Ansel’s search

*All names have been changed

Search goal: Identify Ansel’s biological father

Ansel’s search angel Sarah had reached out for help with his search. Ansel was adopted and looking for his biological parents. Sarah had done a great job of finding Ansel’s biological mother, but the paternal side was proving harder. Ansel had his non identifying information and had done a 23andMe test. 

Ansel’s top two paternal 23andMe matches were not super close, at about second cousins or second cousins once removed. But thanks to both of their unique Italian names, I was able to find the matches’ fathers, who they were related through, and found that these matches were second cousins to each other. 

I began looking up the tree and researching one of their great grandparent’s side of the tree. The non identifying information was fairly specific, and I was looking for an Italian woman that married an Irish man, who together had two sons. I knew the birth years for everyone including one of the biological father’s grandparents.

With no luck on one great grandparent’s side of the tree, I switched to the other great grandparent, and some of the Italian last names started to look very familiar. I realized quickly that I had already been researching and building out this family in a search for someone else I’ve been helping for about two years, a lady named Kathy. The Italian endogamy and low matches in Kathy’s search have made it a long term search that I still hope to solve one day.

I opened up the research tree I had built for Kathy as well as her Ancestry matchlist. Right away, a match named Robert stood out to me who I had placed in the research tree years ago, although he wasn’t anything close to Kathy at all- they only shared 44cm. Robert’s father was Irish, mother was Italian, and their birth years fit perfectly. He also had only one brother! 

Robert had moved to the USA several decades ago, so his birthdate was easily findable and that confirmed he was the older brother and therefore Ansel’s paternal uncle.

I was able to find Robert’s brother Rinaldo and his contact details very quickly thanks to the family’s unique family business that had also been mentioned in the non identifying information.

All in all, this search only took about an hour from start to finish, which is not bad considering I only started with two semi distant matches from 23andMe and some non identifying information. Ansel is pleased to have his answers and has already connected with his family members, and looks forward to meeting some them in the coming weeks.