Ancestry Update

Well, I finally got the information from the investigator. First off, let me say that Lisa Vittori, who works for Triad Search Consultant in Los Angeles, put in a lot of time on this, and I'm grateful. I actually had much of the correct information from Ancestry.com, so I guess I'm not bad at this investigative stuff myself. However, Lisa actually contacted my biological mother and confirmed the information.

I'm not going to give out names or other information in a blog; that wouldn't be appropriate. However, I can say that my biological mother is still alive and living in Southern California, as is my 93 year old biological grandmother! It seems that long lives are pretty common in one of my ancestral lines.

When I started this quest, I had no intention of contacting my biological mother. I just wanted to know where I "came from". What country holds the key to my ancestry? What did my ancestors do for a living? Do I have famous people in my lineage?

As the information was being prepared, I wondered what would be my reaction when I learned who my mother was? I didn't really know. But neither did I expect her reaction.

She wants nothing to do with me. She wants no contact at all. She insists that I do not write to her or call her.

Believe it or not, I was hurt by this. It isn't as though I was trying to contact her or that I wanted her to be "my mommy". But to shut the door so firmly without even wanting to know who I was or what I had become was almost harsh. Still, after learning a few things about her and my maternal grandmother, I have come to a couple of conclusions. First of all, she has every right to make the statement she did. She gave me up for adoption with the understanding that I would never know who she was. That was part of the deal. She didn't abort me or leave me in a trash bin. She had me placed with adoptive parents who would take care of me. So, if she doesn't want to know me, that's her prerogative. The second thing I have gathered is that I think that she and my biological grandmother are a bit "off". Everything I have read from the medical records and the adoption "non-identifying information", as well as the report of the contact from the investigator, leads me to believe that both of them are a bit neurotic. That makes sense, as I'm not "all here" myself in many ways. I can't fault them if that is the case.

Nonetheless, I can trace one line of my ancestry. I can't trace the paternal line yet, and may never be able to be. As I stated before, it is believed that my biological father is also adopted, so unless I can trace his birth records the same way I traced mine, it's a dead end. I could try a DNA test, and may do so just to find out the region that I'm from, but I'm not sure I want to spend the money on what could be a fly-by-night operation.

Anyway, I have Scottish ancestry, as well as Irish, on that side. (My wife says that I picked the "stepchildren" of the British Empire. Cute...very cute.) I also have a lot of Utah/Mormon ancestry, which is a bit of a surprise.

I'll probably turn a copy of my family tree over to my kids so that they can know some of my ancestry. Who knows? Maybe they'll find they are the ancestors of kings. Or jesters.