🙏Catholic Charities - Unexpected Pregnancy

Sharon Tara - Ancestry began a few years before my spouse died. I don't recall even knowing about it when he was alive. However, I searched in vain reading old newspapers at the library for information, but he never joined me. I think the truth was more important to me, than to him. Or perhaps the Army changed his mindset in Korea or the Vietnam war when he served, joining at 17 years old. I will never know. It became even more important to me after I had children. I never thought about his family medical background and it worried me so with each one of my children's passing birthdays. 

I was impressed to learn your husband took the initiative to find out more on his own. I guess, it really is a personal choice. Amazingly, he reached out to his unsuspecting Aunt! I find that incredible because family secrets were all too common before the INTERNET. 

I guess the jury is still out when you find a secret life story about a family member, and they are no longer alive to defend themself or offer important information to justify why or why didn't something happen. Unfortunately, there really are skeletons in many people's closets. Sadly, his family (who didn't know) had(s) to deal with it. 

WOW! To discover a brother who looks very much alike is another story! You're right about a mother's pregnancy from the past. Many of those secrets were buried long ago. Your mention of "she went into the hospital," for surgery reminded me of a neighbor when I was a kid living at home. My mother and all the ladies who took pleasure in gossip talked about the lady two doors down from me. The story is, she woke her husband up in the middle of the night, insisting her appendix ruptured. The guy jumped out of bed, and lovingly took his wife to the hospital. Back then in the early 1960's, fathers stayed outside in the waiting room, as is common today. But what was unusual is, the neighbor's husband was given the news by the surgeon, that his wife gave birth to a daughter! The story is, she claimed it was a miracle! Because they didn't have children. Whether he believed it or not, my mother and the neighborhood women, never believed her story. 

Sharon Tara - what a beautiful true story! Your husband's story could give many prospective mothers who are in doubt hope and a viable solution.

My spouse was given up at birth and never knew or had a picture of his father. He did find out who the mother was, but she wanted no part of him. I'm sure that is why when we got married, he insisted, he would be the provider, no matter how many jobs he had to work, as long as I stayed home with the children. I did that, and that made him happy. 

Patricia Feager, MBA, CRS, GRI,MRP  Your husband's story is so sad.

Finding the mother and then being rejected...heartbreaking.

My husband never had any interest in finding his birth parents. Just happened because of Ancestry showing he had connections to women he didn't know. He reached out to one of them and found out she was his mom's sister. 

Birth mother gave us birth father's name, but he had died many years prior to us finding her.  He was married to someone else at the time and as far as we know his family didn't know about the very short affair or the pregnancy. We were able to find him via fb (his brother is still alive) and even have pictures of him (my husband looks so much like him).

Birth mother's pregnancy was kept a secret from everyone except her mother (who insisted on the adoption) and her sisters. Her father didn't even know and she lived in the same home with him. When she went into the hospital he was told it was for surgery. Birth mother has twin daughters who look so much like my husband. It was wonderful meeting them too.