Successful Reunion – A DNA Adoption Story

By Patti Huff Smith

When Ron didn’t receive an answer on Ancestry.com, he found me on Facebook and wrote:

“Hello, my name is Ron and Ancestry DNA shows that we are cousins. I’m adopted and looking for my biological parents. I was adopted in Dallas, Texas in 1971 when I was born. I’m hoping you may know of a family member that gave up a child for adoption. Any information would be greatly appreciated.”

He looked so much like my brothers, I thought he must be a Huff!

Eager to assist Ron in his search for his birth parents, I began working with the tools provided by Ancestry.com and GEDmatch.com.

First, I needed to narrow down whether Ron was on my maternal or paternal side of my family to determine our Most Recent Common Ancestor “MRCA.”

Since Ron didn’t have a family tree for his biological family, I used the “Shared Matches” feature on Ancestry.com to find that Ron is in fact on my paternal Huff side of my family. Ron was a DNA match to my dad’s half-brothers, James and Virgil Huff, Jr.

Ron and I share 108 Centimorgans (cM’s) which puts us in the 3rd cousin range. Third cousins most likely have 2nd great grandparents in common.

To find Ron’s biological parents, I began working from my great-great grandparents, Samuel Henry Huff (1825-1904) and Elizabeth Jane “Bettie” Trammel (1841-1929). While Ron could also have been in the lines from my other set of 2nd great grandparents (Parker-Grant), I suspected because of Ron’s striking Huff features, I started my research with Samuel and Bettie Huff.

Samuel and Bettie had a total of 9 children. Eight of these children survived childhood, married and had children of their own. My task was to build out each one of the 8 children’s family tree to our current generation.

In the meantime, Ron was doing his homework and tried for the THIRD time to obtain his Original Birth Certificate ‘OBC’ while I was narrowing down the search on my end. Ron and I stayed in contact with each other and the day came when I received a call from Ron who was holding his OBC in his hands! We had a name – his birth mother was a Huff! That meant that my hunch on the set of 2nd grandparents was likely right!

Now that I had his mother’s maiden name, I needed to find her connection in my family tree in hopes to find a married name. I was able to find her connection on my family tree. “Donna’s” father was a Huff, and his dad, Thomas Henry Huff was my 2nd great uncle.

Thomas Henry Huff and my great-grandfather, Andrew Henry Huff were brothers. Their parents, Samuel Henry Huff and Bettie Trammel are the great-great grandparents Ron and I share.

But, I still needed to know Donna’s married name! I was able to locate her mother’s obituary notice from 2011 with a simple Google Search. There it listed her children where I found Donna’s married name. I went to ZabaSearch.com to find an address and phone number for Ron to contact his biological mother.

Ron has been on quite a journey to locate and reunite with his birth family. It was a pleasure to be part of Ron’s extraordinary story! He has since met his biological mother and sister. Ron also attended our last Huff Family Reunion in 2018. Maybe one day, you will have the chance to meet this beautiful family, too!

Note:
It is important to be considerate about publishing personal information for living people obtained from any genealogical research.

Ron and his mother have approved publication of their story.