I am 23 years old and decided to go through with using Search Angels after sitting on the choice for almost two years. I thought the process would take a lot longer since the website says it may take a few months. My Search Angel emailed me yesterday with information about my birth mother- her name, facebook, pictures, everything. I found out she’s lived an hour away from me this whole time and I have an 8 year old half sister.
When I decided to go through this process, I thought finding out about my birth family would be such a joyous moment. I had been really excited to go through the process and every time my Search Angels emailed me my hopes for connecting with by biological family grew.
But ever since receiving the information about my BM, Ive done nothing but cry. I almost feel like I am grieving, even though I’ve never had experience with grief. I feel so lost and confused. I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been considering asking my Search Angel to terminate the search since he still hasn’t found my birth father. I’ve never felt this way before. When I started the process I really thought I wanted to meet my biological family. Now I don’t know. Has anyone had experience feeling this way after learning new information?? How have you made yourself feel better?

I am looking for advice on how to find my uncle, whom I haven't seen in about six years. I am 16 now, and the last time I saw him was around 2020 when I was 10. I don't know his legal last name, and I don't have any photos of him. Because I am a minor, I have absolutely no money to spend on public record searches or background checks, so I am strictly looking for free resources or advice.

Here are the facts and clues I have:

Name, Age & Background: His name is Tony. My mom is currently 35, and he is very close to her age (putting him around 35–40 years old today, and roughly late 20s or early 30s when I last saw him). He is a gay man.

The Adoption Clue: He was not my mom’s biological brother. My grandmother informally "took him in" after his biological parents kicked him out for being gay when he was younger. We believe they may have been living in New Jersey when my grandmother took him in, though I'm treating that detail with a grain of salt. My mom says he was "adopted," but I am unsure if it was ever legally finalized.

The Biological Family Clue: Even though his parents initially kicked him out, he actually maintained a good relationship with them later on. When I was a kid, he would frequently mention going to visit his biological parents. Because of this, it is highly likely that he kept his original biological last name and did not legally change it to my grandmother's last name.

Employment: The last job my mom remembers him having was working as a waiter/crew member at a Zaxby's restaurant.

Locations: We used to live in Tampa, FL, and he would visit us there. The last time I saw him (~2020), we drove from Tampa to his house in Orlando, FL.

The Disappearance: While at his house in Orlando, my mom and Tony got into a massive argument because she was pregnant again, and he criticized her situation. We left immediately and no one in my family has seen or heard from him since.

Cultural Clue: My mom and grandmother are both Puerto Rican. While Tony was very white-passing and I am not entirely sure of his exact biological heritage, it is possible he has connections to the Puerto Rican community through our family or his own.

Because I was only 10, I do not remember the address, the street name, or what his neighborhood looked like. My mom and other extended family members claim they have tried searching Google and Facebook with no luck. I am deeply worried about him and just want to know he is okay.

What I need help with: Since I don't know his last name, how can I search completely free public records or property history in Orlando/Orange County from around 2020 to see who lived at or owned homes where a "Tony" might have been attached? Are there Florida-specific public registries or LGBTQ+ community networks from the 2000s–2020s that might help trace someone who was estranged from their birth family? How can I look into my grandmother's past addresses (possibly in New Jersey or Florida) using free tools to see if a Tony was ever listed as a dependent or co-resident?

Note: Please do not post any personal details or specific names publicly in the comments to follow Reddit rules. If you have advice on tools to use or find a record match, please DM me.

I don't know if this group is still active at all or not, but it's worth a try. No, I have not taken a DNA test recently, and I'm not in the position to, but...

I'm a late disclosure adoptee trying to pin things down, and while I'm lacking some names, I have the story of my maternal grandfather, who was Japanese. His family had been rōnin prior to the Restoration while he himself ended up becoming a trader dealing mostly in furs and pelts, fans, spices, novelty items...

When things broke out in Nootka Sound and some of his group didn't return he went to find out what happened and potentially negotiate only to end up jailed. From there, as things headed towards WW2, I think he was shifted from regular prisoner to labor camp and died there. I don't know if he had a period of freedom in there or not, but he never made it home. My bio mother went looking for him and that's all she found and most of what I have.

