Meeting My 1/2 Brother

I mentioned this in another thread but don't want to hijack the thread.  So here it is.

Back when my father was about 20 years old he got a young lass from Galoway Ireland pregnant.  They got married and as soon as the baby was born they divorce.  None us us kids knew about this until about a year before mother died.  Day had already passed away.  This was about 15 years ago.  My sister doesn't have a computer and my brother doesn't understand they at all.  Email is about it.  So I took it upon myself to do our family tree on Ancestry,com.  Well those 15 years I have been trying to find my new brother and he was trying to find us.  I didn't have my to go on because his mother remarried and his stepfather adopted him, changing his name.

So there I was doing the family tree.  John, my new brother, found my tree!  I have an unlisted phone number but my brother in PA doesn't so John from CA called my brother Larry in PA.  They talked for about a 1/2 hour on the phone and Larry gave him my phone number and our sisters phone number.  She lives in Youngstown, OH.  Larry called my sister and told her about it and she she started crying she was so happy.  A little bit later she gets a phone call.  When she answered John said this is...giving his birth name. There goes the tears again!  They had a nice long talk.  The John called me and we talked.

John has tried for years to find us.  He would get frustrated and stop looking then start again.  He sent me a picture of himself when he was 19 years old.  I put it on my computer screen along with a picture of dad at 20 then called my wife over to see the pictures.  Her response was "Oh my God!  They look like twins!". 

I'm 65, Larry will be 67 on 9/11 and my sister is 72.  John is 82.  All those years that we could have known each other gone.  John said he feels like a little kid again because we found each other.  His wife died a few years ago.  He has 2 daughters but only 1 knows about us.  I'll have to ask him about that when we have out get together next month.  Larry and I are flying to CA to spend a couple days with him.  My sisters health prevents her from going.

Johns mother was afraid that dad would try to get full custody of him so she moved, changed her name and sent John to a boarding school in Canada until he was 10 years old and remarried and John was adopted.  He found all this out when his mother died and he was going through her papers. 

Now John has his family roots all the way back to our 4th. Great Grandfather in Ireland.  He is very excited!  The reunion we are going to have that week next month is going to be a real exciting time for the McGee brothers.  All 3 of us!

Terry

That's a story for the 6 pm news.  So happy ya'll finally found each other.  We'll need pics of course.  :-)

Glad for the reunion!

Like ANY city there was too much traffic.  Plus it was cold...63*.

Terry

Originally posted by GypsyEdie Hi Terry, Glad you had a good time with your half brother.  When I visited San Francisco years ago, I loved the city but that doesn't mean that I would live there.  It's a great place to see and then come home to Florida.  Like you, I feel this is the best place to live.  It was great to meet you and we enjoyed having breakfast with you.

I hope you enjoyed your visit.  Did everything work out for you guys?  Any problems?

Terry