband's birth family.  He had been very interested when we had our son, but had been so disappointed and upset that we were unable to find anything in 1991-92 that he had given up.  I convinced him to do a DNA test (for our son) and also had my son do one.  Once we got the results back I again asked for the help of a DNA Detective.  We were able to locate his birth family but it was very twisted and convoluted  because it turned out his birth father was also adopted!  We had a bit of non-identifying information that we were sent from the Edna Gladney Home in Ft Worth where he had been adopted from. That info was that his birth mother had three children already and it told their ages. One girl and two boys.  It also gave some vague info about her and even about his bio father (which we of course found was wrong when we located him). 

 my ex meeting his half brother 

Once we were sure who his birth mother was, we did find that she had passed, but one of his half brothers was still living.  His oldest brother and his sister had since passed as well. I worked as kind of a go between with my ex husband and his brother/niece.  They talked and were finally able to meet.  I got some pictures and it was AMAZING how much the two brothers looked alike!!  Besides beginning a relationship with his brother, my ex told me that he had begun a very close and surprising relationship with his niece.   I think they talked every other day for several months.  Then suddenly, my ex was gone.  He had a heart attack and passed away February of 2021.  Everyone was so very sad that they did not have much time to get to know him, but grateful that they finally got to meet and connect. I still keep in contact with the niece and we have talked on the phone several times.  Although we are not related, I knew her uncle very well and I know he would appreciate the fact that I kept in contact, I think she appreciates it as well.  Since that time, her father has also passed away.  So very sad.  

His birth father was FINALLY pinpointed.  I have had a person working on my son's family tree who is married to someone who is a distant cousin. She has truly built my son's tree to hundreds and hundreds of relatives!!  But with my ex gone, we have not spoken to anyone from that side. 

In saying this, I know some of you are wondering why I would help my ex.  Well because of our son of course, so that he has that other piece of the puzzle of him. However, my son at this time is not interested in even looking at anything dealing with his family tree on either side.  He was able to meet his Uncle and cousin at his dads funeral because they came to pay their respects.  Perhaps he will be interested at some point, maybe when he has children?  He is married now and they are busy building their young lives.  

Adoption - I am a War Babe, part 25

I am not sure what to continue to write as my blog was meant to be about how I found my birth families.  Now that I have officially found them, I don't find the urgency to write any longer.
However, I am now getting involved in trying to find birth families for TWO other people!  My half brother on my birth mother's side, Arthur Robert Conger, knows his mom of course but not his bio father.   When he asked his mother (at 18 years of age, when enlisting in the Navy) She told him that his birth father was "none of his business"???!!!  WHAT!???  None of his business?  My goodness gracious!
Anyway, I have enlisted help of the same search angel that helped me find my birth father's family, Annita Cox.  She has actually narrowed it down to one family who had 5 brothers.  I think we have located Art's birth father, his name is Arthur as well!  But no proof as we cant find anyone to test as of yet.
The other person I am working on is trying to find my ex husband's birth families. He was also adopted at birth from the Edna Gladney home in Ft. Worth, Texas and when my son, Jake, was born I had realized that he had no heritage, just as if he was adopted.  My ex husband, Bruce, was able to get a couple of pages of non-identifying information about his birth mother, or at least what she TOLD the home.  One never knows if any of that is true or not. She told them that she already had three kids, a daughter who was 13 at the time of Bruce's birth, and a younger boy and girl.  She said she was separated from her husband and had been with the landlord of the apartments where she was living.  I believe she had even told them that the birth father had red hair and was very loud and rambunctious to go with his hair.  LOL  My son, Jake, has had his DNA tested, and Bruce's other son, from another wife, Will, has also tested.  So we are starting with their DNA matches and trying to trace from there.  I contacted Bruce, although he is not all that interested in locating his birth family, and he has agreed to test his DNA because his daughter, Catherine, has asked him about his ancestry.  Catherine is a fiery red head herself!  
We (the person I am working with) have found someone whose mother-in-law shows up as a 2nd or 3rd cousin to Jake and Will.  Luckily, she is willing and able to help me try and piece together Bruce's ancestry and link to her husband and her mother-in-law!!  She knows a lot more about what she is doing that I do!!
I will keep yall up to date on what I find!!