His wife had been a Maiko in her youth, she met my grandfather, he purchased her freedom. Her mother something higher up, possibly a Tayū or something near that.

That seems like a decent amount to go on, but I'm currently limited on where and how I can dig regionally and I'm not really sure where to start outside of that. I live outside of town and can't ask my adoptive family much without causing an entire novel's worth of drama. My Japanese is very much beginner level...

Does anyone have any advice?

Edit: Edited for a typo.
Edit 2: I'm sorry I got lost in the details, I'm in the US.

Hey friends! I am helping my dear friend build his family tree. He decided to get a kit and gave me permission to dig deep and to post here and other places for help.

The trouble is his paternal line. He knew his father shortly at the end of his life but knows nothing about his ancestors there. He only got about 7k hits on that side of the family and very few if any have public or searchable trees built. Those that do have like 1-7 people in them.

I did find one cousin who seems to be a half first cousin 1x removed that I was able to determine shared Clark ancestors and then work down from there.

I am reasonably sure that my friend's paternal grandfather was 1 of 2 possible sons of Ella Pastel Ford Foe (1910-1976 of Philadelphia) and William B Clark (abt 1903 of the same region). However Ella's "find a grave" has her husband as William S Clarke of the same age and region. The genetic matches and suggested family trees do say that William B. Clark is the match we want, so some confusion there.

The 2 possible grandfather's of my friend are their sons either Edgar L Clark (1930-2024) or William B Clark jr. (1933-1999) Both would have been born in Philadelphia and Edgar lived/died in or around Fort Bend Texas. The cousin I mentioned grabbing data from is their sister's (Ella P Clark 1933-2001) grand daughter.

Aaron's Father is Richard L. Clark (1962-2018/2020)

Any help you can offer is greatly appreciated! At the moment because the roadblock is so near in time I am just not finding the records I need to be sure which man is his grandfather. A birth certificate for Richard L Clark would go a long way but I don't know where else to look. Aaron thinks he was born in or around San Bernardino California.

I’m trying to help my husband find his biological father. I’ve made a Leeds chart and have four distinct clusters but can’t find any shared ancestors in the first cluster. This is made more difficult by the fact that no recent generations are public. I’m hitting a bit of a brick wall as I have a few names but can’t identify any common ancestors in the first cluster I’m working with.

Can anyone help me figure this out? I have names but can’t figure out how anyone is related to each other. I can provide names DOB and Death dates through DM.

Hi Search Angels

I came to this sub once before a couple of years ago and a kind Angel found my biological father in less than a week. I have a different username and I forget the Angels name but I got her a Kmart voucher for her hard work. Maybe you remember me Search Angel?

This time I'm trying to find a cousin who lives in England. Im in Australia. I only have her name and general area where she lives and know she has daughters and one son, I only know his first name.

Can anyone help? Thank you.

Ive had many family memebers say he might not be my biological father and my parents were split when i was born. Cant figure out if any of myheritage dnamatches are connected to him or not.

I have a dna match on Ancestry with a half sister, but I don't have an account and she hasn't logged in for 3-11 months. She has a very common name, and I do not use FB. Any ideas?

I am trying to identify my biological great-grandfather, who was a Cypriot man present in England around 1930–1932.

What I know:

• My grandfather was born July 1932 in London
• His father is not listed on the birth certificate
• The man is believed to have been Cypriot (possibly from Nicosia or surrounding areas)
• Family memory suggests he may have been:
• In military service (British Army / Cyprus Regiment?) or
• Possibly merchant navy / seaman (An old lost photo which I never saw had him wearing some kind of uniform)
• There is an old photograph of him I have (Wearing a suit, no identifying markers otherwise)

DNA clues:

• Several matches are from Cyprus (Cypriot ancestry isn't present anywhere else), suggesting the paternal line is definitely Cypriot
• Likely born roughly 1895–1912
• A 2nd Cousin (of my father) match who thinks that another mutual match is his father's cousin (However they do not know any information further backwards than their father and the mutual match is deceased with no tree)

