Matthew’s search

*All names have been changed

Search goal: Find Matthew’s biological parents

Matthew’s wife reached out for help with his search. He was adopted and knew his biological mother’s full name, and that she was from Newfoundland.

I took a look at Matthew’s AncestryDNA matches and could quickly see that both of his biological parents were going to be from Newfoundland, as there was some overlap between the matches and many were saying “both sides”. I managed to sort his matches roughly into three groups. 

Right away, I could see that one of these match groups had the last name of Matthew’s biological mother. Using his two closest matches, which looked to be a first cousin and a first cousin once removed, I found the most recent common ancestors and determined that these were going to be Matthew’s maternal great grandparents. They only had one son besides the first cousin’s father, so I figured this was going to be his maternal grandfather. I found his obituary, which listed Matthew’s biological mother. Using the sibling’s names and Facebook accounts, I found her on Facebook within an hour of being added as a collaborator to Matthew’s matches. 

Matthew’s paternal side was also fairly straightforward and again it was clear what the family name was going to be. I narrowed it down to between two brothers, who were both deceased according to a tree of one of their sons. I shared this information with Matthew’s wife. 

A few days later, Matthew had made contact with his biological mother, who confirmed that one of the brothers I had named was Matthew’s biological father. He is pleased to have learned more about his biological origins.