For Christmas of 2013, my wife gifted me a DNA test kit from Ancestry.com. She knew I was curious about my ancestry and that I was primarily interested in my Native American ancestry, as my paternal grandmother was believed to be approximately 75% Native American. I provided a saliva sample and sent the test kit to the testing facility. I received the results a few weeks later and I was surprised that I was only 2% Native American. I didn’t think much about it at the time, because I heard a lot of Native American DNA was being misidentified as Western European and I was 21% Western European.
Fast forward to 2021. One day, my wife asked me if I had ever looked at my DNA Matches, to see which of my relatives were listed. I told her I hadn’t and that I only knew of one relative (a cousin) who had completed an Ancestry DNA test. I told her I was certain only he would show as a match so, there wasn’t much point in checking. Well, my wife encouraged me to check my DNA Matches so, I appeased her.
When I checked, I noticed there were over 1000 people who were 4th cousins or more closely related to me. I then started reading the names on the list and I didn’t recognize any of them. Not even my first cousin appeared on the list. I thought surely there was a mistake or glitch so, I contacted Dr. Kemi Price and gave her manager access to my DNA profile. Dr. Price assured she would get to the bottom of this.
Dr. Price telephoned me a few days later with the results of her genealogy investigation. As it turns out, the man whom I knew as my father was not my biological father. My biological father died in 2000. I also learned that I have two half-brothers and a half-sister.
Dr. Price was also able provided me with the contact information for my half-siblings and she gave me some background information about my biological father and his brother, who is also deceased.
I eventually got in touch with my half-brothers and after convincing them that I wasn’t a scam artist, I spoke with both of them at great length about our father and about the the man who had raised me. To my dismay, I learned that my biological father was an incredibly abusive person. Both of my half-brothers assured me that I had “dodged a bullet,” by not being raised by my biological father. One of my half-brothers even went so far as to say, “Let me tell you about Larry _____, he was a (expletive) piece of (expletive).”
The man who raised me, my dad, was an incredible man. He was everything a man should be and he was very well respected within his profession, by his family and his peers. In fact, I chose the same career path as he did because, ever since I could remember, I wanted to be just like him.
I’ve been asked if I was upset when I found out my dad wasn’t my biological father. My response has always been, “What do I have to be upset about? I was raised by two loving parents. I had an incredible childhood and I’m the man I am today because of them.” No, I was never upset. Somewhat surprised to say the least, but never upset.
My dad was my father in every sense of the word. He was also my best friend and I loved him dearly. I never told him that he wasn’t my biological father, because I knew it would break his heart if he ever found out. My father passed away, four months after I learned the truth and I don’t regret not telling him. One day, I’ll see him again and offer him my explanation. In closing, let me say that, without Dr. Price’s invaluable assistance, I would have never known about my biological father or my half-siblings. I lost my father but, in the end, I gained three more siblings.