Research already done:

• Checked BT 372 (merchant navy seamen records) at The National Archives (Kew)
• Reviewed multiple candidate files with photos — no confirmed match so far
• Explored all family trees and contacted DNA matches

What I need help with:

• How to identify a Cypriot man in London (1930–1932) with no recorded father

Best records for:

• Cyprus Regiment / British Army (Cypriot enlistments)
• Migration / port / alien registration records
• Any advice on working backwards from DNA matches to pinpoint the exact ancestor

I have been working on this mystery for years with no progress, so any guidance, suggestions, or even fresh perspectives would mean a lot.

Thank you in advance.

This is a picture from my 8th (?) birthday. I was best friends with the girl in the left corner, wearing the grey sweatsuit. All I remember is her name was Cassandra (pretty positive) and her family was from Hong Kong. She lived next door to me in Westbrook, Maine. I remember going to the beach with her one time and her whole family was there, and they introduced me to sticky rice and kabobs. She lived with her mom, her uncle and grandma used to visit frequently. We lost touch when she moved. This must have been back in 1999/2000, since I am now 34. If anyone knows anything about her, or knows her personally PLEASE tell her I’ve been looking for her for years and haven’t forgotten her!

hi everyone 💜

I’m researching my maternal line and trying to better understand which vitsa (Romani family group) my mother’s family may have belonged to.

So far, the surnames that consistently show up in our cluster are:

• Tancos

• Gombar

• Ciganova

Geographically, my best guess is somewhere along the Kyiv → Voronezh → Moscow corridor, based on records and migration patterns.

Tentative migration path (maternal side):

Slovakia / Czech lands → Ukraine (around Kyiv) → western Russia.

I suspect there may be Lovari (Lovára) ancestry, but I’m still resea sarching and very open to correction or insight from people who know these families or regions.

If any of these surnames or areas sound familiar to you, I’d really appreciate hearing your thoughts

yes I've done all the popular dna sites

If you’re searching for a bio relative/parent and have taken an ancestry dna test I can help. I have access to protools.

Hi! I´m a little sis who has been missing her Big Bro for a very long time.
The last time I saw him I was 8 years old or so and he was probably 11 or 12, this was in 1981 or 82.

I know very little about him except that he was born in Sault Ste. Marie in the late 1960s, spent a long time in the care system before meeting me and my Mom and reuniting with our Dad in the early 1980s.

The only updates we have from him are from strangers to us that claim to know him. Apparently, he was a tattoo artist somewhere in Vancouver, BC in the 1990-early 2000s but I have no way to confirm this.

I have taken three ancestry tests to see if I could match up with him or any children he may have but no luck-yet!

No luck in searching social media, either. A message to him if he´s out there : Your little sis loves you, and has not forgotten you.

Hi, I’ve been on the hunt for one of my brothers. He and I were separated when we were adopted into different families. I have some information that I got when I looked into our court documents but not enough for me to find him on my own. I have his name at birth, approximate birthday, location at adoption and biological parents names. I’ve found nothing on him other than that info, is there anything else I can do? I’ve added myself to so many registries and posted in so many places I’m not sure where to go next.

I (22m) along with my older sister (24f) were adopted in Washington State around early 2005; my birth mother has continued to have children every few years since and henceforth they’ve grown up, I however have moved across the country and haven’t had contact with my younger siblings or their new family since I was a small child so I have no recollection of their last names, I do have the first names of all 8 of them I just know they’ve been spread out through multiple different foster homes and family’s; is there any way for me to find them, or their adopted family’s to just get an idea of what they even look like nowadays ?

I’ve tried talking to my adoptive parents about it as-well to try and get information about it from them but it’s never a conversation that goes over well or seems to “sit right” with them. Considering both my older sister and I are of age and moved out; both paying our own way in society it doesn’t feel right to me for them to keep that kind of information from us.

Anyways just interested in any information anyone may have as to how I can go about getting some background on my siblings thanks a lot !

