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Question:that my father has afair and she would only tell me the woman first name and where she workd.. that was like 40yrs ago.. and that i was suppose to have a half brother or sister.. i ask my other half brother about it.. but he will not tell me anything..but we were not raised together so the only time he will talk to me is when i call from a number he dont recongize..if he knows it is me he will not answer. thing is how do i find out if i have a sister or brother.. if i do not know the woman name..her full name..??


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: that my father has afair and she would only tell me the woman first name and where she workd.. that was like 40yrs ago.. and that i was suppose to have a half brother or sister.. i ask my other half brother about it.. but he will not tell me anything..but we were not raised together so the only time he will talk to me is when i call from a number he dont recongize..if he knows it is me he will not answer. thing is how do i find out if i have a sister or brother.. if i do not know the woman name..her full name..??

Unless someone in your family gives you more information, I think it will be nearly impossible to find this person through any kind of public records. You simply don't have enough information.

Are there any other family members aunts, cousins, etc. who might know this? (Realize, though, that you may be opening old wounds and other family members may resent you deeply for looking for this person.)

Also realize that this person may resent YOU for turning his/her life upside down. They may not want to know -- or might not believe -- their "new" parentage.

That said, if you live in a small town, you could look for birth announcements in back issues of the local paper BUT there's no way to confirm what you find, without more info.

Is there anything of your father's left? papers, letters, notebooks, legal documents? They might have clues.

Could the woman have been a former classmate? See if you can find your dad's yearbook for possibilities. (But, again, you can't assume anything from just a first name.)

You can post your message at the "Lost Family and Friends" message board at rootsweb.com and hope that your half-brother or sister will respond.

If you or your family attend a place of worship, you could consult a religious leader there -- perhaps that person could act as a go-between if he/she knows the other parties...???

These books from your local library MIGHT be able to help somewhat (If your library doesn't have them, they can get them via InterLibrary Loan)

Hinckley, Kathleen W., CGRS, "Locating the Living: Twentieth-Century Research Methodology." National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 77, No. 3 (1989).

Hinckley, Kathleen W., CGRS, Locating Lost Family Members & Friends: Modern genealogical research techniques for locating the people of your past and present. Cincinnati, Ohio: Betterway Books, 1999.

That's all I can think of.....

I hope you find your half-brother or sister (without causing any new heartbreak!)

talk to your mom about it
or call from a different number

wait for the right time for your mom to tell you about it. talk things out with a close friend and you might just get your answer eventually.