FORTEEN - MEET "my Brother from the same Mother" SUCCESS!!!

Meeting my Brother STEVE for the FIRST time in my life!!!

LIFE SURPRISES for the SIBLINGS!

My earliest memory when I learned I had a brother, was when I was perhaps 4 years old. I was using scissors to cut out these cute little Cartoon babies I found in a book. My mom (Lenora Jennings Veri) walked in the room, and burst into tears....I was aghast and didn't understand what I had done wrong. Mom explained the book was for her "Little Boy Baby" I don't remember what she said about why the Baby Boy was gone, I just remember that she was quite upset. I Never forgot about my mom telling me about the Little Baby Boy.

Because my mom has been AWOL since 1965 and my father (Peter Veri) would never discuss her, my facts were mostly Guesses. I never knew "how or where" my parents met, fell in love or married. Most of my information has been either "Assuming" or from some dedicated research. 

The only thing I knew for sure, was my mom was born in Kentucky...that's it. 

I heard my mom worked at a hotel in Chicago as a Cigerette Girl, and my father perhaps used to be a Bartender at the same hotel. My father also told my sister Tina and I that he told mom he wouldn't raise another man's child. Mom put her "little Baby Boy" up for adoption and my parents were married in 1953. I "Assumed" the baby was not much older than me, so maybe born 1952?

" ANCESTRY.CA " Success story!

Years ago my father told a cousin that my mom's baby boy was named "STEVE or STEVEN" and lived in Dayton Ohio. So that's where I concentrated my searches all these years, mainly in Dayton, and Chicago....couldn't find a thing! I was looking under "Jennings" but realized it was a long shot because the baby had gone up for adoption before 1953.

Didn't matter where Tina and I searched, there was no info on mom's first born. Even relatives would look at me funny, saying they never heard about mom having a previoud child.

THANK GOODNESS FOR ANCESTRY DNA TEST!

WHO is this DNA match who doesn't respond to my Monthly Messages!

So I wrote to the first 50 DNA matches, but kept strick notes on the top 10 matches. Every MONTH I would write, and kept a record of the message, the date and anything else of interest. Strangley enough I did get some responses, but not from the top 5. Most of the replys were adoptees looking for info on Their birth family....sadly I didn't have any info to give them.

The top 5 matches were the difficult ones. You try hard Not to get discouraged. WHY aren't I getting any replies, WHY did they take a DNA test if they won't answer - blah, blah, blah. You must "shake it off" and start the next day with a new Positive attitude. Finally with some creative messaging, my FORTH best DNA match wrote back. We exchanged quite a few emails and he sent me the First photos I had ever seen of my mom's oldest sister Dolores!

Then I heard back from my THIRD Dna match, then number TWO....but who is number ONE? On August 1st I decided to write ONE MORE TIME ( 6 months AFTER my first message ) A week later I got a response, they wanted to know a bit more about me. I gave them my mom's name, plus a few more tidbits - - - but I did NOT tell them that I thought the male DNA was actually my Brother ( I've read you Never do that, you might scare them away, better to move Slow ) I checked my email a few times every hour. Finally I heard back from his wife  who wrote me saying " I have been stalking all your Social Media pages, OMGawd I think you are Steve's sister" 
 UREEKA I FINALLY found my BROTHER!!!!