I don’t have much, but I’ve taken the ancestry, and 23andme dna tests, and sent my dna data to myheritage. Best I’ve got so far are some 2nd and 3rd cousins, and a pretty regularly appearing last name. I don’t really know where to go from here.

To make a long story short my mother abandoned me when I was 5 never saw her again and would only hear about her from her side of the family l'm not really in touch or know how to get ahold of them too l looked on all websites like truthfinder to Facebook and nothing is coming up it seems like her information isnt even on the surface web any advice on how can I see any information about her online know a lot about her info but nothing keeps coming up.i don't really like my mother but I just would like to know how she is doing or if she's even alive

Hello, My grandmother recently got her results back with Ancestry. She was born in 1937. Her closest match is Marc (pictured in the tree) at 1,149 cM and Elaine is her 2nd closest match at 625 cM. Is it safe to think that one of Paul's children could be my grandmother's parent? Thank you for looking.

Hello, all!

My name is Olivia and I am trying to find information on my grandma’s mom.

We just recently opened her adoption case and found out that her mother’s name was Ethel Wilson Ohlgren born in 1915 to Wahlberg Anderson. She lived in Cokato/Dassell/Saint Louis Park throughout her life and was a lifelong member of the Cokato Lutheran Church. She was an employee for the Berkowitz family of St Louis Park in the 40s and after that, an employee of Tonka Toys. She married Rolf Ohlgren and had one son, Alan Ohlgren! Ethel had 3 siblings; Herman, Robert and Evelyn. We are unsure who my grandma’s father was but a Beth Melton is matching as her half sister on her unknown father’s side. We cannot contact the Beth from the site and have not had any luck finding her outside of Ancestry.com!

If anyone has any information or pictures, it would mean the world! Thank you so much 😊

I am going through multiple traumatic events.

I was falsely arrested for someone selling drugs out of my house that I rented to. My daughter was put in DCF while i was in prison. I just got out recently and can not find her. My family is acting very strange too.

My mother will not add me on her Facebook account, and I have a feeling she knows where my daughter is, but will not tell me. I hear children in the background when I call her. She refuses to let me come to her house or meet any of her friends or meet any of her husbands children (my step-sibilings)

I was adopted at birth, and found out that my mother had pased away. However, I have no information about my father at all. I would like to find him before its too late.

lastly, my adopted mother has apparently been keeping financial secrets from me. I was in my grandmothers trust and was receiving statements while i was in prison. My mother tried to get me to sign something to give up my rights, but i never did. I asked her recently for a copy of the trust and she says she dissolved it. she could not do that without my permission since I was a beneficiary and I also recently received a letter from an investment brokerage asking to purchase some mineral interests from my Trust.

She has been trying to have me diagnosed as mentally disabled I believe to take away my rights as a human. So much so, that she recently told me to apply for disbaility, and i did, not really thinking too hard about it, and after i did, she told me there was some money she had put in my name to avoid taxes, and wanted me to transfer it back to her. Well, i didnt. Its in my name and my money.

So the person in charge of the account, I asked her to wire the money to my account that I already had. she keeps giving me excuses as to why she cant. So im just about at my wits end. I have posession of the account now, but not trying to make any sudden movements as to scare them into thinking that im onto them.

what do i do?

I need helping deep digging up this information. Please help

Hello, my paternal grandmother was adopted from Children's Home Society in Los Angeles. She does not know who her parents were. I have not gone off of anything she received from that place as the birth mother's information seems to be fake. I have tested my paternal gm with 23andme and uploaded to Gedmatch and Myheritage. She has a 1st cousin with 15.33% shared DNA on 23andme name Joseph Isadore Cavarreta. Between my matches on Ancestry and our matches on 23andme, I have started to build out this tree on Ancestry but have hit a brick wall with documents on Antenati. I need help from someone that can read Italian. I have been focusing on this line for over 4 years and finally had confirmation once I tested her. I felt like I had a breakthrough only to run into more walls. I am only focusing on one side of her family and once this is figured out I will go on to the Russian side. Thank you.